Vietnam

This valuable resource has been developed by the Curriculum Corporation in conjunction with the Asia Education Foundation and with the assistance of AusAID.

The project attracted many leading Geography teachers and academics from around Australia and this expertise is evident in the quality if the book.

The author of the actual units, Robert Lewis, has written the information in a way that is both interesting and accessible.

The book has very much a SOSE-based resource, closely aligned to the Victorian syllabus. This is one of the criticisms I would make of the book.

Reference points as to how to incorporate the units into the New South wales syllabus would certainly be useful, especially for teachers with a limited experience of the courses.

However, the strengths of the book are sufficient to overcome this downside.

However, the strengths of the book are sufficient to overcome this downside.

The layout of the book is appealing; it is simple to use and very teacher friendly.
There are four chapters:

1. The Past Speaks to Us - Vietnam's history.
2. Should the Mekong be Dammed?
3. Casuarinas and Sand Dunes: A Case Study in Sustainable Development.
4. Vietnam: A Nation in Change.

There are also several pages that provide a useful overview of Vietnam including its geography, political history, economy and culture and society. There is also a very useful table that compares Australia with Vietnam across a range of key indicators.

A real strength of this book is that each chapter features "briefing notes" for teachers. These provide a basic outline of the issues addressed in the chapter.

These simple to understand notes are brief but of sufficient depth to create a good comprehension of the issues. "Suggestions for teachers" are also provided.

These outline possible teaching and learning strategies that could be used. Finally, a number of single or double page spread "resource sheets" are provided.

These are well laid out and give a range of information. For example, chapter 3 has resource sheets incorporating dune vegetation transects, statistical data and sketches.

This book is by no means a comprehensive study of Vietnam but that is not its intention. Instead this book is a real teacher resource.

It is much more than a typical blackline master resource. It provides good quality background information and importantly, the range and quality of the activities and stimulus is better than that typically found in most teacher resource texts.

It would be particularly useful for those seeking to introduce something different into the Stage 4 or 5 course. With stimulus analysis being an area emphasis in the new syllabus a resource like this would be a good addition to the library of any Geography department.

*Reprodcuced with permission

David Hamper

Geography Bulletin | Spring 2002, Vol. 34, No. 4

This resource has been produced in two parts - one book for primary schools and one book for secondary schools. The units of work within the books can be used across a variety of year levels and the activities vary in complexity. The units of work have sufficient information and resources that they could be used as stand-alone class topics or as broader integrated units.

The early sections set a context and brief history of Vietnam, its culture and its people. This is written in a clear succinct way that provides an excellent lead into the units of work. Each unit has briefing notes for teachers so that the unit can be approached in a culturally sensitive manner.

The `suggestions for teachers` sections provide activities that can easily be adapted to an inquiry approach (tuning in, preparing to find out, finding out, sorting out, going further, reflection, taking social action). However, there is a capacity to move outside the activities within the books and develop further curriculum materials. One of the great features of the book is that it provides several Internet addresses to access further resources. The Internet addresses it provides are:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
This is the CIA information factbook homepage. Some information in the publication is drawn from this source.

Another feature of the teaching resource is that teachers can participate in a short professional development workshop to assist in implementation of the materials.

The resource books focus primarily on Studies of Society and the Environment crossing all of its learning strands. Nevertheless, it also makes links to English and Mathematics. Each unit of work has a set of expected student learning outcomes specific to the particular unit.

This is a well-timed resource for me as a classroom teacher in that out next unit of work will be focusing on communities. We will be using an integrated approach and use the materials in a broader study of families. In developing the unit, students will look at their own families, families in their local community and then families in other countries. The `Meeting Families in Vietnam` unit of work will take a central role in this aspect of our topic, we will be able to use the strategies suggested to look at both Vietnamese families and other groups within our local community.

Robert Lewis has produced a significant teaching resource for all educators. Its teaching ideas reach far beyond just a study of Vietnam, into a broader study of different cultures, people and places. The curriculum resource has a capacity to be integrated across the curriculum allowing flexibility for delivery and providing a basis for a further developing cultural sensitivity of our Vietnamese community within Australia.

*Reproduced with kind permission.

Jeff Wilson, Albanvale Primary School

Ethos 7-12, Vol. 6, No. 1 | June 1998 p.39