Primary Unit 4: MY PLACE, YOUR PLACE: EXPLORING PLACES IN VIETNAM

Major Themes
Place and space, Culture
Students explore aspects of places in Vietnam, and especially the Old Quarter or 36 Streets area of Hanoi. Would they conserve or develop this area?

Outcomes

• describing special places according to location and built features;
• describing different views related to the care of places;
• predicting the consequences of implementing different views of places.

To explore additional ideas and resources for using this unit from Vietnam - Young People, Old Country: Primary, click on the following:

Teaching Ideas | WWW Links | Annotated Bibliography

Teaching Ideas
Here are some additional activities and ideas for using the resource sheets contained in this unit:

Resource Sheet 1 My House, Your House

• Students could 'practice' this activity by looking at their own area first, or by taking the real estate section of a local newspaper and looking for houses which are the best for summer, winter, natural light, ventilation, a family, a single person, someone who works nearby, someone who needs to travel, a disabled person, etc.

Resource Sheet 2 Exploring life in Hanoi: letters from Vietnamese students

Have students identify the places mentioned from a map of Hanoi - a good map is available in the Lonely Planet guide Vietnam - a Lonely Planet travel survival kit.

• Try to work out from the descriptions where the students live.
• Have students design a symbol for the city, which could be used to identify and promote it.
• Come up with a 'cryptic description' of Hanoi, using the letters H A N O I as the first letter of a set of descriptive words (eg. /Historic / Heritage / Hot, etc).
  

Distribute this article on heritage to students and discuss the issues.

Do we conserve old places? WHY BOTHER SAVING OUR OLD BUILDINGS WHEN PROGRESS DEMANDS THAT WE PULL THEM DOWN TO MAKE WAY FOR THE NEW? Imagine if every old building were to be demolished to make way for a new building. Imagine what our towns and cities would be like if our built surroundings were no more than 20 years old. We would live in cities dominated by skyscrapers with few churches, arcades, hotels or old office buildings. There would be no old hotels, railway stations, court houses, old theatres or Parliament Houses. We wouldn't have the statues and fountains that are scattered around our old cities now. We would have to go to history books and photographs to learn about our past. No matter how good the books or the photograph it would never be the same as walking through old buildings. Who decides what should be kept, which of the city's buildings are of importance? Not all buildings are worth preserving. Not all buildings are important for historical reasons. Can you think of one building in your city or place where you live that you think should never be knocked down? (Heritage News Volume 2, Number 22, 31 July 1995)

1   What might the area where you live be like if all the buildings looked the same?
2   What might be good about having a variety of types and ages of buildings?
3   Look at your own area. Select one old place that you think should be preserved. Explain why you think it should be kept.

Resource Sheet 4 A poem about a village

• Have students illustrate each verse of the poem.
• Have students group words/ideas which are stressed in the poem - for example, collect 'colour', 'animal' or 'community' words, or 'environment' ones.
• Have students write a poem in the same style about their own place.

http://www.thingsasian.com/goto_article/article.586.html
This site provides the history of Hanoi's Old Quarter, including a walking guide of the 36 Streets area, and a list of the meanings of the Vietnamese street names.

Dugan, Michael 1985, The Vietnamese, Macmillan Melbourne
A short book written for primary students.

Kalman, Bobbie 1989, The Land, People and Culture (series) Crabtree Publishing, New York.
This series covers the land, culture and people of Japan, Vietnam, Canada, India, Mexico and Peru. A set of three books covers each country. Well indexed, with a glossary of activities, easy to read information, and beautiful colour photographs.

Our Place, Your Place: A Study of Home Environment in Australia and Vietnam 1996, Tasmanian Open Learning Service,
A development of the Hanoi teaching experience, which includes Vietnamese students' ideas about alternative futures for their city.

Passage To Vietnam 1996, Against All Odds, New York
With over 400 photographs of life in Vietnam today, this CD ROM provides an excellent visual record of the country. Available for Macintosh and Windows.

Sheehan, Neil 1992, Two Cities: Hanoi and Saigon, Jonathan Cape, London
A perceptive study of the different characters of Vietnam's two main cities.

Storey, Robert and Robinson, Daniel 1995, Vietnam: a travel survival kit, Lonely Planet Publications, Melbourne
An excellent overview of the history and cultures of Vietnam, as well as detailed descriptions and travel information.

Thomas, Ron and Stutchbury, Jan 1995, Vietnam, Macmillan Education, Melbourne
Written for primary students, a very brief look at some aspects of Vietnam today.