Please note that not all of the following tasks will be completed. How the conversations go and people’s level of interest will dictate which activities we complete both individually and as a class.
PRE-READING ACTIVITY : The issue of illegal immigrants entering Australian shores continues to gain a lot of media attention. In order to gauge your personal opinion on the issue, please write your honest thoughts on the topic:
‘Illegal boat people should go back to where they came from as they are not our country’s responsibility. They are also a drain on our resources and money, money that could be better spent on Australian issues such as education and health.’
These are to be typed up and placed in your visual diary. At the end of the unit we will revisit what was written and make comparisons. Did anyone’s viewpoint change and what brought this on?
We will also look at the digital story of Mr. Zizic’s family, where they came from and how they ended up in Australia. We may even get him in to talk to you about his family background!
We all migrated to Australia through past generations. As a homework activity, discuss your family’s history with your parents. These discussions open up some surprising doors so give it a decent go and then come back to share your findings with the class.
We will watch an episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ a series dedicated to researching the background of various celebrities. This will be followed by a visit from our local historical society and/or the West Gippsland
Geological Society. Using their expertise and the website www.ancestry.com.au
each student will research their own family background in more detail. Information and facts found will be related to the class with the presentation of material being discussed closer to the due date.
Before beginning to explore Ahn Do’s novel ‘The Happiest Refugee’, let’s watch the man in action as a comedian and listen to him re-live his life story via an interview! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht9VSjXDnZs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuYAIe0KCIA&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhGETRI81DE

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What impression do you get of Ahn just from watching these clips?
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What techniques does he use in order to engage his audience?
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Do you personally find him humorous? ________________________________
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Who are some of your all-time favourite comedians?
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Based on this brief introduction what do you expect the tone of the novel to be like and are you looking forward to reading it?
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Distinguishing between an autobiography and biography.
 A biography is
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 An autobiography is
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Begin with the following activities:
1) Brainstorm words that describe your personality (10)
1) Brainstorm how you DON’T want to be described (6)
2) Brainstorm words you commonly use when talking to people/friends (6)
3) Write a short paragraph that describes your personality
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Name
Age
Nationality
4) Create an Identity page that includes your age, nationality, family, lives, hobbies, favourite food, favourite TV show, greatest achievement, future hopes and your philosophy on life
Family Members
Address
Hobbies
Favourite Foods
Favourite TV Shows
Greatest Achievement
Future Hopes
Philosophy on Life
1) How would you define ‘family’?
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2) What do people mean when they refer to a ‘nuclear’ family?
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3) Do gender roles still play a part in family dynamics? (To answer this question we will need to discuss the term ‘gender roles’) We will also discuss responsibilities both inside and outside the house the see if there are any trends. These tasks may include doing the laundry, mowing the lawn, taking out the bins etc. We will brainstorm as many of these as possible and put them on the board.

Role
Cleaning the House
Washing/Laundry
Cooking Meals
Mowing the Lawn
Taking out the Rubbish Bins
Paying the Bills
Feeding the Pets
Planning trips
Asking for Help/Talk Sessions
Mum Dad Both Sons/Daughters
4) Do you believe the notion of ‘family’ has changed over the decades? Explain your answer.
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NOTE: In order to help you answer this question, you will need to ask it to fellow teenagers, your parents, grandparents (if possible) and at least ONE community member. Please accurately jot down their responses, which will be shared and discussed with the class.

5) How has the increase in same sex marriages affected the notion of ‘family’? What are the
PROS AND CONS of same sex families. Find evidence from newspapers or the internet to explore this area.
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6) Is the notion of family directly linked to culture? Explain your reasoning.
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We will also look at the different versions of ‘family’ in ‘The Happiest Refugee’ as we continue to read.

i) Find a map of Vietnam and locate Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) ii) Write down information on population, trade, language, religion and government.
Population
Trade
Language
Religion
Government
Other

iii) What is the difference between a ‘communist’ and a ‘democrat’? How do you believe these systems would impact on how a country is run and how much freedom and say the population gets?
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Hopefully, your knowledge and understanding of life as an immigrant is broadening. In order to add a local element to this, we will have representatives from the Sudanese Refugee Centre in Morwell (which is part of the
Gippsland Migrant Resource Centre) come in to share their experience. Before their visit, we will prepare questions to ask on the day. These will be put in your visual diary with the answers as well.
Written Task: You will be required to write an incursion write-up for this talk with the focus not only being what you got out of the presentation but how this was put together. (We will discuss the second part in more detail closer to the event)
 We will watch and discuss various segments of the SBS series ‘Go Back to
Where you Came From’ and complete/discuss the related activities on their internet site.
 Each student will complete a collage under the heading ‘Asylum Seekers’.
Using the newspapers provided and your own research you are to fill the poster paper with headings, images, statistics, quotes and excerpts from various articles. This will be presented to the class as an oral presentation so

you must ensure you have read the articles that you used as part of your collage!
So what are the processes illegal immigrants have to go through in order to become a citizen of Australia? Using the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Immigration, we will investigate the following questions: i) Why should I become an Australian citizen? ii) What are the Australian democratic beliefs, rights and liberties? iii) How do I become an Australian citizen? iv) Where can I apply? v) How long does an application take to be approved? vi) What are the fees involved? vii) What forms do I need to fill out? viii) What are the health requirements? ix) What is the Australian Humanitarian Program? x) Detention Centres: Where are they? What facilities do they have? What are some statistics regarding illegal immigrants? xi) What is the Australian Citizenship test and what do I study to try and pass it?
(We will all attempt the Citizenship Test to see whether we would pass it or not)
Students will be required to create a step by step guide on the stages an illegal immigrant goes through before (or even if) they become an Australian citizen. Answering the above questions will definitely help as will the Department’s website!
Assessment Task: After spending time researching and discussing the issue of asylum seekers, write a 400 word argumentative essay on the topic that we first discussed at the start of the unit:
‘Illegal boat people should go back to where they came from as they are not our country’s responsibility. They are also a drain on our resources and money, money that could be better spent on Australian issues such as education and health.’
Please note that we will look at how to set out an argumentative essay, which will include using evidence to back up the points raised.
Ahn’s mum: “Look after those less fortunate”
Ahn’s dad: You can do anything”

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‘As you grow up, you make sure you do as much as you can to give back to this country that gave us a second chance’ pg 31
The boat trip
Dad’s descent into alcoholism
The gig at the Vietnam Veteran’s establishment
The story of Uncle Binh
Khoa’s documentary and winning ‘Young Australian of the Year’
The Opera House scene
What have you learnt about immigration as part of this unit??
Students will need to write a list of 15 things they have learnt about immigration over the course of the unit. These will be simply listed in dot point form as such:
15 Things I Have Learnt about Immigration

The benefits of maintaining a journal include:
Helps you become more organised
Enables you to visualise goals
Helps reduce stress by ‘vocalising’ your opinions/thoughts
Allows you to remember important occasions
Improves self-expression and confidence
Enables you to recall better what happened in the past
Helps you share precious memories and events
As part of our Personal Development Skills and Oral
Communication component, allocated groups will be responsible for organising particular excursions in line with this assignment. The areas to be covered include:
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An excursion to the Melbourne Immigration Museum including written tasks for the class to do whilst there
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A visit to a Soup Kitchen or similar experience discussed and approved by the teacher
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A group to promote World Refugee Week and talk at a school assembly on what we have been doing
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An organised walk/ talking tour through Little China Town and a different cultural eating experience.
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There may be another idea the class has, which could become an option as well.
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Although not apart of this assignment, one group can organise a team building day at The Summit!