From Our Classrooms to Yours: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
In this workshop, English teacher Michele Beauchamp will discuss Dai Sijie’s novel Balzac and Little Chinese Seamstress as an artifact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and how we might read fictional text as a way to understand this period of China’s history. Ms. Beauchamp will present an analysis of the author’s treatment of various themes such as literacy, censorship, love, and friendship. The workshop will include approaches to teaching the novel, such as the role of the transformative storyteller and Sijie’s use of intertextuality. In addition, we will explore ways in which teachers might use Sijie’s 2005 film adaptation of his novel as a stand-alone film study or as an extension of teaching the text. Attendees will receive a copy of the book after the workshop.