Teaching Tolerance > Web Exclusives > Vietnamese Americans
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Published in partnership
with the Orange County
Asian and Pacific Islander
Community Alliance.
 

 

 
lesson plans

Lesson plans should be used in combination with the materials available in the Brief History and Timeline sections. You may expand on the lesson plans by using supplemental activities and the collection of short fiction and poetry available at the bottom of this page.

Download individual lesson plans below, or download a complete set of lessons, maps, demographics, timelines, supplementals and extras.
(complete set file size > 2.4mb > approx download time 5 min 34 secs @ 56k)

Individual Lesson Plans

Lesson 1
The Boat People Separation and Loss
This introductory lesson helps students explore and understand the many complex issues regarding refugees.

Lesson 1 Instructions
(file size > 56k > approx download time 07 secs @ 56k)

 

Lesson 2
Immigrants and Refugees
This lesson allows students to examine the political dynamics behind refugee and immigration policies. A “Refugee Role-play" increases students’ knowledge about refugee rights.

Lesson 2 Instructions and Handouts
(file size > 64k > approx download time 08 secs @ 56k)

 

Lesson 3
Voice and Identity
This lesson helps students of all backgrounds explore the difficulties of self-expression and self-identity.

Lesson 3 Instructions & Handouts
(file size > 116k > approx download time 16 secs @ 56k)

 

Lesson 4
Hate Crimes
This lesson addresses the issue of hate crimes, as the class explores and differentiates between prejudice and discrimination.

Lesson 4 Instructions & Handouts
(file size > 64k > approx download time 08 secs @ 56k)

 

Lesson 5
Human Rights
This lesson focuses on the experiences of South Vietnamese prisoners in Communist re-education camps. Activities encourage students to take an active stance in supporting human rights.

Lesson Instructions & Handouts
(file size > 84k > approx download time 11 secs @ 56k)

Note Portions of Lesson 5 require excerpts from James M. Freeman's Hearts of Sorrow: Vietnamese-American Lives ($22.95), which is available through Stanford University Press and online booksellers.

 

Lesson 6
Ho Chi Minh and Freedom of Speech
This lesson explores the "Little Saigon Incident" in Westminster, California, which revolved around a merchant's First Amendment right to display the communist flag at his store.

Lesson 6 Instructions & Handouts
(file size > 136k > approx download time 18 secs @ 56k)

 

Lesson 7
Oral History and Multiculturalism
Students will learn that history is not simply a listing of dates, wars and leaders, but the story of real people whose lives were impacted by the events of their time.

Lesson Instructions & Handouts
(file size > 80k > approx download time 11 secs @ 56k)

 

Lesson 8
A Vietnamese American Monument
This closure activity allows students to form and express their own opinions through the development of a monument.

Lesson 8 Instructions
(file size > 36k > approx download time 05 secs @ 56k)

 

Supplemental Activities
Use these activity ideas to expand on the lesson plans above. The activities address multiculturalism and human relations, particularly immigrants and immigration.

Supplemental Activities
(file size > 44k > approx download time 06 secs @ 56k)

 

Extras
This collection of short fiction and poetry can be used as a unit, individually in conjunction with the included lesson plans, or to supplement general units in history, civics and language arts classrooms. Class discussion questions and brief author biographies are provided.

Short Story: "Kelly" by Monique Thuy-Dung Trong
(file size > 68k > approx download time 09 secs @ 56k)

Short Story: "Family Ties" by Khoi T. Luu
(file size > 76k > approx download time 10 secs @ 56k)

Poetry: "Untitled" by Mong Lan
(file size > 40k > approx download time 05 secs @ 56k)

Poetry: "Placing the Accents" by Truong Tran
(file size > 44k > approx download time 06 secs @ 56k)

 

Note You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view/print these PDF-based Vietnamese American Curriculum documents.

If Adobe Acrobat Reader is not installed on your computer, download it for free and install it.

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