Hi Leo, Challenging indeed! I agree with Edward that addressing minority issues seems key, for the Us-Them cultural/linguistic/identity interplay is frequently core for fruitful engagement & edutainment. Sensitive as it is you could address it through games (e.g. role-playing, alternate-reality games, MMPORG, etc.) and/or MUVE/ virtual world experiences (Second Life, etc.). Sense of humour and stereotypes can act as a cohesive factor particularly when involving foreign myths/stereotypes (e.g. some Spaniards believe Chinese are too silent, courteous, adore working 20 hours a day & abhorr interaction with Spaniards). This might be a starter to then slowly focus on real-life circumstances they may face involving reflexivity. Avatar-building can also be thought-provoking when inviting people to play around with physical traits and invent social & personal behaviour for those characters. If ICT not available, pics can be handy. Knowing beforehand trainee ethnic diversity would of course help. If minority culture is an unspeakable (apologies for this, as you know my ignorance re China is huge) I'd suggest games involving aliens or fantastic creatures as a way to allay initial constraints.
If you find this line can be of use, please give me a shout to supply further tips, ideas & maybe some lesson plans for you to tailor (?). Good luck with this project! Best, Alex Alex P. Real | Consultant & Researcher | T: +(34) 6937 2222 0 | alex.pr...@gmail.com Chat [image: Google Talk] alex.pr...@gmail.com [image: Skype]alexperezdelreal [image: MSN] alex.pr...@hotmail.com On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 8:06 PM, Edward Cherlin <echer...@gmail.com> wrote: > May I ask which minorities these teachers will be teaching? Are any of > the teachers themselves minority, or are they all Han Chinese? > > A topic of great interest to minorities is the experience of other > minorities, and of even majorities subjected to foreign oppression, as > in the British-Chinese Opium Wars and the succeeding Unequal Treaties > period, or all of China under Mongol and Manchu rule. This is a > sensitive topic in China, so one would have to be careful not to let > it turn into anything the authorities would consider revolutionary, or > perhaps I should say counter-revolutionary. For example, on the > positive side one could look at the Swiss experience of cooperation > among groups speaking several languages (Italian, French, German, and > Romansch), and among its Catholic and Protestant populations. > > I would assume that study of mistreatment of minorities in the US and > the Soviet Union, and of anti-imperial revolutions, particularly > liberation struggles against Spain, France and the UK, would be within > the acceptable boundaries. But I would check before taking anything > into the classroom unless it is already in the curriculum. > > Can you ask your teachers what minority issues they are aware of, what > they are allowed to teach about them, and how much they listen to > their students on these questions? > > I recommend the video Vis à Vis: Native Tongues on this issue. It > presents a series of teleconference sessions between a Native American > performance artist, James Luna, and an Australian Aborigine actress > and playwright, Ningali Lawford, exploring their work and sharing > issues that are at the core of their communities' experience. The > biggest is that both communities suffered greatly from forced > attendance at English-only boarding schools designed to destroy their > cultures. (Canada also, with the addition of massive, systematic rape > of students.) > > What issues do minorities in China share, that they should be talking > with each other about, and what does the majority have to say about > this? > > A separate issue: Although it is not time to teach teachers how to use > technology that is not yet available to their students, it is not too > soon for them to think about what will happen and what they will need > to do when that technology arrives, which will be during their active > teaching careers. I say this because > > 1) Computers are already less expensive than printed textbooks. > > 2) Several countries, from Bangladesh to South Korea, are digitizing > all of their textbooks. > > 3) China, more than most other developing countries, has a plan for > getting electricity, phone service, and Internet out to its remote > towns and even villages as part of its more general economic > development plan. (Compare US Rural Electrification, including the > Tennessee Valley Authority.) > > Internet use in China went from less than 2% of the population to 36% > in the last decade. Extrapolating along a logistic curve indicates > that it should achieve well over 90% penetration in another decade or > so. > > On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 05:29, Wong Leo <leolao...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Dear all , > > > > I will be teaching a teacher education unit for about 400 middle school > > teachers to help them prepare for their future teaching job for minority > > people in remote china , i am wondering if anyone who have the similar > > teaching experience on teacher education program , the name of the > course is > > called curriculum and teaching . > > > > i am thinking about trying something in wikieducator like involving each > > teacher to design a teaching unit , and asking them to put on > wikieducator > > website > > > > however , i need the advices from you ! > > > > something creative is the best ！！ > > > > > > -- > > Leo Wong > > Teacher and teacher trainer > > -------------------------------------- > > http://wikieducator.org/User:Leolaoshi > > > > 机构博客：http://helpsuzhou.blogbus.com > > > > 个人博客 http://blog.sina.com.cn/leolaoshi1 （在努力中） > > > > Skype:leolaoshi > > > > Malaysia number +006 010 2718251 > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > There is something very special and powerful about engaging directly with > > the real teacher and real Kids. > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "WikiEducator" group. > > To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org > > To visit the discussion forum: > http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator > > To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > > > > -- > Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin > Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "WikiEducator" group. > To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org > To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator > To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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