In Japan, I will be visitng many temples and shrines. As a westerner, all the statues can be confusing for someone raised in a different cultural context. But, rest assured, everything has meaning. For example, when a Buddha statue depicts the hand in a downward position, it typically symbolizes the act of “earth touching” or …
I just finished a great professional development with NCTA (National Consortium for Teaching about Asia) in which teachers from all over the US, who teach a number of different subjects and grades, got together (virtually) to read The Land of Big Numbers. It came at a time when I was extremely busy and it was …
I have often brought tea into the classroom discussions, especially during our unit on British Imperialism and the Opium Wars. Many students at my school take Chinese (I took two years in college myself before teaching English in China) and are interested to study the links between British tea drinking and the Opium Wars. Along …
Some days are busier than others, today was pretty busy. Here is what I’ve done so far: 4:00 AM – Wake up. I set an alarm for five, but rarely sleep-in until the alarm wakes me up. A quick cup of coffee. 4:30 – Out for a run. My phone said 35 degrees Fahrenheit, but …