Session 4 (10/14) - Korea Since 1800

[Lizbeth Vazquez-Ruiz]

One fun and entertaining activity that students can do to learn  more about Korean culture is by taking a trip to a Korean supermarket. Students can examine the items being sold and their prices. Perhaps students can even meet with the store owner and discuss who their customers are and what items are the most popular. This can be an  affordable field trip that can broaden students' knowledge about Korean culture. Students can even purchase one item to try afterwards. At end of the field trip students  can share something interesting they found at the supermarket and one new thing they learned about Korean culture.

[Lizbeth Vazquez-Ruiz]

I agree with your statement, exploring   the spread of Christianity in Asia would be an interesting topic to explore with students. At the moment in my history class we have covered the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire and in the Byzantine Empire but we have not covered it's spread to Asia. This topic is covered in a different chapter, I am excited on teaching it in the future after gathering so much information through today's readings. Many students do not know the origin of their own religion, which makes me wonder about their reactions to new information.

[Serece Tascione]

It really was a beautiful story. Thank you for adding background to it that adds meaning to the context. The crane is a common Asian symbol. In Korea it symbolizes longevity, peace and purity. In Japan, is the holiest of creatures for it's longevity, as well, symbolizes good fortune. In China, logevity is also a theme characterized with the crane, and to that, they add long-lasting love and marriage as it is known to be a monogomous bird. When this story is shared with students, I think a grat addition would be to inform them of these symbolic characteristics. I feel it brings more meaning and life to the metaphors portrayed in the story. Being that a crane is often referred to in Haiku, this would be another great additon to the study. Being that I am an art teacher, I would also include a study of the crane in Asian art. With their significance, they are found in paitings on various canvases including: silk robes, bronze or clay. Students can paint them on a card or with their own Haiku about the crane. An of course, origami cranes can be made based off of the book, "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes," which is a common connection students can make as I have seen it used in several school libraries. 

[Thomas Pineda]

I greatly appreciate the feedback. I teach math and science, so I have little background historical knowledge but happened to be a little familiar with South Korea. However, I completely overlooked the symbolism of the crane itself in the story and I'm glad you gave me that insight and perspective to add. It would definitely add more depth to the analysis of the story and I wonder what other symbolical animals students would mention in discussion from their own cultures.

[Nayeli Ruiz-Sanchez]

For this article it would be a great idea to discuss the relationship between Korea and the United States. The students can discuss the relationship between the both beginning in 1985-2019. It is important for the students to be able to see how their relationship has evolved over a period of tie and how that has impacted each country. Another activity that can be done is for students to create a timeline of the nuclear negotiations from the time period 1985-2019. This can be done in a large or small group setting. I learned that in the end Trump was going to make negotiations with North Korea and in the end he never moved forward with his decision.

[Nayeli Ruiz-Sanchez]

It is interesting to read how the radio was used as a tool for government to campaign at times in the 1900s. Later, the Koreans asked that it be used more for entertainment pleasure. However, it stated in the article that the radio was more of a communal experience due to the cost. That makes me think of concerts nowadays but by using a radio. It is interesting to see the change due to the advancement in technology. With my students we can explore items/devices that have evolved over time. For example, the cassette tape evolved into a CD and now music is streamed online. I think that looking into the history of the radio and maybe other music devices in East Asia countries can be beneficial for students.

[Nayeli Ruiz-Sanchez]

I recently heard of the band BTS and listened to some of their music. It was a little different but I can see how it blend Korea and adds some hip-hop. This group is an example and indicates the continuation of cross-border cultural flows in a new media era. I think it is a great idea and more bands like BTS should grow. When music from different cultures come together it can produce beautiful beats. I have always been fond of music that sends positive messages and provides good influence for the listeners. Also, I really like listening to music that integrates the Latin culture and language.  Lastly, I think that BTS’s reputation online is good for their fans. Usually fans tend to get easily influenced so it important for famous groups to maintain and send positive messages to the world. 

[Nayeli Ruiz-Sanchez]

I think this resource is good for educators in middle school or even high school. Especially when teaching the students about primary sources. I recall doing research papers that required primary sources and I always struggles looking for some pertaining to Asia Studies. For this teachers can have students read the articles and summarize. Another activity can be to create a timeline or even a power point and have each group present about each country (Japan, Korea, China, etc.) This resource also has lesson plans for educators to access that are in each level the elementary level, and middle and high school levels. In addition, I really like how it also categorizes into the following categories: Geography, History, Religions, Art, Literature, Drama and Music, Arts and Crafts. For lessons, I think the most fun would be to look into Music but also language would be great to look into. I will look into this resource further to create some fun lessons for students.

[Nayeli Ruiz-Sanchez]

I think these are both great resources for teachers to share with students. The

New York Times would be great for students to look into articles that include news on Korean politics, society, and culture. In comparison the Koreana is an English language journal from Korea with easy to read stories. I was looking through the journal and I really liked how they included real pictures like black and white photographs that depicted the life at the time. The article was about the economy in the past, present, and future. I liked that in this small article students would be able to get a small summary of how the economy changed. This would be a great idea to read before diving into the topic of economy in Asia. 

[Thomas Pineda]

Thank you both for the ideas. I definitely used the two choices as a "This or That" activity- but wasn't ready with a unit to tie it all back to Asia when I presented it to students. So I went with the 'alien visitor', but thank you for reminding me of how role playing could be applied to these kind of activities and discussions. I'm sure I'll think of another topic of discussion where students can research two different sides to debate about.

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[Betsy Telle]

I also teach middle school, and to say that some of my students are obsessed with K-Pop would be an understatement. When we were in the school in-person I hosted a lunchtime K-Pop club. The students would come watch K-Pop videos. I can’t wait to share these articles with the club once we are back in the school building.

[Betsy Telle]

I found this article absolutely fascinating. I had no idea how frequently and under so many different presidential administrations there have been peace talks and treaty attempts. I like the idea of a timeline that students can work together on. I think that it will go for students to see the long road to peace. We often teach peace as just the end result and not necessarily as the long road that comes before peace.

[Jaclyn Wall]

I also really enjoyed this story. Highlighting on what Serece said, the symbolism behind the crane promotes a lot of what Christian Korean missionaries were trying to promote: Longevity for a long fulfilled life, purity with a pure religious perspective and peace between one person to the next. I would like to read this story "in a slightly modified way" to my third grade students and have them partner up to discuss what character traits they heard throughout, (Kindness, Gratitude, Responsibility, etc.) We use these as our monthly pillars of what someone with good character exemplifies and I think this story is relateable on multiple accounts.

[Jaclyn Wall]

Growing up in the south, slavery and plantations were something that was commonly grazed over. It would be mentioned in our history books but with extreme precaution as it's a story not a lot of people want to tell, but also bearing in mind, students learning it are in elementary school. I also was not aware that Korea had a history of slavery so I did a little digging and was awe struck at what I found. Apparently Korean slaves were diminishing until 1930 when slavery was abolished; however, in World War II Koreans women were doned as "comfort women" and used as sexual slaves to the Imperial Japanese Army in the midst of other ways of forced labor.

[Jaclyn Wall]

After reading the article "You Can't Help but Love Them" I started to think about how I could incorporate more cultural music into my lessons. I use the playlist "Instrumental Hits" on Spotify while my students are writing and noticed that a lot of the time they were able to decode the instruments and recognize the song that was playing. After re-reading this article, I started to play "BTS Instrumental" instead to see if my students recognized any of the songs. When "Dynamite" came on 2/3 of my class INSTANTLY recognized the song and started singing along. I took advantage of the opportunity and looked of Psy's Gangham Style to play for my class. As 8 and 9 year olds I wasn't sure if they would recognize this 2013 hit, but alas, I had three students immediately get excited and begin to do the dance in front of their computers. This brought us to a discussion about international artists who have a direct effect on our moods all the way in the United States. We discussed how both of the songs instantly made us put a smile on our faces and in an overall better mood. 

I'd like to take this one step further in the future and do a research paper on a musical artist from a diffrernt country and how their music makes us feel, even if don't understand all of the lyrics. So many Asian artists are widely popular in the U.S. so I would provide them with a pleathora to choose from them be really curious to see what findings they would present.

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