Let's say that I have to teach a unit on Vietnam

[Chefzhat]

And let's say that I can do anything I want to - it's a 3 week unit.

Suggestions? I have no text that I'm bound to, nor previous lesson plans. I'm really looking forward to the unit, but am a bit overwhelmed with all the info.

TIA

Debie

[615bride]

What grade do you teach?

[Chefzhat]

High school. 10 -12

[misskitty100]

How about:

Teaching hello, goodbye, thank you etc. I believe Vietnamese depends heavily on correct pronuncations so maybe a video or audio tape would be helpful or better yet, a guest native speaker could come into the class.

Every Friday (or once a week) have the students prepare a Vietnamese food recipe. Summer rolls or some sort of papaya salad would probably be good.

Without knowing the traditional handicrafts of Vietnam -- how about having the kids try making some sort of Vietnamese inspired craft?

In your local area are there any Vietnamese art exhibits or Asian Art Museums? If so, maybe a field trip could be worked into the plan too.

Have each student interview someone that has lived in Vietnam in the past.

Depending on the time of year for the unit, you could also incorporate the New Year celebration that many Vietnamese observe.

I assume you will do some history, political, religious/buddhist teachings as well.... :)

P.S. In college, I had a Middle East history class and the teacher gave extra credit to whoever found, prepared and brought in samples of a Middle Eastern recipe. It was really fun.

[Robyn1007]

Okay, so I thought you meant specifically about the war so maybe we need clarification here? (Not that Miskitty is wrong, it just never occured to me. :o )

[tbb113]

Debie - my older son took The History of Vietnam last year as a HS Junior. I can have him tell you what they learned and what text(s) he used (if he remembers). Here is a link (http://www.schoolnotes.com/94526/hansen3.html) to the teacher's School Notes page with the entire semester laid out

Let me know if you want my son to respond to you.

[Chefzhat]

Yeah, I mean the Vietnam war. Sorry!

[beejayw1]

Yeah, I mean the Vietnam war. Sorry!

Hoo, boy! I'd be curious to know what you end up doing. Considering what I experienced growing up as a child in a military family (that did not live on a base) during that era from my 'peace-loving' friends and neighbors, I think you'll have your hands full presenting a non-biased, non-judgmental account. :(

Washington advised about avoiding 'entangling alliances' - and the Vietnam war was a good illustration of what can happen with them.

My suggestion would be to provide a background on the area - how it was colonized by the French, why it was colonized in the first place - and how things snowballed with various allies being called in to support the conflict. The various other countries there should be mentioned.

You could also talk about the peace demonstrations and the 'peace' movement (which for some time was conducted with escalating violence - soldiers coming back from the war were abused verbally and physically, and one or two were even shot and killed - before cooler heads prevailed).

The pullout and its aftermath could fill a week, and then perhaps a survey of the current state of Vietnam and what scars it bears and what benefits it has reaped.

[Robyn1007]

The Vietnam War has so many emotions attached to it. I learned most of my knowlege from a high school history teacher who actually wanted to go but was refused for medical reasons. That was an interesting perspective. Years later I went to an Alabama concert with a friend's father who was in Vietnam. Even this many years later it was hard for him to watch and deal with a tribute to current troops in Iraq as he just remembered he reception he and his comrades received when they came home. My family stood up against the war as both my uncle and my dad were of draft age. I don't know if I agree with how they did it but I understand why they did. (They did not berate or judge the soldiers there.)

I think balance is the key. Making sure students understand why the soldiers went, the history, the feelings of the people at home etc.

I'm sure I'm rambling but what can I say, its been a rough day.

[beejayw1]

You could also talk about the peace demonstrations and the 'peace' movement (which for some time was conducted with escalating violence - soldiers coming back from the war were abused verbally and physically, and one or two were even shot and killed - before cooler heads prevailed).

You might wish to make a point with the kids about just who and what it is, here in the United States, that declares war. I knew a whole lot of people who did not know that my father was involved in a war (in three, actually - WWII, Korea and Vietnam) because Congress had approved the war.

With that observation, I think I'll take myself off this thread. Robyn is right about emotions.

Thank goodness that time is past.

[sillybeans]

Debie: When I was in high school (let's say, oh, 20 years ago...) we did a really cool role-playing exercise. Everyone was assigned a role (President, member of congress hawk/dove, peacenik, etc) and we had to role play how this individuals would have acted at in a specific situation (Tet offensive, etc). Clearly I don't know what was involved in teaching such an exercise, but it was fun and memorable, and made us do more than regurgitate facts, which I think many history situations can default to (also, this wasn't THAT long after the war ended, so viewing it as history was interesting in itself).

You could also do a compare/contrast between Vietnam and the current Iraq war. Look at volunteer army vs draft army, War at Home vs media censorship, etc.

History is a tough one, because I think it's difficult to get teens to see its relevance (my husband, an English teacher, hears more complaints about history than any other topic). Good luck and have fun!

HTH,
Tracy

[RunnerKim]

It's been awhile since I was a 10th grader, but one of the things our teacher did for that unit was invite parents to come in and talk about their role. I think 2 or 3 parents came, including my Dad. It helped make it more real and it was about the only time I've ever heard my Dad talk about his experience there (he was an AF pilot).

Kim

[honeygirl1971]

For a three-week unit, I would do as beejay said in the sense that spending approximately one week on the history leading up to American involvement (but not just Vietnamese history--the American context and the fear of communism etc too), then a week on the war itself, then a week on the aftermath in both countries, sounds good. For high schoolers I think you could bring in lots of interesting material, too--films, journalism, documentaries, literature. You could have students pick one of these types of sources (from a list you create) and then do a report on it which includes the piece's perspectve, sources, biases, message, etc.--this would really help students gain critical thinking skills.

beejay--It is shocking that some people don't know how we as Americans get involved in a war. Nevertheless, just because congress approves going to war does NOT mean that the war has widespread support from the people--that's where the demonstrations etc come in. People use them to let congress, the president, et al know that their actions do not represent the will of all the people. Some people don't seem to understand that THAT is part of the system too.

[melis_d]

As a bit of a history buff who was a history major in college and loved high school history classes, this caught my attention. A google search of "Teaching Vietnam + high school" yielded a lot of good resources.

There was a whole segment on the issue of how to teach Vietnam on OnPoint in NPR sometime over the last few years; I found the link here (http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2002/08/20020802_a_main.asp) . Hopefully this is helpful and it seems as if there might be contact information available for the teacher who is on this show (start the clip at about 5.5 minutes). There's apparently an annual conference on teaching Vietnam and there may be a helpful set of materials that you could access.

This list of resources (http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/teaching.htm) on teaching the war might be useful as well.

Hope this helps and good luck with teaching such a challenging piece of content where there are such varied (and emotional) perspectives to represent.

[beejayw1]

beejay--It is shocking that some people don't know how we as Americans get involved in a war. Nevertheless, just because congress approves going to war does NOT mean that the war has widespread support from the people--that's where the demonstrations etc come in.

I was thinking more of people seriously informing me (and other military kids) that my father was a murderer because as a military person he started the war. :mad:

I know all about the demonstrations - the peaceful ones - and even supported them myself. I didn't want my dad to be killed, or anyone else for that matter.

[JackieO]

It's been awhile since I was a 10th grader, but one of the things our teacher did for that unit was invite parents to come in and talk about their role. I think 2 or 3 parents came, including my Dad. It helped make it more real and it was about the only time I've ever heard my Dad talk about his experience there (he was an AF pilot).

Kim
My DH teaches a college-level course titled, "Rhetoric of the Vietnam War," and it originally was cross-listed with the film department. He uses a lot of the popular films and documentaries that were made about the war (Coming Home, Born on the 4th of July, Apocolypse Now, etc) and has the students read historical accounts of what actually happened -- and then they discuss the difference between historical records and popular mythology.

All this is to reinforce what Kim posted -- his students love the course (it's a lot of work and involves a lot of critical thinking and introspection) -- but the best part of the class is when he brings in a panel of veterans to talk about their varied experiences. He has guys who enlisted, guys who were drafted, guys who were POWs. The panels are always fascinating. (No fights have ever broken out; and FWIW, DH had a student deferrment.)

He's taught the class for about 10 years. When he first taught it, many of his students had fathers who were in Vietnam but never talked about it at home. THAT opened up a lot of fascinating dialogue in the families (DH makes his students keep journals during the course to record insights, developments, feelings, etc.) Lately, the parents of his students are of an age that they "missed" the war.

This is probably way too intense an approach for younger students, but I just want to second the idea of putting together a panel of veterans if you can make that happen.

[BarbaraL]

Looks like you've received some good suggestions. I have no comments about teaching, but thought the below might be of interest.

My husband served in Vietnam (he's older than I am), rarely talks about it and avoids movies about the war. He said THE song over there was "We've got to get out of this place."

He also mentioned that when he came home, he was in Vietnam in the morning, and sitting in his family's living room that night. It was very strange for him (including ducking for cover when a car backfired in the street, etc). I remember an episode of China Beach that was similar - the nurse was home within a day, still wearing her blood-stained fatigues, and her family could not relate to her at all.

In WWII, soldiers came home on troop ships, which took many days. This gave the soldiers an opportunity to talk, share stories, and decompress from the stress of war before they got home. Perhaps some re-adjustment time should be built in when soldiers return home.

[Chefzhat]

I'm bumping this because I wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful input. Very helpful.

I wonder how I would gather a group of veterans? Any suggestions? I should know how to do this, but frankly - my brain hurts today!

Debie

[badunnin]

I'm bumping this because I wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful input. Very helpful.

I wonder how I would gather a group of veterans? Any suggestions? I should know how to do this, but frankly - my brain hurts today!

Debie

Debie - place a call to your local VFW hall. :)

[Chefzhat]

Debie - place a call to your local VFW hall. :)

Duh. I'm such a dork - why didn't I think of that? Told you my brain was fried.

[badunnin]

Duh. I'm such a dork - why didn't I think of that? Told you my brain was fried.

Check your email - it might cheer you up.

[tbb113]

Debie - I googled Vietnam Veterans Assoc and got lots of hits (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vietnam+veterans+association) . My ex is a Vietnam vet and I know he belongs to something but I know it isn't the generic Veterans Hall (I think that is more for WWII/Korean War vets)

[testkitchen45]

And let's say that I can do anything I want to - it's a 3 week unit.

Suggestions? I have no text that I'm bound to, nor previous lesson plans. I'm really looking forward to the unit, but am a bit overwhelmed with all the info.

TIA

Debie
Has too much time gone by for me to add a post? Long ago, I read an unbelievably moving book on the Vietnam war, from the perspective of a little girl who lived through it, and her American adoptive mother. I later bought the book. It's called Spirit of Survival by Gail Sheehy. Despite its descriptions of some of the horrific things the Pol Pot regime did, the book is a surprisingly uplifting story of how one can overcome anything, given enough motivation and opportunity. An excellent read; worth a little searching if needed b/c it's probably out of print by now. It's not for or against the war from the American point of view; rather, it's a look at what the educated Vietnamese went through, and a detailed story of how one little girl, from about age 6 onward, demonstrated survival skills that many adults didn't possess. Just my recommendation for a good read, even if you've already taught your Vietnam unit to the class.