In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, San Jose teacher Kevin Guzman engaged his students by letting them recount their families' experiences as Vietnamese refugees. Many of the students were descendants of those who fled Vietnam, and their personal stories reflected both the pain and resilience of their families. Guzman utilized California's new Southeast Asian Studies Model Curriculum, where students interviewed relatives about their journeys, some for the first time, shedding light on the impact of historical trauma on personal identities.
"I brought in some of our Vietnamese students in to share the stories of their grandparents and their parents," said Guzman, an ethnic studies teacher at Andrew Hill High School.
"The boat people were often attacked by pirates from Thailand," said Pham to fellow students as she held up a photo of her father and his sisters when they were children. "The pirates got to the boat with my other aunt on it, and they killed all those people."
"I learned a bunch of stuff I didn't know before," said student Catherine Nguyen. "And when I asked them why, they just said we don't like talking about it. You just push everything away and just focus on surviving."
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