[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Wow, I didn't know that Farewell My Concubine was originally a work of the Beijing Opera!  I enjoyed the film--now I would like to see the oper, if I can find it on You Tube!

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Cheryl, 

I also agree that this is a great connection to explore with my students, especially because the majority of my ESOL students are minorities in the USA.  This topic is so relevant to the recent emergence of the BLM to the forefront of many people's minds, and the movement to start addressing the systemic racism that has resulted in economic disparities between different racial groups in the USA

 

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Becky, thanks so much for sharing these videos.  Just curious, how did you come across them?  They were very entertaining to watch and I can definitely use these with my highschool and middle school ESOL students.  I'm also curious why the Chinese government wants English speaking youth (or Chinese youth, if they read the subtitles) to buy into the BRI?  Do they think that they will talk about it with their parents?  Maybe they want to educate the youth now so that when they grow older they will already have knowledge about the value of these initiatives?  I'm also curious if all of the youth involved even understood what they were singing about and the BRI.  I think that the way that you're using it to show POV (and biases in media) is great!  I also just googled SOAPSTone and think the videos also align very well.  Thanks again for sharing! 

 

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

I really enjoyed watching the video lectures, gathering more details in the readings, and hearing Dr. Gladney speak in greater detail today on Zoom.  Aside from hearing about the autrocities happening to Uyghurs in China, I had not spent much time learning about the history and experiences of Muslims in China.  As Dr. Gladney mentioned in one of the videos, there is a very limited view of China that many people have unless they have studied China in depth--usually one that focuses on the experiences of the Han majority or major historical events or sites.  I appreciated the opportunity to expand my own understanding of the diversity of China and the parallels that it has with the experiences of the white majority in the USA vs. the minorities.  I was amazed to hear that there are 56 recognized minorities in China, along with the 400+ other groups that applied for government recognition.  As he mentioned, although China wants to be a unified nation state, it is more of an empire with diverse cultures, langauges, and religions that were acquired with the expansion of its borders.  When I went on a "China Highlights" tour in 2008, all the highlights that they showed us were the typical things that you think of when you think of China: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, the Yellow River, Hangzhou, Suzhou, silk factories, cloissone factories, tea farms, pagodas, temples, etc.  But we were never brought to any mosques or other minority commununities.  

In thinking about how I could incorporate this into my ESOL curriculum, I think that my high school students may be interested in learning about the old Silk Rd vs. the "New Silk Road" to incorporate academic vocabulary about migration, commerce, and globalization.  Another connection I could have them make is to compare the demographics of ethnic groups in China vs. the USA.  I could also have them watch videos about the Uyghurs (with English subtitles) in order to have them practice listening and reading.  To follow up, they could do a speaking or writing activity to describe their reactions to the situations of Uyghurs and to form tand expresss their own opinion about the actions that the Chinese government is taking toward this minority group in China.  

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Watching the videos and reading about hallyu reminded me a lot of my mother, who I guess would be what is called an "ajumma", middle aged woman (she's in her mid 60s), who is a big K-drama and K-pop fan.  Her ethnic background is Chinese (she is a 4th+ generation in Hawaii); however, she has been a huge fan of of K-pop and K-dramas at least since I left for college.  Perhaps this was her way of finding her own interests once she became an empty nester.  Her interest has definitely followed the patterns of the Hallyu stratification circles.  First, she was interested in the K-dramas--I remember watching Winter Sonata with her in a hotel room for days during the week that my sister got married.  Then she got into K-pop, especially because some (or many?) of the actors are also singers.  She also watches Korean films, uses Korean makeup, learned how to make kimchi and other Korean foods (although eating and cooking Korean food is not unusual in Hawaii, where there are many people of Asian descent).  She also took Korean language classes with her K-drama fan club friends, and at one point wanted to go to Korea to see Jeju Island.  She has even flown to CA to see Rainn in concert and my dad made her a custom calendar with her favorite K-drama "hunks"!  It's interesting how K-dramas have attracted many fans internationally, including middle aged women.  It's incredible how Korean media, technology, food, and music has been globalized.  

In her videos, Dr. Jung-Kim talks about soft power and the diplomacy efforts that the South Korean government has made to spread knowledge of South Korea's culture, language, products, etc. to the world.  As I asked on the call today, I am curious to what extent other countries carry out similar efforts to promote their own countries abroad.  Some have mentioned how Israel does birthrite journeys and I mentioned how Taiwan had the "Loveboat" program in the past (officially known as "Overseas Study Tour to the People's Republic of China"), which invites overseas Chinese around the world to come to Taiwan for 6 weeks to learn the language and culture of Taiwan.  Does the USA actively promote our country abroad through similar programs?  

 

 

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

This theme of crossing boundaries is so fascinating to me and I am so glad that we took the time together on Friday to begin activating our minds on what kinds of boundaries might one cross and who crosses boundaries, as well as why studying boundary crossing could be important or useful.  People cross a wide array of boundaries throughout their lifetimes--political, geographical, cultural, linguistic, etc.  Varying factors push/pull/draw people across boundaries--curiosity to explore other parts of the world; political asylum, education, employment, increased freedom, pursuing a better life, safety, and more.  Studying boundary crossing would be useful in understanding the evidence of global influences and globalization that are all around us wherever we go.  I imagine that in nearly every country, there are people either residing or visiting from other countries, e.g there are communities of Americans (expats) in China and Chinese in the USA as well around the world (the Chinese diaspora).  Understanding the factors that disperse people around the world and the influences that they have on the places that they move to helps people to gain a better understanding and appreciation of our world and also as individuals, and see that our world is very interconnected.  Through this global awareness, I would hope that students would gain a broader, more accepting view of the world and the value of diverse influences and connections beyond our own political borders.  To bring this topic into my ESL classroom, I would give students the means to share their stories about the borders that they have had to cross to arrive in the place that they currently reside in the USA.  Then we can talk about many other peoples around the world that have also crossed an array of boundaries and influenced the places that they lived or visited (connections to social studies and language arts, as well as math if you calculate distance).  

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Hello! My name is Natalie Lau-Chien and I am currently a K-12 English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in Amherst, NH.  I grew up in Hawaii and left for college in MA, and now live in NH.  I was originally certified as a middle school social studies teacher and taught SS and LA for a few years.  Then, I was hired to teach all the content areas in a Sheltered English Immersion class and loved teaching ELLs.  Now I have a second certification in ESL and love weaving in content about other cultures into my curriculum to develop my students' academic language and knowledge and reflect their own languages/cultures.  I hope to weave the content that I learn through this seminar into my curriculum.  In addition, I have a personal interest in this topic as a Chinese American that grew up surrounded by family and friends of varying Asian heritages and am interested in learning about the cross-boundary connections.   (I also love C-dramas and K-dramas!) 

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