This webinar was made possible through the Freeman Foundation’s support of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), a multi-year initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching and learning about East Asia in elementary and secondary schools nationwide. SPICE’s Jonas Edman and Naomi Funahashi coordinate SPICE’s NCTA seminars and webinars.

While walking along the hallways of the Ethnic Studies Department with Professor Khatharya Um at U.C. Berkeley on December 3, 2019, I shared some remembrances of my first quarter at U.C. Berkeley in fall 1972. I had enrolled in two courses in the Ethnic Studies Department that quarter: one focused on the Asian American experience with Patrick Hayashi and Colin Watanabe and the other focused on diverse perspectives on U.S. history with Professor Ronald Takaki. Most of the Asian American students in these classes were of Chinese and Japanese descent with a few of Korean, Indian, and Filipino descent. Through these classes, I was introduced for the first time in my life to Asian American literature like No-No Boy (1957) and America Is in the Heart (1948). I had enrolled at U.C. Berkeley less than three years after the establishment of the Ethnic Studies Department (1969) and during the anti-Vietnam War protests.

According to its website, the Ethnic Studies Department emerged from student and community members’ demands for scholarly programs that focused on the “understudied histories and situations of African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos, and Native Americans.” This year marks the 50th year since its establishment; 2019 also marks the 44th anniversary since the fall of Saigon (1975).

I was at the Ethnic Studies Department on December 3, 2019 because my colleague, Naomi Funahashi, had organized a SPICE webinar, “Culturally and Experientially Responsive Pedagogy: Teaching to Diverse Asian and Asian American Students,” that featured Professor Um. Approximately 30 educators from many states and also Pakistan and Japan participated. During her talk, Um pointed out that the resettlement of refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia began with the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and continued through the early 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. She noted that unlike economically motivated migration from other parts of Asia, immigration to the United States from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia was largely due to flight from war, authoritarianism, and genocide. Largely as a result of these waves of immigration to the United States, the Asian American student population in U.S. schools and universities like U.C. Berkeley has become increasingly diverse.

To help meet the educational needs of this increasingly diverse population, Um argued for the importance of culturally and experientially responsive pedagogy. She explained that “culturally and experientially responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching in which the students’ experiences and cultural strengths are identified, validated, and used to empower students, enrich and promote learning.” Like many other communities, Asian and Asian American students represent a wide spectrum of ethnicities, languages, histories, generations, cultures, and religions. She acknowledged that “Providing culturally and experientially responsive instruction to these students can be daunting… and schools are faced with both opportunities and challenges in providing instruction that is rich and meaningful. Diverse student populations offer valuable opportunities for classroom and community enrichment.”

Um interspersed some statistical information in order to show the significance and some characteristics of the Asian American population.

• Largely as a result of ongoing migration, Asians are among the fastest growing populations in the United States.
• The Asian American population has grown by 72% between 2000 and 2015.
• Currently, the population is approximately 20.4 million.
• The diversity among and within Asian American communities has increased with new immigration.
• 59% of the U.S. Asian population was born in another country.

Um encouraged the educators in the United States to keep these statistics in mind and noted that “Effective learning depends on more than just the curriculum. It is about creating a space where students can feel safe, empowered, valued, and feel that they belong… It begins with knowing your students or at least knowing how to know… and it rests on knowing what to do with what you know.” The words, “knowing how to know,” brought back memories of a question—“What does epistemology mean to you?”—that Takaki raised to students in his first class lecture at U.C. Berkeley in fall 1972. After acknowledging a student’s answer, he replied that epistemology focuses on the question, “How do you know that you know what you know?,” and this has stayed with me since and continues to shape my work at SPICE.

While in Um’s office, I noticed some books on her shelf that I once read back in the 1970s—literature that was “culturally relevant” to me. But what most stood out for me was a copy of Um’s book, From the Land of Shadows: War, Revolution and the Making of the Cambodian Diaspora. Other than America Is the Heart by Filipino American Carlos Buloson, there was no other Southeast Asian American-focused literature that we were assigned during fall quarter 1972. Um is the first Cambodian American woman to receive a PhD. I left campus thinking of how fortunate I was to have scholars like Hayashi, Watanabe, and Takaki who taught and empowered me, and also how fortunate Southeast Asian American students and others are today to have scholars like Um concerned about their education and advancement.

Following the webinar, Funahashi reflected, “I not only received overwhelmingly positive feedback about Professor Um’s lecture from participants, but I too gained a greater awareness of the growing diversity in our schools that is also reflected in my online class, the Reischauer Scholars Program. After listening to Professor Um’s thoughts on culturally and experientially responsive pedagogy, a big take-away for me was the importance of a teacher’s capacity for empathy as one works with students from very diverse backgrounds.”

To stay informed of SPICE-related news, join our email list and follow SPICE on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Related articles, videos, and curriculum:

• Rylan Sekiguchi Receives Buchanan Prize for His Work on Cambodia
• My Cambodia
• My Cambodian America
• SPICE in Vietnam
• Legacies of the Vietnam War

On August 26, 2019, SPICE/FSI served as the Stanford University host of the California-Japan Governors’ Symposium, which was co-hosted by the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) and the Silicon Valley Japan Platform (SVJP). Four governors and one vice governor from Japan were in attendance along with dignitaries from California.

The goal of the Symposium was to create an opportunity for leaders from Silicon Valley and Japan to come together, reinforce relationships, consider new ways of thinking, initiate dialogue, and catalyze outcomes that benefit both the United States and Japan. USJC President Irene Hirano, California State Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis, and Ambassador Roos set the context for the Symposium by highlighting the interdependence of Japan and California broadly—and Silicon Valley specifically—historically, economically, and socially.

The Symposium featured one panel and two sessions. First, Stanford Emeritus Professor, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Co-Founder, and Co-Chair of the SVJP Executive Committee Dr. Daniel Okimoto moderated a panel that featured the governors and the vice governor sharing some of the challenges and opportunities in their prefectures with a special focus on their prefectures’ relationship with Silicon Valley and institutions of higher learning like Stanford. Second, SPICE Director Dr. Gary Mukai moderated an education-focused session that explored issues at the intersection of education and global citizenship. SKY LABO Co-Founder Dr. Rie Kijima and SKY LABO Co-Founder and SPICE Instructor Dr. Mariko Yoshihara Yang spoke about their work in fostering the next generation of innovative human resources in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education with special attention to girls’ and women’s education. They were followed by Governors Hirose, Ibaragi, and Yuzaki, who shared education-related priorities and concerns in their prefectures, e.g., declining school enrollment especially in rural areas, low numbers of Japanese students choosing to study abroad, and empowering Japanese students with global points of view. Third, Dr. Devang Thakor moderated a healthcare-focused session. Stanford Associate Professor Phillip Yang, a cardiologist, and Dr. Caleb Bell, G4S Capital and Ikigai Accelerator, shared comments on the application of AI and machine learning to medical diagnosis and treatment. Also in the session, Governor Kawakatsu and Vice Governor Ota shared reflections on health-related topics such as aging societies, the rising cost of healthcare, and prevention and wellness.

In his closing comments, Okimoto noted that he hopes to convene another symposium with the governors from Japan in three to five years. The goal of the symposium would be to share and discuss the progress that has been made since last month’s gathering.

Over the next three to five years, SPICE plans to do its part—in at least five areas—in terms of building upon the discussion from the education-focused session. First, later this month, Mukai will be offering the first class of Stanford e-Oita, an online class on U.S. society and culture that SPICE will offer to high school students in Oita this fall. Second, Rylan Sekiguchi, Instructor of Stanford e-Hiroshima, will begin instruction from this fall of an online class on U.S. society and culture that SPICE will offer to high school students in Hiroshima. Third, Yang will be visiting Hiroshima in November to meet Governor Yuzaki as well as to offer the final class of the Stanford-Hiroshima Collaboration Program, which will be offered to MBA students at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima and other universities also from this fall. Fourth, SPICE will continue to assist Okayama Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture on their educational efforts in areas like sister city school programs and engaging their students in Stanford e-Japan, a national online class that SPICE offers to high school students throughout Japan. Stanford e-Japan is taught by Waka Takahashi Brown and Meiko Kotani. Fifth, SVJP Executive Director Kenta Takamori and Mukai recently shared reflections on the Symposium and their work with the prefectures on NBC Bay Area. They hope to continue to inform the broader Silicon Valley community of the outcomes of the Symposium.

To stay informed of SPICE-related news, join our email list and follow SPICE on Facebook or Twitter.

Related articles:

• Announcing Stanford e-Oita, a New Online Course for High School Students in Oita Prefecture, Japan
• Stanford e-Hiroshima, SPICE’s Newest Online Course for High School Students: Sharing Cranes Across the Pacific

Last week, 23 educators from across North America gathered at Stanford University for the 2019 East Asia Summer Institute for High School Teachers, a teacher professional development seminar offered by SPICE in partnership with the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. Over three days of rich content lectures, discussion, and experiential learning, institute participants deepened their background knowledge on Asia and began to rethink and revamp their curriculum plans for the coming school year.

This year’s participants came from as far away as Concord, New Hampshire and Vancouver, Canada, although most attendees were high school teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area. They represented a wide range of teaching subjects, from history and language arts to statistics and genocide studies, but all sought to strengthen their teaching through a clearer, more nuanced understanding of Asia, U.S.–Asia relations, and the Asian American experience—the three main areas explored in this year’s summer institute.

Participant Hellie Mateo poses with a book she made by hand using traditional Japanese book-binding methods.

The institute’s guest speakers came from similarly diverse backgrounds, being scholars, artists, authors, and Stanford University professors with expertise on a specific aspect of Asia, U.S.–Asia relations, or the Asian American experience. Interwoven between their captivating content lectures were classroom-focused lesson demonstrations, hands-on activities, and pedagogy discussions facilitated by SPICE curriculum designers. “We make sure we balance subject-matter content with practical application in all of our teacher professional development seminars,” notes SPICE Director Dr. Gary Mukai. “That’s why we focus so much time and energy on pedagogy and lesson demonstrations. We want to help high school teachers translate their newfound knowledge directly into the classroom.”

To that end, summer institute participants each receive several free books, films, and SPICE lesson plans to help them bring Asia alive for their students. They also receive a stipend and become eligible for three optional units of credit from Stanford Continuing Studies.

“Being in the Bay Area—and particularly at Stanford University—we have access to such incredible experts on these subjects,” says institute coordinator and facilitator Naomi Funahashi. “Our job is to connect those experts with teachers in a way that supports teacher needs. That’s our goal for this summer institute.”

Although the high school teachers have now returned home from Stanford campus, their work is not done. They will now use the content they learned at the summer institute to create original lesson plans to incorporate into their own practice. When they reconvene for a final online session in late July / early August, they will share their lesson plans with each other, and each teacher will walk away with 22 brand new lesson plans designed by their colleagues. “We can’t wait to see what kinds of innovative lessons our teachers will come up with!” says Funahashi. “And we can’t wait to see how they incorporate these new lessons into their plans for the next school year.”

To view photos from the summer institute and read a more comprehensive recap what happened, please see the SPICE Facebook page.

Related articles:

• Application open for 2019 Summer Institute for High School Teachers
• The Freeman Foundation: Supporting the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia for 20 Years
• Institute highlights the teaching of Asia and the Asian-American experience

—SPICE: Offering teacher institutes since 1973—

In 1973, the roots of the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) were established with the creation of the Bay Area China Education Program, which focused on the development of K–12 curriculum materials and teacher professional development. Only a year prior, President Richard Nixon had made his historic trip to China and many American students were able to view contemporary images of China on television for the first time in their lifetimes. Teachers who attended SPICE institutes on China in the 1970s often commented that they were at a loss about how to teach about China.

Forty-four years later, a new generation of educators expressed similar sentiments at a SPICE institute. However, the challenge wasn’t so much about the teaching of China but rather the teaching of North Korea. Thus, when Pulitzer Prize-winning author Adam Johnson spoke about his book, The Orphan Master’s Son, a New York Times bestselling novel about North Korea, teachers were riveted by his comments. Teachers were interested not only in ways that his novel could help them better understand contemporary North Korea but also in ways they could use the book to help their students gain a more balanced view of North Korea. The 22 teacher participants received copies of The Orphan Master’s Son to use in their teaching and were offered two SPICE curriculum units titled Inter-Korean Relations: Rivalry, Reconciliation, and Reunification and Uncovering North Korea.  

Co-sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the SPICE summer institute, July 24–26, 2017, had the objectives of (1) deepening teachers’ understanding of Asia, U.S.–Asian relations, and the Asian-American experience; (2) providing teachers with teaching resources; and (3) creating a community of learners. The institute featured lectures by Stanford faculty (like Johnson), U.C. Berkeley faculty, and other experts on a range of Asia- and Asian-American-related topics closely aligned with the History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools standards, which were recently revised. Interactive curriculum demonstrations by SPICE staff were also offered.

One such standard focuses on recent economic growth in China. Following a lecture by Thomas Fingar, Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center Fellow, on “Recurring Themes in U.S.–China Relations,” a curriculum demonstration on the SPICE curriculum unit, China in Transition: Economic Development, Migration, and Education, was offered by its author, Rylan Sekiguchi of SPICE. One teacher remarked, “I teach about China, and it was so helpful to hear someone with such deep expertise [Fingar] speak about U.S.–Chinese history in a way that enriches my knowledge and understanding to bring back some bigger themes to my teaching. I can’t wait to bring this content back to my students [through the SPICE curriculum].” Other scholarly lectures on Japan and Korea were also followed by curriculum demonstrations by SPICE staff. This coupling of lectures and curriculum demonstrations has been a hallmark of SPICE since its inception.

Updated History-Social Science Framework standards on the Asian-American experience were also addressed at the institute. Dr. Khatharya Um, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, introduced the diverse cultural and historical backgrounds of the Asian-American student population which often comprises a significant percentage of students in schools in areas like the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. She emphasized the importance of acknowledging individual circumstances in minority student populations and breaking down commonly cited stereotypes of Asian Americans as being a critical element of effective teaching. One of the topics that she addressed was stereotypes of Japanese Americans that arose following the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. Her lecture was coupled with the sharing of first-hand experiences by Dr. Joseph Yasutake, who was interned at the age of nine. Dr. Yasutake’s talk stimulated discussions on civil liberties, race relations, discrimination, and American identity among the teachers. “Hearing history from one who has experienced it as well as studied and taught the history is really wonderful,” said one institute participant. “This combination brings a great amount of authority and well as authenticity to the narrative he [Yasutake] provides.” The SPICE curriculum unit, Civil Rights and Japanese-American Internment, was recommended as a resource for teachers.

The institute brought together both experienced mentor teachers and those new to the field. Naomi Funahashi, who organized and facilitated the institute, remains in communication with many of the teachers and has noticed that a community of learners, who are committed to a long-term exploration of Asian and Asian-American studies, has grown from the institute. She reflected, “One of the unexpected outcomes of the institute was the recommendations that many of the teachers have written in support of their students’ applications to my online class on Japan called the Reischauer Scholar Program. My hope is that some of my students will someday attend SPICE institutes as teachers and that SPICE institutes will continue to serve teachers as they have since 1973 for many decades to come.”

SPICE is currently recruiting teachers to attend its 2018 summer institute for middle school teachers (June 20–22, 2018) and summer institute for high school teachers (July 23–25, 2018).

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