Cultural Energizer (four minutes)

1. Teacher to ask students who their favorite musicians and artists are. 
2. Allow for partner share.

Interaction with first source: Lam Phương’s “Chiều Tây Đô” (Afternoon in Old Cần Thơ) (10 minutes) 

1. Teacher introduces the first song, which was composed originally in Paris, France by Lam Phương in 1985 in Paris, France.  
2. Teacher informs the students that the cover song the class is about to listen to is actually produced in the United States, by a music group in Orange County, California (MMG).
3. Play the song for students to hear: “Chiều Tây Đô.” (https://youtu.be/gWjoakq_KUY)  
   1. Teacher asks students what musical instruments they see or hear in the music video.
      1. Students should respond: guitars (acoustic, electric, and bass), drums, piano, keyboard, and vocalist (singer).  
   2. Teacher asks students if the song's tone is happy or sad. 
      1. Note: both answers are correct since the music has an upbeat shuffle, and the lyrics convey sorrowful themes.
      2. Students should respond either happy or sad, and should explain why.
4. In pairs or groups, students will read the lyrics of “Chiều Tây Đo” (10 minutes) 
   1. In pairs or groups, have students read the lyrics (see handout: Lyrics: Chiều Tây Đô (Afternoon Old Cần Thơ). Lam Phương’s “Chiều Tây Đô” (Afternoon in Old Cần Thơ) is a song about the Vietnamese boat refugees. Have students identify the following (suggested for students to annotate for the following prompts): 
      1. What are happier details in the song?
         1. Students’ answers include: birds singing, returning home, walking together, a garden, river, wings of the dress, a school yard, love.
      2. What are the sadder details in the song?
         1. Students' answers include: black day, black mourning dress, plants weeping, dead country, people waiting, people in pain and hunger, estranged street names.
      3. What is the historical event that is being referenced?
         1. Student answers include: The fall of Sài Gòn in 1975 and the ensuing mass exodus of boat refugees.
      4. What is the future event that is being referenced?
         1. Students’ answers include: refugees returning to Vietnam, social life in Cần Thơ is restored in Vietnam, social life like Cần Thơ is rebuilt in the diaspora.
   2. Once students have annotated the lyrics, allow for group and class discussion to check for understanding. 

Shared Learning: Historical Context (five minutes)

1. Teacher provides context of lyrics and explains the end of the Vietnam War, which was followed by the mass exodus of Vietnamese boat refugees. Teachers should note that many song composers who migrated abroad continued to compose newer songs for the Vietnamese refugee communities, albeit mostly in France and the United States. In addition to newer compositions, the diasporic music industry was also remaking older songs from southern Vietnam. Similar to the newer compositions like Lam Phuong’s “Chiều Tây Đô” (1985), many pre-1975 song covers were also ballads, which referenced historical elements of Vietnamese life and events. 
2. Teacher will introduce the next two songs: Two of the pre-1975 Vietnamese songs show contrasting societies and events of southern Vietnam during wartime.

Community Collaboration (15 minutes)

1. Have students pair up with a partner. Together, they will each take on a second song to analyze. 
   1. Song 1: “Trịnh Công Sơn’s “Bài Ca Dành Cho Những Xác Người” (ballad for the corpses) (see: https://www.tcs-home.org/english/songs-en/songs/a-song-dedicated-to-all-the-corpses) 
      1. Teacher to provide context: The song titled “Bài Ca Dành Cho Những Xác Người” (ballad for the corpses) is composed by Trịnh Công Sơn, who was born in the imperial city of Huế. This is a song about the aftermath of the Tết Offensive. 
   2. Song 2: “Y Vân’s “Sài Gòn” (see: https://saigonsupersoundcompilations.bandcamp.com/track/s-i-g-n) 
      1. Teacher to provide context: The song titled “Sài Gòn” is composed by Y Vân, who was born in the northern city of Hà Nội and migrated with his family to the south in 1954.  The original recording was published in 1973, which has been remastered in Germany in 2018. Y Vân’s “Sài Gòn” is a song about the social life of Sài Gòn culture. 
   3. For each song, students should individually analyze for the following questions: 
      1. What are happier details in the song?
      2. What are the sadder details in the song?
      3. What is the historical event that is being referenced?
      4. What is the future event that is being referenced?
   4. Answer Key for Song 1: 
      1. What are happier details in the song?
         1. Students are likely to struggle, since the song is about death and collateral damage. Teacher may suggest that the music feels upbeat since it is a simple marching beating (1-2-1-2). Other details include the season of spring and desire to look to tomorrow. 
      2. What are the sadder details in the song?
         1. Corpses laying in various scenes (potato fields, roofs, school yards), unable to identify the corpses.
      3. What is the historical event that is being referenced?
         1. Students will most likely answer the Vietnam War 
         2. Teacher should add that the song references the 1968 Tết Offensive.
      4. What is the future event that is being referenced?
         1. Students may pick up on the verse that mentions looking tomorrow when the corpses will enrich the land, albeit that the verse is meant to be ironic.
      5. Answer Key for Song 2: 
         1. What are happier details in the song?
            1. Students’ answers may include: glimmering dresses (áo dài), Sài Gòn is beautiful (the chorus), various scenery, people talking. 
         2. What are the sadder details in the song?
            1. None. It has upbeat music and lyrics. Looking back, it may be sad because Sài Gòn fell in 1975.
         3. What is the historical event that is being referenced?
            1. Students’ answers may include: city life during the war. In the capital city of Sài Gòn, civilians in southern Vietnam were mostly shielded from much of the combat and violence of the war. There was this nightlife-dance music culture. 
         4. What is the future event that is being referenced?
            1. Students may struggle with this question, since the song focuses on the mantra of living-in-moment. There is not an explicit reference to the future.
      6. Once students are done analyzing their individual songs, allow them to present their findings to their partner.
         1. Partner should be noting down the observations as they listen to their peer share

Cultural Production (15 – 20 minutes)

1. Students will reflect on the lesson questions by creating a modern day playlist of two to three songs. Students will identify songs that they are familiar with and that reflect themes similar to the songs of study from the lesson. The songs can be outlined on a slidedeck, Canva graphic, or illustration. Alternatively, students can create their own song lyrics, poems, or other creative writing. The final product can be open to a written, visual, or audio narrative. 
   1. Note: The songs do not have to be Vietnamese but should reflect similar emotions, perspectives, and thoughts on themes such as: loss and displacement, adaptation, unity, resilience and hope, trauma and memory, memory and nostalgia. Chosen songs should connect to the lesson questions.

Sharing and Reflection (10 minutes)

1. Allow students to share their playlists with two or three other students. As they share their playlist, have students reflect on the following: 
   1. How did this activity help extend or affirm your understanding of the Vietnamese refugee experiences and attitudes towards the fall of Saigon?