'Chasing Memories' In Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam

by Hansi Lo Wang 2015

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

Teaching Kids in Vietnam to Avoid a Deadly, Everyday Legacy of War

Michael Sullivan, for All Things Considered on NPR

This NPR story describes education in Vietnam today that might save a life: lessons about different kinds of explosives.

Pair “’Chasing Memories’ in their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “Teaching Kids in Vietnam to Avoid a Deadly, Everyday Legacy of War” and ask students to think broadly about the effects of the Vietnam War. What do you make of the fact that the United States offered refuge to so many Vietnamese people fleeing communism, while the legacy of the war’s violence remains so powerful in modern-day Vietnam? What does this tell you about international relations and the actions of individual nations? How do our perspective and our own national identities inform our understanding of history?

8th Grade News 1100L

Diary of a Teenage Refugee

Amira

This account comes from a 16-year-old Syrian girl named Amira and details the past three years of her life in a refugee camp in the neighboring country of Lebanon.

Pair “’Chasing Memories’ in their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “Diary of a Teenage Refugee” and have students consider how the latter text adds depth to their understanding of the former. How does learning the perspective of a young woman who is currently experiencing life as a refugee form a war-torn nation help you understand the desire of the Vietnamese-Americans in the former piece to reconnect with their old friends? How might the designation of “refugee” create a crisis of identity?

5th Grade Non-Fiction - General 670L

A Refugee Looks Back

Mike Kubic

Mike Kubic, a former Newsweek magazine correspondent, discusses his experiences as a post-WWII refugee and the need to address the refugee crisis of Middle Eastern migrants struggling for entry into Europe.

Pair “‘Chasing Memories’ in Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “A Refugee Looks Back” and ask students to explore the different reasons that refugees are forced to flee their homes. What are the similar needs and discomforts that the narrators of each text express as they struggled to settle in a new country?

11th Grade Informational Text 1390L

The World's Largest Refugee Camp Looks Like A Slum/Star Wars Mashup

NPR Staff

In the interview "The World's Largest Refugee Camp Looks Like A Slum/Star Wars Mashup," Ari Shapiro talks to human rights worker and author Ben Rawlence about the experiences of Somali refugees in a camp in Kenya.

Pair “‘Chasing Memories’ in Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Looks Like A Slum/Star Wars Mashup” to provide students with another example of a refugee’s experiences in a camp. How do the experiences of Somali refugees in Dadaab compare to the experiences of refugees during the Vietnam War? To what extent has the treatment of refugees changed over time?

8th Grade Interview 970L

Going to School as a Refugee

Caroline Garrison

In the feature article "Going to School as a Refugee," Caroline Garrison describes the fears and struggles of refugee students in Dallas schools.

Pair “‘Chasing Memories’ in Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “Going to School as a Refugee,” and ask students to compare the experiences described in the two texts. How are the experiences of Burmese refugees today similar to the experiences of Vietnamese refugees in the ‘70s and ‘80s? Based on the information presented, how have the resettlement experiences of refugees in America changed over time?

8th Grade Non-Fiction - General 1100L

Why there's no place like home for the holidays

Frank T. McAndrew

In the informational text, "Why there's no place like home for the holidays," Frank T. McAndrew discusses why people enjoy coming home for the holidays.

Pair “‘Chasing Memories’ In Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “Why there’s no place like home for the holidays” and ask students to discuss the complicated relationship refugees likely have with the idea of home. How do students think refugees discussed in the “‘Chasing Memories’ In Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” felt about the camps that they stayed in? Why might some people have felt like they found a home, while others did not? How do both texts explore how home is more than the place you sleep at night?

10th Grade Informational Text 1180L

5 Surprising Facts about the Refugee Crisis

Jason Beaubien

In the informational text "5 Surprising Facts about the Refugee Crisis," Jason Beaubien discusses refugee crises around the world and how countries are responding to them.

Pair “‘Chasing Memories’ in Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “5 Surprising Facts about the Refugee Crisis” to provide students with information about the experiences of refugees in camps. Ask students to discuss what refugees experienced once they were able to escape their country. How do students think America’s views and treatment of refugees have changed over time?

8th Grade News 1040L

Forgetting Why We Remember

David W. Blight

In "Forgetting Why We Remember," David W. Blight describes the forgotten events of the first Memorial Day celebration in May 1865.

Pair “‘Chasing Memories’ in their Refugee Camp 40 years After Fleeing Vietnam” with “Forgetting Why We Remember” and ask students to discuss why it is important to remember significant events within a war. What can be learned when we reflect back on history and war times? Why do the actions and events in war need to be shared or commemorated?

10th Grade Informational Text 1270L

Paired Texts > 'Chasing Memories' In Their Refugee Camp 40 Years After Fleeing Vietnam