[Marcos Rico]

I feel that this little excerpt from a diary would be a good piece to do a Shared Reading with my 4th graders and have a group discussion about what is happening in the diary.

Why does the author hide her reading skill from other women?

Why did the auhor avoided writing even the simplest characters?

Why did the author pretend that she does not know how to read?

How come she finally revealed to one person that she knows how to read?

I believe that my students would be able to write some interesting pieces about this short excerpt.

 

[Marcos Rico]

I think that this would be a great document to read with 4th graders and to compare it with marriage laws of the USA of the same time period. 

I find it interesting that they had specify in the law of 1950’s that the marriage of brothers and sisters is prohibited...

China’s marriage law of 1981 has only 37 articles!!! Article 37 states when this Law will come into force. Article 5, states that the man must be at least 22 years of age and the woman 20 years of age. I wonder why they selected those ages?

 I was looking for information on California marriage law and I found “Family Code, division 3. Marriage [300-536]” Does that mean that we have 236 laws about marriage in California? I am going to have to ask this question to the next lawyer that I meet...

 

 

 

 

[Marcos Rico]

This document tries to convey the qualities and rules that the ideal Chinese woman must follow (according to old traditions). According to the text a woman must be humble, industrious, and worship the ancestors. It also talks about the proper  roles of husband and wife in their marriage. The text says that women must have four womanly qualifications, virtue, words, bearing, and work.

This text was produced to teach women the proper way that they are expected to behave.

I believe that it was effective in the past, since we are still reading it.

The first 2 paragraphs could go under the heading of: Educated, but unprepared for marriage. The author claims to feel unprepared for her role as a wife and mother, even thought she was educated academically and trained in good manners.

Paragraphs 3-7 could go under the heading of: Early start on the three basic lessons. Teach girls that they are lowly and weak, teach them to work with kitchen utensils, teach her to worship her ancestors.

Paragraphs 8-15, Proper roles in marriage. It sets the expectations for proper behavior of husband and wife.

Paragraphs 16-23, Four Womanly qualifications. It explains what are womanly virtue, womanly words, womanly bearing, and womanly work.

 

“...wearing the Gold and Purple,...”

“...that you still have not learned the proper customs for married women.”

“On the third day after the birth of a girl the ancients observed three customs:

first to place the baby below the bed;

second to give her a potsherd with which to play;

And third to announce her birth to her ancestors by an offering.”

“The Way of husband and wife is intimately connected with Yin and Yang.”

This writing was meant as Lessons for married Women.

[Marcos Rico]

I feel that I could have used this video with my 4th graders during Social Studies, specially the first 10 to 12 minutes of the video. I would have shown this video during the unit about the civil rights movement, to show how people in other countries are still struggling and fighting for their rights.

I showed my students videos about the marches in Washington, the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream” speech, etc. Most of them loved it, but saw it as something that happened long ago and is now useless. By watching this video my students would see that people are still organizing to change laws that are unfair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marcos Rico]

I enjoyed professor’s Yunxiang Yan lecture. It was fascinating to hear his explanations and comparisons of our Western ideology to the Traditional Chinese ideology. The part that still resonates in my head, is when he said that China is the only country in the world that has attacked its own traditional system of familism and tried to destroy a traditional family system that had endured thousands of years.

I loved his analogy of how in traditional Chinese ideology, a person is just like a tiny part in the middle of a long rope. Not a full person, just a connecting piece of a very long line. The person is there to ensure that the ancestors continue to have descendants. 

[Marcos Rico]

This article follows a nurse Wang Rui as she tries to balance her job in a hospital and her social life, while trying to find Mr. Right. Wang Rui, dream of going to the United States and study to become a medical doctor. Eventually Wang Rui finds Mr. Right, giving up on her dream of going to the USA and becoming a doctor. It shows us the struggles that Wang and her husband face as they try to raise a family in modern China.

I find it interesting how Wang Rui and Li Han had to improvise and be flexible to achieve their goal of having a Middle Class family, while keeping both sets of parents happy. Li Han works long hours to provide for his family, while his wife takes care of the baby and the household. Eventually, Wang Rui will be going back to work, while juggling the housework and raising a perfect child ( hopefully with the help and support of her parents and in-laws).

[Marcos Rico]

Shen Yifei talks about the contrast in the media between the traditional image of a Chinese mothers and a new modern Hot mom. It mentions how this hot mom concept started to appear in the media after 2003, and has gained more traction ever since. The traditional image of a Chinese Mother is based on the rural women, while the image of the hot mom is based on the middle class urban women. Chinese media has associated the image of the hot mom with feminism. The speaker mentions how it is mostly on appearence a success of feminism, because the chinese society is still a patriarch society were women are still expected to fullfill the same duties as a traditional “good” chinese mother. But is is now expected that they should look “pretty” as a hot mom.

[Marcos Rico]

I hope that you planned to stay around in L.A. for at least another week. There are so many wonderful places to visit and enjoy. San Diego is only 2 hours away from L.A. , and I still have not managed to visit all the great places that L.A. has to offer. The only thing that I do not like about L.A. is the traffic.

[Marcos Rico]

We are now tied at three seminars   My first seminar was an online seminar. I believe that we both took the Spring seminar. I have greatly enjoyed the previous seminars, and I feel that this summer seminar will be even better. I will be able to enjoy the experience without having to deal with L.A. traffic.

[Marcos Rico]

Wow, I had to look up your city on google maps. I have driven near your city several times on my way to Everett, but I take the freeway 5 instead of the 405. Next time, I will take the 405 to explore Bellevue. Any tips on great places to visit? My family enjoyed visiting Forks, La Push, Port Angeles, Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

[Marcos Rico]

It is such as small world!  Say “Hi!” to Marisol. This will be my third seminar with USC U-China Institute (1st summer seminar). It is nice to know that oher teachers from San Diego Unified are taking advantage of this wonderful program. I invited other teachers from my school site, but none of them where interested on taking the seminar due to the location. 

[Marcos Rico]

Hello everyone,

My name is Marcos Rico. I was born and raised in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Immigrated to the U.S.A.  in 1993, (10th grade).

I currently teach 4th grade at The Language Academy in San Diego. Our school is a Magnet school, we have students from all over the world. It is an interesting mix of different cultures and languages. Our two biliteracy programs are French/ English and Spanish/ English. People are often surprised when they find out that I am part of the French program.

I will be starting my 19th year at San Diego Unified School District. One of my favorite grades is 4 grade. California history is a complex and intereresting topic to teach. This is my third school in the district, and I have had the pleasure of teaching different grades such as 2, 3, 4, 5 and even a 4/5 combo. I am glad that I will be staying at the USC hotel.

 

[Marcos Rico]

Gerlinde,

           Thank you for your review of this movie, especially for not putting any spoilers. My teenage sons enjoyed Black Hawk Down, so they sure will enjoy watching this movie with me. Even better, this movie is on Netflix. I noticed it earlier today while looking for a different movie on the system. It called my attention for its title "Operation Red Sea", made me think of another Chinese action movie that I watched with my sons a couple of weeks ago, can not remember the name but it was also on Netflix.

[Marcos Rico]

Dear Kim,

         Thank you for your review. I had seen this movie on my Netflix but have not watch it yet. The title did not pull my attention, but now thanks to your review I will give it a shot. By the way thanks for your great review, without any spoilers, it is greatly appreciated. Not sure if my wife will enjoy the movie(she prefers horror and romantic) , but I am sure that my teenage sons will enjoy it.  

         

[Marcos Rico]

I was looking in here for a good recomendation for an Asian movie to watch on Netflix. Your review of the movie seems to fit the bill. It is a period movie with lots of action, Manchu raiders and marksmakship. Seem like my teenage sons might enjoy it, especially the gory parts. Unfortunately, I do not seem to have find it on Netflix. Oh, well I will have too keep on looking. 

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