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I have been teaching in Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh since1987.
It is a college preparatory school which is committed to academic excellence
and the development of the whole person: mind, character and body. The
educational program is designed to meet those needs. A great strength
of the school is its growing success in building a multi-cultural environment
and urging students to expand the size and scope of their world. The
interdisciplinary Chinese program which I am teaching serves the above
purpose. I teach East Asian Studies which includes Chinese dynasy history,
Chinese modern and contemporary history, and Japan's history. I also
teach Chinese Poetry and Fictions in English translation. In addition,
I teach four levels of Chinese language. As a successful existing program,
it enjoys popularity in my school and the annual enrollment has been
stable. However, the program needs an implementation in order to meet
the needs of the students. My school, Shady Side Academy, has a large
Asian student body who shows a great interest in Tibetan issues. The
students organized a Tibetan Friend Club ten years ago and continue
to meet every week to discuss Tibetan issues. Quite a few students of
my school went to the Dalai Lama's lectures when he visited Pittsburgh
years ago. Not only it is the students' interest in today's Tibet but
it should also be a part of my East Asian Studies curriculum. As an
outcome of the 2004 Summer Institute of Cultures and Religions of the
Himalayan Region", I am going to implement a Tibet Unit in my curriculum.
I am sure my students and the school community will appreciate and benefit
a lot from it.
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