Following our trip to China, I was deeply moved by the responsibility to share our experience, knowledge and enthusiasm for Asia with my students. With the state curriculum and the end of the year staring all of us in the face, it was a great challenge. As I engaged in continuing discussion on George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, I was stunned to see, more clearly than ever, the parallels to Red China and the socialism therein. Then I found some simple poetry that emphasized several of the symbols I had captured on film, during the visit. I combined some of the current news articles on the Olympics, Confucianism and even the death of Boris Yeltzin with our core novel and the information on China. The students were drawn in by shared experience tied to their course work. Aileen Willoughby helped me to compile a list of Chinese-American literature and I was able to put together a follow up assignment with a Response to Literature that would reflect what the students had learned about China. Each student is required to read a novel about China and see a movie made in Chinese with English subtitles from a list posted on Ed line. They are currently working on the project. My hopes are high with regard to their discovery. The students have already written free verse poetry to reflect what they have learned thus far and journal entries. The global village is getting smaller and understanding and compassion is on the rise. Along with some souvenier bamboo bookmarks brought back for each student, I can see the interest rising in their questions, comments and desire to travel to Asia themselves. What an amazing experience and so contagious! It is an honor to be part of the process of helping to prepare the next generation for the future and China's part in that future.
-Susan
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Ideas to connect course material in English to China
04/26/2007 02:17 PM
#1
Ideas to connect course material in English to China
Hi Susan! Your unit combining China and "Animal Farm" sounds very innovative and creative. I especially enjoyed your insight on the parallels between Red China and the symbolism in "Animal Farm". What grade level do you teach?
Thanks for your comments.
I teach 9th grade English and English Honors.
Crazy time of year...the crunch; however, students keep coming in with current event information on China. "Ms. Pavelka, did you hear that the Chinese government is giving citizens citations if they spit in public or do not upgrade the look of their homes in time for the 2008 Olympics?" shouted a student as she ran into 2nd period. The awareness has been raised and the education continues.
Animal Farm was one of Orwell's attacks on Soviet communism. It was read by some in China during the 1970s as a critique of the Soviet Union (the official Chinese line condemned the rise of a bureaucratic capitalist class there). You may be interested in the 2002 NPR report by Rob Gifford on the performance of a stage version of Animal Farm:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=845088
It is of some interest that Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London was also held in high regard by some of the earlier Marxists in China and Russia. It is Orwell's biographical account as he 'slums' his way through several low-paying jobs on the fringe of society. The Marxists saw it as a wholesale condemnation of capitalism. Of course, Orwell went on to condemn socialism as impractical in The Road to Wigan Pier, and after a brief "honeymoon" with what he believed was an emerging classless society in Barcelona, he reported his belief that a classless society was truly a pipe dream in Homage to Catalonia.[Edit by="gjones on Jul 21, 10:52:59 PM"][/Edit]
I like the idea of using Animal Farm as a critique of the Chinese Communist power structure. As you well know, the text has classically been used to analyze the Russian communist party's history in the form of a metaphoric fable.
That said, I don't really think I could yet use that approach with my 6th graders. My interest in this thread comes about from my wish to incoorporate more writing in my social studies curriculum. I have had student do narrative journal wrrites in which they focus on setting and figurative language to describe the geography of a location of study. I think this is a great way to incoorporate english content into the study of China.
When studying the political structure of Chinese governemt during periods such the Han or Sung, one could have students write a persuasive piece advocating the benefits of such a system, or in the case of the later perhaps the need for openness and reform.
As for literary analysis I am sure translated Chinese poetry--of which we have quite a bit in our course materials--would allow for much study in the areas of identifying and discussing the significance of figurative language and imagery, perhaps the use of metaphor, and not to be overlooked the ever present discussion of theme and message.
There must be a million more ideas, and I'd love to hear of some other ideas. Particullarly those that would be helpful to middle-school aged students. ELL type stuff would be great.
I enjoyed the debate that we had in class last week about the 4 philosophies. I think that having to process the beliefs and structure of each philosophy and then speaking on it with authority was very helpful in understanding. The long history of China is very confusing with so many names and dates, but breaking it down and having each argue side made it all come together. We got to hear examples from our classmates and their interpretations, and even though we read all 4 philosophies, it was nice to only have to focus on one.
I think that debates are great teaching strategies, and I use them in my English classes all of the time. I think that once you have to defend your side it makes one look deeper into why it exists in the first place. Most rules and schools of thought come from some type of need at the time.
We can see by the current state of our government and the financial crisis that some rules will be made that have never existed, but they come from a need to resolve our economic crisis.
I posted this on the other site, but I completely agree with "dreid" about the debate exercise. It was entertaining and informative, illuminating what might have otherwise seemed as confusing or complex material so that I could grasp the concepts, similarities and differences alike.