Asia-related websites for teachers of English and Literacy

This page contains useful English-related sites. For History sites with an Asia focus, click here and for some general sites, here. If you would like to suggest a site, please email us.

Australian Screen Online

Australian Screen Online has more than 800 resources about Asia; many with accompanying teachers’ notes.

Asia Pacific Arts is an online magazine published by the University of Southern California’s (USC) US-China Institute, the USC East Asian Studies Centre and the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. The site features news, reviews and feature articles on current Asian film, music, literature, art and other media platforms.

Cha: An Asian Literary Journal

Cha is a Hong Kong-based online journal which publishes stories, poetry, artwork and photography with an Asian focus or by Asian artists. Current and previous issues are available from the website.

International Children’s Digital Library

The International Children’s Digital Library aims to foster understanding and respect amongst children through stories from around the world. Digitised books can be searched by region and country (those from Asia include Iranian, Mongolian and Filipino stories). The site also has ‘exhibitions’—books grouped under a theme such as ‘celebrating differences’, ‘forever friendship’ and ‘seasons of change’. Each theme has accompanying activities for children to explore the themes.

Oriental Tales

Oriental Tales is an online magazine featuring short travel tales from East Asia by residents or visitors to the region. Not intended as a guidebook, these stories provide snapshots of life and events in Asia from the authors’ personal perspective. Contributors include professional travel writers as well as those who write for pleasure. Articles can be browsed by issue or by country/destination and the site also features photo galleries from contributors.

Paper Tigers

Paper Tigers promotes multiculturalism through children’s literature. Focusing on books from or about different cultures, particularly South Asia and the Pacific Rim, the site projects site includes recommended reading lists, book reviews, author interviews, and illustrator galleries. Current book reviews include The Beckoning Cat: Based on a Japanese Folktale by Koko Nishizuka, illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger; Chee-Lin: A Giraffe’s Journey by James Rumford; and Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistanby Jeanette Winter.

Peril

Peril is an Asian Australian online magazine of arts and culture, published twice per year. Featuring provocative stories, poetry and interviews, the magazine is an interesting model of online journalism as well as a source of contemporary Australian writing. (Teachers should note that the journal sometimes includes strong language.) Current and previous issues are available from the website.

Radio Asia, Smithsonian Museum

Listen to music, conversations and stories from around Asia on the Smithsonian Museums Radio Asia. Examples of music performances include chamber music from Japan using both Japanese and Western instruments, traditional Balinese music, and Sufi music from Rajasthan. The site also features samples from The Silk Road Storytelling group and Curatorial conversations on Asian art and fashion. The audio is available direct from the site or can be downloaded as a podcast through iTunes.

*The Silk Road StoryTelling group podcasts are also available from Kids Learn Out Loud.

Japanese Fairy Tales
Listen to three Japanese fairytales: My Lord Bag of Rice, The Tongue-Cut Sparrow and The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad. The stories were translated in 1908 by Yei Theodora Ozaki who interpreted parts of the story for Western audiences. The tales are available as free separate MP3 downloads from ThoughtAudio.com.

The Asian Australian Studies Research Network
The AASRN is a formal network for academic, community and other groups who research in the area of Asian Australian Studies. Asian Australian Studies is a growing field that investigates the diasporic cultures, politics and histories of those of Asian descent in Australia. Groups within the network include those interested in Cultural heritage & community; Film, literature & performance; and Visual arts & new media.

Viet Nam Literature Project

The Viet Nam Literature Project is a US based organisation which supports and promotes work from Vietnamese ‘boat people’ and war veterans. The website features short stories, cartoons and autobiographical essays about the experiences of Vietnamese immigrants to America.

WORDS

In a previous exhibition photographer Trent Everitt displayed visual representations of people’s favourite words in Japan. In his latest show Everitt travelled to China to ask citizens their favourite words and then captured images from the local environment to reflect their meaning and sentiment. The results will be loaded onto his website soon. Images from his WORDS (from Japan) project are currently online.