[Joel Jimenez]

What types of literature do you use currently in your English classes?  You teach in an stp resource class yes?  Also, of the literature works that you use in your class, which ones do students find most meaningful and engaging in?  For our 9th grade curriculum, our English teachers use Romeo and Juliet, House on Mango Street.  These works display very unique gender roles and heroic stories of females.  It's interesting that in ancient Japan and China, women had prominent roles in writing poetry and other literary works.

[Joel Jimenez]

What types of literature do you use currently in your English classes?  You teach in an stp resource class yes?  Also, of the literature works that you use in your class, which ones do students find most meaningful and engaging in?  For our 9th grade curriculum, our English teachers use Romeo and Juliet, House on Mango Street.  These works display very unique gender roles and heroic stories of females.  It's interesting that in ancient Japan and China, women had prominent roles in writing poetry and other literary works.

[Joel Jimenez]

Japanese Literature and poetry developed as a direct result of the emperors and different time periods in Japanese history.  What I found interesting were the periods of Muromachi and Tokugawa.  While the Muromachi period lasted only less than 50 years, this period was the most war-torn period.  Conversely this time period also saw the construction of many stone temples and statues as well as the rise of theatrical performances, popularity of white/black paintings, and tea ceremonies.  The Tokugawa period saw a great population growth and a unification of the country under the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Part of the literature was also tied to the samaruai culture which was very present during the Tokugawa period.  I personally am very interested the effect that the samuai had on Japanese history and the different time periods and the literature of the same time.

[Joel Jimenez]

Amy,

Thank you for sharing your input on this issue.  While these ideas and policies were progressive for its time during communist China and while they did aim to bring gender equality in marriage and 'divorce laws' for property, you have to look at the macro-level policies that also took place as a result of the cultural revolution.  While this did provide women's rights in china, there were humanitarian rights on a massive scale that were being implemeted to the detriment of the Chinese people.  During the cultural revolution, cultural, historical artifacts, educaiton, and the economy practically came to a halt and educated youth were sent to the rural areas to farm and partake in other labor intensive jobs.  Mao's policies helped to exacerbate the famine and his policies during 'The Great Leap Forward' and 'The Cultural Revolution' led to tens of millions of people, mostly poor to die.  Like any communist regime that has come to power whether in the Soviet Union, Cuba, China or Congo, the transfer or power and the enforcement of new policies has been bloody and detrimental to these countries' populations.

[Joel Jimenez]

I was very interested in the 24 stories of filial devotion and the concept of familism morals.  I read the 1st story called, "Filial conduct that moved the heart/mind of heaven: Shun the Great".  The story involves, a noble filial man with great integrity, called Shun.  His family did not get along and were verbally and emotionally abusive towards him. However, Shun never publically showed anger, or ill will towards his family.  Instead, he kept his emotions hidden and would release them privately.  But he worked hard every day.  He then was chosen as the successor to Emperor Yao.  This story has great lessons on respect, integrity, hard work and perseverance.  It is interesting how the Chinese government has construcuted the 24 new stories of filial devotion to fit the digital and technological times of modern china.

[Joel Jimenez]

Hi Zoey,

You bring up a very important concept on culture and being able to balance one's culture and traditions to contemporary traditions here in the U.S.  This is a discussion that I have with my students almost every day as I teach ESL to students of very diverse backgrounds and countries and they each have different thoughts on family and culture.  I find that Koreans have a deep respect for their culture and probably do some of the best culture preservation compared to other cultures.  With Saturday Korean school, heavy emphasis on family, food and language, Korean youth are doing their due diligence to carry on the traditions of past.

[Joel Jimenez]

This seminar on generation and gender in Chinese Neo-familim is very complex and has a long history.  I find it fascinating how the neo familism has evolved in China, from traditional gender roles with the patriarch at the helm of the family, to the 20th century where women played a more prominent role in the family.  According to Yunxiang, "clearly, the single most important state regulation affecting the Chinese family was the one-child policy that was first implemented in cities in 1979 and extended to rural areas in the early 1980s" (2018).  However there were unintended consequences such as a righer birth rate of males compared to females and a lower fertility rate.  These are just some of the effects of the government having a finger in the cookie jar...

[Joel Jimenez]

Hello,

My name is Joel Jimenez and I'm a reading, ELD and Sociology teacher at Palisades Charter High School.  I mainly teach 9th graders.  I'm entering my 10th year teaching.  I began my teaching career as an 8th grade social studies teacher on a small island called Saipan, part of the Northern Mariana Islands and lived there for 5 years.  I currently live in West Los Angeles.  Good to meet everyone

[Author]

Posts