[Marcos Rico]

Midori, thank you for sharing this pdf, I had never hear of the Environmental Literacy blueprint. It was published in 2015, and now in 2019 I finally get a copy of it.

I want to take some time to read it and see how I could teach my 1st graders about the environment. Here is the link to the 1st grade Science standards

https://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/documents/cangss-gr1-topic-mar2015.doc

I am glad to learn that I have covered some parts of  Environment Literacy while teaching about the effects of the Gold Rush on the physical environment, among many other things. We talked about the damage caused by the water cannons used for hydraulic mining to wash away hills looking for gold.

 

[Marcos Rico]

This was a wonderful summer Gender and Generation seminar at USC, It was an awesome week of learning. Originally when I signed up for this summer seminar I was planning to teach 4th grade in Fall. My plans where to go deeper on teaching about East Asia to my students and explore the relationships among East Asian countries and the USA, focusing on California. Due to some unexpected changes in our school staffing, I was moved to 1st grade to teach Spanish in a two way program. I was not thrilled about teaching a new grade that I had never taught nor having to move classrooms, but there was a need in my school and I have the proper skills and credentials.

I will be able to expose my 1st graders to different holidays and celebrations around the world, focusing on East Asia and Mexico, and how these countries are connected to the our community in San Diego, California. But thanks to some of the things that I learned during our summer seminar I will try to approach it from how children experience these holidays and celebration and also how it is different for each gender. As you might already know most 1st graders are not reading independently yet, which means that I will have the oportunity to do a lot of read alouds with my little ones. The challenge that I am facing, is finding finding texts about East Asia in Spanish. 

One of the strategies that I learned this summer with Professor Kerim Yasar, about showing a video in short clips and having a class conversation about it, is working really well with 1st graders due to their short attention span. I am not showing full lenght movies, but rather some short videos about proper behaviors  and information about holidays such as Labor Day, etc. It has worked well enough to engage them in conversations, and practice their target language.

 

 

[Marcos Rico]

I was fortunate that in this my first visit to the JANM, we had a guided tour by our Docent Mas. Hearing Mas, share his experience as a young boy, during WW II, on how his family was taken to a concentration camp in Utah, a.k.a. Topaz Internment Camp, was a unique experience. I had read about the relocation of Japanese Americans during WW ll, but hearing our Docent's experience was heartbreaking (Wonderful educational experience, but heartbreaking). Mas' experience scarred him for life, he walked away from his Japanese culture and heritage (He cannot read nor speak Japanese). Now at an old age he is trying to reconnect with his culture by volunteering as a Docent at the museum.  

I am planning on making a visit to the JANM with my wife and sons, before the end of this year. My twin sons decided to take Japanese in High School, even though they have already have fulfilled their language requirements by passing their A. P. Spanish test in 8th grade, and earning the seal of Biliteracy for their High School diploma. 

[Marcos Rico]

It was a wonderful experience to finish our Summer Seminar with a field trip. I had never heard of the Korean Culture Center, until I read the email about our Seminar. I loved the virtual reality tour and the toy exhibit. I wish it was closer to San Diego, so that we could take advantage of this great resource. Kimberly de Berzunza mentioned that the price is over $1,000 just for the buses, and is about 8 hours of travel time (3 hours going up to L.A. and 5 hours to return to San Diego).

Balboa Park in San Diego is currently in the process of constructing a House of Korea http://www.house-of-korea.org/pre-construction-meeting/  but unlike the Korean Culture Center that is operated by the Korean Governement. The House of Korea is an educational, cultural, nonprofit organization that is non-political. It will be a good resource once it is completed 

 https://youtu.be/rZ2J97bfsRU

[Marcos Rico]

I enjoyed Professor Bernards’ lecture and wish that I had taken the time to read “Folding Beijing”. I am going to have to get my hands on a copy of the book, Invisible Planets translated by Ken Liu.

Sorry about hogging the conversation during the discussion about “The Wandering Earth”. I really enjoyed this novella and 

[Marcos Rico]

I enjoyed Professor Yasar’s lecture and his approach to showing the movie in short clips, then allowing time for discussion and observations. I feel that this way of studying a film would work even with 1st graders, short movie clips would keep their attention span focused into the movie. The first movie that comes that I would like to try this strategy is with Coco. I believe that by using short clips it would be a good tool to study the traditions of “Dia de los Muertos” with my 1st graders.

Now that I have watched parts of Late Spring, I would like to watch the whole movie and then the other two movies of the “Noriko Trilogy” ( Early Summer and Tokio Story). I wonder why did Ozu decided to use the same name for the main female character?

 

[Marcos Rico]

Being Primary Source readings this text would be great to share in Social Studies, specially during Women’s History Month in March. The text might be a little hard for 4th graders but it could be read as a Shared Reading.

The female writers He Zhen, Qiu Jin, Ding Ling, and pseudonym Han Yi share with us the psychological and physical abuse that many women had to endure during their own lifetime. The writings range from the 1900’s to the 1940’s.

 

[Marcos Rico]

Nanfu is a brave filmmaker, while working on her previous documentary, Hooligan Sparrow, was detained and interrogated for more than 5 hours ( she was able to secretly film part of her interrogation). Knowing that she would run into deep trouble with Chinese authorities if she was caught filming in China again, Nanfu still went back to China to film this documentary.

In One Child Nation, Nanfu takes us along as she learns and discovers many dark secrets (even within her own family) caused by the One Child policy in China. I was not expecting to such a hard hitting documentary, it completely blew my expectations. I had no idea about the forced abortions, and female sterilization. I was shocked to learn about female infanticides and kidnappings by village officers. I had never made the connection about the relationship between Chinese child adoptions by foreigners and the One Child policy. 

It is a wonderful eye opening documentary, the Q&A with Nanfu made it a even greater experience.

[Marcos Rico]

This essay talls about the ideal woman according to Chinese tradition based on Confucian and Daoist ideology. I feel that this text could be a little challenging for 4th graders but we could used for Shared Reading over a couple of days. The first part talks from the Confucian ideology about how to be a ‘virtuous wife and good mother’ with virtue, talent, and beauty according to Liu Xiang. The second part talks from the Daoist ideology about the 4 stages of  development of body.   Building a foundation, cultivating essence to transform qi, cultivating qi to transform the spirit, and cultivating spirit and returning to emptiness.

 

 

[Marcos Rico]

Professor Jennifer Jung-Kim lecture was eye opening, I was aware of the current tension between South Korea and Japan (https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEK5phWANg3F5MrJDj3873IsqGQgEKhAIACoHCAow4uzwCjCF3bsCMIrOrwM?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen) but was not fully aware of how deep the conflict is. I always believed that South Korea’s most hated enemy was North Korea( it is more like an unresolved sibling fight), but in reality Japan is their most hated enemy. Their first national humiliation day was at the hands of the Japanese armed forces in 1910. 

[Marcos Rico]

Dear Xiaowei,

        The first time that I saw a picture of a J-pop boy group, I was unsure if they were males or females. Later on my niece Elizabeth assured me that they were all boys, and that she loved their music( I have not taken the time to listen to any of their songs). I guess every generation has their own taste in music. Managers will keep on trying different formulas to create music groups that will attract a large group of followers, which will transform into larger profits.

 

[Marcos Rico]

It was a wonderful lecture by Professor Miyake. I found it fascinating that we could gets clues to know if it was a man or a woman who wrote the poems based on the scenes described in the poetry. Because of different environments that each one of them experienced in ancient Japan, they would be drawn to write poetry about the things that they saw.

[Marcos Rico]

I selected The Wandering Earth because I already had the opportunity to watch the movie, I really enjoyed the movie. Now that I had the opportunity to read the short story that inspired the movie, I believe that the movie could have been better. As a matter of fact a series would have been a better choice that just a movie.

R1: Great story but does not explain how the coalition was formed. It mentions the Leavers and the Takers, but does not provide more background information. How where the engines built, or the underground cities.

R2: The mood is on the first chapter is one of constant surprise and awe

“Our school was scheduled to relocate to an underground city, and we were among its first inhabitants. Our school bus entered a massive tunnel, which sloped gently downward into the earth. After driving for half an hour, we were told that we had entered the city, but nothing outside the bus windows resembled any city I had seen before.”

R3: The story depicits a avery desolated planet surface, where everyone is living underground. Only the “Mountains” and “Peaks” (engines) are above ground. The Oceans are frozen on the surface.

R4: The keep on mentioning the massive, powerful engines that are pushing the Earth to its new solar system.

R5: This story reminded me of the movies Interestellar and 2012 among others. All three of these stories talk about the end of the world. In interestellar the have to find a new planet and find a way to transport humankind there. 2012 is about the end of the world as we know it, and how the governments of the planet organize to create arks to save some of the chosen ones. The Wandering Earth is about moving the whole planet to a new solar system to escape the destruction that will be caused by our own sun.

R6: Chinese science fiction is increasing and becoming better known around the world. Just like in USA science fiction, the USA always plays a crucial role to save the world. In Chinese science fiction, China has a crucial role in saving the world.

R7: This story makes me thing of all the people who are turning against Science and do not believe that global warming is happening and its grave consequences to our planet. 

[Marcos Rico]

This article talks about Yasujiro Ozu film work after WWll. It is great to be able to see post war Japan from one of their film makers point of view. What surprised me the most is that the official USA occupation of Japan after WWll only lasted from August 1945 to April 1952. It was only 6 years and 8 months! Yet, the influence of the USA has reshaped their culture and economy. The USA has been in Afghanistan since 2001, and there is still no end in sight. On the opposite the war in Afghanistan, is having a lasting effect in our society.

[Marcos Rico]

This is a very interesting article but I feel that is more appropriate for High School, maybe for Middle School. Some women in South Korea are rejecting the country’s standard of beauty and pressure to conform. Photographer Jeon Bora is documenting this movement called “Escape the Corset”.

Their society expect South Korean women to have long hair, this group of women are shaving it off or cutting it very short. They are also expected to wear lots of make up, and form fitting dresses, but these brave women are not willing to follow those expectations. They are going against the multi billion dollar beauty industry, that pushes and sell the perfect image that South Korean women are expected to achieve.

Some of the women have been fired from their jobs for being part of this movement, and many experience harassment from their own families. 

[Author]

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