Month: April 2020

Today, I did a Zoom class with the level 1 and level 2 ESL students that I originally worked with in-person before the COVID-19 abruptly changed those plans. However, it was great to see all the students again over Zoom! I miss being present in class with the students and helping live, but lesson delivery was effective via Zoom for these students. The head teacher was very creative in her lesson planning to make it engaging for students yet practical in that the delivery was understood despite it not being in-person. She used a variety of fruits and vegetables and demonstrated ways to prepare them. For example, she took a potato and peeled it. She showed on camera how you could use a peeler or a knife, make your slices thin or thick, and then used a pan to cook the potato. This helped students work on vocabulary with the types of food as well as the different tools used to prepare the food. Additionally, it helped students work on effective communication by using descriptors to describe how the food was being prepared as well as what each food looked like.

I learned that teaching those new to the English language with pictures and live demonstration tools is very helpful. When I conduct virtual tutoring over the phone, the students’ English skills are much more advanced than those students I engaged with today via Zoom. With the level 1 and level 2 students, this phone tutoring would not be effective. It is important to utilize creative teaching skills when delivering material to new English language learners. In our class, we discussed the need for being curious and constantly trying to find new ways to try things. This was indicated to me through the first Zoom session with the ESL students.

Despite there being a learning barrier and COVID-19 making it more difficult, it is important to stick to my commitment and help members of my community. Engaging with the class via Zoom teaches me skills like perseverance as well as creativity. Creativity is important because the students struggle to learn English without the proper teaching tools being utilized.

Today, I tutored two English language learning students over the phone. We discussed chapter five in their ESL textbook. Chapter five was about the government and the economy, rule of law, federal and state government, and The Constitution. The exercises included helped the student develop vocabulary, grammar, and civics skills. We also did discussion and debate as part of the lesson.

In Cairo House, a major theme is where does Gigi feel like she fits in. On page 149, Serageldin writes, “where do I [Gigi] belong? Where is the chameleon’s natural habitat?” In the discussion and debate components of the lesson, I frequently hear this same idea echoed through what the students share about navigating their lives in the United States. In some of the countries the students come from, the government is very different. Some students prefer elements of their government in their native country compared to the United States. Some students really miss their native country and left important memories or family back in their native country. While the students are actively trying to become citizens in the United States and adopt a new national identity, they do not erase where they came from. I see a lot of parallels between Gigi’s story and the story of the students trying to understand and adopt a new identity while still maintaining an identity in his/her native country.

I understand more through working with diverse students the difficulty of meshing multiple community groups. Despite it sometimes being difficult, it is important to integrate one community group with another because diversity helps in many different areas of life. It is important for me to be respectful and understanding during these conversations. I do this out of respect for the students, but I also want to listen to understand the cultures and communities of others in order to help make myself more educated.

With my environmental philosophy class continuing our unit on climate change and possibly solutions, I have continuously noticed many connections to some of the themes and discussions that have been focused on in this class. Just the other day in my philosophy class we discussed a paper that argued for a one child policy. The basis of the argument was that having multiple children was not necessary to lead a happy and fulfilling life, and that having more than one child would infringe on other people’s right to have a happy life. It has been statistically proven that having one less child is the best way to reduce carbon emissions, and its miles ahead of the second best thing (living without a car). I found this argument very persuading and there were a lot of different aspects of the argument that I found very interesting. The author of the paper mentioned things like tax breaks for families that only had one child and various other economic factors similar to that. After reading through the paper I was interested to look more into China’s former one child policy and how it was still effecting the country today. As I was looking for information on the one child policy I found an article from the guardian and I was very surprised on the information I got from reading it. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/02/china-population-control-two-child-policy) In this article, almost every opinion on the one child policy is extremely negative. Even with China removing the policy a couple of years ago, their population is still rapidly aging and shrinking. With this China has been trying to engineer a baby boom to combat the shrinking population, to no success however. Even though the policy makers are trying to get people the have more kids, many families are deciding against it, as it is hard enough to raise only one child in China. I found this difference in view points between the normal families and China and the policy makers to be very interesting. It almost seems to me as the people of China are thought of as no more than economic tools by the policy makers. The families job is to pump out more children so that the economy can grow. However, this clearly shows zero care for the current state of climate change and global warming. It is good to see the families of China still continuing to have less children, even with the government try to push back against them. Overall, this was a very interesting article to read, and there was a lot to take in that I wasn’t aware of.

For my second ICR project I was asked to “Research and develop a short essay and infographic detailing the COVID-19’s impact in China and discuss how this has affected international perception of Chinese nationals and dependents as the virus continues to spread.”

Since the project was pretty open ended I felt that I was able to talk about the controversy of the virus with this writing. I started off by talking about my own experience. From my study abroad being switched to a new country, and later being canceled. I continued by talking about being sent home to online classes and sharing how I have been impacted greatly from the virus. As everyone else has been impacted in extensive ways too, I thought I should address the racism that has come with this virus. Throughout the essay I acknowledged that people must not blame China for the virus. Even though the virus has come from China, we must not show hatred towards the country. No one in this situation wanted an illness like this to occur. It is not China’s fault for all of the issues that have surfaced. People must be educated about cultural differences and be more understanding about China’s own situation.

This article from the Al Jazeera Magazine details the extremely sad and difficult decision that has had to be made in Jerusalem over whether or not to close the Al-Aqsa mosque for the holy month of Ramadan. “Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the Jordan-appointed council that oversees Islamic sites on the sacred compound, called the decision “painful””. This decision will affect the religious lives of tens of thousands of Muslims during the month when Ramadan starts on April 23rd. One sign of normalcy is that the Muslim call to prayer will still take place five times per day at the site, and religious workers will still be allowed in the site in order to make that happen. However, the council has asked that all Muslims remain at their home and pray at home rather than at the site. “It typically draws tens of thousands of Muslims daily to the mosque and the adjoining Dome of the Rock for evening prayers known as Taraweeh”. Tens of thousands of Muslims will be affected by this order, but it is for the good of the whole that no one gets infected by attending the holy site. I think it would be a good idea for religious gatherings across the globe to be stopped as another further way to stop big crowds from being together. Many places have moved to online worships or services, and some have even stopped everything all together, but there are still a great deal of places of worship that remain open and risk the health of us all by doing so.

As an Actuarial Science major, I had an initial interest the significance of Islamic finance. Reflecting upon Sharia Law therefore led me to research its usefulness and the substantial differences between conventional finance practices still used to this day. Unlike its conventional counterparts, Islamic finance is governed by Islamic Law in addition to the finance industry. As a result of the controversy this therefore created, Islamic finance was suppressed for several decades; prior to making its modern appearance in the early 1970s.

The foundation of Islamic finance is centered upon the idea that “Allah is the owner of all wealth in the world, and humans are merely its trustees.” This understanding provides the establishment of Islamic finance’s distinct core principles. Foremost, Islamic beliefs adhere to the ideas of a free – market economy. Muslims believe that by prohibiting the government to dictate supply and demand, they are advocating for social justice. Other key principles that Islamic finance adheres to includes, but is not limited to: prohibiting interest, avoiding gambling, and abstaining from investments involving prohibited industries (Jamaldeen).

In class we discussed the social status of women in Chinese history and culture. A documentary we watched referred to baby girls as “small happiness” whereas baby boys were “big happiness”.  A daughter was not considered a part of the family because she was raised to be put in an arranged marriage, at a young age, and leave her family to move in with her husband and his family. Women were expected to stay in the house, raise children, clean, and cook. Giving birth and producing an offspring to inherit their wealth was essential to families, so it was important for the women to birth a son. Women were oppressed throughout Chinese history. An example of this is foot binding. Women were considered ugly if they had big feet, so they would bind their feet by wrapping all their toes, except the big one, under their feet and walk on them to make their feet smaller. This painful experience was normal and expected of women. It wasn’t until 1912 that foot binding was banned. This is just one example of how Chinese women have historically been oppressed. 

Today Chinese women have gained autonomy due to the developments in education and laws protecting their rights and interest. Although there have been improvements, Chinese women’s relationships with men remain unequal. The situation has been evolving over the last three decades. The advances in women’s access to education is beneficial but they struggle in the field of employment. Reduction in jobs available for women and inequalities between men and women’s salaries create challenges and insecurities in the work field. Today the relationships between husband and wife still have the focus of marriage and reproduction. It’s common that women are dependent on men on an economic level and in regards to decision-making. Although there is progress seen by social modernisation, living standards, and economic reforms, that has not resulted in all individuals being perceived as equally valuable. On the whole, the status of Chinese women often remains inferior to the status of men, specifically in public life, and roles within the family. 

https://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/6013?file=1

Within the United States, church closures have been widespread as a result of COVID-19. Many churches and religious organizations have therefore turned to online forms of worship in order to fill the void that has occurred as a result. Although this unexpected change has been hard, it appears as if most Christians (including myself) have adapted appropriately. That being said, I was interested in gaining a deeper understanding for how this has impacted Muslims, and Islam as a whole, throughout the world. Through reading Shaykh Sajid Umar’s article Closing Mosques – Islamic Justifications for Coronavirus Lockdowns, I learned a lot about Islam through their response to this current crisis.

Umar began by acknowledging that this is the first time that the world’s mosques have been closed to the public since Bilāl, a Sahabah of Muhammad, had initially raised the call to prayer. This initial doing was over 1400 years ago. This unprecedented motion is therefore seen by many Muslims as a despiteful action by Shaytān. According to my research, Shaytān is most commonly transcribed as being a devil like spirit or jinn. I found this reflection to be very insightful and revealing. Although as a Christian it is very unfortunate that we aren’t able to have regular religious gatherings at this time, my first reaction isn’t to blame satan for “hijacking” life as we know it. Additionally, Umar commented heavily on the way of the Sharia. Within our previous in-class discussion on “Sharia Law,” I gained a better understanding of its meaning, as well as its close relation to beliefs found within both the Qur’an and Hadith. According to the Sharia, preservation of life holds great value. Within the Hadith, the profit is reported to have said: “If you hear of a disease outbreak in a land, do not go there, and if you are there during an outbreak, then do not flee from it” (Umar). Both of these revelations ultimately do support the Islamic jurisdiction’s decision.

In many of my classes at Butler I have learned about the importance of physical education in school systems. I value and support physical education, especially as I continue to learn about how physical activity benefits learning in school.

The United States has an organization called SHAPE America. It stands for Society of Health and Physical Educators. It is a national organization that serves as a voice for health and physical education professionals across the nation. They provide programs, resources, and advocacy that supports an inclusive, active, kinder, and healthier school culture. The mission of SHAPE America is, “To advance professional practice and promote research related to health and physical education, physical activity, dance and sports”(SHAPE America). The standards provided by SHAPE America are a resource for educators to use as guidelines and expectations for their lesson plans. The standards expect students to; have the ability to demonstrate a variety of motor skills and movement patterns, apply knowledge of concepts, strategies and tactics, demonstrate the knowledge and skills to achieve a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness, and recognize the value of physical activity.

In China physical education is a part of the curriculum sheet set by The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The curriculum sheet is from primary school up to the second year of college. In China grades one and two should have four hours of physical education per week, and three hours for grades three to six. In the United States elementary schools are recommended to provide one hundred and fifty minutes, thirty minutes shorter than grades three to six in China. The schools in China are required to organize extra-curricular physical activities like “morning exercises, class-break exercises, competitions, events, and after-school sports”(Kajanus). Similar to Shape America, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China provides standards and teaching materials for the curriculum. The curriculum includes fundamental motor skills, athletics, games, gymnastics, martial arts, and other traditional sports. Also like the SHAPE America standards, the curriculum outlines “goals for knowledge about sports, health and safety, and psychological development that emphasizes resilience and cooperative skills” (Kajanus).

Overall China and the United States have very similar value in Physical Education in school. Both SHAPE America and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China provide curriculum for their teachers and set health standards for the students throughout their years in school.

Sources:
https://www.asianstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/physical-education-in-chinese-schools-role-models-repetition-and-winning.pdf
https://www.shapeamerica.org/standards/pe/

As I have talked about in previous blog posts, the Chinese government is doing their best to control the narrative around the coronavirus in their country. They are attempting to do it yet again in regards to their economy, but it is not working so well, according to this report from the Associated Press. After visiting Wuhan in March Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the coronavirus situation in China under control and allowed factories and some shops to reopen in order to try to stimulate the Chinese economy that has taken major hits just the same as most of the economies throughout the world. In theory, opening the factories and shops would definitely reignite the economy. However, the Chinese people are extremely wary about even leaving their houses based on what has happened over the last few months. “Data due out Friday is expected to show the economy contracted by up to 9% in January-March, its worst performance since the late 1970s.”. Again, there is no surprise there as most of the world’s economies are suffering. However, the surprising aspect of this story to me is the fact that the Chinese people do not seem to want to go back out even though some shops have been opened. I think this sentiment is wildly different to the way many Americans are feeling at this point in time. I think given the opportunity, most Americans would be straight back out into the shops if they were to open back up today. However, the Chinese people are still very wary to going back out into the opened shops. I think this is a classic example of the Chinese culture of discipline, and many Americans simply do not have that kind of discipline to make sure those around them are able to stay healthy and safe.