A sushi dinner was followed by Michael's Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration in a small room transformed into a tea room where the participants were served tea and treats in a traditional format. See the Resources section of this Enews for book and movie recommendations on Japanese Tea Ceremony.

The next workshop in the Arts of Asia in the Classroom series, to be held October 4, will feature Indonesian dance. Click here to register.

China's Transformations on the Eve of the Olympics Workshop Series

On September 17, another 2007-08 workshop series was kicked off: "China's Transformations on the Eve of the Olympics." The workshop was full with 30 teachers who participated in a curriculum session using the PBS series "China From the Inside," led by TEA Senior Staff Associate, Karla Loveall. CU Professor of History, Tim Weston, delivered a lecture titled: "China's Transformations: Some Starting Points."

In hosting the 2008 Olympics, China prepares to showcase the nation's growth and successes to an international audience. Its achievements, as well as its problems, will be in the spotlight, and no one is more aware of this than the Chinese government. During this school year, TEA will offer more in this series of workshops designed to help teachers tap into China's Olympics preparations and news coverage to teach the complexities and challenges of 21st-century China. The next in the series will take place on November 10, "China's Environmental Challenges," featuring Darrin Magee, a geographer whose work focuses on water and energy issues in China.

2007 Study Tour Follow-up Sessions

Study tours at TEA don't end at the airport. Follow-up sessions bring everyone back together to reflect on experiences and discuss curriculum implementation ideas.

The eleven participants of the CCTEA 2007 study tour to Japan met at the TEA offices on September 7-8 for follow-up meetings. Throughout the sessions across the two days, teachers reflected on their experiences in Japan, began to connect their experiences with how to teach about Japan in their classrooms, gained new teaching ideas and resources, and learned about their responsibilities for the follow-through school year.  The participants collaboratively revised lessons that they drafted in Japan using the study tour’s featured children’s literature.  A highlight of the meeting was the video-teleconference with project scholar, David Henry, who is teaching Japanese language and literature at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.  The group will meet for another follow-up meeting on October 6, 2007.

The NCTA China study tour participants reconvened at the Boulderado Hotel, September 14-15. Tim Oakes, CU professor in Geography who traveled with the group for part of the tour, led a discussion on "Uses and Abuses of Cultural Heritage: What We (Hopefully) Learned in Qujiang." Photo essays were used to revisit the study tour themes. Tim Weston, CU professor in History who was also traveled with the group for part of the tour, talked about "China's Transformations: Sorting through the Contradictions on the Eve of the Olympics" on Saturday. Small group meetings with staff on further follow-up regarding school-year inservices as well as curriculum changes took place over the two days.

Oct. 4: Arts of Asia in the Classroom Series: Gamelan Tunas Mekar (Indonesian Dance). 5:15-8:00 pm at the University of Colorado at Boulder. More information and registration.

Oct. 15-Nov. 19: The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Overseas Exhibit at DePaul University's Cultural Center, Chicago. For more information, contact Dr. Harvette Grey, Director of the DePaul Cultural Center, at hgrey@depaul.edu or (773) 325-7518.

Oct. 27: Voices from Hiroshima: A Workshop for Educators. Featuring Hiroshim survivors Yukio Yoshida and Susumu Yoneda. Curriculum breakout sessions will be held for elementary and high school teachers, focusing on literature and social studies.

Oct. 29: Hiroshima Survivors Public Talk. CU-Boulder campus. A great event to bring your students to! Contact Minori Murata for more information.

Nov. 10: China's Environmental Challenges. Part of China's Transformations on the Eve of the Olympics series.

Dec. 3 (deadline): The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Asia Society are seeking applications for the 2007 Goldman Sachs Foundation Prizes for Excellence in International Education. The prize program was created in 2003 to raise awareness of the growing importance of international knowledge and skills for U.S. students and annually awards prizes totaling $150,000 in five different categories. Categories include elementary/middle school, high school, district/state, and media/technology. For more information and to access the online application, please visit http://www.internationaled.org/prizes.

The Center for Arts and Media at Columbia College, Chicago, is offering a series of courses and lectures based around Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club, which will focus on issues related to Asia and Asian Pacific American issues. For more information on Columbia College’s Center for Asian Arts and Media, please visit: http://www.asianartsandmedia.org/.

Asian Art Association at the Denver Art Museum Events:

E-mail hquist@denverartmuseum.org 
Website  http://www.denverartmuseum.org/asianart

Oct. 10: "Spirits Incarnate: The Art of the Asmat." Reception 5:30. Lecture 6-7 pm. Hamilton Building, Sharp Auditorium. Dinner with speaker Ms. Mary Braun available after, by reservation only. The vast and rugged Pacific island of New Guinea skirts the Equator and harbors a broad host of indigenous cultures. Not only is New Guinea riddled with life, but its myriad cultures voice nearly 1,000 languages, comprising perhaps one-fifth of the world's total. In her lecture, Ms. Braun will discuss and describe one of the most renowned cultures on the island, the Asmat. Their reputation as warriors, cannibals, and carvers slowly unfolded in the mid-20th century. Fifty years ago, the Asmat were headhunters. Today, they confront change as globalization ushers in steady waves of commerce, technology and foreign cultures. Despite dramatic influences, the art of the Asmat continues to flourish and still mirrors the rich ecosystems, as well as the spirituality and rituals of their ancestors.

Oct. 17: “Islamic Art and Architecture in the Silk Road Cities of Western Asia.” Noon-1 pm C-Level Lecture Room. Ms. Judith Frey will trace a medieval journey along the Silk Road trade routes of western Asia with photographs of Islamic architecture. She begins in Istanbul and travels through Isfahan and Mashhad, Iran, Herat, Afghanistan, and on to Samarqand and Bukhara, Uzbekistan. The photos of Iran and Afghanistan were taken in 1970 by Huntley Ingalls, whose work has appeared in National Geographic magazine.

Join an NCTA 30-hour professional development seminar in your area, offered through the NCTA national coordinating site at Teaching East Asia, University of Colorado. Currently scheduled seminar locations include (titles in red are linked to more information):

Fall 2007

Colorado Springs, Colorado; beginning October 22

Winter 2008

Adams 12/North Denver Suburbs, Colorado; beginning January 2008

Jefferson County/West Denver Suburbs; beginning January 2008

Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; beginning January 2008

Quad Cities of Iowa/Illinois at Augustana College; beginning January 2008

St Louis, Missouri at the International Education Consortium; beginning January 2008

Ongoing information available at: http://www.colorado.edu/CAS/TEA/nctasites.html

The Program for Teaching East Asia
University of Colorado at Boulder
595 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309

(303) 735-5122

The first online issue of the K-12 East Asian Connection is now available. You can view it at http://www.indiana.edu/~easc/resources, in the “Publications” section.

Japanese Tea Ceremony Resources

Hashimoto, Katsue. Tea of the Mountain Pass online kamishibai. http://www.urasenke.or.jp/textb/kids/index.html

• Electronic version of the Tea of the Mountain Pass kamishibai.  Available in flash and html formats.

Hirota, Dennis. Wind in the Pines. Asian Humanities Press, 1995.

• This is a compilation of essays and historical documents all about the people, culture, religions, and arts that influenced Chanoyu as a Buddhist Path.

Lai, Selena and Karen Tiegel. Tea and the Japanese Tradition of Chanoyu. Stanford: Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), 2005.

• This recently published secondary curriculum unit, Tea and the Japanese Tradition of Chanoyu, introduces students to the multifaceted tradition of tea in Japan. The five lessons explore how this tradition is practiced today and how it endures from one generation to the next. The unit also includes images on CD-ROM and DVD depicting a tea gathering.

National Gallery of Art. Daimyo.  Washington: Home Vision, 1988.

• This documentary film explores the interactions between Japan’s martial traditions and civilian arts that characterized the age of the feudal lords known as daimyo.

Sato, Shozo. Tea Ceremony: Asian Arts and Crafts for Creative Kids. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2005.

• Part of a series to teach children about arts of Asia, this book introduces the history of tea, types of teas, and projects on how to set up a tearoom, begin and end the ceremony, and prepare utensils and make the tea.

Soshitsu XV, Sen. The Japanese Way of Tea. University of Hawaii Press, 1998.

• This covers the history of Tea from its origins in China to Rikyu.

Teshigahara, Hiroshi (director). Rikyu. 2000.

• DVD that focuses on Rikyu and Hideyoshi's relationship.

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