Students will be able to analyze differences between the major religions in Vietnam, including Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Caodaism, Hòa Hảo Buddhism, and Chăm Islam, by conducting research and creating a poster.
Students will be able to analyze and articulate how Hmong American history has influenced and contributed to intergenerational trauma within the Hmong community, and they will critically examine the long-term impacts on successive generations. Students will also be able to identify how the Hmong community has engaged in healing practices as a response to coping with the trauma and make connections with present-day society and their own lives in a Socratic Seminar discussion.
This lesson will feature Hmong American artist, Boon Ma Yang, and the stories behind his paintings. Students will gain an understanding of how artists, such as Boon Ma, can highlight experiences of Hmong American identity and issues. Students will also learn how artists use art to build a sense of belonging and to empower the community.
Students will learn the complex history of Hmong people as a ‘stateless’ people, having no geographical homeland to call their own. Students will explore how statelessness has affected Hmong people’s desire and search for sovereignty and homeland and dive into how being stateless has affected their conception of home-making, sense of belonging and community building.
Through oral storytelling and text, students will learn about the diasporic history and experience of the Hmong people, where they settled after being displaced, what hopes and dreams they had of traveling to new unknown places, and challenges they faced coping with life in their new homes. Students will create an Accordion Book to demonstrate their learning(s) of the Hmong diasporic experience.
Students will be able to define the term "Laotian" and differentiate between the three groups (Lao Loum, Lao Theung, and Lao Sung) that make up the ethnic diversity of Laos through collaborative group research projects. By the end of the lesson, students will understand that ‘Laotian’ includes, but is not limited to, the Lao, Iu Mien, Khmu, Phutai, Tai Lue, Tai Dam, and Tai Deng ethnic groups.
Students will trace the origin of Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (written language script) to the Catholic Church in Laos and Father Yves Bertrais and its influences. By practicing the Hmong alphabet and common words/phrases, students will be able to create a Personal Dictionary and share their understanding with the class.
Students will gain an understanding of Shamanism in Hmong communities and analyze the challenges to cultural identity and cultural preservation amidst diasporic experiences.
Students will develop a deeper understanding of Buddhist tradition in Cambodian culture in the United States. Students will also be able to reflect on their own culture in regards to how they have maintained their heritage growing up.
Students will identify the cultural significance and versatility of the krama and how it is used in everyday life, including ways the krama represents various Khmer identities.
