TEACHING RESOURCES

Asian Educational Media Service

The Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS) helps educators find multimedia resources for teaching about Asia in order to promote understanding of Asian cultures and peoples. A program for the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, AEMS maintains an extensive database with more than 5,000 records for DVDs, video cassettes, CD-ROMs, audio cassettes, and curriculum units with audio-visual components. Three times a year, AEMS publishes a free newsletter with review articles on recent Asia-related films and other multi-media resources, as well as essays on teaching about Asia.

AskAsia.org

AskAsia.org is an online resource where teachers and students can explore critical questions about Asia and globalization themes. The site features scholarly content about Asia and US-Asia relations; expert K-12 teaching and learning strategies; and useful learning resources, such as maps, photographs, art images, glossaries, timelines and more.

To learn more about the status of Asia and international studies in the American education system, read the landmark report, Asia in the Schools: Preparing Young Americans for Today’s Interconnected World (76-page PDF). For latest information and to get involved with supporting international studies and foreign language learning in American schools, visit AskAsia.org's companion website, InternationalEd.org.

AskAsia.org is an educational initiative of the Asia Society, a nonprofit international organization dedicated to strengthening relationships and deepening understanding among the peoples of Asia and the United States.

East Asian Study Center

The East Asian Study Center at the University of Indiana offers a portal to teaching resources, links, and K-12 lesson plans on Asia in general, China, Japan, Korea. The site includes, for example,  links to a film and website about the Cultural Revolution, resources for teaching East Asian literature in high school, a website that provides the genealogy of Chinese characters.

China from the Inside

This new PBS special provides a rare insider's view of China, her institutions and people—and the interactive, multimedia website linked to the program is exceedingly rich. China from the Inside includes perspectives ranging from those of the powerful to the powerless, the scholars and the uneducated, and the supporters and detractors of today's China. It does not shy away from China's many contradictions, with scenes from some of the most breathtaking places on the planet as well as the most polluted. The four-hour special includes four episodes: “Power and the People,” “Women of the Country,” “Shifting Nature,” and “Freedom and Justice.”

China Rises

This four-part television series and interactive website, which aired in February 2006, was an international co-production of the New York Times, Discovery Times Channel, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ZDF, France 5 and S4C. The four parts include: “Politics: Party Games,” “Economy: Getting Rich,” “Environment: Food Is Heaven,” and “Society: City of Dreams.” Each section of the website includes profiles, video, and interviews with ordinary Chinese citizens. A “Behind the Scenes” section includes short essays from the production crew detailing their experiences working on the film, including the reactions and interactions with government officials. The photographs and video are stunning.