Office Hours and Chinese Dramas – Pandemic Homeschool Diaries

This week (starting April 27) was supposed to be the week the schools reopened. But oh well, we’ve got a pretty good system in place now. The schools have stepped up their remote teaching, and I’m filling in the gaps with things that are lots of fun – including history lessons based on Chinese dramas. Here’s how we rocked the seventh week of pandemic homeschool (sixth week of instruction).

Office Hours Angel

Fortunately, my teen’s geometry teacher has been on top things since the beginning. I say fortunately, because I took geometry exactly 30 years ago, it was the first class I didn’t get an A in, and I really am not very much help when my daughter gets confused. Her teacher has regular class sessions and online office hours. Until this week, my daughter didn’t really need the class sessions – she usually had the work done before class started.

But this week she got stuck. I tried to help her, but I got stuck too. My daughter was fighting tears and I was getting frustrated. I was bitching about not being to check the book (they don’t seem to use textbooks in school anymore) and she said normally she would just ask the teacher. So I asked when her teacher would be available. It turned out the teacher had online office hours starting in 30 minutes. I made my daughter call in and the teacher explained the problem in five minutes. The day was saved.

Arsenal Military Academy

I’ve mentioned Arsenal Military Academy several times. I started watching this Chinese YA historical drama during spring break. I recognize that the plot is full of holes, the history is inaccurate and the characters all act like contemporary teens dropped into an early 20^th century cosplay. I love every minute of it! I binged all 48 episodes in less than a week. Everyone in the show is absolutely gorgeous and the vintage costumes (while incorporating styles from at least three different decades) are drool-worthy. 

My teen’s history class is studying the 20^th century but the at-home workload has been very light. My youngest daughter’s school curriculum has contracted to reading, math, and science – no social studies. When I was in high school my U.S. History teacher made us demonstrate our understanding of the Civil War by deconstructing the inaccuracies in Gone With the Wind.

So I developed a supplementary history unit based on the first 10 episodes of Arsenal Military Academy. I feel quite smug about this way to teach early 20^th century Chinese history. Each assignment must be completed before the girls are allowed to watch the next episode. We just started this week, but I was not wrong when I thought that Xu Kai would be a great motivator.

History Through Drama

Here is my “curriculum.” After we watch each episode together, I email the girls their assignment. They do the research, email me back, and I ask them follow-up questions to see if they did more than just cut and paste. Sometimes, I send them follow up links with more information. My 5^th grader is allowed to use Wikipedia for her answers; the high schooler has to do more.

Episode 1

Make a map of China, identifying the provinces. Mark Beijing, Jinan, and, if it exists, Shunyuan. If Shunyuan is fictional, can you figure out where it is supposed to be? Hang on to this map, and as the characters travel around or hear about events, find those locations and mark them.

Episode 2

Japan and Germany are at war – in Shandong. What is the historical basis of this and how accurate is it?

Episode 3

This show is taking place in the early days of cinema, and the character Qu Manting is a celebrity in Shanghai. Go online and research the early movie industry China. Who are some real-life celebrities from that movie era?

Episode 4

Start reading A History of China beginning on p. 297 with the section European Imperialism in the Far East and through the next chapter: The Republic. This chapter covers the time period of the tv show.

Episode 5

In this episode, the older Shen brother dances a minuet with the respectable Bai girl, while bad boy Yanzhen dances a tango with Qu Manting. How accurately does this scene:

1. Demonstrate the characters’ personalities?
2. Represent Chinese society in the 1910’s? Ever?

Why? (Give evidence)

Episode 6

In this episode, Qu Manting runs through the forest in heels and even carries Yanzhen on her back. Why would a high-born Chinese girl born in the 1890s be unlikely to be able to do this?

Followup: Research the history of footbinding in China. When did it start? End?

Episode 7 & 8

Throughout the series, the Japanese are the antagonists. In this episode eight “samurai” commit a crime. Were there still samurai in the 19-teens? If so, what were they doing? Find out what was going on in Japan from 1900-1930. If you haven’t already, finish reading the chapter in the History of China.

Episodes 9 & 10

In episode 9, we meet a powerful woman. Like Johanna to Felicity in a Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, this woman contrasts with Xiang/Liangchen, who passes for male, by using her femininity as a cover for her badassness. In every country and time period, there have been women who found ways to subvert the status quo. Can you find one woman each from China and Japan (active between 1850 and 1950) who broke the rules of feminine behavior? Which strategy did they use?

COVID Count

This was the week the governor announced extension of the stay-home order through the end of May. On Saturday May 2, the Seattle Times reported 6,351 confirmed cases in King County, with 457 deaths.