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A Critical Investigation of Diversity: Themes and Educational Implications Surrounding "The Last Samurai"Snea Thinsan, Akiko Hakiwara, Yunjoo Nikki Park, Zeynel Amac, Hohsung Choe. Diversity education for world peace is more than just showing that differences exist. It is indeed necessary to lead the learners as far as to "know the enemy"-- to appreciate the differences and coexist based on respect and constructive actions. The maintenance of world peace, we believe, lies heavily on the shoulders of humankind's deep understanding of themselves, friends and enemies, sadly in light of real-world conflicts and contradictions.
In preparation for this conference, we first invited graduate students from all over the world at Indiana University to view "The Last Samurai" and share their analysis of the story. In this colloquium, we, speakers from different countries, including Thailand, Korea, the U.S. and Japan, will reflect with our unique critical lenses on the common themes that emerged in the initial sharing session and how each of us view them differently. We will also offer educational implications based on our evaluation and synthesis of the prominent issues related to diversity education for world peace. Lastly, we will share and demonstrate practical classroom ideas with the participants. Presenters  Snea Thinsan
(United States)
Associate Instructor, Doctoral Student Language Education Department, School of Education Indiana University Snea Thinsan taught ESL to Indo-Chinese refugees and other students from 1987 to 2000. In 1994, he started teaching EFL at Chiang Mai University, Thailand. His more recent teaching experiences include teaching Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) courses and Learning Strategies for International Students. Having been educated in Thailand, Australia, England, and now in the U.S. (Thanks to Fulbright), he has believed in the power of education as a best path toward world peace. His research lies where critical literacy, critical thinking, CALL, and TESOL intersect.
Akiko Hakiwara
PhD candidate School of Education Indiana University She taught English as EFL in Japan. Currently, she teaches Japanese as an associate instructor in East Asian Language Culture
department, Indiana University. Her research interest is teacher education, in particular, foreign language teacher's professional development. Yunjoo Nikki Park
Doctoral student School of Education Indiana University Yunjoo Nikki Park
Zeynel Amac
(United States)
Curriculum and Instruction Department Indiana University, Bloomington Zeynel Amac is a graduate student in Curriculum and Instruction Department of Indiana University Bloomington. He has taught five years in elementary schools in Turkey. He is interested in Elementary Teacher Education, and teaching for social justice.
Hohsung Choe
Doctoral student School of Education Indiana University Doctoral student in the School of Education at Indiana University. He taught English as a Foreign Language in Korea. He is currently teaching Korean at Indiana University as an Associate Instructor. His research interests include “identity construction and language learning,” “L1 loss and maintenance,” and “linguistic imperialism in English language teaching.
Keywords
(90 min. Colloquium,
English)
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