DEAR JOHN...

2012 Blog Copy John Hagmann LetterforAustralianStudents[1]

 

Dear John Hagmann,

Thank you for your interest in our studies and willingness to share your story with us. It was a powerful experience for us to receive a letter from you as we study Dear America - Letters Home from Vietnam. We have many questions about this important time in history and will be privileged to learn even more about what you and others went through as you lived through the Vietnam War. Here are our questions:

• What happened to you when you got back from the war John? How did people treat you? How did you fit back into normal life? (What type of work did you do in Manhattan?)
• Do you know what made it so important to Edelman to put this anthology together?
• Do you think the text represents the war accurately?
• Do you think the text glamorises the war compared to reality?
• Do you think the anthology could have included a bigger variety of perspectives. More voices from the Vietnamese and the people back home in America?
• How did the war in Vietnam impact on your family?
• Do you have any contact with Vietnamese allies?
• Did you have any support from the American government when you returned?
• How do the experiences of you and your friends compare? Similar or very different?

Yours truly, MSC 12 English 2012 

John Hagmann response to students

  

FROM MOOROOPNA

TO AMERICA...

OUR ETERNAL FLAME MEMORIAL

 IN MEMORY OF ALL WHO SERVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR, AND ALL WHO LIVED THROUGH IT

FOR THOSE WHO WERE PREPARED TO STAND UP FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM IN OUR WORLD

Juxtaposition in 'Dear America'

2012 John Hagmann Juxtaposi... by on Scribd

2012 Practice SAC Topics

Choose one topic and write an analytical response.
Length of the response should be 700-900 words.

1. How does the structure of 'Dear America' work to maximise the emotional impact on the reader?

OR

2. "War has a damaging effect on all those involved." Do you agree?

OR

3. "It is easy to understand the experience of a soldier whilst on a tour of duty in Vietnam because of the intensely personal nature of the letters." Do you agree?

See pp. 69-72 of your 'Insight English' for information on constructing a text response.

Dear America - American Involvement in the Vietnam War

1aa Timeline Task- Timetoast by on Scribd

Vietnam - Flags and Maps

Click here to view annotated maps of the Vietnam War. They provide information about particular places and locations that help to put the circumstances into context.

Using the information on the web maps note the following on your handouts:

- Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon - Paris of South East Asia – French imperialist/colonist influence – lost 1954)
_ Hanoi
_ Ho Chi Minh Trail
- note 3 points about the TET offensive
- Quang Tri and significance
- note what happened to Saigon on April 30, 1975
- the north-south demarcation line

Access map templates at:

http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/world_pacific.pdf
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm
http://d-maps.com/m/vietnam/vietnam35.pdf
http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/templates/student_resources/0534264638_murrin/maps/swfs/mur29_1.html

Handy Vietnam War Terms/Phrase

DEAR AMERICA – Active Viewing Activity

During the film it is presented to the audience that whilst serving in Vietnam during the war there were ‘handy phrases’ to know (approx. scene 15 as per your running sheet). This is also referred to in the book. These handy phrases are part of the unique vernacular of this particular war – something that you could possibly allude to in an essay. It is good to build a knowledge of what some of these ‘handy phrases’ are as they can work to enhance your discussion of the text in your SAC or for the exam.

- In your reading and responding section of your folder put the heading: DEAR AMERICA: ‘Handy Terms/Phrases’

- Create a glossary t-bar table:

- Look out for headings of some ‘handy phrases’ being displayed on the screen as you view the film, e.g., grunts. List them in your table

- Write the definitions of the terms/phrases in your table, e.g., zippo raid – soldiers set huts on fire with lighters. Use the glossary at the back of your text to help.

View fron start of clip at -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w05jLdzBuhk&feature=relmfu

Good internet glossary of Vietnam war terms and slang - http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Glossary/Sixties_Term_Gloss_D_J.html

2012 Reading and Responding Area of Study Starts Here!

Viewing the film of Dear America - Letters Home From Vietnam will complement our study of the written version of the text.

REVISION QUIZ

1. Write down the chapter titles in order. (Without looking at the book)

2. Which chapters have these photographs at their beginning?

• Men saluting coffins draped with American flags.


• Soldier cradling fellow wounded soldier in his arms. (Close up)


• Bare-chested soldier with bullet around his neck.

3. In which American city is the Vietnam Memorial Wall to be found?

4. Give 3/4 reasons as to why writing and receiving letters was so important to the American soldiers.

5. Write down some of the reasons you know the men expressed in their letters for fighting in Vietnam. (Why were they there?)

6. What factors made the Viet Cong such a difficult enemy to fight?

7. The American soldiers were fighting in an 'alien landscape'. What was the fighting landscape like and what were some of the difficult conditions and things the soldiers had to deal with?

8. Write the names of three men who wrote multiple letters in the text.

9. The men who wrote the letters were the authors of the text? What was his role?

10. Look, cover then write these words - soldiers, Saigon, Hanoi, communism, guerilla (warfare), democracy (democratic), patriotic, scared, scarred, unbearable. Did you misspell any? Work to learn them.

Diigo Instructions (Version 1)

Diigo Instructions 2 by on Scribd

Timeline Powerpoints

Power Point - Vietnam Erinm... by on Scribd

Vietnam War - Timeline

Working in pairs use this timeline activity as a starting point to developing your background knowledge of the conflict in Vietnam. Your PowerPoint responses will be an S/N activity. When complete put them in my electronic pigeonhole and I will figure out how to present them on the blog. It will be interesting to see what the variety of the images are.

Timeline - Vietnam War by on Scribd

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