The East Asian Studies Center hosts an annual week-long, intensive summer workshop for K-12 English and world literature teachers who are interested in incorporating Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature into their curriculum. Priority admission is reserved for high school educators.
Following the workshop, each participant develops a complete lesson plan for at least one of the pieces covered in the workshop. Those who turn in their lesson plan by the deadline are eligible to receive a generous book-buying grant.
The workshop is funded by the Freeman Foundation. It is part of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) program, a national provider for professional development on East Asia to K-12 teachers.
Expanding Worldviews
The geo-strategic importance of East Asia—defined here as China, Japan, North and South Korea, and Taiwan—has compelled Americans to look at these cultures with new eyes. While there has been an increase in the teaching of East Asia in the national social studies curriculum, there has yet to be a similar effort in the language arts.
Literature opens a window on the inner life of a culture, offering readers a glimpse of how another culture understands and represents itself. Studying East Asian literature helps students to develop an appreciation of other cultures, allowing them to participate more fully as informed members of the world community.
Participation Includes:
- Set of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literary works covered in workshop (mailed to participants prior to workshop)
- Certificate of completion
- Book grant for purchasing East Asian literature for classroom use, provided upon completion of all requirements
Workshop Format
The workshop kicks off Sunday, July 9. Each morning, history professors lead lectures and discussions on specific facets of China, Japan, and Korea that are pertinent to the literary works covered. Topics discussed include history, religion, culture, family and gender, and language.
Each afternoon literature professors discuss the short stories, novels, and poetry that participants have read prior to attending the workshop, focusing on universal as well as culture-specific aspects of the works.
After the literature discussions, a high school world literature teacher with experience teaching East Asian literature acts as curriculum consultant, leading strategy sessions on how to teach the works at the high school level.
Participants are also encouraged to attend Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultural activities during the day and film viewings in the evenings.
Participant’s Responsibilities
- $80 non-refundable registration fee upon acceptance of application, travel expenses to and from Bloomington, up to two meals a day
- Read all works to be covered at workshop prior to attending.
- Participate in online discussions on the workshop’s Google Groups Web site prior to the workshop.
- Attend all required sessions
- Submit one lesson plan on a specific work within five weeks of close of workshop. Those who turn in a lesson plan by the deadline are eligible to receive a book-buying grant.
Participation is limited to 25 teachers.
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