Learning Intentions; students are learning to…
- Gain an appreciation of the conditions faced by New Zealand soldiers in Vietnam.
- Understand some of the issues and responsibilities faced by the New Zealand troops in Vietnam.
- Understand some of the attitudes towards the New Zealand troops when they returned home.
Success Criteria; students will know they have achieved the learning intentions when they can…
- Match quotes from the film with relevant category headings.
- Correctly summarise using quotes and their own words, a range of different attitudes which existed on the issue of the troops’ return.
Relevant Footage:
New Zealand Society: The Seventies, Part Two
Vietnam: Experiences
Vietnam: Withdrawal
Rebels In Retrospect
Introduction:
The first section of this footage provides some moving and personal accounts from Vietnam veterans on how, as young men, they coped with the horrors of everyday life during the Vietnam conflict. The footage on withdrawal and protests give a more political perspective.
This lesson is intended to give a guided lead into the student directed inquiry on other social issues and controversies covered in subsequent lessons.
Lesson Outline
Watch Vietnam: Experiences, stopping as necessary to discuss the issues that come up and to let students match the quotes with the appropriate headings as given in Resource Eight.
Discuss the importance of each quote and all of the possible headings to which it may belong.
Watch Vietnam: Withdrawal and Rebels in Retrospect. Discuss with students some of the reasons why the campaign is now regarded by many as a mistake and how this made the lives of those who had fought there very difficult when they returned home. Comparisons and contrasts with present day campaigns could be made.
Have students fill out the Resource Nine table.
Discuss which attitudes students most sympathise with.
