pre-2011 high school ideas

A good resource for language arts, history, and social science teachers is "Travels of Marco Polo," of which there are many editions. One suitable for teachers is the older one in the Everyman Library, 1911 (1936 reprint), with an introduction by John Masefield; it has many fascinating footnotes and a good index, but small print.
Your students would benefit from reading excerpts describing the many customs of different peoples in asia. Caution, not all of them are true (or suitable!) but certainly entertaining and stimulating.
In later posts, I'll describe some of Marco's more intriguing observations.

magda

I teach students with MR. During world history I began to introduce the Asian culture through info you have given us and from info of the web. Most of my students are hispanic and seemed very confused about the culture I introduced. It seemed to me that the are some what sheltered from other cultures, so I believe this lesson will be interesting for them.

I found out that my RSP students have a problem with the notion of culture. It takes several lessons for them to understand the concept. -magda ferl

May-June is off track for me; that is in a way... I do teach some of the time and will use asian topics. I will keep you posted as we go along. -magda ferl

I have no experience teaching Asia-specific topics but am excited about using some ideas from the "Encounters" section in our seminar materials. When reading Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, we discuss marriage customs during Elizabethan times. Perhaps I can create a lesson in which students research Japanese marriage customs as well and groups can present various scenarios in response to questions posed in a love and marriage encounter from the two cultures. Student research can also be used to write compare and contrast essays.

I read the engaging comic strip stories about filial devotion in our seminar materials. My heart bled for the couple willing to bury their son alive so there would be one less mouth to feed and the grandmother could be saved from dying of starvation. Their reasoning: "We can have another child but not another mother." I may be able to use a similar format to give my Strategic Literacy students a lesson on Chinese philosophy, word meaning and structure of a short story. These stories all had characters, conflict, plot, a climax, and a resolution. Students can be asked to learn the parts of a short story and create dialogue reflecting their understanding of the phrase "filial devotion." (Related lessons could include journal topics about family loyalty and sacrifice, parts of speech, root words, and suffixes.)

I teach an Intro to Computers class, where I take my students from the earliest computers to what to expect in the future as well as learning various computer application programs. As part of the history of computers, we discuss the Abacus. Normally, I discuss it briefly how it is used and that it is 2-5,000 years old In future lessons, I plan on using a webquest (see below) to help them understand this Asian calculator.
I think it is important to understand how technology has changed over time. The fact that it took hundreds or thousands of years to reach a desktop computer is amazing. We went from a huge 30 ton computer in 1946 to a much more powerful computer that is on their desk now. Technology is moving even faster so it is even more important to understand the past.

Larry


http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/indexa-b.html
[Edit by="lkrant on May 19, 4:32:21 PM"][/Edit]

Hakka Folktales in Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs. Edited by Lou Tsu-k’uang in collaboration with Wolfram Eberhard. The Orient Cultural Service. 1974. Vol. 61.
The authors of Hakka Folktales view folktales as an expression of the “spirit of the people”. They further believe that tales reflect morals and other values of the society. The authors question the psychological approach that promulgates an interpretation of the unconscious meaning of folktales. These authors study and are more interested in what people openly express when they are asked about their ideas concerning tales.
The study is limited to one ethnic group in China, the Hakka of Taiwan, a minority of three to five million. There were some stereotypical perceptions regarding Hakka. As a minority Hakka were viewed as “backward” or more traditional than the other groups and perceived to be different from the other Chinese. However, the Hakka regarded themselves as the “true” Chinese, as immigrants from the central provinces of China (mainly Honan) who settled in Taiwan around the 12th century.
The collected stories were believed to be widely spread and known by a majority of Hakka. The authors view each teller of a story as a creative thinker who changes details in a given story thus viewing folklore as a living phenomenon. They observed that some storytellers began with most pleasing stories to the audience, and than moved to less common ones. Eberhard was interested in stories that expressed values of the common man, believing that the value system may differ from the professed “Confucian” value system.
The authors investigated the basic folklore questions, e.g. “Who is still telling folktales,” and “To whom are stories told,” and people’s perception of “What are good and what are bad stories.” They include a variety of genres such as myths, legends, historical and patriotic stories, filiality stories, ghost stories, fighting stories, animal tales, romantic stories, educational stories, and tales about customs and festivals.
The moral values expressed in the tales include: honor the gods and worship them; be a hero and love your country; be loyal, upright, honest and good; be filial toward your parents and in-laws; be loving, and strive for harmony and peace; work hard, be frugal and be careful.
This work presents a wealth of information for lesson plans. E.g. it will satisfy California standards in writing.
2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
2.2 Write responses to literature: b. Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate references to the text.

I was looking for some webquests for a new class and found these which may be useful. I like idea of crossing curriculum and using technology.

http://edtech.suhsd.k12.ca.us/inprogress/gjh/becomingjap/bejap

Do you know how your name is written in Japanese? After this WebQuest you'll know how! Through a group exploration you'll learn about Japanese culture, language, history, and geography.

http://webby.umeedu.maine.edu/coehd/Asia/student_page.html

For this project you will be traveling to China as a newspaper reporter. You will assume the identity of one of two reporters, Jimmy "Hot Dog" Williams or Carol "Sunshine" Clark. Whether you're Jimmy or Carol the assignment is the same, to write a series of newspaper articles about your adventures!

Larry

I am blown away by linked verse (I've been reading the section on Japanese Literature in our seminar binder). Linked verse is highly allusive and has so many rules! There's a limit on the number of poems in primary categories such as seasons, religion, and dwellings; there are limits on the repetition of words or ideas, and limits on thematic and lexical categories, among other things. I'd be lost without the accompanying explanations.

I would like to study this type of poetry further and perhaps use some samples in a poetry unit for my English classes. We'd probably segue into haiku poetry.

The Tso Chuan: Selections from China’s Oldest Narrative History. 1989. Translated by Burton Watson. Columbia U. Press.


The Tso chuan is China’s oldest work of narrative history covering the period from 722 to 468 B.C.E. The narratives center on political, diplomatic, and military affairs, but also contain information on economic and cultural developments.

In our seminar we discussed this period and learned that this was a time when more powerful feudal states were annexing their weaker neighbors and the uncertainty and bloodshed led to eventual unification. Also, this was the time of Confucius (511-479B.C.E.), one of the most influential figures in all of Chinese cultural history.

The Tso chuan is important for the illumination of the society in which Confucius and his disciples were active, as well as for the Confucian school of thought that emerged.
The Tso chuan also had a great influence on later Chinese literature and historiography and became one of the Confucian canons of a traditional education not only in China but also in Korea and Japan.

It is not clear of what was the original form of the the Tso chuan. The period of the narratives was a dark one, marked by political turmoil and attacks by one feudal state upon another. Because of the chaos encountered there are figures who rebel against the principles of ritual or propriety and who scorn other traditional virtues enjoined by the ancient texts. There are militarists who celebrate the glories of warfare, cynics who deny the value of morality in government, and fatalists who shift all responsibility for human failure to Heaven or the gods. Supernatural forces play little or no part in these texts.

With a teacher’s guidance, the Tso chuan is suitable reading for high school students.

Hi,
This July I will be taching a new class called Financial Planning (Personal Financial Management) to 11th and 12th grades. As part of the curriculum, I will be teaching interviewing, saving and investing, credit and much more. As I discuss various parts of these subjects, I plan on having the students compare and contrast various country's customs to learn about other people. In the interviewing section, we can discuss by showing pictures of how people dress and what they convey by dressing in that way. The pictures will take various cultural aspects of Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa to compare what is conveyed through dress. We can compare and contrast how Asian people have the highest savings rates and how credit is different around the world.
In these lessons, Asia will be part of the overall discussion of how Americans do things differently and how we can learn from all cultures including Asia. The standards involved reading and understanding various material and using computational skills.

Larry

I agree with the importance of understanding computers but what about people like me who are having a hard time understanding present computers.

girl, i'm with you regarding the computer thing! do not feel alone. perhaps we can help each other with our projects and then it will be much less stressful. evangeline

I introduced all my students to footbinding with great success. On Tuesday, a PD day, my 9th and 10th grade English classes completed a worksheet consisting of three questions about clothing we wear that might be considered uncomfortable or ugly in another culture; things people do to make themselves more attractive; and reasons people might wear restrictive clothing.

I then had them read a two-page personal narrative by a woman who had had her foot bound starting at age seven. By nine, she was betrothed to a neighbor’s son and the mother-in-law took over the binding ritual, inserting tiles in the binding to cause severe inflammation. She says her husband was pleased with the result, but at the time she wrote her essay, he had passed away, the family wealth had been dissipated, and she had to wander about looking for work. She writes:

“…. That is how I came down to my present circumstances. I envy the modern woman. If I too had been born just a decade or so later, all of this pain could have been avoided. The lot of the natural-footed woman and mine is like that of heaven and hell.”

Source: Howard S. Levy, Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom (Walton Rawls Publisher, 1966) Reprinted by permission in: Riley, Philip F., et al. The Global Experience: Readings in World History to 1500, vol. 1. (Prentice Hall, 1994)

I sent around photos of women with bound feet, a close up of a bare deformed bound foot, and an embroidered shoe. I then asked my students to write on topics such as the meaning of beauty, the influence of media on our perceptions of beauty, how much is too much (plastic surgery), or comments about the essay. My students were attentive and engaged and responded enthusiastically to class discussions. I read the essay to my Strategic Literacy students with the same results.

This was a very successful lesson and can easily be expanded with other projects, such as researching rituals around the world pertaining to beauty.

Useful websites: http://starbulletin.com/98/03/10/features/story1.html
http://www.autry-museum.org/learn/images/Tom_Shee_Bin_Lesson_Plan.pdf

I know I am posting too much but I can't resist to comment on your lesson. It sounds fabulous and having students fully engaged in a lesson is always an accomplishment. Congratulations! Thank you for the share.

Thank you,
I am coming up with ideas but need help deciding if they are appropriate.
I have been searching the web to find info so I can guide my students on
the web. I want to find simple,simple facts and have them search for them
on a web page I created. That is as simple as I can make it, would that be
appropriate?

My students learn internet research as part of their curriculum. My project/lesson is looking up Chinese inventions on the internet, determining when they were invented and where. There are lots of webquest lessons which will give you some ideas. These are lessons created for students to do on the computer. You would need access to a computer lab, if all of the students need computers.

Larry

Magda, thanks for the high five. I wanted to mention that one of my students in my Language! class asked about the Great Wall of China after the lesson on footbinding. Because of his interest, I printed out a photo and an article about the Great Wall to share with the class the next day, and this student took the printouts home.

There was neural branching and linkage that day!

Our school librarian has just loaned me Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka. It has won the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award. I read some of the student reviews, all positive, describing Ailin Tao's struggle to refuse footbinding and seek an education and an independent voice for herself.

Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka is a wonderful book about a bright and headstrong girl named Ailin. Her mother and grandmother force her to start the footbinding process, but Ailin realizes that she’ll never be able to run outdoors and play or chase after the other children in the neighborhood and vows that she will never, never let them do it to her. She tears off the cloth strips and outruns the “amah” or nanny who hobbles after her in her bound feet. Her father, taking Ailin’s side, orders the ladies to stop their attempts. Ailin is relieved but Mrs. Liu, her fiancé’s mother, breaks the engagement to her son and Ailin’s family feels shamed.

Ailin’s view of footbinding is expressed in these words: “Now I finally understood why so many generations of mothers kept the custom of binding their daughters’ feet. They believed that their primary duty in raising a daughter was to have her marry well, and the girl was considered attractive and marriageable only if she had bound feet.” (p. 117)

Ailin’s father dies and her uncle takes charge of the family. One day, she is summoned to his study and is told that the family finances have diminished and she can no longer go to public school. She has only three choices for her future: become a nun, a concubine, or the wife of a tenant farmer. Read the book to find out how Ailin creates her own destiny.

This is an award winning book and recommended for elementary and middle school students, but I think that high school students would enjoy it as well.

I've been reading parts of a cookbook called The Folk Art of Japanese Country Cooking by Gaku Homma and find it very interesting. Homma grew up in northeastern Japan where entire villages were snowbound during the winter. The houses had at least two stories so that when the snow reached the top of the first floor door, the family could use the second story door to get in and out! Relief supplies used to be dropped by parachute by the Japanese army. He invites us to imagine how life must have been like two and three hundred years ago and to understand the necessity for developing food preservation techniques for survival through the long winters.

Homma was a curator for the Lake Ogawara Folk Art Museum and was sent to interview community elders by the museum. The focus of the book is on the country foods and country people of Japan.

Interesting to me was the origin of sukiyaki. Suki means spade (and things one likes) and yaki means cook, so cooking was done on a shovel!

The first half of the book is devoted to the history, customs, and festivals in Japan relating to food. The second half of the book has recipes and more history and anecdotes by the author. This book would be a useful resource when studying Japanese food, festivals, and customs.

hey larry!
just read your post regarding your integration of asian customs and attitudes regarding money and economics. sounds very interesting and a great way to expose the students. whenever the students learn about what their counterparts(teenager) are doing they seem even more curious and eager to learn. evangeline from whitman

what a great recommendation. i plan to get a hold of this as a permanent resource in my classroom. thanks evangeline

hey corey!
have you started your project yet? i, thus far, am unable to do web pages. i successfully loaded mozilla on the school computer but cant seem to get much further. did you attend the optional computer thing that clay ran? in any case, i may be calling. evangeline

HEY SCIENCE AND HISTORY TEACHERS! I WAS THINKING OF YOU! I posted this under web resources, but thought you might find it easier here:

So Kayrn and Amy won't be surprised that I went and googled sex and china. I found an article in Travel In China www.china.org.cn/english/TR-e/44069.htm. There apparently is an exhibit at Zhengzhou and Chinese sex secrets including such things as, "An exhibition of more than 350 pieces of relics depicting China's ancient sex culture opened Tuesday in Zhengzhou, capital city of central China's Henan Province.


The one-month-odd exhibition addresses 10 issues, including sexual adoration, marriage regulations, sexual oppression experienced by women, sexual entertainment, sexual health care and deviant sex. "

So health and sciemce teachers- check it out. the article only has basics about the exhibit, but one may be able to find pictures, articles, reviews afterwards by looking up museum and Zhengzhou, or if you're feeling a little rebellious (I decided to rein myself in and not say it). Obviously though, the exhibit is about more than just sexual practices, so you could surely find out something appropriate for your classroom.

DEAN

in my quest to do my project, i have thought of many ideas for others. since the chinese are hosting the 2008 olympics, they have been working extra hard to become the top in each of the sports. they wish to sweep with golds when they host. another thing this chinese guy told me was that the government of china had all the companies in beijing stop production so as to make the air as clean as possible. only in a communist country? i don't know but i was amused. how's that for some attention-getting facts? from here you can go anywhere in social studies...and math too


evangeline from whitman

hey corey

saw two korean gymnasts win the silver and bronze medal for all-around last night. Hamm, an american won gold. maybe if your kids could view a medal ceremony, that could be starting point for discussion. just an idea. i talked about it in my class, the students seemed to listen. evangeline from whitman

Hi Evangeline,
I have been using some different references to incorporate East Asia into my lessons lately. In my history of computers, I discussed an abacus and how an expert in its use was as fast as a computer. In describing how a modem works I used the analogy of speaking Chinese and how a translator would be required to communicate with the students. Recently, I used my website lesson to create a discussion regarding the Internet and China about censorship.

Larry Krant

I checked with our school librarian, Pauline Neilly, and a Chinese language teacher, Robert Liu, and made the following purchases for the Venice High School library: Journey to the West (DVD); World Heritage Sites in China; Cloud Weavers; Castle Towns: An Introduction to Tokugawa Japan; Haiku Moment: Seeing the World in a Grain of Sand; Japanese Migration and the Americas: An Introduction to the Study of Migration; The Historical and Cultural Importance of Rice; Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku; and Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands On Guide.

These items were purchased through ChinaBooks, SPICE, and Amazon and we look forward to incorporating them into our lessons about East Asia.

Creating the Warrior: Introducing New Warrior Mode of Samurai Warriors


Standards:
Reading: Understanding and following directions
Comprehension Strategy: Stay and Stray, Prediction
Writing: Preparing written directions
Writing Process: Revision
Synthesizing multiple texts and multimedia sources of information
Analyzing a multimedia source for its cultural and historical
accuracy and credibility



Prerequisites: Reading/Discussion of Japanese, specifically samurai, history
Reading/Discussion of the way of the samurai
Reading/Discussion of religions associated with the samurai
Workshop Use of Laptops, Internet, and Unit Specific Websites
Workshop Use of PS2 Game System and Controllers
Familiarity with format of stay and stray activity

Materials: PS2 with wireless controllers
Samurai Warriors: New Warrior Mode
KOEI Co., Ltd. Game Site
Unit Specific Website
Online Journal Forum
Laptops with Internet Connection
LCD Projector or TV
Poster Paper
Computer Paper
Markers


Before Class Procedure:
1. Set up laptops, PS2 and LCD projector.

In Class Procedure:
1. Introduce New Warrior Mode of game via (booklet) handout and website and have students preview information found in booklet and on website.
2. Have students break into groups. Each group will become an expert on a section and will prepare posters and a presentation for stay and stray. The posters will include both written and illustrated directions. (Focus: How to understand, prepare, and follow directions in multiple formats.)
3. Run stay and stray. Debrief.
4. Brainstorm, record, and post responses in online journals to the following questions:

What qualities or skills are most important to a samurai? Why?
What skills might a novice samurai need to learn?
What is the role of a Samurai Master or Instructor?
What makes a good teacher?
Possible Response: They should demonstrate, observe, and give feedback.
What makes good feedback? What would good feedback look like?
Possible Response: It is clear, and constructive. It tells the student what s/he is doing right/wrong and gives suggestions on how to improve.

5. Have students write (in on-line journal) what feedback they think the master warrior would give for a poor, fair, good, great, or excellent performance.

Assess them on their ability to predict, their use of vocabulary and language associated with the samurai warrior, as well as allusions or references to samurai history, teachings, or traditional culture.

6. Play Samurai Warriors in new warrior mode following the procedures outlined in stay and stray. After each play round, have students compare their predictions to the feedback messages that pop up on the screen and note these comparisons in their online journals.

Were their predictions correct or close? How?
Were their predictions off? How?
Which was better, their prediction or the game message? Why?

7. Then, have students rate the messages from the master warrior on their authenticity.

Would a samurai master really say that?
Does the message concur with what you know about samurai history, culture,
practices, beliefs and teachings? How?
How could you rewrite the message so that it did?
What would you add? Why?

8. Have students rewrite the text in their online journals, adding historical and cultural vocabulary, references and allusions as fit.

Follow-up:
Students read each other’s responses in the online journal forum. Students then respond to each other’s revisions and select a few to keep as the class’ documentation of their project on Samurai and Samurai Warriors. These posts are then copied to a host site where the class could share their work with others.

Stay and Stray

General Directions

- Students will break into groups of three and read a determined section of the text.

- They will become an expert on that portion of the text and create two visual and textual representations of the information they have learned.

- One of these posters will “stay” with two of the students, while the smaller (8.5’’ by 11’’) poster will “stray” with one student.

- Students will sit in a circle around the room in front of their posters, and both the students who “stay” and “stray” will teach each group they encounter about their section.

- This way each student in the class will be an expert on one section and have exposure to all of the rest.


Specific Directions

The manual will be divided into the following sections:

Game Controls and Game Screens Handout pgs. 1+2
Movements and Attacks Handout pgs. 3+4
Defense Handout pg. 5
Character Growth Handout pgs. 6-10
Creating a New Officer Handout pg. 11
Exercises Handout pg. 12
Trials of Acceptance Handout pg. 13

Students will work in groups of three to create concise yet specific written and visual interpretations of this material to share with their classmates.

Students will “Stay and Stray” with their representations until each group has been exposed to each section.

Once students return to their original group, the movement will stop. Students will take 5 minutes to discuss with their group what they learned.

Briefly, each student will share out to the class on their posters.

Students will then have the background knowledge to prepare them to participate actively in the live game play that will accompany the unit.

Samurai Warriors: A Historical and Cultural Evaluation

Target Students

This unit is designed to motivate below-grade-level ninth and tenth grade readers, who test below the 20th percentile on California state exams, to find excitement, pleasure, and value in reading, writing, forms of multimedia and cultural studies. This population of students are what are considered CAP students, meaning they were the overflow of numerous other, inner city, high schools in LA Unified. Because of this, they represent a relatively low socio-economic class, as documented by Title I reports, and one who primarily speaks a language other than English at home. Many of the parents of these children work two and three jobs to support a large family living in cramped spaces. Many do not have time to spend monitoring their child’s education, let alone bring them to bookstores, libraries or museums. Most have difficulty contacting teachers, and numbers are always low for parent-teacher conferences.

However, despite the hardships that these students face, many of whom travel more than an hour via bus to school, they manage to make an impressive commitment to learning how to read and write at grade level. Because of this, they are extremely motivated in class and participate widely in reading at home. Yet, so much of their prescripted curriculum is word study, fluency builders and bookwork that they have trouble sustaining this dedication. Therefore, there is great need for more interactive and technologically based lessons that incorporate all the strands of their Language! program, a phonics based reading curriculum.

Unit Overview

This unit is a research-based, multi-cultural project that uses multimedia to stimulate narrative, expository, creative and persuasive writing, while working to improve student proficiency in reading and use of technology. Targeting students who fall below basic on state assessments of reading and language arts, this project will work to stimulate student interest in reading and acknowledgement of the great necessity for literacy, by transforming technology commonly used for entertainment into a medium for reading, discussion, evaluation and writing. While based upon something students do not consider rigorous activity, the work surrounding this project will be. Students will face challenging text, and be asked to synthesize their knowledge and understanding of multiple sources into critical discussions and writings.

In this unit students will research the history of the samurai in Japan and use that background knowledge to critique the teen rated video game Samurai Warriors by KOEI Co., ltd. Using a web site that I’ve created, students will read historical text, primary source documents, and game related materials. They will first complete a research project on both the samurai and Japan. Presenting these projects to the class, students will work on public speaking skills and further develop their background knowledge. From this point, students will research the game, its creation and connection to historical figures, costumes and events. Having thus acquired this information, students will read about game play and experiment with characters, battles, and game levels. The real connections between history, culture and game begin when students create their own warrior and play through the trainings, trials, and then ultimate test in order to be accepted into a warrior clan.

Throughout this process students will use strategies of prediction, summarization, and evaluation. As well, students will develop their reading and vocabulary by identifying word meanings through focus on affixes, roots, syntax and context clues. They will compose their predictions through creative, narrative writing and then analyze their work using expository writing. Determining whether or not their predictions supercede the game screen text, students will work on persuasive paragraphs.

Throughout the unit, students will participate in a web-based discussion forum and follow the six traits of effective writing as well as the revision process to create material for uploading to a class web page.

This unit will culminate with a final assessment. Students will compose either an expository or persuasive essay to post to the class’s web page. These essays will focus on the game’s ability to teach its audience about samurai and Japan. Some may also focus on the game’s ability to serve as a reading tool, and the ways in which it could be.

The following multi-media skills will be taught and assessed: Internet navigation, keyboarding and word processing, and basic web page design.


State Standards Addressed (In Standard Order)

2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials)
2.3 Generate relevant questions about readings on issues that can be researched.
2.4 Synthesize the content from several sources dealing with a single issue; paraphrase the ideas and connect them to other sources and related topics to demonstrate comprehension.
2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration.
2.6 Demonstrate use of sophisticated learning tools by following technical directions (e.g., those found with graphic calculators and specialized software programs and in access guides to World Wide Web sites on the Internet).
2.7 Critique the logic of functional documents by examining the sequence of information and procedures in anticipation of possible reader misunderstandings.
3.2 Compare and contrast the presentation of a particular theme or topic across genres to explain how the selection of genre shapes the theme or topic.
3.12 Analyze the way in which a work of literature is related to the themes and issues of its historical time period. (Historical approach)

1.0 Writing Strategies
1.1 Establish a controlling impression or coherent thesis that conveys a clear and distinctive perspective on the subject and maintain a consistent tone and focus throughout the piece of writing.
1.2 Use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, appropriate modifiers, and the active rather than passive voice.
1.3 Use clear research questions and suitable research methods.
1.4 Develop the main ideas within the body of the composition through supporting evidence.
1.5 Synthesize information from multiple sources and identify complexities and discrepancies in the information and the different perspectives found in each medium.
1.6 Integrate quotations and citations into a written text maintaining the flow of ideas.
1.7 Use appropriate conventions for documentation in the text, notes and bibliographies by adhering to those in style manuals.
1.8 Design and publish documents using advanced publishing software and graphic programs.
1.9 Revise writing to improve the logic and coherence of the organization and controlling perspective, the precision of word choice, and the tome by taking into consideration the audience, purpose, and formality of the context.

2.0 Writing Applications
2.2 b. Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text or other works.
2.3 Write expository compositions, including analytical essays and research reports.
2.4 Write persuasive compositions.
2.5 Write business letters.
2.6 Write technical documents.

Written and Oral Language Conventions
1.2 Understand sentence construction.
1.3 Demonstrate an understanding of proper English usage and control of grammar, paragraph and sentence structure, diction, and syntax.
1.4 Produce legible work that shows accurate spelling and correct use of the conventions of punctuation and capitalization.
1.5 Reflect appropriate manuscript requirements, including title page presentation, pagination, spacing and margins, and integration of source and support material.

Listening and Speaking
1.1 Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.
1.2 Compare and contrast the ways in which media genres cover the same event.
1.3 Choose logical patterns of organization to inform and to persuade, by soliciting agreement or action, or to unite audiences behind a common belief or cause.
1.4 Choose appropriate techniques for developing the introduction and conclusion.
1.5 Recognize and use elements of classical speech forms in formulating rational arguments and applying the art of persuasion and debate.
1.6 Present and advance a clear thesis statement and choose appropriate types of proof that meet standard tests for evidence, including credibility, validity, and relevance.
1.7 Use props, visual aids, graphs, and electronic media to enhance the appeal and accuracy of presentations.
1.8 Produce concise notes for extemporaneous delivery.
1.9 Analyze the occasion and interests of the audience and choose effective verbal and nonverbal techniques.

2.0 Speaking Applications and Their Genres
2.1 Deliver narrative presentations.
2.2 Deliver expository presentations.
2.3 Apply appropriate interviewing techniques.
2.5 Deliver persuasive arguments.
2.6 Deliver descriptive presentations.

I found some great websites to pull primary source material from. The Internet Modern Sourcebook@ http:www.fordham.edu/halsall/ and Boondocks.net.com@http://www.boondocksnet.com/search.html.

From these sources I pulled a copy of a Pears soap advertisement picturing Admiral Perry washing his hands with the caption reading: [the soap] "brightening the dark corners of the earth as civilization advances while amongst the cultured of all nations it holds the highest place--it is the ideal toilet soap." The picture feature the Admiral washing his hands with Pears soap surrounded by civilization, while also featuring natives in the corner of the advertisement lacking this progress.

This is a great resource to teach imperialism, stereotypes, and the concept of the "white man's burden." I also use the poem "White Man's Burden,"written by Rudyard Kipling, in conjuction with the Pears advertisement to teach Imperialism from the colonizers point of view.

This lesson satisfies the 10.4.3 requirement of the California State Standards.

The Pears soap advertisement is found on the Boondocksnet.com
The poem, "White Man's Burden" is found of the Internet Modern Sourcebook.

Two Day Lesson

California State Standard:
10.4.4 Imperialism from the perspective of the colonizers and the colonized and the varied immediate and long-term responses by the people under colonial rule.

Objective:
*Students will understand early views of Europeans from the perspective of China
*Students will understand China's response and reaction to European Imperialism.

Materials
*The reception of the 1st English Ambassador to China, 1792
*Qian Long: Letter to George III, 1793
*Primary sources may be downloaded from the following website:
Modern History Sourcebook@http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
*Butcher paper
*Markers

Procedure
*QW: How do you thnk the Chinese view the Europeans? How do you think they will respond to Europe's pressure to trade?
*Students will spend about 5 minutes responding to this prompt. Then discuss the prompt with the class.
*Have the clas read the reception of the 1st English Ambassador to China, 1792
*Discuss the following:
1. What was the attitude of the Chinese monarch to the British ambassador?
2. How did the British ambassador comport himself in the presence of the Chinese monarch?
3. What was the purpose of the visit to the royal court?
4. What was the result of the visit?
*Have the class read the letter to George III, 1793. (It is long--the class may read only portions of it).
*Discuss the following:
1. What does king George want from China?
2. What does Qian Long state in his letter to King George?
3. How does Qian Long view the British? What language is used to convey this sentiment?
4. How do both of these sources reflect the feelings of the Chinese ruling class in regard to foreigners?
*Hand out a map of China to the students. Have them identify the city of Canton (Guangzhou). What is the significance of the city?
*On butcher paper, students may choose to construct a poster or T-chart illustrating the differences between the thinking of the Chinese and the thinking of the British in the late 1700s, early 1800s.
*Additional activity: Students respond to this question:
What would you do if you were advisor to the Chinese monarchy? Would you advise the monarchy to continue in isolation from the West, or would you advise the monarchy to become modernized?
Follow-up
Have students read the sources listed on the following websites:
*Emergence of Modern China, The Opium War 1839-42
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CHING/OPIUM.htm
*History of the Opium Trade in China
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/om/ommenu.htm

re: footbinding
The students are really fascinated by the whole footbinding ritual. There is an awesome documentary on A & E from time to time interviewing the last of the bound ladies. Good for taping if you can catch it. Also works as a great bridge between ancient vs. modern body modification. The ramifications of it then and now (piercing/tattooes/hair) especially in regards to treatment in the workforce and limitations because of it. Helps the 12 graders to see their near future. Also, how about the Japanese skin museum where they preserve tattooed skin?! Must be bonafide MD or artist (ie;Don Ed Hardy) to enter.

*JAPANESE SKIN SPECIALIST COLLECTS HUMAN TATTOOS FOR TOKYO MUSEUM    1950 magazine article, on two-and-a-half pages, about Dr. Sei-ichi Fukushi, a specialist in skin diseases and considered to be the world authority on tattoos, at that time.  Photographs of the skin of a Japanese gangster mounted on museum doors, members of the Tattoo League in a bathhouse, examples of designs and a Japanese tattooist at work.  Published in Life Magazine, 1950.
Wow- would love to see a copy of it.


re: Compare & contrast essays for the ELA/SPA "low stakes assessment" (LOL) & syandards.
Some kids dig comparing and contrasting Anime to American cartoons. High interest!

Like you, I haven't had much experience teaching East Asian concepts. I have taught Romeo and Juliet and found an article about an Indian-American (culture of India) who chose to go into an arranged marriage, even after she lived in the U.S. for several years. After reading East Asia, A New History (Murphey), I have a greater appreciation of the role family allegiance plays in the East Asian culture. I could compare that idea with Romeo and Juliet's times...and with the Latin culture.

I also have taught the novel Bless Me Ultima (Anaya) and one of the themes was the intermarriage of a family of herders with a family of farmers. The two sides of the family seemed in conflict about how to raise their son. I could see the historical conflict (perhaps more extreme in China than in Mexico) that has the mostly farming Chinese culture rejecting anything related to the nomadic people on the North. The farmers even disliked keeping goats and sheep -- and drinking the milk -- because they were associted with "the despised nomads." I think it would be interesting to help students see that these divisions have been found in a broad range of societies.

if there are any english teachers out there that teach modernist poetry you can use a few ezra pound poems to connect the students to asia. pound translated three li po poems (Jewel Stairs' Grievance, Taking Leave of a Friend, and The River-Merchant's Wife). i have taught The River-Merchant's Wife and have found success-both as a model of imagist poetry as well as a bridge to Chinese history, geography and culture. comparing the pound and waley translations might be interesting too. also, when teaching In a Station of the Metro, it is nice to introduce the hokku, as it appears to have influenced pound greatly. i also believe asian art compliments these poems.

I did visit the website, interesting. I would like to page through the middle school sexology textbook.

Frank =:O

Thank you for this information. These two topics are very high interest, especially tattoos and body modification/piercing. They are so young and making a decision to alter your body is not one to be taken lightly. Additionally, I think the students think their generation invented these things. I like how you tie this into how it will affect their future job prospects and I think I could tie some information in, while teaching them resume writing (on the securing employment, interviews) etc. The students think by modifying themselves they are setting themselves apart, being an individual, however, sadly they are only conforming to a current fad (or resurrgence).

Since punk rock has returned with a vengeance you might consider teaching the terrors of Pol Pot and/or/versus the cushy American life via this classic punk rock song by the Dead Kennedys at

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deadkennedys/holidayincambodia.html

There are some naughty bits but you can cut/paste around them. P.S. Don't forget to mention lead singer
Jello Biafra's failed bid for San Francisco mayor! nice to see a punk musician w/brains.

I put together a website and course which may be beneficial to teachers at the high school level. It has some ideas on different topics of interest regarding East Asia. It shows an example of a webquest you can use to teach abot East Asia's geography. You can also craete other webquests in similar formats on virutally any topic.
http://international.ucla.edu/asia/lessons/kmilton/

I came across the 'Travels of Marco polo'. It's very interesting. The only problem is how I would make it fit in the high school history standard. I think we should be given a say in formulating the standard. There is much history about Asia which has been left out in the California High school standard.

One of the topics in High school World history is Imperialism. I have been teaching imperialism in East Asia. I wonder if there is any person who also teaches Imperialism to share some ideas with me.

Japan the second largest economy in world is part of Asia I will be teaching next semester. Please feel free to give your comments. See the attachment

Collins...one of the most important things I have learned through this seminar is the importance of relating different topics to one another...maybe you could include some arts of Japan and other cultural stuff to connect when they are making their posters?[Edit by="bklank on Aug 16, 12:22:27 PM"][/Edit]

I feel as though this seminar has taught me not only alot about East Asia, but also about how to approach the different topics and also relating and combining different aspects of history and English into my art curriculum, and how important this relationship between the different subjects is.[Edit by="bklank on Aug 16, 12:26:08 PM"][/Edit]

I have been developing a unit on early Asian global trade when I stumbled upon a new source of excellent material that I thought my colleagues would be interested in. It is called "China and Europe" and can be accessed through the following link:

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/chinawh/web/s4/index.html.

This link doesn't seem to be hot, so you may have to copy and paste it into your address line of your web browser. It features Ken Pomeranz and Bin Wong. Hope its of use to you. Nicholas Beck

Very nice lesson and one so suitable for today's high school students. After seeing yet another teen-ager walk into my classroom with the requisite tattoos, piercings, and plugs, I think a lesson like this on the price and pain of beauty would be in order. Although the bound feet were a socially-accepted custom that caused permanent disfigurement, this lesson would start discussion. Some of the students might think about how they would get these tattoos off in ten years when they tire of them or how to close their ear lobes after they've been stretched out with plugs.

It would be interesting and helpful to have students study marriage customs from Asian and other cultures to broaden their understanding through discussion. Comparing ideas with those from Shakespeare's plays would bring the world a little closer and provide clarity through comparison. I could use this idea with _Romeo and Juliet_ as well.

I'm not quite sure where this fits in, but when I was in college I was in a Kabuki production of the Greek myths of
Agamemnon, which I'm not sure I'd be able to find (I believe the adaptation was by Bryan J. DiPietro), but the comparisons were so striking I was surprised I hadn't noticed them before. Issues of familial duty, honor, betrayal play prominent parts in both styles (Greek Drama and Kabuki) and using one might be a great way to introduce the other.

It certainly helps explain the pageantry and melodrama of the mi'e, if you compare it to Clytemnestra beating her breast and wailing to the heavens.

just a thought,
m@x