Teaching Notes

Lesson Description: Upon completing the study of the poor working conditions that existed in England during the Industrial Revolution and how labor unions formed and government reforms were made to improve worker hours and conditions, students will learn about how the Filipino immigrant population became active in the farm labor movement. This lesson provides background on Filipino immigration to the United States.

Access the complete lesson plan created by   Jodi Eliasson  HERE. 

  9 - 12   Social Studies/History   Filipino   Immigration   Farm Workers   AAPI   Labor   Labor Movement   Lesson Plan  

Teaching Notes

Lesson Plan Description: Students will learn about the 1982 Chinatown garment industry strike in which 20,000 mostly Chinese immigrant women fought for better wages, protections on the job, and a greater say in how the workplace is run. Students will connect this 1982 strike with the ILGWU’s (international ladies garment workers union) labor history in New York City, especially as it has fought for immigrant women’s rights in the wake of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire.

Access the complete lesson plan created by William Cheung HERE. 

  9 - 12   Social Studies/History   Chinatown   Labor   Chinese immigration   Labor strikes   New York City   ILGWU  

Teaching Notes

Lesson Description: This lesson is the introduction to The Magic Fish and is taught to share the importance of multiple narratives (having narrative plentitude as Viet Thanh Nyguen states) and also for students to grapple with the complexity of the multiplicities of identities (The main character is Tiên whose mother is a Vietnamese refugee, grappling to come out to his mom, and more). Students will examine the power and purpose of various forms of narratives that are present in The Magic Fish. Students in this lesson will be introduced to the concept of narrative plentitude and the concept of what it means to connect with one another/ build relationships through language and storytelling (an overarching theme of this text). We will also begin to examine the importance of generational storytelling and students will be able to connect to other previous units from The Joy Luck Club (through the power of narratives) and its impact on identity construction.

In this lesson, we will explore the history and background of Vietnamese refugees and the concept of dominant narrative and counternarratives. This will build towards reading the poem “The Things We Carry” by Wang Ping in
order to build connections among immigration stories to the United States and continuing building on the skills of personal narrative through modes like poetry and creating graphic novel panels.

Access the complete lesson plan created by Diana Liu HERE. 

  9 - 12   English/Language Arts   Social Studies/History   Vietnamese Refugees   Storytelling   Personal Narrative   LGBTQ  

Teaching Notes

Lesson Description: Oftentimes the opening paragraphs of a novel are very telling. Authors often craft these paragraphs in a very particular way in order to establish setting, themes, conflict, and characterization. Before students
begin reading the entirety of The Namesake, we will read the opening two paragraphs and examine Lahiri’s use of imagery, diction, and overall craft to make predictions about the novel’s themes, conflicts, and Ashima’s characterization.

Access the complete lesson plan created by Joyce Fischer HERE. 

  9 - 12   English/Language Arts   Literature   Close Reading  

Bonus Library of Congress Resource: Letters About Literature was a national reading and writing program that asked young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives. The winner of the 2014 contest was Riddhi Sangam. Read her winning letter to Jhumpa Lahiri HERE. 

Teaching Notes

Lesson Description: The 1943 Loyalty Questionnaire, also called the "Statement of United States Citizens of JapaneseAncestry," was a form given to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in camps during World War II.
Through the questionnaire, the US government evaluated the allegiance of Japanese Americans and verified their eligibility for military participation.

The questionnaire consisted of two key questions, numbered 27 and 28, which proved to be particularly controversial and led to confusion and resentment among those who were forced to answer them.

This lesson can be used for George Takai’s They Called Us Enemy or an activity for a book about the Japanese incarceration. Students will learn the Loyalty Questionnaire of 1943 and the “No-No Boys” and discuss how the questionnaire took away their basic rights.

Access the complete lesson plan created by Jean Kim HERE. 

  6 - 8   English/Language Arts   Social Studies/History   Loyalty Questionnaire   Japanese American Incarceration   George Takei   No-no boys  

Teaching Notes

Full title: Belief Systems in Ancient Civilizations and how those belief systems are practiced in recent history by Asian Americans.

Lesson Description: The belief systems of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam were developed in the Eastern Hemisphere. Today, there are 24 million Asian Americans living in the United States. These religions are still practiced today
in the United States.

Access the complete lesson plan created by Katherine Dinerman HERE. 

(Note that the image presented here is a screen shot from a Library of Congress video. Please click on the reference link to play the video in full.)

  6 - 8   Social Studies/History   Eastern Hemisphere   Hinduism   Buddhism   Islam   Religious Studies   Asian Americans  

Teaching Notes

Lesson Description: The Chinese Exclusion Act marked a strong sense of nativism in the United States in the late 19th century. Upon the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants were reduced to a minimum. For
those who were already in the United States, they faced many challenges. This lesson is going to talk about these challenges by having students do research about particular cases to broaden their understanding of this period.

Access the complete lesson plan created by Xiaochun Wang HERE.

  6 - 8   Social Studies/History   Chinese Exclusion Act   Mamie Tape   San Francisco Board of Education   Tape v. Hurley  

Teaching Notes

Lesson Description: Students will examine the term “Asian fusion” as a cuisine (and the limitations of the term). Students will focus on Central/South American “Nikkei” food (Peruvian and Japanese) in Lesson 1, and Indian influence in Trinidad for lesson 2. The goal is for students to evaluate the influence of migration and the cultural diffusion that occurs.

Access the complete lesson plan created by Rebecca Saltzman HERE.

  6 - 8   Social Studies/History   Nikkei   Peru   Cuisine   Asian Fusion   Japanese Immigration  

Teaching Notes

Selected historical images touch on the experiences and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders while living in the United States. A formal celebration of AAPI heritage comes each May. Unless otherwise noted, the images are from the Prints & Photographs Division.

Browse more content that is free to use and reuse.

https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/asian-american-pacific-islander-heritage/ 

The image pictured here is one of forty images in this set. Also included is a link to the 23 Library Research Guides for Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies. https://guides.loc.gov/asian-american-pacific-islander-studies 

  Pre K - 2   3 - 5   6 - 8   9 - 12   13+   AAPI   Asian American and Pacific Islander   Resource Sets  

Teaching Notes

The "We Belong Here" poster from Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division illustrates the homepage of the curated special Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Collection of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. This AAPI Collection features more than 700 public radio and television programs from 1965 to 2021 that highlight Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures in the United States. 

There are a number of ways to access items in the AAPI Collection:

• Read more about this special collection on the AAPB page HERE
• Search the special collection (suggested search links included)
• VIEW the entire collection
• Click on individual Featured Items (bottom right of special collection page)
• Follow the links to Other Resources for specialized topics such as Stop AAPI Hate. 

Programs include transcripts that teachers can use for better understanding. Teachers can also clip segments for classroom use, but some segments have already been clipped for specific topics. For example, if you are teaching The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri, you can go directly from a search on her name to a clip of an interview with the author about her Pulitzer prize winning book, Interpreter of Maladies. You'll find the clip at Description/Segment Description, and you can copy the segment URL from there. "To view the segment on Jhumpa Lahiri, visit https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-jd4pk07r91?start=2893.32&end=3380.46 or jump to 00:48:14." A little complicated, but those segments are a real time saver. (See the Jhumpa Lahiri lesson plan in this album.)

  AAPB   American Archive of Public Broadcasting   Jhumpa Lahiri   Public Radio   Interviews  

  Meghan Sorensen  

Teaching Notes

The Veterans History Project's page, Veterans' Stories: Struggles for Participation, includes two interviews with Japanese American soldiers - Warren Tsuneishi and Jimmie Kanaya. An accompanying Teacher's Guide includes a historical timeline as well as suggestions for teachers. 

In addition, the "Serving: Our Voices" collection in the Veterans History Project has eight personal narratives on a special page titled Asian Pacific Americans: Going for Broke.

Jimmie Kanaya, 2004

  Social Studies/History   Veterans History Project   Japanese American Soldiers   World War II   Personal Narratives  

Teaching Notes

Between 1942 and 1945, thousands of Japanese Americans were, regardless of U.S. citizenship, required to evacuate their homes and businesses and move to remote war relocation and internment camps run by the U.S. Government. This proved to be an extremely trying experience for many of those who lived in the camps, and to this day remains a controversial topic.

This Primary Source Set from Library of Congress collections includes eighteen iconic photographs, documents, and interviews. A Teacher's Guide gives historical background, suggestions for teachers, and links to additional collections.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2001705937/ 

  Social Studies/History   Japanese Internment   Primary Source Set   World War II