1. Prompt students to consider the following prompt: What are two dreams you have for the future? This can be dreams about your own future, or dreams for the place we live in.
2. Have students share with a partner, then have a whole class share out. 

1. Optional: Before class, the teacher can play nationalistic music from the Republic of Vietnam. Teacher can begin the class with a slide, “Welcome to the new Vietnamese nation: the Republic of Vietnam!”
2. Possible music video before class can be found here (taken from Thúy Nga productions): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-qZZQxS3Qc
3. When class begins, the teacher will play a video showing the third year anniversary of independence and formation of the Republic of Vietnam in 1958.
   1. Video can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFvl5mKDlnI 
   2. With the classroom setting (videos and background music), the teacher will write the prompt the students to take on this point of view:
      1. You are a Vietnamese American remembering your past. It is 1955. You have either lived in South Vietnam your whole life under French and Japanese colonial rule, or have just escaped the communist North as part of the one million Northern refugees in the North-South migration of 1954. After years as a French colony and conflict, you finally are now a full Vietnamese citizen, of an independent, Vietnamese nation that you have dreamed your whole life about. Write down all the emotions you must have felt during that time, for both yourself and the future of your new country. Anxious? Excited? Nationalistic? Apathetic?
   3. Students will take one to two minutes to write down their answers, or students can discuss with a peer
   4. Then, the teacher will call on some students to share what some present-day Vietnamese Americans must have felt during that time.
      1. The teacher should guide the discussion to point out the excitement of having one’s own nation for the first time, the belief that we as a Vietnamese people could do anything, anxieties for the future due to the separation of Vietnam into two countries, nostalgia for one’s home and hopes to reunite with family (especially for North Vietnamese migrants), and hopes for the future.

1. The teacher will pass out the article, “Sài Gòn: Vietnam's Cultural Capital” by Mai Thảo, a Northern Vietnamese migrant in 1954 who left Vietnam by boat in 1977, known for being one of the most renowned literary writers in the Republic of Vietnam and in the US. 
   1. The article can be found in the handouts.
2. The teacher will briefly go over the biography of Mai Thảo as a Northern migrant in 1954 and Vietnamese boat person as well as an overview of the article (five minutes).
   1. Biography: Mai Thảo's real name is Nguyễn Đăng Quý, with other pen names including Nguyễn Đăng. In 1954, he migrated to South Vietnam, writing short stories for various newspapers such as Dân Chu, Lửa Việt, and Người Việt. He served as the editor-in-chief of Sáng Tạo (1956) and Nghệ Thuật (1965) newspapers, and from 1974, he oversaw the Văn newspaper. He participated in the arts and literature programs on various radio stations in Sài Gòn from 1960 to 1975. On December 4, 1977, Mai Thảo fled Vietnam by boat. After seven days and nights at sea, the boat arrived at Pulau Besar, Malaysia. In early 1978, he was sponsored by his sibling to move to the United States. Soon after, he collaborated with Thanh Nam's Đất Mới newspaper and other overseas publications. Mai Thảo loved poetry, memorized it, and wrote many long poems from the age of 16 or 17, even writing poetic dramas. In July 1982, he republished the Van magazine and served as its editor-in-chief until 1996, when he handed it over to Nguyen Xuan Hoang due to health issues. He passed away in Santa Ana, California on January 10, 1998.
   2. Background description: “Sài Gòn: Vietnam’s Cultural Capital” is an article from the perspective of a Northern Vietnamese migrant in 1954. Before the division of the country by the Geneva Accords in 1954, Hà Nội, based in North Vietnam, was considered the cultural, intellectual, and artistic capital of Vietnam. However, due to fears of communist repression, some of Vietnam’s most renowned musicians, composers, writers, poets, and artists left for Hà Nội to Sài Gòn in 1954.The article emphasizes sadness for the fact Hà Nội is no longer the cultural capital of Vietnam, as a Northern refugee/migrant, there is also much hope in rebuilding their lives in Sài Gòn, which they hope will become the new cultural capital of Vietnam. This hope is also a broader hope that the Republic of Vietnam will be a country that emphasizes the best of Vietnamese culture, arts, and literature. Although Sài Gòn fell to communist rule in 1975, Sài Gòn remains a symbol of that cultural and artistic vitality in Vietnamese refugee communities, especially in the United States. In Vietnamese American communities, many Northern Vietnamese migrants in 1954 are considered to be the epitome of that cultural vitality, where a large majority of writers, poets, musicians, and intellectuals in the Vietnamese American community can trace their ancestry back to North Vietnam in 1954.
3. The teacher will give students time to read the article silently and take notes. 
4. After reading, the teacher will divide students into pairs, and students will work together to discuss and write down their answers to the following questions: 
   1. What is the main idea of the article?
   2. What imagery does the author use to describe Sài Gòn as a cultural capital?
   3. Based on the article, what type of tone do you think the author, and many new Northern Vietnamese migrants, feel about their prospects in this new home, in the Republic of Vietnam?
5. The class will come together, and students will share their thoughts about the article.
6. The teacher should focus the discussion about how Vietnamese people in the Republic of Vietnam, especially Vietnamese Americans today, saw Sài Gòn and the Republic of Vietnam as the future and hope of the best of Vietnamese culture and society, and although there are many trials to come, most Vietnamese people did their utmost to create art, literature, and music befitting of the new cultural capital of the world.
7. Teacher can also talk about how in 1975, Vietnamese Americans saw themselves as continuing to preserve the best of Vietnamese culture, just as they did in the Republic of Vietnam, including literature, art, and music that is produced overseas (this is a good transition to the next source/activity).
8. The teacher can also use the information below to help give context to this new feeling of hope and idealism for the new Vietnamese nation and its people.
   1. Before 1954, Hà Nội was the political and cultural capital of French Indochina. After the Geneva accords, over 1 million Northern Vietnamese fled to the South, a sizable population part of the intellectual and literary elite from Hà Nội. Sài Gòn becomes the new “Hà Nội” as Vietnamese in the RVN wildly anxious to take charge of their new, independent nation.
   2. “Sài Gòn is no longer mere hands and feet; it has become a heart. Historic events have shifted the nation's focal point, and Sài Gòn now grows, supplanting a decaying Hà Nội as the epicenter that gathers goodwill and the collective efforts of existing cultural activities across all sectors.Sài Gòn, the cultural capital of Vietnam! From a phenomenon to a reality.The foundations of our national culture are laid here, arebeing cultivated here through our creative efforts – through the efforts of those who are currently present here. Throughthe creative endeavors of our fellow travelers from aroundthe world. Through the supportive contributions of our siblingnations, and the friendly cultural trends of the world.Sài Gònis distinct from any other capital in the world. Yet Sài Gòn is also one of the world's cultural capitals. On the map of our nation, we inscribe Sài Gòn: the cultural capital of our peopletoday and tomorrow.” -Mai Thảo, Sài Gòn, the Cultural Capital of Vietnam 

1. After the teacher makes the connection between the vision of the Republic of Vietnam as the beacon for culture and freedom, while the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the North is stifled, the teacher will play the music video: “Tình Hoài Hương” (Longing for the Homeland) by Phạm Duy, one of the most renowned composers in Vietnam and in the Vietnamese American community (10 minutes)
2. The video (with subtitles) can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DieT1PUfXCM
3. Video (without subtitles) can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuNrKwz-Vqw
4. Lyrics and description of the song can be found in the handout: “Tình Hoài Hương - Phạm Duy Lyrics”.
5. The teacher will give background information that the song was written in 1952 to describe Phạm Duy's longing for the home in North Vietnam that he had to leave, but also the hope he has for his country and his homeland. In 1954, the song became extremely popular among the Northern migrant population in the South, and it became popular again among Vietnamese refugees after 1975. The song is a strong example of how the best of Vietnamese culture and the hopes for the nation have been transferred from Hà Nội to Sài Gòn and represent both longing of the past and a vision towards the future. While playing the video, the teacher will instruct students to highlight lyrics that represent the sentiments and feelings expressed by Mai Thảo about the new cultural capital and society. 
6. After playing the video, the teacher will give students 1–2 minutes to discuss with a pair about what imagery or lyrics they found poignant and representative of the dreams and feelings of Vietnamese people in the new nation.
7. The teacher will use the remaining time to have a discussion with the students. Possible discussion topics:
   1. How do you think these feelings expressed by Mai Thảo in the earlier article are represented through the imagery and lyrics of “Longing for the Homeland" by Phạm Duy?
   2. This video is a rendition, almost 70 years later, of Phạm Duy's song, by Thúy Nga productions, one of the largest Vietnamese language music entertainment companies that serves the Vietnamese diaspora, especially Vietnamese refugees. How do the feelings about the Republic of Vietnam during this time continue to be expressed today in the Vietnamese American community?
   3. Can segue into the way that Vietnamese Americans feel pride in the ideals, hopes, and visions for a Vietnamese nation beginning from the Republic of Vietnam to today, and how they see themselves as inheritors of those dreams.
   4. The teacher should emphasize sentimentalism, a new wave of art, music and literature in the Republic of Vietnam as a form of  free expression that contrasts with supposedly emotionless communism. This later led to the development of yellow music in the later stages of the Republic of Vietnam.
   5. Emphasize how sentimentalist art, literature, and music continued to be produced after 1975 in America with similar values and goals, especially in regards to how they see their role in contributing to American society as well as advocating for reform and advancement of Vietnam currently.

Cultural Production (20 min)

1. Students will create a matrix, or storyboard, with four images that best illustrate the feelings, hopes, and visions of the Vietnamese people in the early stages of the Republic of Vietnam. The images selected should be symbolic and students should construct a 2–3 sentence explanation for each image. Students can hand-draw the images, or complete this work digitally. The final product can be open to a written, visual, or audio narrative. 

2. Once students have created their four image matrix, or storyboard, provide opportunities for students to share and present. This can be done as a Give One, Get One, Lines of Communication, or small group share out.