UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
2023
OCTOBER
Online literature workshop
featuring
The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart
by Chesil and translated by Takami Nieda
Saturday, October 7
1 PM – 3 PM
Instructor: Dr. Chiaki Takagi, UNCG
Book summary:
Seventeen-year-old Ginny Park is about to get expelled from high school—again. Stephanie, the picture book author who took Ginny into her Oregon home after she was kicked out of school in Hawaii, isn’t upset: she only wants to know why. But Ginny has always been in-between; she can’t bring herself to open up to anyone about her past, or about what prompted her to flee her native Japan. Then, among the scraps of paper and drawings of Stephanie’s stories, Ginny finds a mysterious scrawl that changes everything: The sky is about to fall. Where do you go?
Ginny sets off alone on the road in search of an answer, with only her journal as a confidante. In witty and brutally honest vignettes, and interspersed with old letters from her expatriated family in North Korea, Ginny recounts her adolescence growing up Zainichi, a Japan-born Korean, and the incident that forced her to leave years prior. Inspired by her own childhood, author Chesil creates a portrait of a girl who has been fighting alone against barriers of prejudice, nationality, and injustice all her life—and one searching for a place to belong.
This book is aimed at high school level readers.
All registrants will receive a free copy of the book. Teachers based in North and South Carolina who complete the workshop will earn 2 hours of professional development credit and may request free copies of the book for their students.
NCTAN presents keynote speaker
Judith Shapiro
on Saturday, October 28, 2023
at the annual conference for the
National Council for Geographic Education
October 27 – 29
Columbia, South Carolina
China Planet: Environmental Implications of the Rise of China
What are the environmental implications of the rise of China? How will it affect global climate change? In this talk, Prof. Judith Shapiro will share her personal experiences with China’s environmental movement and reflect on what China’s new superpower status means for climate change, resources extraction, and global biodiversity. Will “ecological civilization” save the planet or destroy it? Professor Shapiro will argue that the future of the world lies with China.
DECEMBER
Online literature workshop
featuring
Morning Sun in Wuhan
by Ying Chang Compestine
Saturday, December 2
10 AM – 12 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Dr. Ling Rao, Clemson University
Book summary:
What was the pandemic of the century like at the start? This swift, gripping novel captures not only the uncertainty and panic when COVID first emerged in Wuhan, but also how a community banded together.
Weaving in the tastes and sounds of the historic city, Wuhan’s comforting and distinctive cuisine comes to life as the reader follows 13-year-old Mei who, through her love for cooking, makes a difference in her community. Written by an award-winning author originally from Wuhan.
Grieving the death of her mother and an outcast at school, thirteen-year-old Mei finds solace in cooking and computer games. When her friend’s grandmother falls ill, Mei seeks out her father, a doctor, for help, and discovers the hospital is overcrowded. As the virus spreads, Mei finds herself alone in a locked-down city trying to find a way to help.
Author Ying Chang Compestine draws on her own experiences growing up in Wuhan to illustrate that the darkest times can bring out the best in people, friendship can give one courage in frightening times, and most importantly, young people can make an impact on the world.
All registrants will receive a free copy of the book. Teachers based in North and South Carolina who complete the workshop will earn 2 hours of professional development credit and may request free copies of the book for their students.
2024
JANUARY
K-12 Educator Panel
at the
Southeast Regional Conference of the Association for Asian Studies
January 26–28, 2024
at
Wake Forest University
Winston Salem, North Carolina
Presenters include Tonio Andrade, Professor of History at Emory University, and Nayoung Aimee Kwon, Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University.
K-12 teachers from North and South Carolina will receive free registration to the conference and free copies of the presenters’ books. Teachers will also earn 1.5 hours of professional development credit for each session attended as well as complementary lunch on Saturday afternoon.
FEBRUARY
Online literature workshop
featuring
The Waiting
by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim and translated by Janet Hong
Book summary:
Keum Suk Gendry-Kim was an adult when her mother revealed a family secret: She had been separated from her sister during the Korean War. It’s not an uncommon story—the peninsula was split across the 38th parallel, dividing one country into two. As many fled violence in the north, not everyone was able to make it south. Her mother’s story inspired Gendry-Kim to begin interviewing her and other Koreans separated by the war; that research fueled a deeply resonant graphic novel.
The Waiting is the fictional story of Gwija, told by her novelist daughter Jina. When Gwija was 17 years old, after hearing that the Japanese were seizing unmarried girls, her family married her in a hurry to a man she didn’t know. Japan fell, Korea gained its independence, and the couple started a family. But peace didn’t come. The young family of four fled south. On the road, while breastfeeding and changing her daughter, Gwija was separated from her husband and son.
Then seventy years passed. Seventy years of waiting. Gwija is now an elderly woman and Jina can’t stop thinking about the promise she made to help find her brother.
All registrants will receive a free copy of the book. Teachers based in North and South Carolina who complete the workshop will earn 2 hours of professional development credit and may request free copies of the book for their students.