EASC presents K-12 Chinese Literature Workshop:
“Memory & Text: Exploring Memory through “The Poem of Mulan” and its Modern and Western Adaptations”
Mengjun Li, University of Pudget Sound
Registration Link Deadline 6/3/16 (Limited space)
No Chinese culture/language knowledge needed.
Fee: Free to educators (Lunch and 5 professional development contact hours included)
This workshop offers K-12 teachers who are interested in new perspectives on teaching literature or covering East Asia in a world-literature class the opportunity to explore the concept of “memory” through a canonical Chinese literary text and its modern and Western adaptations.
Designed to be both informative and participatory, the workshop is divided into two parts: The first part provides a brief introduction to Chinese history, culture, and literature. Participants will receive ready-to-go materials about Chinese civilization and contemporary China for future use in the classroom. The second part will focus on a case study, which examines the fifth-century Chinese poem, “Poem of Mulan”, and its modern adaptations in film and other media. These adaptations include animated versions appropriate for younger age groups.
The workshop will also explore how this ancient Chinese story became a part of contemporary American popular culture through the Disney film Mulan, a memory shared by audiences around the world, and how this transformation has, in turn, re-shaped the story’s remembrance in its original culture. Dr. Mengjun Li, University of Puget Sound will share with participants her experiences of teaching the poem and its adaptations at different institutions, ample secondary teaching materials, and samples of student projects. Participants will have the opportunity to practice designing lesson plans and tasks for students using the concept of memory applied to this and other texts from Chinese literature.
Co-sponsors: East Asian Studies Center and a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant
Contact: Janet Stucky Smith | East Asian Studies Center | stucky.7@osu.edu | 614-292-3345 | http://easc.osu.edu
