The Aftermath of the Secret War in Laos and Chemical Warfare

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The Aftermath of the Secret War in Laos and Chemical Warfare

CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974: Air America UH-34s at Sam Thong, Laos, 1961. The shirtless man at the left is Edgar "Pop" Buell, senior USAID official at Sam Thong. Photo courtesy of E.C. Eckholdt.

Author: Linn Lee
Grades: 9-12

Suggested Amount of Time: 110 Minutes
Area of Study: Hmong Histories

Compelling Question

  • How do displacement and war shape Hmong histories and migration?

Lesson Questions
  • How do Hmong perspectives challenge and/or complicate dominant understandings of Hmong history?
  • What happened to most of the Hmong soldiers and their families after the US left Laos, and after the Fall of Saigon?
  • What are Hmong people’s perspectives about the events after the war? 
  • Why is it important that the public know about the chemical warfare used on the Hmong people after the Secret War in Laos?
  • What were some unintended consequences of the Secret War in Laos?
  • To what extent can the chemical warfare on the Hmong people be called a genocide?  
Lesson Objective

Students will learn from first-hand accounts of the chemical warfare that occurred after the Secret War and how it impacted Hmong people. Students will have the opportunity to weigh in and decide for themselves whether the struggles the Hmong people faced can be considered a genocide. 

Lesson Background

This lesson is meant to follow the lesson “The Hmong and the Secret War in Laos,” if not, review the background information and Key Terms in handout page 1 with your students

The Secret War in Laos is not often taught in US History, and offers significant additional perspectives and experiences when learning about the Vietnam War. The Secret War in Laos was conducted and led through the CIA. Although the US did not send ground troops, the US was intricately involved by spending billions of taxpayer dollars providing military weapons and uniforms to those willing to fight the communists. Among those willing to fight the communists were the Hmong. The CIA operative Bill Lair contacted Vang Pao, a Hmong General and worked out an agreement whereby Vang Pao would recruit Hmong soldiers, and the CIA would provide the uniforms, weapons, and training. Over 30,000 Hmong soldiers were recruited. Some as young as 11-years-old. They rescued downed American pilots, protected their territory and fought the communists. Some were trained to fly planes to run bombing missions to bomb out the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 

At the Fall of Saigon and as it was clear the US and South Vietnam had lost the war, the US began evacuating the anti-communists from South Vietnam and the Hmong from Laos. However, very few Hmong were evacuated, only General Vang Pao, his family, and his top officers and their families, in spite of the rhetoric that “We all fight for each other, we take care of each other.” This left the majority of the Hmong soldiers who fought alongside the US to fend for themselves and their families against the onslaught of the Laotian and Vietnamese communists.  

Source: Leary, W. M. (2008, June 27). CIA Air Operations in Laos, 1955-1974: Supporting the "Secret War.” CIA.  

This lesson contains sensitive content that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether the resources are suitable for their class and provide a sensitive content warning to their students at the beginning of the lesson. Teachers may wish to consult An Introduction to Content Warnings and Triggers from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts  https://ucdavis.box.com/s/xlvmv9s8yz7q0p3g5kfg4cklkyj971th.

Image Citation: Eckholdt, E. C. (1961). CIA Air Operations in Laoa, 1966-1974 [Photograph]. Web Archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20201023040550if_/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/pg76.gif/image.gif

Historical Thinking Skill

This lesson will facilitate student proficiency in the ethical dimension, one of Seixas’ historical thinking skills (Seixas & Morton, 2013). To consolidate thinking about how we should remember and respond to the past. Students consider that a fair assessment of the ethical implications of history can inform us of our responsibilities to remember and respond to contributions, sacrifices, and injustices of the past. Educators may enhance this lesson by connecting to other historical events throughout history; such as the Rwandan Genocide, Cambodian Genocide, Holocaust, etc.

Ethnic Studies Theme

This lesson connects to the ethnic studies theme of power and oppression from the Asian American Studies Curriculum Framework (Asian American Research Initiative, 2022). Students will consider war, migration and imperialism as contexts shaping citizenship and racialization. Students discuss the ethicality of secret operation of chemical warfare or genocide on a group of people.

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.

Supplies
  • Access to laptop device
  • Note-taking utensil (paper/pencil or GoogleDoc)
  • Depending on assessment choice, students may need materials to complete a drawing, painting, poem, storybook, video, collage, infographic
Readings
  • Yellow Rain poem by Mai Der Vang
  • “Yellow Rain” interview on Yellow Lab
  • Different sources for Jigsaw Reading Activity (can be found in procedures & Handout)
Videos
  • The Secret War: Hmong Soldiers who Served Alongside Americans in Vietnam (4:45 to 11:04) on YouTube
  • The Hmong and the Secret War PBS Documentary (41:40-56:00) on YouTube
  • The Untold Story of the CIA’s War in Laos | America’s Secret War | Timeline (31:30 to 42:00) on YouTube
Handouts
  • Key Terms
  • Oral Interviews on Chemical Warfare after the Secret War in Laos Expert Jigsaw Group
    • Source 1 Interview of a Hmong soldier and her niece “Yellow Rain” on Radiolab produced by Pat Walters (27 mins)
    • Source 2 Interview of Sao Ser Vue by Linn Lee
    • Source 3 Interview of Mai Der Vang - “A Public Reckoning With the Truth About Yellow Rain and the Secret War”, Electric Lit 
    • Source 4 Essay by Mai Der Vang - “Yellow Rain a Reckoning and Re-investigation into the Dismissing of Hmong Allegations,” Entropy
    • Source 5 “Hmong Refugee Reports of Three Poison Gas Attacks in Laos in 1980” (1980) 
    • Link to all handouts: https://ucdavis.box.com/s/au0kq3ijaehux1lebpif10zpspswhead 
  1. Engage - Students read “Yellow Rain” https://poets.org/poem/yellow-rain a poem by Mai Der Vang - choral reading, or one student takes turns reading a stanza.
    1. Ask students: What questions do you have about the poem? What words stand out for you? What questions do you have about the subject matter that the poem addresses?
      1.  Teacher notes: The provocative poem should raise questions about Yellow Rain, where is this happening, when, what is yellow rain, what effect does it have on humans who come into contact with it, who used it, why were they chemical bombs dropped in Laos in the Hmong villages, at that time?
    2. Ask students: Why does the author use the first and second person, “I” and “You” as opposed to third person, “They” and “Them”?
      1. Teacher notes: Although the poem is inconclusive, this should lead to questions about the Secret War, what was it? She uses the first/second person “I and you” to bring the empathetic factor with the reader.

 

  1. Shared Learning
    1. Teachers should preview the three video options below and select one that is most appropriate for their students/grade level. Or, if time permits, the teacher can show all three videos.
    2. As students are watching the video, they should engage in notetaking to answer the question(s) that corresponds with the selected video(s).
    3. Option 1 for video: The Secret War: Hmong Soldiers who Served Alongside Americans in Vietnam https://youtu.be/1_0WbPq2lhs (start at 4:45 to 11:04).
      1. Pose the Question: “What happened to the Hmong after the US left Laos?” 
        1. Important Facts from the Video:
          1. Chue Her - 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.After the US left Vietnam in 1973 the Hmong were left to fend for themselves.  
          3. Resistance fighters engaged with the communist troops up into the mid-1980s. Many Hmong were sent to reeducation camps and suffered from hard labor filling bomb craters that the US planes had dropped.
          4. Many of the Hmong, as many as one-third of the Hmong, escaped through the jungle to the refugee camps in Thailand.
          5. The escape is difficult and treacherous because many families have young children, dealing with leeches, barefoot, no clear paths.  Many refugees drowned in the Mekong River when they tried to swim across.  They had no money, not even shoes, only the clothes on their back.  Some were recaptured and some were killed.
          6. One refugee family cut down bamboo and made a boat, one refugee family used a plastic bag to float across the river.
          7. The Hmong who made it to refugee camps were eventually brought to the US as refugees by sponsors in the US in CA, WI and MN.
          8. “We were caught up in all of these global confrontations, and we had a very unique situation because of Laos neutrality, without the Hmong many Americans would not have been saved, they helped save downed American pilots, and there were 40,000-foot soldiers so that US soldiers did not have to fight in Laos.” - Bob Currie, a US pilot, was rescued by Hmong soldiers.
          9. 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.”
          10. The evacuation only General Vang Pao and his top officers and their families. The rest of the Hmong soldiers were left to deal with the communists - when they were promised “We will all go together, we all fought together.” 
          11.  After Vang Pao was airlifted, 10,000 people looked up at the sky waiting for other evacuation planes, none ever came.  
          12.  The Hmong soldiers who had fought for the US against the communists were abandoned by the US.
          13.  1975 - the US airlifted only 3,000 Hmong and evacuated them, over 40,000 Hmong soldiers and their families were left to fend for themselves.
          14. There were over 200,000 Hmong living in Laos and all were targeted as enemy spies by the communists.
    4. Option 2 for video: The Hmong and the Secret War PBS Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYbJoiM_mWw&t=2999s (start at 41:40 to 56:00)
      1. Pose the Question: What happened to the Hmong after the US left and evacuated only the high-ranking military Hmong families? 
        1. Important Facts from the Video:
          1. The Hmong had the closest relationship more so than any other Ethnic Group, and because of that, they are in a difficult situation because the Vietnamese have targeted them with Anti-Hmong operations. 
          2. There’s evidence of severe sustained attacks on the Hmong after the war, and reports of poison chemicals being used against the Hmong. They live in fear of their lives in the jungle.
          3. Hmong casualties were in the 10,000s, 10 times the casualties US soldiers faced in Vietnam.
          4. There’s a startling absence of men and boys among the Hmong population.
          5. “We’re happy to do as we’re told, but we thought they would be true to their words when they said they would love us.” as stated by a Hmong survivor. Explain her statement.
          6. “Why did they leave us like a leaf floating on water, which could not sink or go anywhere? It’s like we had no hands or feet.”
          7. “The Hmong got eaten up.”
          8. Mekong River - Many perished trying to cross the Mekong River. Some families lost so many relatives.  
    5. Option 3 for video: The Untold Story of the CIA’s War in Laos | America’s Secret War | Timeline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ8GnDt_75Y (start at 31:30 to 42:00)
      1. Pose the Question: What were the consequences of the Secret War?
        1. Important Facts from the Video:
          1. The communists attacked the Hmong who were left because they were seen as the Hmong enemies because they work for the US. If they stayed they would be hunted, killed, or put into reeducation camps. In the reeducation camps there was food deprivation, psychological torture, rather than surrender, many Hmong hid in the jungle, always on the move. So every night they would sleep in field villages.  
          2. Watched the village being bombed and attacked, they ran from their field houses, and they ate off the land, eating roots, the men left, so it was just women, they went back to the village and surrendered and lived with the communists.
          3. During that time they did not know what would happen to them, they were poor and scared, they were afraid that the Pathet Lao were going to kill their husbands and fathers. We were pregnant, we were afraid they would look for their husbands. She decided to abort, they looked for medicine to abort.
          4. Families would escape to the Mekong River. Took them 28 days. Because they ran into packs of elephants, then military camps. The laotian soldiers shot at them.
          5. They chopped down bamboo to create boats and they would cross at night. A crying child was killed, some were given opium to quiet them.  
          6. Over 50,000 Hmong died trying to get to Thailand. 
          7. Thai soldiers collected the Hmong who made it across.
          8. One child who crossed the Mekong without her parents.
          9. Refugee camps - crowded 40,000 on 40 acres, no bathrooms, everyone had to dig holes to go to the bathroom. Everyday people were dying because of the unsanitary conditions. Thai officials would beat those or put some in solitary if they moved when the national anthem was played.
          10. Some families spent more than 10 years in the refugee camp.  
          11. When their names came up they were shipped to the US. 
          12. In the US the daily fear of dying left, but because of culture shock, many fell into depression. They don’t have a word for mental health, only “crazy.” Many suffered from PTSD. 

 

  1. Jigsaw Activity: Chemical Warfare 
    1. Content Warning: This lesson may be potentially triggering and involves the topic of mass death or genocide.  
    2. Directions for Expert Jigsaw Group
      1. Divide students into five groups of five. Assign each group one source to read, analyze, and answer questions.  
      2. Make a copy of the Handout pages 2–6, Oral Interviews on Chemical Warfare after the Secret War in Laos, to distribute to your students (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/au0kq3ijaehux1lebpif10zpspswhead). 
      3. For each group, they are to read, or listen to the oral interview of a Hmong American who either witnessed chemical weapons being used, experienced it first hand, or heard about it from family members or other villagers. 
      4. Answer the questions on the handout, and then come together in jigsaw groups with one or two people representing each interview to share and discuss the information.
      5. Read the interviews of these three Hmong soldiers that describe what they witnessed and experienced regarding chemical warfare. 
    3. Source 1: Listen to the interview of a Hmong soldier and her niece “Yellow Rain” on Radiolab produced by Pat Walters (27 minutes) https://radiolab.org/episodes/239549-yellow-rain. 
      1. Interview of Eng Yang, whose niece Kao Kalia Yang translates for her uncle, interviewed in a Radiolab episode about his experience witnessing how Yellow Rain was a chemical weapon that killed many innocent Hmong people after the Secret War. Only to be questioned about the validity of it being a chemical weapon.  
      2. What does Eng witness with regards to Yellow Rain? 
        1. Answer Key: He witnessed a yellow powder that fell from the sky from planes.There were yellow drops everywhere, all over the landscape. He ran up the hill to see a village that had been hit with this Yellow Rain. He saw a dead cow and saw people coughing up blood, throwing up, eyes destroyed. He saw people dying. Merle the CIA agent took reports of this yellow rain. He said there was not evidence. Merle collected leaves with yellow rain on them. They found T2 in the yellow spots which is evidence of chemical poison. The US military knew the Laotians and Vietnamese did not have the capability of creating this so accused the Soviets for supplying these weapons to the communists. 
      3. How do the interviewers react?
      4. Why is Eng and his niece completely taken aback and hurt by the type of questions being asked by the interviewers?
      5. What was at the heart of the controversy regarding Yellow Rain?
      6. How did the interviewers respond after the interview?
    4. Source 2: Interview of Sao Sue Vue (see full interview script in Handout)
      1. What did Sao Sue Vue experience and witness with regards to chemical warfare in Laos? How old was he?
      2. How many people and who died in his family as a result of this chemical warfare attack?
      3. When he was in the Thai refugee camp, what did he hear about Yellow Rain?
      4. Why is he so willing to come forward to speak so frankly about what happened?
      5. What is his view of chemical warfare?
    5. Source 3: Interview of Mai Der Vang - “A Public Reckoning With the Truth About Yellow Rain and the Secret War,” Electric Lit https://electricliterature.com/mai-der-vang-yellow-rain-poems-book-secret-war-hmong/
      1. What does Mai Der Vang want the American public to know about Yellow Rain?
      2. What does she mean by “I refuse to let these unreckoned histories dissolve into oblivion only to be forgotten or erased.”?
      3. What does she mean by “If the Americans had not started a war in Laos, there would be no need to debate yellow rain today nor would there be a need to put us through the grief of being accused and gaslit as “liars.’”?
      4. What does she mean by “For the descendants of immigrants and refugees, for the children growing up now who are witness to the atrocities inflicted by western-backed governments.”
      5. How does she connect the experience of the Hmong to the Afghan refugees of Today?
    6. Source 4: Essay - Vang, M. D. 2021, Dec. 8. Yellow rain a reckoning and re-investigation into the dismissing of Hmong allegations. Entropy. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/pj99p70xga25428tf11m550kkgfd2vj1 
      1. Approximately how many Hmong people died from chemical warfare that was used on them by the Pathet Lao and Vietnamese communists? 
        1. Answer Key: “Those stats, quantified in a 1982 State Department report, counted 6,395 names of Hmong victims but neglected to include whole villages that perished from the attacks. Other figures given by authors of yellow rain studies and human rights organizations ranged as high as 20,000 to 40,000 Hmong casualties.”
      2. What were the symptoms of Yellow Rain on its victims?
        1. Answer Key: “These ailments included vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, respiratory issues, chest pains, dizziness, blurred eyesight, blisters, and lesions. There were even cases of hemorrhaging and bloody diarrhea culminating in death.”
      3. What deterred the testing of Yellow Rain samples to find the actual components of the chemical warfare?
        1. Answer Key: “Even though, from the late-1970s to mid-1980s, Hmong refugees offered thousands of samples to be shipped all over the world for testing. This included biomedical specimens of blood, urine, vomit, and sputum, to environmental artifacts of leaves, twigs, scrapings from rocks, and other vegetation as well as their own clothing in some cases, the bureaucratic process plagued the testing and analysis of samples, and the government’s enquiry, according to Katz, was rife with logistical barriers. Among the agencies involved, particularly the State Department and the Department of Defense, no one seemed to fully know what they were responsible for doing. Anything that could have happened to hinder the investigation happened: the government’s lack of a clear testing methodology to properly assess the samples, specimens misplaced or damaged in transit, poor packaging leading to the degradation of samples, a growing backlog waiting to be analyzed, funding delays, past due invoices, concerns as to the availability and match of control samples, frustrated refugees waiting on their test results, and other similar scenarios. Years languished in these ways.”
      4. When a team of researchers went to refugee camps to interview Hmong people about Yellow Rain, what might be some reasons, they recanted their statements or refused to be interviewed?
        1. Answer Key: “The following year, two US State Department representatives visited the Thai camps to interview refugees. In a report of their findings,they indicated that the Hmong were likely coming under attack from a possible chemical weapon. Later that same year, the Pentagon deployed a medical team of Army officials who came back reporting the need for a questionnaire that could be used to survey refugees. With several agencies involved and very little coordination among them, such a questionnaire was not created and ready for distribution until a year later.”
        2. “And when they re-interviewed refugees, the team observed inconsistencies in some of the Hmong testimonies. Some refugees recanted their accounts to say they had not experienced an attack. Some changed their stories to say they had heard about the attack from others. Then there were other refugees who, as purported by the CBW team, might have been collecting and submitting any suspicious leaf and offering compliance in hopeful exchange for asylum or medical aid. The government’s view of Hmong credibility diminished as a result. Many of the accounts, post-1980s, were unfortunately discarded.”
      5. What are the flaws with which the scientists came up with the hypothesis that Yellow Rain is nothing but “bee shit”?
        1. Answer Key: “Then, in April 1983, Meselson convened a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to further discuss yellow rain. A 1991 two-part series published by The New Yorker depicted how, as a result of this Cambridge conference, a peculiar and coincidental trail of contacts and clues began to emerge. One of the conference attendees, a botanist named Peter Ashton, along with Meselson, later reached out to Thomas Seeley, a bee expert at Yale, who responded that the spots on the samples might be honeybee fecal droppings expelled during mass cleansing flights. In other words, Seeley suggested that what had been postulated as a biological weapon was perhaps just “bee shit.” That same night in his yard where he had seen bees, Ashton found to his amazement small yellow spots. Meselson, on the other hand, began to hear stories of people who had also noticed annoying yellow spots on their cars. He then visited Nowicke at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. where they walked around in the parking lot in search of yellow spots. And voilà, to their astonishment, they conveniently discovered that Nowicke’s own car had been coated with spots from the bees living on the museum’s rooftop hive.”
      6. Why do you think there was pressure on scientists to come up with this theory?
        1. Answer Key: “These cursory observations convinced Meselson that the Hmong had been severely mistaken. Though the bee feces theory was only a hypothesis at this stage, Meselson must have believed it was feasible enough of a premise to extinguish the allegations of yellow rain as a biological weapon, to reverse the claims of Soviet violation, to preserve the sanctity of the BWC, and to invalidate the Hmong testimonies.”
      7. If you were a Hmong person who witnessed Yellow Rain chemical warfare on your village or family, how would you feel about this theory that Yellow Rain is just “bee shit”?
        1. Answer Key: The hypothesis that Yellow Rain is nothing but “bee shit” is insulting and a slap in the face to the Hmong and is dishonest and dishonoring to the many Hmong people who have been killed by chemical warfare. The dismissal of Hmong witness accounts of chemical warfare and Yellow Rain must be validated and there must be an effort to seek the truth. If we are to prevent genocide through chemical warfare, we must confront the realities of Yellow Rain.
    7.  Source 5: Hmong Refugees Report of 3 “Poison Gas” Attacks in Laos in 1980 (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/h7ram46lfz3m2e81eqyyfsdxtymsavqx)
      1. According to this report, describe the poison gas attack that took place. Answer: There was a yellow substance that fell from the sky.
      2. What dates did these occur? Answer: October, 1980 and December, 1980.
      3. What did witnesses see was the way in which the poison gas was delivered? Answer: They saw planes and helicopters that delivered this yellow and red poison gas.
      4. What were the effects of the poison gas? Answer: Vomiting, diarrhea, loss of vision, throat constriction, rash, blisters, headaches, muscle numbness, some recovered from taking opium. 83 people in one village died.  Animals died.
      5. Who did the Laotian government blame? Answer: They blamed the US and China. Three days later the Lao government arrived, did not provide medical help and blamed the US and China.
      6. Did any Laotian leaders admit to it? Answer: A village leader said one of the Lao leaders admitted to the poison gas attacks because they claimed there were Hmong resistance fighters in the villages.
    8. After homegroups have discussed all the interviews have a whole class discussion on what they learned from the five sources.  

 

  1. Cultural Production
    1. First, have students share their definition of genocide in five words or less. Students will pair-share with a partner, and share their short definitions with the class.
    2. Then, share and discuss the definition of the term ‘genocide’ as defined by the United Nations. Source: United Nations. 2019, January 1. Genocide convention-fact sheet. Genocide Prevention. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/hu0jmon8wzeuvifh3ppfbw9y1mk599i7 
      1. According to this definition, what is an example of genocide in World History? Answer Key: Cambodian Genocide - Killing Fields, Rwanda Genocide - Hutus vs. Tutsis
    3. Assessment Options
      1. Choose an artistic expression (drawing, painting, poem, storybook, video, collage, infographic) to communicate the loss that the Hmong experienced after the US withdrawal from Laos and Vietnam. 
      2. Argumentative written or recorded response: Is what happened to the Hmong in Laos, after the war in Vietnam, considered a genocide? (Be sure to address the official position of the US government on Yellow Rain.)
        1. If time permits, teachers can conduct a socratic seminar as a way to guide students towards their stance (see Enrichment Opportunities).
      3. The following guiding questions can be provided to students to help them approach their assessment task or used for an optional socratic seminar:
        1. What are the components or characteristics of genocide? 
        2. What made the Cambodian Genocide a genocide? Who was the target?
        3. Is the chemical warfare acts on the Hmong in Laos, after the war in Vietnam considered a genocide?
        4. Although the official ruling on Yellow Rain is that it is just “bee shit,” what is the unofficial understanding among the Hmong people about being targets of chemical warfare after the Secret War? 
        5. Close with a circle on how what we need to do to prevent genocide. What are ways we could take informed action against genocide?

Students will choose between one of the following assessments:

  • Artistic Expression - to communicate the loss that the Hmong experienced after the US withdrawal from Laos and Vietnam (i.e: drawing, painting, poem, storybook, video, collage, infographic).
  • Argumentative Essay - Prompt: Is what happened to the Hmong in Laos, after the war in Vietnam, considered a genocide?
  • Engagement: Consider the following method to support with lesson engagement:
    •  Create cooperative learning groups with clear goals, roles, and responsibilities

 

  • Representation: Consider the following method to support with multiple means of representation:
    • Provide descriptions (text or spoken) for all images, graphics, video, or animations
    • Chunk information into smaller elements

 

  • Action and Expression: Consider the following method to support in presenting their learning in multiple ways:
    • Provide checklists and guides for note-taking
    • Ask questions to guide self-monitoring and reflection

 

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:
    • Reading: Use teacher read alouds or audio texts 
      • Teacher reads text aloud, modeling fluency and expression, inviting students to engage in extended conversations in response to text dependent questions. Teacher uses strategically planned stopping points to highlight vocabulary and prompt student thinking and discussion about text. Students use vocabulary from the text when talking and writing about text collaboratively and independently. 

 

  • Expanding: Consider the following method to support with expanding students:

    • Reading: Teach skimming for specific information 

       

  • Bridging: Consider the following method to support with bridging students:
    • Reading: Use focused questions to guide reading
      • Students use inquiry posing their own questions and wonderings to guide shared research experiences. 

 

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

  1. Socratic Seminar Discussion
    1. Roles
      1. In triads, form an inner and outer circle with one person in your group sitting in the inner circle.  
      2. You will need your notes from the readings and you will also be adding to your notes based on new information or questions that come up in the discussion.  
      3. The student in the inner circle is called a pilot and the two students on the outer circle are called co-pilots.  
      4. Pilots are the speakers and co-pilots only speak during consult times. 
      5. The seminar leader—the teacher—can sit in the circle as well.
      6. Role of the leader:
        1. The role of the leader is to remind students of the dialogue guidelines
        2. To direct students back to the text
        3. To listen carefully and offer guiding questions as needed 
        4. To offer his/her own personal ideas about the text
        5. To ensure a few dominant voices don’t take over the seminar.  
        6. The goal is to support students in maintaining their own dialogue.
    2. Moderating Discussion
      1. Participants begin with consulting time first to prepare the pilot with a response finding parts of the text and sources to support their statements and questions.
      2. Each student read one of his/her questions around the circle with the leader listening carefully and choosing one question with which to open the dialogue. This makes it possible for every student to speak as a warm-up before the actual dialogue; speaking once makes it easier to speak a second time.  
      3. The seminar leader can be the teacher initially but eventually, students should take the role of leader.
      4. At certain points during the discussion, the leader pauses the conversation and directs the triads to talk to each other.  
      5. Sometimes they talk about those things that are discussed in the circles and that need more depth.  
      6. Sometimes the triads talk about a question posed by the leader.  
      7. Sometimes the leader asks the triads to come up with a new question or direction for the seminar – it just depends on how things are progressing in the seminar.  At any time the triads can rotate positions as directed by the leader.
    3. Discussion Guidelines:  
      1. The leader poses a question (The opening question is only a starting point; it should be a catalyst that moves participants to probe for a deeper understanding of the text and to ask additional questions.) 
      2. Opening questions – What have you learned about chemical warfare after the Secret War?
    4. Below is a Guide for Responses:
      1. Examine the reading to support their responses, citing specific passages from the text.  
      2. Paraphrase other speakers for clarification. 
      3. Ask additional questions to continue deeper and deeper exploration of the text and one another’s thinking.  
      4. Clarify or restate their viewpoints and defend statements made, continuing to use examples from the text. 
      5. Students should take notes from the discussion to help them prepare for the final assessment.

 

  1. Explore additional relevant/related topics:
    • Explore some other instances of secret wars and compare and contrast
    • Explore the issues of burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq and compare and contrast 
    • Explore the issue of authorization of cluster bombs to the Ukraine and compare and contrast
    • Explore the official findings that Yellow Rain is bee feces
    • Explore into the topic of unexploded ordnance in Laos

 

  1. School board or city council resolutions of recognition or call for formal apology
    • What can be done to prevent chemical warfare?
    • What can be done to hold those accountable for the treatment of the Hmong people?

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

Britt, K. 2020c, 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

pabdoo. n.d.. An Introduction to content warnings and trigger warnings. University of Michigan LSA Inclusive Teaching. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/an-introduction-to-content-warnings-and-trigger-warnings/

Leary, W. M. 2008, June 27. CIA air operations in Laos, 1955-1974: Supporting the "Secret War.” CIA. https://web.archive.org/web/20201116105808/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/winter99-00/art7.html

Lee, L. 2022, August 6. Interview of Sao Sue Vue. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/fwtm0mcatr145vob3514ajxewdi5k8vh 

Milwaukee PBS. 2017, September 25. 10thirtysix | Exclusive | The Secret War: Hmong Soldiers who served alongside Americans in Vietnam [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/1_0WbPq2lhs

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 

Timeline - World History Documentaries. 2021, December 16. The untold story of the CIA's war in Laos | America's Secret War | Timeline [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ8GnDt_75Y 

Unknown. 1980. Hmong refugee reports of three “poison gas” attacks in Laos in 1980.  Hmongstory Legacy.  https://ucdavis.box.com/s/h7ram46lfz3m2e81eqyyfsdxtymsavqx 

United Nation. 2019, January 1. Genocide convention-fact sheet. Genocide Prevention.  https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/Genocide%20Convention-FactSheet-ENG.pdf

Valley PBS. 2021, May 6. The Hmong and the Secret War [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYbJoiM_mWw&t=2999s 

Vang, M. D. (n.d.). Yellow rain. Poets.org.  https://poets.org/poem/yellow-rain

Vang, M. D. 2021, Dec. 8. Yellow rain a reckoning and re-investigation into the dismissing of Hmong allegations.  Entropy. https://maidervang.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Entropy-Yellow-Rain-A-reckoning-and-re-investigation-Dec.-2021-Mai-Der-Vang.pdf

Walters, P. (Producer). 2012, September 24. Yellow Rain. [Audio podcast episode]. In Radiolab.  https://radiolab.org/episodes/239549-yellow-rain 

Model Curriculum

Hmong History and Cultural Studies

Standard(s)

HSS 10.9 HSS 11.9 RI.11-12.7 W.9-10.1

Grade(s)

Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12