Overview
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War and Home - Part II
Author: Chong Moua
Grades: 9-10
Suggested Amount of Time: 120 Minutes
Area of Study: Community Building, Home-Making, and Empowerment
Compelling Question
- How do Hmong people build and sustain community and belonging?
Lesson Questions
- How does war affect people’s relationship to home?
- How did war affect Hmong people’s sense of home-making in the United States?
Lesson Objective
This lesson is the continuation to Part I lesson that focuses on war and home. Part II focuses on how wars affect people’s relationships with homelands. Students will use the US’s Secret War in Laos as a case study to show how war disrupted Hmong people’s lives and homes and explore how displaced individuals and groups create home and belonging in the United States.
Lesson Background
This second part of the lesson delves into the US’s Secret War in Laos and its impact on Hmong lives and conceptions of home. Hmong Scholar Dr. Choua Xiong (2024) shares “Since the mass displacement of HMoob people after the Secret War, HMoob people have had to rebuild and reimagine their communities and homes. Today, HMoob people live in various places throughout the world including: Australia, China, France, French Guiana, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States. HMoob communities throughout the world make up what scholars consider the HMoob diaspora. Home-making is also about finding identity within a place. As an ethnic group constantly on the run, HMoob people are tasked to continuously reinvent and reimagine their identity against dominant imperial and colonial narratives. HMoob people engage in home-making to generate and establish new forms of identity within each place that they live. Most importantly, the ways HMoob people home-make is often in response to the forms of inequities that they have encountered.”
Note: The use of “HMoob'' in this lesson is intentional to be inclusive of the diverse identities and perspectives of the Hmong community.
This lesson contains 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 content warning to their students at the beginning of the lesson.
Image Citation: Beery, G. (2015). [Photograph of displaced Hmong family members climbing onto a Lao military supply truck for a free ride to escape to safety]. Galen Beery Legacy Collection, California State University, Fresno, Hmongstory 40 / Hmongstory Legacy, Fresno, CA. https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/galen-beery/item/6566
Skills
Historical Thinking Skill
his lesson will facilitate student proficiency in evidence, one of Seixas’ historical thinking skills (Seixas & Morton, 2013). To help students see the crucial role traces play in the construction of history. Students consider that history is interpretation based on inferences made from primary sources. Primary sources can be accounts, but they can also be traces, relics, or records; in this case government documents, documentary, and photo collections.
Ethnic Studies Theme
his 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 discuss how diasporic communities, without a territorial ethnic homeland, maintained identity and a sense of belonging.
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.
Materials
Supplies
- Access to laptop device
- Photo Collections (access to album in procedures)
- Life During the War Photos, Galen Beery Collection
- Refugee Camp Life Photos, Erica Hagen Collection
- Materials will vary depending on final assessment product (Photo, Digital art, Comic strip, Spoken word, or Poem)
- paint, charcoal, paper mache, collage, digital art, color pencils, etc.
Readings
- Summary of Refugee Camps in Thailand and Refugee Flow
- Hmong Soldiers Not Considered Veterans
- “My Life” by Tou Lee (2–3) from All About Us
- “Interview with Khu Thao” from Hmong Oral History Project
Video
- Becoming American documentary on YouTube
Procedures
This is the second part of the War & Home lesson. It is recommended that “War & Home - Part I” be taught prior to teaching this lesson.
Step 1: Opener
- Ask students to imagine themselves being placed into a new country to call home, and not understanding the language or knowing the community. What are three things that would be on their mind?
- Have them share with a peer.
- Preview lesson objective and questions as a class.
Step 2: Refugee Resettlement Process (Text and Video Analysis)
Students will explore Hmong refugee camp life and the resettlement process after leaving Laos to understand the concept of home for Hmong people.
- Document Analysis: “Refugee Processing for the U.S. Program” (Summary of Refugee Thailand situation in Thailand. Mac Thompson Collection showcases various statistics, summaries and details the Indo-China refugee program impacting the Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees of Thailand from 1975 to 1990's.)
- Page six of the “Summary of Refugee Camps in Thailand and Refugee Flow” https://ucdavis.box.com/s/vc6grc7m7gxphgnpiexqdxk7accr99sf shows the steps refugees have to go through to be processed and approved for resettlement.
- Each student should have their own copy of the document.
- Have them engage with the document and discuss the following questions with a partner. Students should annotate the document for the following details:
- What is this document about?
- Who may have produced this document?
- What is the purpose of this document?
- What do you notice about the process refugees have to go through?
- What step(s) during the process sounds the hardest, easiest, most confusing?
- Page six of the “Summary of Refugee Camps in Thailand and Refugee Flow” https://ucdavis.box.com/s/vc6grc7m7gxphgnpiexqdxk7accr99sf shows the steps refugees have to go through to be processed and approved for resettlement.
- After the primary document analysis, have students watch the first 27 minutes of the documentary, Becoming American documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-xzabMwgVU), which shows one Hmong refugee family going through processing to leaving for resettlement in the US.
- Have students consider and take note on which step of the refugee processing is shown in the documentary.
- After the episode is over, have them discuss with a partner the steps of the refugee process that were shown in the documentary.
Step 3: Life During the War & Refugee Camps (Photo Analysis)
Students will look at photos depicting Hmong life during 1) the Secret War and 2) the Refugee Camps:
1) Life During the War Photos, Galen Beery Collection, https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/galen-beery/page/home
- 1970 Displaced Hmong - Displaced Hmong families temporarily living along a dirt airstrip in Luang Prabang, which was safe from fighting because of the military presence guarding the airplanes which were parked and fueled at this location. Circa 1970 (https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/galen-beery/item/7370)
- 1971 Similac Delivery - Two Hmong women with kids standing next to a delivery of Similac in Ban Xon. Site: LS-272, Coordinates: TF 5994. Circa 1971, (https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/galen-beery/item/6542)
2) Refugee Camp Life Photos, Erica Hagen Collection, (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/qflkyqshjq5ai33bh4igq15yxvizw4jv)
- Hmong Women Preparing Meal - Hmong woman preparing meal at the kitchen area of a family home in Ban Vinai refugee camp in 1980 (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/r6p3wx3wm0acvig5n4gb6wgvcm23fiwh)
- Vinai Refugee Camp Checkpoint - Vinai refugee camp checkpoint screening station and sign in 1983 (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/2ksr5v877x5v1onfyuhnsn6sk87c8f5x)
Have students partner up with a peer. Person 1 will review Galen Beery photos and Person 2 will review Erica Hagen photos. For their assigned image, students will review and answer the following questions:
- What do you see in the picture?
- What elements represent war in the picture?
- What elements represent home?
- What emotions do these pictures evoke?
- Do these pictures show any part of the refugee resettlement process?
Once students have finished analyzing their assigned photo and answering the questions, have them share their findings with their counterpart partner.
Step 4: Home-making in the United States
To elaborate how the US’s Secret War in Laos disrupted Hmong lives not only in Laos but also continued to do so when they resettled in the US, students will compare the experiences of a young Hmong immigrant, Hmong veterans, and an elderly Hmong person.
- Primary Sources
- “Hmong Soldiers Not Considered US Veterans” https://www.mnvietnam.org/story/hmong-soldiers-not-considered-us-veterans/
- “My Life”, pages two and three, by Tou Lee from All About Us by Students in the Reading Lab, Yosemite Middle School, Fresno, CA, 1982 (Collection of first hand stories about struggles and challenges in America by Southeast Asian middle school kids.) https://ucdavis.box.com/s/anqmehjtzx290dlsa3ip1702f5z1qrsl
- “Interview with Khu Thao,” Hmong Oral History Project, Concordia University, St. Paul, MN https://ucdavis.box.com/s/u5vp2jpw3n21qonzxpa3db03npg823wk
- Primary Source Activity: Jigsaw
- Students will be divided into three groups, with one person per group being the designated expert. Each group will be assigned one of the three primary sources above to watch, read, and take notes. While engaging with their primary source, each group should pay attention and take notes on the following:
- Who is this primary source about?
- What are three significant things, details, or events about their experience?
- How does the idea of ‘home’ appear in this primary source?
- Are there specific things that happened that may have affected their sense of home?
- After the groups are done with their primary source activity, the experts will travel to each group and teach those groups the main points from their primary source. Rotate until the experts have taught all groups.
- Students will be divided into three groups, with one person per group being the designated expert. Each group will be assigned one of the three primary sources above to watch, read, and take notes. While engaging with their primary source, each group should pay attention and take notes on the following:
- Community Reflection Questions:
- What is different and/or similar about how each primary source talks about the idea of ‘home’?
- Did this activity give you new ways of how different people think of home?
Step 5: Closure/Assessment:
For the Cumulative Project on home and belonging, students will use learnings from the sources to expand on the ideas and themes and create a final product. (If teachers conducted the “War & Home - Part 1” lesson with students, the resources on there can also be referenced for this final project.)
Task: Students will choose from a variety of creative options to create a final product. The options include, but are not limited to the following:
- Photo (Hand Drawn) or Digital art
- Comic strip
- Spoken word or Poem
- Other (discuss with teacher first for approval)
Students will present or record their final product to the class in a two to three-minute presentation where they explain their piece and their process addressing the lesson questions:
- What is a home?
- How did war affect Hmong people’s sense of home?
Criteria:
- The final product should reflect student’s takeaways of the lesson questions.
- The final product should be original and incorporate information from at least 2–3 of the sources from the lesson.
Presentation:
- Students will present their final product in a two to three minute presentation where they explain their product, process and reflection to the lesson questions.
- Presentations can be in any of the following formats: Whole class/small group presentation, Give One/Get One, Lines of Communication, or pre-recorded presentation
Assessments
Students will choose from a variety of creative options to create a final product for the project. The options include, but are not limited to the following:
- Photo (Hand Drawn) or Digital art
- Comic strip
- Spoken word or Poem
- Other (discuss with teacher first for approval)
Students will present or record their final product to the class in a two to three-minute presentation where they explain their piece and their process addressing the lesson questions.
Scaffolds
- Engagement: Consider the following method to support with lesson engagement:
- Create cooperative learning groups with clear goals, roles, and responsibilities
- Provide prompts that guide learners in when and how to ask peers and/or teachers for help
- Representation: Consider the following method to support with multiple means of representation:
- Provide descriptions (text or spoken) for all images, graphics, video, or animations
- Provide templates, graphic organizers, concept maps to support note-taking
- Action and Expression: Consider the following method to support in presenting their learning in multiple ways:
- Provide sentence starters or sentence strips
- Embed prompts to show and explain your work (e.g., portfolio review, art critiques)
For additional ideas to support your students, check out the UDL Guidelines at CAST (2018) http://udlguidelines.cast.org.
Multilingual Learner Supports
- Emerging: Consider the following method to support with emerging students:
- Reading: Highlight key points in a text
- In a shared or interactive writing format, chart out characters, setting, problem, and events (including orientation, complication, and resolution). Add theme, as appropriate.
- Reading: Highlight key points in a text
- 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: Ask students to analyze text structure and select an appropriate graphic organizer for summarizing
- Students are guided to notice how parts of text are connected using linking words and phrases, and how these words impact tone
- Reading: Ask students to analyze text structure and select an appropriate graphic organizer for summarizing
For additional guidance around scaffolding for multilingual learners, please consult the following resources:
- English Learner Toolkit of Strategies, https://ucdavis.box.com/s/ujkdc2xp1dqjzrlq55czph50c3sq1ngu
- Providing Appropriate Scaffolding, https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/multilingual-education-and-global-achievement/oracy-toolkit/providing-appropriate-scaffolding#scaffolding
- Strategies for ELD, https://ucdavis.box.com/s/dcp15ymah51uwizpmmt2vys5zr2r5reu
- ELA / ELD Framework, https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/6537/ela-eld-framework
- California ELD Standards, https://ucdavis.box.com/s/vqn43cd632z22p8mfzn2h7pntc71kb02
Enrichment
- Watch an oral account of leaving refugee camps in Thailand for the United States: Captain Bee Yang, Interview Process in the Refugee Camps (12:33 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173EjVAda9E.
- At the end of each day, students can compile something they learned or worked on into a journal. This compilation can be utilized for their final project.
Works Cited
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/
Beery, G. 1970. Galeen Beery Legacy Exhibit. Galen Beery Collection / Hmongstory 40 / Hmongstory Legacy. https://omeka.library.fresnostate.edu/s/beery-legacy-exhibit/page/home
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
Digital Commons@CSP. 2004, July 1. Interview with Khu Thao. Digital Commons@CSP. https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/hmong-studies_hohp/10/
Hagen, G. 1981. Erica Hagen Collection of Vinai Camp Refugee Camp Life Photos [Photographs]. Hmongstory 40 / Hmongstory Legacy, Fresno, CA. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/qflkyqshjq5ai33bh4igq15yxvizw4jv
Lee, T. 1982. My life. In All About Us by Students in the Reading Lab, Yosemite Middle School. 2–3. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/anqmehjtzx290dlsa3ip1702f5z1qrsl
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
TSMA Hmong Archive. 2018, October 5. Becoming American (2005) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-xzabMwgVU
Twin Cities PBS. (n.d.). Hmong soldiers not considered US veterans. Twin Cities PBS. https://www.mnvietnam.org/story/hmong-soldiers-not-considered-us-veterans/
Unknown. 1980, May 31. Summary of refugee situation in Thailand. Retrieved from Mac Thompson Collection / Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia / Hmongstory Legacy, Fresno, CA. https://ucdavis.box.com/s/vc6grc7m7gxphgnpiexqdxk7accr99sf
Supplementary Sources
Hmongstory Legacy. 2023, July 12. Bee Yang - Leaving the camps [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173EjVAda9E
Vang, M. D. 2011, December 30. To make a return. The New York Times, 6--8, 190–192. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/22/us/Hmong_writings_docs.html