Seminar on Teaching About East Asia
February 2- April 13, 2005

Instructor: Marilyn McCullough
Office Phone: 353-1680
Office: 301 International Center
Home Phone: 349-9522
Email: mccull67@msu.edu

Asian Studies Center
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan

Course Description

This seminar is designed to provide an introduction to important themes in East Asian history and culture that will enable teachers to more easily introduce China, Japan, and Korea into the middle and high school classroom. Thus there are two main themes to the seminar: the acquisition of knowledge of, and understanding about, East Asia; and the development of ideas about how to bring this knowledge into the classroom. This seminar is part of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia and is funded by a grant from the Freeman Foundation; it is administered though the Indiana University East Asian Studies Center.

The course will include lectures and presentations from the Instructor and guest speakers, discussions of readings and videos, plus the presentation and construction of curricular material. All material presented in this course will be designed to assist teachers in constructing and teaching lessons about East Asia.

Schedule

The seminar will consist of 10 three hour sessions which will be held from February 2 to April 13, 2005. They will meet from 4:30 to 7:30 pm and teachers are encouraged to bring a “brown bag” supper to the course.

Location of the seminar

The course will meet in room C212 of Wells Hall on the Michigan State University campus. Maps and parking passes will be provided to participants. This room is a “smart”classroom and is equipped with all the latest technology.

Stipends

Upon completion of the 30 hour seminar and submission of an implementation plan for teaching East Asia in the classroom, participants will receive a stipend; during the following school year, the participants’ schools will receive a further stipend for the purchase of teaching resources. At the end of the following school year, (Spring, 2006) a follow up enrichment activity will be held; at this time the participants are to submit a report describing the success of classroom implementation of material relating to East Asia. A further stipend will be given when this report is submitted.

Graduate Credit

Participants have the option of taking the seminar for 3 graduate credit hours through Indiana University; to do so they must register and pay the in-state tuition for graduate credits at Indiana University; they must also complete an annotated bibliography of East Asian materials with an emphasis on how these materials could be used in teaching East Asian history and culture.

Attendance

Each participant is required to engage in 30 contact hours for this seminar. If you must miss class for an acceptable reason, you must make up the contact hours. To do this, you will write a 1-2 page paper on the readings from the missed class.

Teacher Implementation Plan (TIP)

You must develop a TIP for use at your school for each of the three geographical areas we are studying: China, Japan, and Korea. Each TIP will include the following: an explanation of what opportunities you will have to teach about Asia next semester, including the level, subject area, hours of instruction; a brief essay on the pedagogical philosophy that underlies your choices; an explanation of how you will apply the course material to your own teaching; and an extensive resource list citing books, periodicals, videos, and websites related to the lesson plan. Further details and examples will be provided during the seminar which will have presentations by teachers who have taken the course in previous years who will discuss their own experience with constructing these lesson plans and in implementing them.

Snow days or Emergency days

If school is canceled in the local school district, the seminar will also be canceled and the class session made up. If you are uncertain about whether class will be held, please don’t hesitate to call me.

Books and materials for the course

Each participant will receive a package of books to be read during the course. I picked these books both because they would be interesting for the class and also because they have material that should be useful in teaching East Asia in the classroom. We will also discuss a number of videos which are available either at Blockbuster, or from the Asian Studies Center at MSU but are not including these in the materials list.

The book list includes:

Rhoads Murphey: East Asia: A New History. This is a comprehensive text for the history and culture of East Asia and makes a good reference work as well as a good general text.

Richard Kim: Lost Names. This is a semi-autobiographical novel of childhood during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s and 1940s

Rae Yang: Spider Eaters. This is a memoir of a Chinese woman about the period before and during the Cultural Revolution.

John Nelson: A Year in the life of a Shinto Shrine: This is an anthropological study of the events, rituals, and people associated with a Shinto Shrine and it tells the role of the Shrine in today’s Japan as well as presenting the history,ideas and practices of Shinto.

Patricia Ebrey: Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 2 nd ed. This is an excellent collection of primary readings from Chinese history and civilization

James Watson: Golden Arches East: McDonalds in East Asia: This is a fascinating account of the prevalence of McDonalds in East Asia and how this mega-corporation has adapted to the prevailing culture in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Children of all ages could readily compare McDonalds here and in Asia.

Don Oberforfer: The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. This is an excellent journalistic account of the division of Korea and of the politics which have shaped this development; the book provides insights into both South and North Korea, including the present nuclear stand off with the North.

Haruko and Theodore Cook: Japan at War: An Oral History. This is an excellent and amazing collection of first hand reports of Japan in World War II told by the people engaged in the war. Some of the recollections are awesome.

Class Schedule

Feb 2:Introduction to the course

Feb 9: Focus on China

Feb 16: Focus on China

Feb 23:Focus on China

March 2: Focus on Korea

March 9: NO CLASS

 March 16: Focus on Korea

March 23: Focus on Japan

March 30: Focus on Japan

April 6: Focus on Japan

April 13: East Asia Today

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Last updated: 08/27/04
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~easc/taa_seminar/
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