Trip to Asia opens up new world for teacher
Friday, July 25, 2008 6:45 PM PDT
RPV resident will share her adventures with students in the fall.
By Chris Boyd, Peninsula News
She grew up in Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, but as a youngster the closest Betse Youd Amador could get to experiencing China was Hong Kong. It was the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a sheltered China was undergoing a cultural revolution.
But from June 28 to July 19, Amador got up close and personal with the people of China and Japan as part of a tour organized by the USC US-China Institute. Amador, a 53-year-old Rancho Palos Verdes resident and seventh-grade world history teacher at Alexander Fleming Middle School in Lomita, was one of only 16 educators in California chosen to make the trip.
“It was an endurance test because ultimately we were in nine hotels in nine different cities in three weeks. It was very intense,” Amador said. “It goes beyond being a tourist. You feel a responsibility to the organization that’s giving you this trip.”
Sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia and funded by the Freeman Foundation, these annual excursions aim to strengthen the bonds between the United States and the countries of East Asia while giving teachers firsthand knowledge they can bring back to the classroom.
“The genesis of the program is for Americans to know a lot more about East Asia,” said Clay Dube, associate director of the USC US-China Institute. Dube traveled to China for the first time 26 years ago.
Dube noted the world’s economic ties to Asia and the many wars the United States has been involved in there during the last 110 years. “Education that ignores East Asia is not much of an education,” he said. “We took 16 really top-flight educators … It’s so important that we improve teaching about East Asia.
“One of the reasons is to humanize the whole story,” Dube added. “It takes a while for [the experience] to sink in, but it remains with these teachers.”
“It gives me a lot of enthusiasm for China in particular and also how important the relationship between China and America is,” Amador said. “I have real stories I can share with my students about that. I really expected it to be more [about] party politics.”
Instead, Amador found people willing to share their experiences and a culture open to Americans and others.
“They are very First World in some respects and very Third World in other respects,” Amador said, adding that despite the challenges they face making the transition to the First World, the Chinese are a happy people.
One of the highlights of her trip came when Amador sat down for dinner and conversation with a Chinese family. “Those kinds of experiences, they go way beyond the tourist type of experiences,” she said. “It’s fascinating how fast, in many psychological respects, China has caught up with the United States.”
During dinner, Amador spoke with a 15-year-old who learned to speak English well by watching American movies and the like. She smiled while recalling his typical teenage one-word answers and the continuous vibrations of his cell phone.
His father explained to Amador that the Chinese people are excited because they can talk to Americans and folks from all over the globe. “That’s exactly what is making them so happy — they can show the rest of the world how great China is,” Amador said. “It was a really special moment.”
People person
From the mind-blowing architecture of Shanghai to the Great Wall and amazing temples, China has much to offer visitors, but Amador said it was the people who made her trip. Their openness and kindness took her by surprise.
“I didn’t want it to be where we were separated from the people … They’re all part of this [other] world,” Amador said. “It’s hard to put a finger on it. I’m going to have to figure out a way of communicating that to my students.”
At one point, Amador was “racing” up the Great Wall. “All of a sudden, I start feeling sick,” she said.
A young Chinese woman sat down next to Amador, asked her if she was OK and handed her a tissue. She sat with Amador until she felt better.
“It’s those kind of moments,” she said, adding that she thought the Chinese would be more aloof. “[There are] these fantastic lessons from Buddhism and Confucianism that are really underlying the entire culture.”
Amador is anxious to share her adventures with her students, who wrote about themselves on California postcards that she gave to Chinese and Japanese students. “The whole point of this program is to build these bridges,” she said.
In addition to teaching her students about the history of Confucianism as part of the new school year’s curriculum, Amador will explore the Silk Road, an ancient trading route that connected East and West Asia and even reached into parts of Europe and Africa.
“We need to bring [history] into the present. Cultural exchange that started with Buddhism and the silk trade is still alive today,” she said. “What’s the new Silk Road? The Internet. It’s people power. The government cannot dictate that kind of interchange.”
With 1.3 billion people, China boasts the biggest number of cell phone users in the world. And although there’s not a computer in every household, everyone knows how to use one, Amador said. She stumbled upon many Internet caf/s that housed row after row of computers.
Amador’s students will correspond with their counterparts in China via e-mail. “My students become more motivated about school when they start looking outside their own community, their own state,” she said. “It’s character development for them, so that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
cboyd@pvnews.com
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