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 section 3.09 to 7.47 at -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxORRgoK6EM&feature=related

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

Timeline Powerpoints

Power Point - Vietnam Erinmegan

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

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