Far Beyond Phở

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Far Beyond Phở

Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

Author: Tori Phù
Grade: 4

Suggested Amount of Time: 50 - 80 Minutes
Area of Study: Vietnamese Resettlement and Community Building

Compelling Question

  • What is Vietnamese America?

Lesson Questions
  • What major contributions did Vietnamese refugees bring to the United States? 
  • What culinary influences did Vietnamese refugees and immigrants have on the United States?
Lesson Objective

Students will be able to trace and identify the origins of Vietnamese cuisine and community hubs in the United States through an exploration of diverse sources and reflect on these elements by creating their own personalized lunch box identity collage.

Lesson Background

The second wave of refugees from Vietnam were during the time period of the mid 1970s to mid 1990s. For the The Vietnam War was a longstanding war in American history and ended in 1975. Following the end of the war, many Vietnamese families fled the war-torn country and sought out new opportunities and lives in different countries. The first wave of immigrants took place immediately right after 1975, and this group comprised mostly of the educated and wealthy class. 1977-1982 marked the second wave of refugees, and were mostly known as boat people, indicative of the paths they took to come to the US. As more refugees arrived in the US, they created communities of home which became known as Little Saigons. As highlighted in the article “Vietnamese Immigration and its Culinary Influence on the United States”: “Opening restaurants was a logical next step for many Vietnamese immigrants “partly because that’s how Asian culture is commodified in this country,” says Nguyễn. “The beauty of a restaurant was that it required little formal training, almost no certification, or professionalization—at least in the short term.”

Adopted from: “Vietnamese Immigration and its Culinary Influence on the United States” (https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/vietnamese-immigration-and-its-culinary-influence-on-the-united-states) 

Image Citation: S. (n.d.). Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef noodle soup). Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/peachyogurt/5258136581/

Ethnic Studies Theme

This lesson connects to the ethnic studies theme of reclamation and joy from the Asian American Studies Curriculum Framework (Asian American Research Initiative, 2022). Students explore the ways that communities reclaim histories through art, cultural expression, and counternarratives. Students reflect on how food represents who they are both as an individual and as part of a broader community.

For additional guidance around ethnic studies implementation, refer to the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (2021)  https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/esmc.asp.

Historical Thinking Skills

This lesson will facilitate student proficiency in historical perspectives, one of Seixas’ historical thinking skills (Seixas & Morton, 2013). To demonstrate the use of evidence to write historical fiction that accurately conveys the beliefs, values, and motivations of historical actors. Students consider how different historical actors have diverse perspectives on the events in which they are involved. Exploring these is key to understanding historical events

Supplies
  • Access to laptop device
  • Construction Paper
  • Markers 
Videos
  • Sacramento’s Little Saigon: How the Vietnamese community is preserving culture
  1. Cultural Energizer (five minutes)
    1. Pose the following question to students: What are your top five favorite foods to eat? 
      1. Students jot down responses on a paper before sharing. Allow students to pair-share with peers nearby of their favorite foods.
    2. Follow up with the following question: Do you know which country or culture your food is from?
      1. Allow students to pair-share with peers nearby.
  2. Anticipation Guide Warm Up Activity (10 minutes) 
    1. On the screen, display the following popular food items. Additionally, display the list of countries that these food items belong to. Do NOT match up the food to the country just yet, mix up the images and names. 
      1. Suggested format: food images on left column, list of countries on right column (sporadically placed)
      2. Food images to include (but not limited to): cheese, sushi, pizza, taco, empanadas, phở, pad thai
      3. List of country (for origins of food from list above): cheese (France), sushi (Japan), pizza (Italy), taco (Mexico), empanadas (Spain/Argentina), phở (Vietnam), pad thai (Thailand). 
    2. This activity can be a timed challenge. Have students work with a partner to see if they can match the food item to the appropriate country of origin. 
    3. Review correct matches with students. 
    4. Suggested teacher prompt to transition: A lot of the food we have in the United States comes from a mix of people. As people come to the US from different countries, they bring with them their culture, cuisines, and communities. Many immigrants build a new life for themselves in America and that may include introducing foods and establishing restaurants for a living. Inform students that today’s lesson will focus on Vietnamese cuisine and communities and how they have influenced the United States. 
  3. First interaction with source (15–20 minutes)
    1. Use lesson background to provide background context to students. (Teacher to use discretion to modify appropriately for age level). 
    2. View video as a class: 
      “Sacramento’s Little Saigon: How the Vietnamese community is preserving culture” (https://YouTube./watch?v=9ReyuxZ9N9o)
    3. With a partner, students to take notes on the following prompts:
      1. Teacher can select from the list of questions: Why did Vietnamese refugees come to America? How did Vietnamese refugees create a new life for themselves in America? What is the importance of food for Vietnamese refugees as they settled in America? What Vietnamese foods were introduced to America by the refugees? What culinary influences did Vietnamese refugees and immigrants have on the United States?
      2. Additional reflection prompts: What parts of the video stood out to you? What are some questions or wonderings that come to mind?
  4. Second interaction with source (10–15 minutes)
    1. Using the notes from the video and questions, teachers can also provide full or partial information, or have students co-construct a flow chart to help with understanding cuisine origins. 
      1. Possible flow chart content: Vietnam War ends → Vietnamese refugees find and create new homes for themselves in America → Vietnamese communities, such as Little Saigon, are created all across the US → Vietnamese immigrants open up businesses to help make a new living for themselves, many of which are restaurants → Vietnamese food begins to be introduced to Americans.
      2. Students can be provided this interactive map to trace and identify pertinent data regarding Vietnamese immigration to the US. “See US Immigrant Population by State and County” (https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-immigrant-population-state-and-county?width=850&height=850&iframe=true)
  5. Optional: Additional online webquest (10–15 minutes) 
    1. Ask students to think of Vietnamese dishes or restaurants in their local community, or that they have heard of. 
    2. Allow time for students to conduct an online search to find restaurant names, dishes, and such. Alternatively, give students time to explore the supplementary sources and learn more about the Vietnamese food origins and influences. As they engage with the supplementary sources, they can add more to their flow map or notes.
      1. Possible findings (local to Little Saigon, in Orange County, CA):
        1. Nem Nướng Cuon (grilled pork spring rolls), description of dish, restaurant: Brodard 
        2. Cà phê (vietnamese coffee), description of drink, shops: Lilly’s Bakery, Phin Smith, Da Vien, BLK Dot Coffee 
        3. Phở (vietnamese soup dish), restaurants: Phở 79, Phở Hoa, Phoholic
        4. Cajun crawfish (viet-cajun seafood), restaurants: Cajun Kitchen, The Boiling Crab, Kickin’ Crab
        5. Bánh xèo (vietnamese crepe), restaurant: Quán Mii
        6. Bánh mì (vietnamese sandwiches), restaurants: Lee's Sandwich, Bánh Mì Saigon, Bánh mì Che Cali
    3. After students have finished interacting with the sources and completed their notes, have students answer the lesson questions through an oral discussion or as a written reflection.
  6. Cultural Production (20 minutes)
    1. Task: Consider your four or five favorite foods and their country of origin. You will create a lunch box identity collage highlighting these dishes and their cultural origins. This can be done digitally or by hand. The collage can be a mix of images of the foods, flags of origin countries, adjectives to describe the dishes, labels of the foods, popular restaurants serving that dish, and more. The final product can be open to a written, visual, or audio narrative. 
    2. Suggest to students to choose food from different countries, and even from their own culture. 
    3. Teachers can prepare a lunch box template for students, or students can outline a lunch box themselves.
    4. As students create their lunch box identity collage, have them prepare to explain their creation. This explanation can be written or rehearsed for oral presentations. Each food item should be traced back to a country of origin. 
  7. Conclusive Dialogue (10 minutes) 
    1. Students engage in a line of communication sharing strategy to share their creations and explain each food origin. 

Students will create a lunch box identity collage and present it to their peers. Their lunch box identity collage will be accompanied by an explanation of the food’s cultural origins. Alternatively, students can write a poem or song lyrics that reflects their identity too. 

  • Engagement: 
    • Engage learners in assessment discussions of what constitutes excellence and generate relevant examples that connect to their cultural background and interests
  • Representation: Consider the following method to support with multiple means of representation:
    • Embed visual, non-linguistic supports for vocabulary clarification (pictures, videos, etc)
    • Anchor instruction by linking to and activating relevant prior knowledge (e.g., using visual imagery, concept anchoring, or concept mastery routines)
  • Action and Expression: Consider the following method to support in presenting their learning in multiple ways:
    • Provide graphic organizers and templates for data collection and organizing information

 

For additional ideas to support your students, check out the UDL Guidelines at CAST, 2018 http://udlguidelines.cast.org.

  • Emerging: Consider the following method to support with emerging students:
    • Speaking: Provide sentence frames for pair interactions
      • In response to a prompt, the teacher offers a sentence frame orally and/or in writing to support expression of student thinking. Frames are adjusted based upon specific grammatical structure, key vocabulary, content learning, and language proficiency level descriptors, etc. Frames are a temporary scaffold that require modification.
  • Expanding: Consider the following method to support with expanding students:
    • Speaking: Repeat and expand student responses in a collaborative dialogue 
      • In partner and group discussions, students use conversation moves to extend academic talk. Conversation moves help students add to or challenge what a partner says, question, clarify, paraphrase, support thinking with examples, synthesize conversation points, etc.
  • Bridging: Consider the following method to support with bridging students:
    • Speaking: Require the use of academic language 
      • In response to a prompt, the teacher offers a sentence frame orally and/or in writing to support expression of student thinking. Frames are adjusted based upon specific grammatical structure, key vocabulary, content learning, and language proficiency level descriptors, etc. Frames are a temporary scaffold that require modification.

 

For additional guidance around scaffolding for multilingual learners, please consult the following resources:

  1. Vietnamese Food with French Influences - Teachers can have students look up popular Vietnamese dishes and trace origins of French influences. Youtube channel ATTN reveals “The Real History Behind Phở and Bánh Mì” (https://YouTube./watch?v=ad-nKDVwQxY) 

 

  1. Vietnamese Food with Chinese Influences - Teachers can have students look up popular Vietnamese dishes and trace origins of Chinese influences. Youtube channel NYCFoodBlog reveals “French and Chinese Influences on Vietnamese Cuisine - Em Vietnamese Cuisine” (https://YouTube./watch?v=OTJ3QNtnsx8) 

 

  1. “Take Out with Lisa Ling” https://tv.apple.com/ca/episode/little-saigon/umc.cmc.1jl1o3cui28gysyivlmaw5z48?showId=umc.cmc.2du3g9gdli73e34ox6wtyvdwv - If the teacher has access, the following episode explore Little Saigon, Orange County and the culture and resilience behind Vietnamese restaurants and dishes.

American Initiative. 2022. Asian American Studies K-12 Framework.  https://asianamericanresearchinitiative.org/asian-american-studies-curriculum-framework/ 

Britt, K. 2020, May 11. English learner toolkit of strategies. California County Superintendents.  https://cacountysupts.org/english-learner-toolkit-of-strategies/

California Department of Education. 2021. Ethnic studies model curriculum. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/esmc.asp 

California Department of Education & English Learner Support Division. 2012. California English Language Development standards (Electronic Edition) kindergarten through grade 12 (F. Ong & J. McLean, Eds.). California Department of Education. https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/documents/eldstndspublication14.pdf

California Educators Together. (n.d.). ELA / ELD framework. https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/6537/ela-eld-framework

CAST. 2018. The UDL guidelines. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Sacramento’s Little Saigon: How the Vietnamese community is preserving culture. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved November 22, 2023. https://YouTube./watch?v=9ReyuxZ9N9o

San Diego County Office of Education. (n.d.). Providing appropriate scaffolding.  https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/multilingual-education-and-global-achievement/oracy-toolkit/providing-appropriate-scaffolding#scaffolding

Sexias, P. & Morton, T. 2013. The big six: Historical thinking concepts. Nelson Education.

Tulare County Office of Education. (n.d.). Strategies for ELD. https://commoncore.tcoe.org/Content/Public/doc/Alpha-CollectionofELDStrategies.pdf 

US Immigrant Population by State and County. 2014, February 4. Migrationpolicy.org.  https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/us-immigrant-population-state-and-county?width=850&height=850&iframe=true

 

Supplementary Sources

ATTN. 2018. The Real History Behind Phở and Bánh Mì [YouTube Video]. YouTube. https://YouTube./watch?v=ad-nKDVwQxY

Batalova, J. 2018, October 11. Vietnamese Immigrants in the United States. Migrationpolicy.org.  https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/vietnamese-immigrants-united-states-5

Beyond Phở. (n.d.). PBS SoCal. Retrieved November 22, 2023. https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/episodes/beyond-pho

French & Chinese influences on Vietnamese Cuisine - Em Vietnamese Cuisine. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved November 28, 2023. https://YouTube./watch?v=OTJ3QNtnsx8

PSK Creative. 2021, December 5. The art of Vietnamese cuisine [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obRDCiSwjCs 

Vietcetera. 2018, June 18. Vietnamese food from North to South: Taking the world beyond Pho [Video]. YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haT9vUTR81g

Vietnamese Immigration and Its Culinary Influence on the United States. 2017, November 29. PBS SoCal.  https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/vietnamese-immigration-and-its-culinary-influence-on-the-united-states 

Model Curriculum

Vietnamese American Experiences

Standard(s)

HSS 4.4 RI.4.7 W.4.8

Grade(s)

Grade 4