Jeffrey's Book Report

Beacon Hill Boys by Ken Mochizuki 

The book is about a Asian boy in Seattle named Dan trying to find his identity in the world. He is trying to not be like his perfect brother in life and does not want to be known as the Asian in class. Dan and his friends are all trying to be their own person and not be invisible in school. They all are trying to find themselves in different ways. When Dan is looking into the past and the internment camps that his parents were in, his parents will not talk about the camps at all. Dan's dad's motto is "The nail that sticks out the highest will get hit the hardest." Dan does not want to sit back and take it from everyone. He wants to go out and become his own person.

Sarah's Book Report

Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Jamie or Jamilah is a high school girl living in Australia with her father, brother and sister. At school, she is Jamie the blonde haired, blue-eyed girl in the “almost popular” group and the girl the most popular guy in school has a crush on. Once she leaves school though, she is Jamilah a Lebanese-Muslim girl who has dyed her brown locks out of rebellion, wears blue contacts to look cool and must abide by her father’s strict Curfew Charter that is hanging on the fridge that includes never hanging out with guys outside of school or family supervision. Jamie cannot talk to anyone about her double-life until she meets a boy named John on the internet who is leading a double life elsewhere in Australia. Jamie tells John all about her struggles to balance her Lebanese culture and her identity at school. John also becomes the person she turns to as her double lives become more and more complicated to keep separate and seem to be heading for a collision!

Heather's Book Report

An Ocean Apart, a World Away by Lensey Namioka

An Ocean Apart, a World Away by Lensey Namioka follows the story of a Chinese girl named Xueyan, better known as Yanyan. Yanyan has been taught in an American missionary school, and she longs to learn more about Western and traditional Chinese medicine. One day, she dreams of becoming a doctor. Yanyan has no interest in marrying until she meets Liang Baoshu, a friend of her eldest brother. However, Baoshu turns out to be involved in a plot to overthrow the Chinese government. He asks Yanyan to run away with him, but she chooses to pursue her plans to become a doctor instead. She enrolls in an American university and struggles to adapt to the various culture changes. In the end, Baoshu comes to America in an attempt to change her mind, but Yanyan is unrelenting and chooses to remain in the United States.

Suggested Teaching Strategies

Teaching Strategy #1: Rethink the Asian American's Silence

Silence can mean numerous things from a student. It could mean: resistance to teachers, lack of understanding of concepts, thoughtful engagement, concept consideration, insecurity in speaking English, insecurity in their grasp of understanding content and many others. A teacher must decipher the reason behind the silence by interacting with the students individually.

Teaching Strategy #2: Highlight ways Asian American's challenge racism and stereotypes

A teacher must stand against the Asian stereotypes of them being convenience store owners, terrorists, kung fu fighting mobsters, super-nerds, and having submissive women. To do this a teacher can introduce the entire class to examples of organizations and people who defy the stereotypes. By giving these examples, a teacher will show all students how they can be proactive in challenging the issues that are affecting their communities and demonstrates to them that they do not need to be silent as the stereotype specifies.

Teaching Strategy #3: Do Not Automatically Assume Asian Americans are "Good" Students

A teacher must personally get to know all of her students and should not accept stereotypes. By researching, visiting their communities, or many other things, a teacher can get to know their students on a deeper level and therefore better understand them. Another way to better get to know Asian American students is to ask them to reflect and write about their home lives and experiences and how that intersects with their school lives. By not automatically assuming all Asian Americans are "good" students, you will also help students get over their feelings of pressure to do well in school. By getting rid of the pressure students will be able to reach a higher and deeper potential than possible before.


Strategies taken from Rethinking Multicultural Education in the chapter "You're Asian. How Could You Fail Math?" on pages 213- 215.

Artwork #2

This is a brush painting by Chinese artist Qi Baishi. This work was done in 1950, and is entitled "Tallow Trees and Mynas." The tree painted here is the Chinese tallow tree, which is found all over in the villages of South China. The two myna birds are an expression of the artist's longing for the home of his youth. We chose this piece because it is a well-know form of Chinese art, and it illustrates life in southern China.

Description of Learners

Asian learners are diverse within themselves.

• There are over 4 billion Asian Americans.
• They come from many different countries.
• There are over 50 ways to qualify as an Asian American according to the U.S. government.

Asian American learners are diverse in their economic class.

• Working Class - They have longer hours, lower pay, and lower education. These students generally perform below average.
• Middle Class - Mothers have more time, resources, and education to help their children do well in school.

Asians make more income per household than the average American. However, the per person income is lower, making them poorer in general and more at risk.

• Asian Americans also tend to live in more expensive places, so their money gets spent quickly.

Asian Americans often have to struggle with the racist expectations put on them to do well.
Some of them follow the "white" educational pathway, while others follow a "black" or "latino" pathway.
Some will learn English and "go places," while others grow up in English, but later drop out.

Example of Music #2

This is a song entitle Arirang, that is is traditional Korean folk song.  There are many versions of this song, but they are all very similar.  The song tells the story of a sad young woman who hopes that her departing lover will get sore feet and return to her.  We chose this song because it is the most popular of all Korean songs, and is sometimes even considered the unofficial national anthem.

Example of Music #1

This is a traditional Chinese song called Gao Shan Lie Shui, or "High Mountains and Flowing Water."  Legend has it that musician Bo Ya was playing his Guqin (ancient stringed instrument) in the wilderness. A woodman named Zhong Ziqi understood that his music was about the high mountains and flowing water.  Bo Ya was surprised that he understood this, and the two become close friends. When Ziqi later died, Bo Ya broke his instrument and never played it again in his life.  We chose this piece of music because it comes from one of the ancient legends of the Chinese people.

Poem #2

Here are poems or rather Haiku by the famous Japanese poet Matsu Basho. 

Under the image of Buddha

All these spring flowers

Seem a little tiresome.

By the old temple, 

peach blossoms;

a man treading rice.

We chose these poems because Haiku is a traditional Japanese poetry form that is used throughout the world. Matsu Basho was a well known Japanese poet who wrote many Haiku during his lifetime. We selected these particular Haiku because of their specifically Asian subjects. In the first, the image of Buddha is mentioned. Buddha is the god of many Asian cultures. The second Haiku talks about a temple, probably a Buddhist temple, and peach blossoms which are very important to Japanese culture. The last line of the poem talks about rice which plays a major role in agriculture in Asian countries. 

Historical Events

1882 an act was passed called the Chinese Exclusion act was passed banning immigration of laborers from China to the United States. Students and businessmen were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. This act was to keep Chinese laborers out because many Americans thought they were taking the better jobs and did not want the competition in the job market. 

March 28, 1898: US vs. Wong Kim Ark – U.S. Supreme Court ruled that to deny citizenship to any person born in the U.S. would be a violation of the 14^th Amendment. All US-born Asians were granted free citizenship as a result of this Supreme Court ruling. 

December 7, 1941 is a day "that will live in infamy" because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attacked the naval base in Hawaii and it resulted in the United States entering World War II. 

During WWII President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 uprooting 100,000 people of Japanese descent on the west coast to be sent to internment camps. This came as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. American were afraid the Japanese Americans would ally with the Japanese to help fight the war. 

The first Asian American to become a member of Congress was Dalip Singh Saund in 1956. He was a South Asian farmer with a Ph.D. degree from central California. This step led to more Asian Americans being involved in politics.

1965 Immigration Act – equalized immigration, resulting in a wave of new immigrants from non-European nations such as Asia and others. This act transformed the demographic and cultural characteristics of the United States. The act also led immigration numbers to double over the next five years and then again in the five years following.

Poem #1

Here is a poem The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter by Li Po and translated by Ezra Pound.

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead

I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.

You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,

You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.

And we went on living in the village of Chokan:

Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

 

At fourteen I married My Lord you.

I never laughed, being bashful.

Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.

Called to, a thousend times, I never looked back.

 

At fifteen I stopped scowling,

I desired my dust to be mingled with yours

Forever and forever and forever.

Why should I climb the look out?

 

At sixteen you departed,

You went into far Ku-to-en, by the river of swirling eddies,

And you have been gone five months.

The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

 

You dragged your feet when you went out.

By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,

Too deep to clear them away!

The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.

The paired butterflies are already yellow with August

Over the grass in the West garden;

They hurt me.  I grow older.

If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,

Please let me know beforehand,

And I will come out to meet you

                      As far as Cho-fu-Sa.

This poem tells the story of a Chinese girl who is in an arranged marriage. The relationship is at first forced and she wishes she could go back to her old life before she was married. As the years go by, she grows to love her husband and when he dies on one of his journeys she mourns his passing and longs to be with him again. The poem demonstrates different aspects of Chinese culture with arranged marriages and the vocation of river merchant. The poem also expresses how people who have grown up in the Chinese culture respond to the custom. The girl is at first against her arranged marriage but soon loves her husband and is glad for the marriage. 

Box Office Film #2

Letters from Iwo Jima

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought in it. We picked this movie because it is a different way to look at the war. It presents the battle from the Japanese history instead of American history.

Picture Book #2

Here is a book entitled Yoon and the Christmas Mitten by Helen Recorvits.

This book tells the story of Yoon, a young Korean immigrant. Yoon learns about Christmas traditions from her new American teacher. She comes home from school, very excited about what she has heard about “Mr. Santa Claus.” Her parents tell her that they are not a Christmas family. They insist that they will celebrate the same way that they did back in Korea. However, after Yoon begs her parents to let her hang a mitten for Santa to fill, her parents have a change of heart and allow her to hang her Christmas mitten. This is a story about immigrants learning to accept new traditions while still keeping their old ones.

Box Office Film #1

Last Train Home

This is a film about migrant factory workers in China’s cities. Each year, at the time of the Chinese New Year, these workers leave the cities to go home to their families in the rural villages. It is the largest human migration in the world. “The Last Train Home” follows the Zhang family, who abandoned their children 16 years ago to work in the city. They hoped that with their wages they would be able to give their children a better life. However, their absence takes a toll on their daughter Qin. She rebels, drops out of school, and faces a future as a migrant worker as well. This film helps us learn much about the way of life in China, a country that is discarding its traditional values as it pushes towards global economic dominance.

Piece of Art #1

Here is a woodblock print by the famous Japanese artist Hokusai called The Great Wave of Kanagawa.

We chose this piece of art because it is one of the most famous pieces in Japan. It was one of the first pieces of Asian artwork appreciated by the Western world. The piece also includes Mount Fugi, the most well known landmark of Japan.

Picture Book #1

Here is a book entitled Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin.

The book is about a girl and her mom who grow a garden and with the produce from the garden make an Asian dish. The dish smells so good that everyone in the neighborhood comes to try the Asian food.

This picture book shows the differences between Asian food and American food. It also demonstrates how even if you are not of Asian descent, you can enjoy the wonderful dishes of this culture.

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