1. Allow students to pair-share their thoughts

1. Teachers can utilize the lesson background to frontload students with information.

1. Review the list with students 

1. Encourage students to create a Frayer model vocabulary box for one big concept like Secret Army, refugee, evacuation, or Yellow Rain.
2. Have students create visual representation for one term.
3. Have students write why a term is important after the reading.

Use the recommended slide texts below to create a slidedeck or teachers may access the lesson slidedeck here and modify as needed: https://ucdavis.box.com/s/0bltq19rerauxx4kvhnwsyj72rp1i4ne. 

 Students should follow along with a notetaker of the teacher's choice. Use the five E’s (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate) to facilitate the presentation. (Teacher Notes for PPT on the Secret War will be italicized.)

1. You may also consider printing out readings/slidedeck and utilizing the Mark the Text strategy.
2. For students that need reading assistance and/or translation, use a text reader, such as Immersive Reader or Snap and Read.
3. For students with auditory processing needs, be sure to include captions when playing videos.
4. For language learners, you may consider playing the lesson videos utilizing captions in the student(s) heritage language or have students individually play the video in class utilizing heritage language captions in classes with more than one heritage language present.
5. For students needing writing and discussion support, provide students with a handout of sentence stems/frames.

1. Who are the two people on the other side of the gate? A general and President Nixon.
2. What do the gravestones represent? Southeast Asian countries connected to Vietnam.
3. What is meant by the quote “..and then if Cambodia fell, then Laos would fall, and if Laos fell, then…”? If Cambodia falls to communism, then Laos will and then South Vietnam will, this is the Domino Theory  
4. What is meant by the sign on the gate “Viet War Dead”? The US will lose South Vietnam to communism if something is not done about Cambodia and Laos.
5. Teacher Note: By the end of the discussion, students should know about the Domino Theory and why the US is interested in entering into the Civil War in Laos.

1. For this slide, have students engage in the thinking activity: TQE (Thoughts, Questions and Epiphanies). 
2. Teacher Notes: Important facts from the video:
   1. Chue Her, a Secret War Soldier describes his experience in a reeducation camp 
   2. Thai Vue describes his near death experience being attacked by the Laotian communist soldiers and his escape across the Mekong River to the Thai Refugee Camp
   3. Hmong young men and then boys, joined as foot soldiers to fight the communists in Laos and then in Vietnam
   4. CIA agent Bill Lair recruited General Vang Pao who was Hmong
   5. General Vang Pao recruited 1000s of Hmong men and boys, Boys as young as 11-years-old
   6. In return Hmong received rice and humanitarian aid
   7. Hmong soldiers served as the role of what US soldiers would do if they were sent to Laos. They rescued US fighter pilots who were shot down.
   8. Dr. Chia Vang, scholar and professor author of the book “Hmong America,'' describes her escape through the jungle as a child with their family to a Thai Refugee camp. “We, the Hmong have a very unique experience in that we were caught in global confrontations. We had a unique situation because of Laos’ neutrality, without the Hmong, many American lives wouldn’t have been saved, they helped save downed American pilots. And we were the foot soldiers so that 40,000 American soldiers didn’t have to go to Laos.”
   9. After the US left in 1973 and after the Fall of Saigon, the Hmong were left to fight for themselves against the communists.
   10. Evacuation for the Hmong was not planned or organized, the few who made it on the few planes that left Laos had to fight their way among 1000s of people running after the plane.
   11. The Hmong soldiers who fought for the US in Laos are not officially recognized as Vietnam War Vets, so they do not qualify for any veteran benefits.
   12. In spite of no recognition, both interviewees, Chue Her and Thai Vue are happy to be in the US where they can live their lives freely.

1. How does activity in Laos connect to the Domino theory? According to the Truman Doctrine, when one nation falls to communism the next one will fall as well is the Domino Theory. President Kennedy feared that if Laos were to fall to the communist, then South Vietnam would be next. At the time of the Vietnam War, Laos was being ruled by a coalition government of the Pathet Lao (pro-communist), the neutralists and the Royal Government (anti-communists supported by the US). 
2. What was guaranteed to Laos in the Geneva Accords? Under the Geneva Accords, which was an agreement signed by 14 nations in 1954, Laos would be guaranteed neutrality (and be allowed to stay out of any conflict within Vietnam)
3. What decision did President Kennedy make in 1961? President Kennedy decided not to send in any US troops to support the Royal Laotian government in 1961. And this article implies that President Kennedy, in 1963, is still intent on not sending in US troops. 
4. Why did the US recruit the Hmong people to fight in the Secret War in Laos? Since it looked like northern Laos was going to fall to communism because the Pathet Lao was attacking them, and President Eisenhower has promised the American people he would not send US soldiers into Laos and Laos was guaranteed neutrality, the president may have felt that there was a need to hire the Hmong to fight the war for the US on the ground level (Inference)
5. How did the CIA recruit the Hmong to fight the communist in Laos? The CIA operative Bill Lair worked with Hmong General Vang Pao, educated in Northern Laos, on an agreement to recruit Hmong as soldiers to fight the communists. For the Hmong, in Northern Laos, they felt they were going to be attacked by the Laotions, so they agreed because the US CIA provided them with weapons, uniforms and rice. They were supplied with weapons that had been left over from WWII. The Hmong were also trained to fly fighter planes to drop bombs where the Ho Chi Minh Trail was thought to have been. The Hmong soldiers also rescued US pilots from downed planes. At first 1,000 men were recruited, then 4,000, then 10,000. Radios were used as a way to convince the Hmong that communism was bad. Hmong males as young as 11 were recruited to fight as soldiers, some too small to hold the M-16s they were given. 

Explain (Slides 6 & 7) Primary Resource Analysis - Vang Pao Quote "As a young man, he had fought against the Japanese during World War II, and with the French against the North Vietnamese in the 1950s. He led a CIA-sponsored secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War and, when it was lost, led many of his people into exile. Former Central Intelligence Agency chief William Colby once called [Vang] 'the biggest hero of the Vietnam War'." (Source: BBC)

When asked how the Americans contacted him, Vang Pao describes…

1. They never came to make this agreement or that agreement. They just came looking around, They saw the Hmong were very poor in many ways- no salt to eat… no clothes to wear, so when Americans came, they said, “Do you want salt for the Hmong?” So Americans dropped salt everywhere for the Hmong. And when the winter came and it was very cold, the Americans asked, “Do you need clothes for the Hmong?” The Hmong are very poor, so they dropped clothes from the sky for the Hmong… Then one day they brought carbines… And then they brought in… communication radios and gave one to each Hmong chief. At that time we already had communication everywhere. So slowly, slowly, that’s how we did it… All they did was say, “Do you need this? Do you need that?” Yes, we needed this, we needed that, we were very poor… So when the war came, they asked for our help, and we helped… [T]he king also gave his consent. So that’s why I helped the Americans.” (Source: Hillmer, P. (2015). A people's history of the Hmong. Minnesota Historical Society.)
2. Based on Vang Pao’s quote, what enticed the Hmong to become soldiers and join the Secret War? He describes the Hmong as being poor, so clothes, salt, food and radios seemed very enticing for a poor agrarian community.

1. Debrief as a class.

1. Have students read it silently or in pairs. Then answer the questions in the green and white boxes. 
   1. Concern About Laos
   2. Supporting the Anti-Communists
   3. The PARU Program
   4. Enter Vang Pao
2. Why did the US recruit the Hmong people to fight in the Secret War in Laos? According to the Geneva Convention, the US was not allowed to intervene in Laos as they were considered neutral. So in essence the US did not intervene because the US did not use any US soldiers to fight on the ground in Laos. Instead they sent in CIA operatives to recruit Hmong soldiers to fight for the US. These Hmong soldiers fought in the name of the US against the Viet Cong - North Vietnam Communist soldiers.
3. How did the Secret War take place? The Secret War took place in which the Hmong soldiers fought the North Vietnamese Communist in Laos, bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail, rescuing US fighter pilots, and fighting the Laotian communists. US fighter planes dropped This was done without US Congressional approval and without knowledge from the American people.

1. What do you notice about where the US dropped bombs in Laos? Possible answers. Along the border with Vietnam at first but later, throughout Laos.
2. How do you think the bombing impacted the Hmong population in Laos? Possible answers. Laos is the most bombed country in the world, the majority of the Laotian population including the Hmong were affected in devastating ways. The loss of life, the loss of their way of life, the loss of their homeland, all created a destabilizing feeling and trauma within the Hmong and Laotian population. Still today there are undetonated bombs in Laos. 

1. Slidedeck can contain sentence frames for sharing ‘how to agree/disagree.’ 
2. Students go to a position and discuss with a peer.
   1. Students are able to change their position after the share out.

1. Students will utilize the numbers in the content of the presentation and resources to create a creative display of the numbers of details of the Secret War. 

1. Have students choose four pivotal events that makeup the Secret War and create an infographic.
2. The infographic should include: event names, descriptions, images, captions, statistics, text, etc.

1. Students should first submit a storyboard submission of their speaking parts. 
2. Students can also take on the role of a news investigative reporter who exposes the Secret War in 1973.

1. Alternatively, students can watch/listen to a Hmong oral history interview (https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/hmong-studies_hohp/).
2. Students will share their takeaways from the interview/oral history by creating a written reflection. This can also be done as a reflective poem.

1. Suggested content: Empathy for their suffering and lack of recognition for their sacrifice.

1. Suggested content: Recognize and/or apologize to the Hmong veterans for their contributions to the US War efforts during the Secret War in Laos.