[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed this morning's session and presentation by Dr. Brown.  I learned a lot, for example, I would have never thought about Art Deco as an art form in Japan.  It was very interesting to find out about the "hidden messages," (although, sometimes in plain sight, as Dr. Brown stated) through the postcards, sheet music, posters, monuments, and buildings. Dr.Brown stated: "Old customs turn into new ones. One can't have customs/traditions without modernity."  I am planning to incorporate this into my unit entitled: "Who are we?" inquiring about one's background, traditions, values, customs.  I will show some of the postcards, covers for sheet music from different periods. I will brainstorm with students what is the same/different in the artifacts over time.  We will then compare how these are same/different to traditions/customs change over time in America.  At the conclusion, we will write about this topic.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I appreciated Dr. Yasar's analysis of Japanese cinema.  I found it very helpful that the presentation also included questions for students and challenges to overcome, such as: "It's in black and white!" or " It's too slow!"  I should have known, but, did not, that Haikus should include one of the four seasons as part of it.  I will incorporate this new information into my lessons during my poetry unit.  

I would like to show a 5-10minute segment of the movie Tokyo Story to my class.  I would ask students to watch for details about the home and the children's lives closely. I would discuss with the class similarities and differences between the home depicted in the movie and their own home today.  Students would write about the class discussion in their journals.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I like Martin's description and would like to add that the flag in the top left of this poster is the Romanian flag.  It was the Socialist Republic of Romania up to 1989 when the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell.  The flag in the front right (immediately behind USSR) is the flag of former East Germany, the German Democratic Republic.  These two countries were part of the Eastern Bloc.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

We touched on this in class with Dr. Dube.  The two children, one of them a pioneer, are killing sparrows.  This was encouraged as sparrows ate the seeds on the fields causing the harvest and food supply to decrease.  In a country with the population size of China where food was sparse, to begin with, this presented a real challenge.  By killing the birds that cause this challenge, children are keeping up the productivity of the country, therefore aiding productivity for the revolution.  The boy and the girl are both very focused with the goal in mind.  It looks like nothing will deter them from their aim.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I did some research on this poster as I don't speak or read Mandarin, unfortunately.  The writing states: "Carry out birth planning for the revolution, 1974."  I found out that this poster was part of an intense campaign, started in 1970,  to encourage the use of contraceptives. The female holds Mao's Red Book in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other.  The images behind her show the time for family one child parents have, and the quality time they are able to spend with this one child.  They are able to pay more attention to the single child resulting in a happier, more well-rounded child, as Courtney mentions here. 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Dr. Berry's presentation was fascinating.  The more seminars I attend made possible by the USC US-China Institute, the more I realize, how much more I have to learn about this amazing country, its history, and culture.  I loved Xu Bing's art.  I am planning on sharing his work Books from the Ground written entirely with Emojis with my class. My students would love to see this work.  I would love to copy a few lines for groups of five students who would cooperate to "translate" the text into English and present it to the class.  I will prompt a discussion among students asking why we need words, why is the word meaning important?  

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed learning about the connection between K-pop music videos and YouTube and how K-pop embraced YouTube.  Dr. Suk-Young Kim explained it very well.  I found it interesting to see how K-pop needed a foreign market to grow and with its professional quality video facilitated more traffic on YouTube.  As Dr. Kim stated this "partnership was naturally forged."  Hence, music videos, the blue chips on YouTube equaled a high number of viewers due to its professional quality which ultimately equaled high-income revenue.  

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

This is really interesting.  I grew up in Communist Romania and we watched propaganda movies calling for loving the leader and his wife, learning to glorify both of them. I don't recall discussing the characters of these documentaries, but, as a child, I was mesmerized by them.  I am curious, in which grade did you partake in the discussion described above?

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed Dr. Suk-Young Kim's presentation today about North Korean films and her analysis of why film is important in North Korea?  The NK government took advantage of the novelty of the medium and efficiently marketed propaganda to the masses while controlling the content and philosophy of this art form.  I, especially, appreciated the animation film Lazy Pig (1969).  It was interesting to learn that the Soviets helped make a lot of children's animation in North Korea.  I would like to show this film to my class and ask the class to describe what it thinks about how this is different from what the students are used to seeing.  I expect this to lead to some interesting and stimulating discussion as well as great questions from students.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Hello Zoey!  I love your goal of helping students develop their own identity and nurturing this.  It is very important for us teachers to foster this in children and celebrate their cultures and traditions, celebrate their differences as well as their similarities.  I always encourage students to be proud of their heritage and I try to use this philosophy in my classroom at all times.  We can all learn from each other's cultures and backgrounds!

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Hello Jingshuang!  I am so glad you are in this seminar with me.  I would love to talk to you about the education system in China, how you experienced it, and possibly how you liked it as a teacher?  I would love to hear how you feel about the US, now that you lived here for several years, and how you describe it to your friends/family in China?  I will reach out to you tomorrow and introduce myself.  Looking forward to it!

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Hello everyone!  I am very excited and grateful to partake in this seminar.  I am looking forward to meeting everyone, to collaborating and learning together. I am a German Language Arts teacher at a Dual  Immersion/IB, charter school.  I love learning about the East Asian culture, traditions, and history, something I have not been exposed to much during my own education.  I am planning to share the knowledge gained in this seminar with my students and colleagues.  I hope to soon visit China to explore it and enforce what I am learning here.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

First, I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Dube, Catherine, Venus, and the professors, authors, and professionals I had the pleasure to learn from during these weeks.  I extend my sincerest thanks.

 

I was very excited to attend the first class with Prof. Dube.  I was not sure what to expect?  Some of my thoughts were: How will I able to keep pace?  I know very little about East Asian history.  I don’t speak Chinese.  I have only visited one East Asian country.  As it turns out, my hesitations were not necessary.  I was in this class to learn about East Asian history, not only facts but, as it turned out, history as told by many perspectives, perspectives that changed depending on the players telling the story.  I leave this class with the realization how little I knew on September 9th, how much I learned by October 30th, and how many more questions I have right now.  One of my professors once told me that the more we know, the more we realize how little we know, and how much more there is to find out.  This rings true to me as I reflect on this wonderful opportunity I had the privilege to take advantage of.  I learned many, many valuable lessons.

One of the most important lessons I learned is that “History changes, the past does not change.” as Prof. Dube so powerfully explained.  This is a testimonial I will take back into my classroom as it relates to all my lessons in IB.  We always ask “Why? How do I know?” and I feel these questions relate to the statement.  I feel strongly about teaching my students to ask questions, lots of questions, and not to be afraid to do so.  As Prof. Dube asked: “What changes our perception of the past?” What changes from the past?  It is the perception of it.  The factors changing our perception are new data, new people asking about it, and new questions.  This is one of the most important lessons I will bring into my classroom.  I will encourage my first-graders today to become the ones asking these questions about history tomorrow.  

Another great lesson I learned was the importance of bringing East Asian history into my classroom and my IB units.  I will incorporate a fact or a mini-lesson about this culture-rich corner of the world into my teaching daily.  

This class has been extremely valuable to me.  I will recommend it to my peers, and I will expose my students to the lessons I learned and I will implement many of the teaching strategies presented throughout the seminar.

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

After watching this documentary,  the irony of this historic trip was impossible to ignore.  On one hand, President Nixon and his team staged and orchestrated every detail and image of the trip.  On the other hand, the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai, and his comrades staged and orchestrated every detail that the American delegation saw. Nixon's use of the media to imprint certain images in the American public's minds can not be missed.  One of the reporters stated that for Nixon this was a re-election campaign trip.  He effectively created a certain picture in the heads of Americans.  The Chinese government effectively placed certain citizens on corners with families picnicking and playing badminton in the middle of the winter and the cold.  The image portrayed was meant to be of happiness, plenty, and content.  As Ted Koppel mentions, however, he witnessed this tableau disassembled as soon as the bus of reporters left.  The badminton rackets and the picknick baskets were collected by government officials right away.  So who outdid who in orchestrating an image?  Was it the Nixon camp or the Zhou Enlai one?  It sure would spark a lively debate in a classroom.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

In the same unit I will be teaching about Chinese culture and traditions (including the art of tea drinking), I will include a mini-lesson about Beijing Opera, its roots, and its meaning. My first-graders, for the most part, never heard about this form of art.  When introducing it, I would show pictures of actors and their costumes.  I would also try to find a short video about Beijing Opera to show to the class. After teaching about the history of this art form and its inspiration to the Chinese people, I would ask my students to draw a character of their own that they would think would fit into a Beijing Opera.

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