CULTURES - CHINESE

Though each Asian culture stands entirely distinct from one another,
there are many shared values in Asian society that can be beneficial
for second language teachers to be familiar with when working with
students from  these nationalities. For additional information about
teaching Asian-American children, the Early Childhood and Parenting
Collaborative at the University of Illinois has an excellent article entitled
Asian-American Children: What Teachers Should Know.

General Information Websites

Chinese Language:
Audio Tutorial of Survival Chinese:
http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/AudioChinese/
This site offers sounds and basic sayings/words for greetings, dining, parenting, traveling, time, weather, and holidays in Chinese. The site also offers basic commands for teachers to be familiar with.

Chinese Culture:
China Online:
http://chineseculture.about.com/
Here you can find information about Chinese culture, art, architecture, food, history, religion, and more.

Yutopian Online:
http://www.yutopian.com/religion/
Offers extensive information about the history of Christianity in China and a link that compares Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam.

Government Information Office: The Republic of China on Taiwan.
http://www.gio.gov.tw/
Provides information about the Republic of China (ROC) including its history, government, people, language, culture, as well as an overview of historical relations between China and Taiwan.

Websites for Teachers

Chinese Language Information Page:
http://www.webcom.com/~bamboo/chinese/chinese.html
This site provides a link to study the linguistics of Chinese, opportunities for teacher conferences, and ordering standardized tests in Chinese.

Chinese Historical and Cultural Project:
http://www.chcp.org/index.html
The CHCP is a community outreach group based out of Santa Clara County, California whose mission is to help preserve Chinese and Chinese-American culture through community outreach. Of particular interest to teachers on this site is the CHCP's Golden Legacy curriculum, which was written to complement the state social science standards. The curriculum can be purchased on the site.

China: Dim Sum: A Connection to Chinese-American Culture: http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/chinadimsumaconnection.html
The Angier School in Newton, Massachusetts developed this thematic based website entitled Dim Sum, a Cantonese term meaning "a little bit of heart" which is a "cross curricula, integrated resource for elementary classrooms which enhances awareness and understanding of Chinese-American culture while building basic academic skills." The site includes lessons for teachers to use in math, language arts, science, social studies, arts, celebrations, holidays, and customs.

The China Project:
http://www.globaled.org/chinaproject/c_teaching.php
Has lessons for ESL students of any level who want to learn about China and Chinese history.

Books for Students/Teachers

Fessler, L. W. (1983). Chinese in America: Stereotyped Past, Changing Present.New York: Vantage.

Fu, D. (1995). "My Trouble is My English" : Asian Students and the American Dream. New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook

Hong K. (1976). The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. Vintage International

McCunn, R. (1979). An Illustrated History of the Chinese in America. San Francisco: Design Enterprises of San Francisco.

She, C. (1995). Teenage Refugees from China Speak Out. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

Wong, K. S. & Chan, S. (1998). Claiming America: Constructing Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Books for Parents:

Honig, B. (1985). A Handbook on California Education for Language Minority Parents, Chinese/English edition. Los Angeles: CA State Department of Education.