The Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies is excited to announce our second annual National Consortium for Teaching About Asia (NCTA) seminar this summer for K-12 educators.
Spring Orientation: May 12th, 2026 | evening over ZOOM
Seminar Dates: July 20th - July 24th, 2026 | in person on UIUC campus
Wrap Up: Fall 2026 Date TBD
ALL K-12 educators are welcome to apply! This free, one-week, in-person NCTA foundational seminar offers an arts integrated approach to learning and teaching about East Asian history and culture. Through explorations in Chinese calligraphy and visual culture, Japanese arts, anime, and manga, and Korean music and popular culture, participants will examine how artistic forms reflect social values, political change, and cross-cultural exchange, while building interdisciplinary strategies that connect history, art, and cultural identity. Participants learn how to locate resources and design lessons that speak to students’ growing interests in East Asian history and culture.
After the week long seminar, there are three additional requirements:
- Expressed commitment to integrating East Asia into your curriculum.
- Attend and participate in all sessions (36 contact hours), including the follow up classes.
In addition, to complete the seminar and receive the benefits, you must fulfill the following requirements: Attend and participate in all sessions (36 contact hours, with 30 hours in the summer and 6 hours in the spring/fall) Complete all assignments and requirements, including designing a lesson plan that incorporates East Asian material into your curriculum, writing a “reflection paper”, and completing a mini-grant form for your teaching materials.
After attending all the sessions & completing all of the requirements, you will:
- $300 stipend at the completion of all requirements including attendance at the follow up classes.
- $230 worth of teaching materials for your classroom, including the course textbook, additional educational materials, and a $100 mini-grant for purchase of approved materials for your classroom. (The purpose of the mini-grant is to get teaching materials into “brick and mortar” schools. Due to the increasing variety of our seminar participants, not all participants may be able to receive a mini-grant. Please consult with us about this early in the course.)
- 30 IEIN hours (for Illinois teachers).
- Certificate of Completion (36 hours) K-12 educators will receive a Certificate of Completion for 36 hours of professional development after completing all requirements of the seminar.
NCTA alumni are eligible to apply for NCTA GEEO study tours to East Asia and are also eligible for small grants such as the Marie Wanek Fund, travel subsidies for conferences, and other benefits that we offer from time to time; NCTA alumni are also often given priority preference in competitive applications for summer institutes, Fulbright-Hayes study tours to East Asia and other programs. Our office also writes letters of recommendations for alumni who apply to competitive study tours and summer institutes. All alumni will receive a weekly NCTA email newsletter with information about free professional development programs and teaching resources.
This seminar is offered to all K-12 educators in the 11 states regions of: Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
This seminar is sponsored by the NCTA National Coordinating Site at the University of Pittsburgh. NCTA is funded by the Freeman Foundation
NCTA 2025 Gallery
View some images of our past NCTA Program full of insightful lectures about multiple East Asian cultures and hands-on activities, including museum visits, a tea ceremony experience, printmaking, and calligraphy.
