HSS 11.11 | We Are California

Refugee from Vietnam Binh Duong circa 1976.

Intergenerational Communication and Memory

Students will be able to explain the impacts of intergenerational communication by observing oral history testimonies and engaging in a silent discussion.

Anastasia Nguyễn teaches in the Vietnamese-English dual-immersion program in San Jose’s Franklin-McKinley School District.Dual-immersion programs show promise in fighting enrollment declines

Issues in Vietnamese American Education: Future of Refugee History, Language, and Culture

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.2, SL.11-12.4

Students will summarize the education conditions for first, 1.5, and second generation Vietnamese Americans and then determine recommendations to create conditions for a more inclusive school setting today.

As immigration enforcement becomes more aggressive, schools have become increasingly risky places for undocumented students.

Deportation & Community Resistance

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.6

Students will trace the relationships and make connections between refugee trauma, criminalization, community organizing, and collective healing by critically evaluating narratives of assimilation or the model minority and engaging with primary source materials to create an infographic.

Free person with handcuffed in prison public domain people CC0 photo.

Fighting A New War: Marginalization and Criminalization of Vietnamese Refugee Youth in the US

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.2

Students will be able to explain how Vietnamese refugees experienced intersecting systems of oppression upon their arrival to the US by interacting with primary sources to create a fictional newspaper article.

Vietnamese and the Nail Industry

HSS 11.8, HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.8

Students will identify key factors that fostered Vietnamese refugees’ participation in the nail industry by analyzing segments of media clips and creating a zine.

More than a Store: Small Businesses in Little Saigon (Secondary)

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.6

Students will be able to analyze and reflect on the complex history, culture, successes, and challenges that surround Vietnamese small businesses in Little Saigon by analyzing oral histories and Vietnamese discourse and creating a medium of choice.

Agents of Change: Students in Civic Action

HSS 11.11, RL.11-12.1, W.11-12.7

Students will be able to generate civic engagement within Vietnamese American communities by identifying a specific issue, planning a project to address it, and presenting their proposals to the class.

Newspaper published at Fort Chaffee, featuring President Gerald Ford welcoming Vietnamese refugees; 1975.

Overview of Refugee Law and Immigration Terminology

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.4, W.11-12.8, HSS-PoAD.12.2

Students will be able to describe how immigration law and immigration terminology has impacted the Vietnamese refugee community by creating a reflection.

This large color pen and pencil artwork by Trinh Do illustrates three stages of the Southeast Asian refugee experience: homeland, escape, and refugee camp. The artwork is divided into three horizontal panels, moving from top to bottom.

Overview of Vietnamese American Studies in Media and Text

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.4

Students will identify ways in which traditional media and textbooks may have skewed or rendered invisible the voices of Vietnamese refugees by critically analyzing sources from US media and educational textbooks, and construct an excerpt to add to the US history textbook.

A woman dresses her baby at Camp Pendleton, where she has arrived as a refugee from Vietnam.

Experiences of Vietnamese Women

HSS 11.11, RI.11-12.7, W.11-12.8

Students will compare and contrast the identities of Vietnamese women from the past to present by analyzing sources and creating visual representations. In doing so, they will find how some gender roles have evolved, while other factors have remained consistent.