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Senior Isaac Kou—a double major in computer science and ecology and evolutionary biology, minoring in dance—had not considered working in education or with K-12 students until hearing about the Program for Teaching East Asia’s classroom outreach program. Viewing it as an interesting opportunity to develop different skills and give back to the community, Kou applied. Apprehensive at first, Kou blossomed into a confident educator, excited to share about Japanese culture and engage with students.

About the program

Now having completed its second successful year, the Program for Teaching East Asia’s (TEA) classroom outreach program focuses on ways K-12 educators can use picture books about East Asia to engage students in cross-curricular learning. The program was made possible through sponsorship from the Office of Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and the . Participating �鶹��Ѱ�����students are each assigned a book set in East Asia then work with TEA staff to develop a lesson, practice reading delivery and ultimately present a storybook reading and mini-lesson to Colorado K-8 classrooms.

This year’s program, “Teaching Geography Through East Asian Picture Books,” engaged elementary and middle school students in classrooms from Greeley and the Denver metro area all the way to Grand Junction. These students explored urban and rural settings in East Asia and participated in activities that included listening to the sounds of the city of Tokyo to identifying different types of rice, including finding the “imposter.”

Running from February to May, the program successfully concluded with several �鶹��Ѱ�����student facilitators participating in reading to multiple classes during a celebratory day at a local elementary school. In total, the program reached 49 classrooms in eight school districts.

The �鶹��Ѱ�����outreach students hailed from different specializations, not necessarily aiming for careers in education. However, all the participants expressed how teaching impacted them and became so much more than just presenting material to young children. �鶹��Ѱ�����students reported that organizing a clear presentation adapted for different audiences, practicing projection and enunciation through readings, and answering questions and clarifying points on the fly helped them improve their public speaking and professionalism—useful skills that can be transferred to future career settings.

Lily Elliott

Lily Elliott, a senior double majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and Asian studies, challenged herself by preparing lessons for two books. Elliott was able to leverage her expertise in the sciences for the book “Rice,” about growing and harvesting rice in southern China, but she also stepped out of her comfort zone in preparing the second book, “The Ocean Calls,” about haenyeo, traditional Korean female divers. Working with a topic she wasn’t as familiar with prompted Elliott to engage in a different kind of reflection after each lesson and consider organization and delivery of the material in a more critical way.

Kyrie MacArthur

Sophomore history and education major Kyrie MacArthur, who also prepared for the book “The Ocean Calls,” relished the opportunity to prepare and execute her own lesson and reported the experience as great practice for her work as an educator. The experience confirmed her love for teaching; the program gave her the opportunity to work with elementary grades, expanding her thoughts about which grade levels could be her specialization. MacArthur's experience made her consider teaching upper elementary, as well as middle school, which could broaden future career opportunities.

Read the full article here.

The Program for Teaching East Asia at the Center for Asian Studies at �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder is a member of the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia and works to provide teachers with robust professional development about East Asia for application in K-12 classrooms nationwide.