Learning resource
Spotlight Series on Cambodians and Cambodian Americans (Elementary)
Spotlight Series on Cambodians and Cambodian Americans (Elementary) is a fourth-grade lesson from UC Davis on notable Cambodians and Cambodian Americans.[1] Students research one person's life and work and share it with the class in a gallery walk.[1]
History
Katherine Khiev and Joy Okada wrote the lesson, which is part of the Cambodian American Studies Model Curriculum.[1] A spotlight series on Cambodians and Cambodian Americans was also the fourth of four lesson plans in Khiev's senior creative project, Lesson Plans on Cambodia History and Culture, for the University Honors Program at California State University, Long Beach, in spring 2022. In that plan the spotlights were linked to three levels of culture: surface, shallow and deep.[2]
Contents
The lesson takes one to two class periods, and its subject area is the Cambodian diaspora. Its guiding question asks what the Cambodian diaspora and refugee experience are, and its lesson question asks what students can learn about Cambodian culture from notable Cambodians and Cambodian Americans.[1] It ties to the ethnic studies theme of reclamation and joy, in which students see how communities reclaim their histories through art, cultural expression and counternarratives, and how individual Cambodian Americans reclaimed their own stories.[1]
Cambodia's history is taught before the lesson. Class opens with students naming someone they look up to and why, then a review of Cambodian and Cambodian American history after the Khmer Rouge years, which may use the video Ugly History: The Khmer Rouge Murders.[1] Working alone or in groups of two to three, students then research one person and make a poster or shared slides. Each spotlight gives the person's name, what they are known for, an example of their work, their goals or purpose, their background and refugee or migration route, and three to four major life events that shaped their work.[1]
The posters go up for a gallery walk, where students take notes on each spotlight with a graphic organizer. Students then write a paragraph or two on the likenesses they saw and compare notes with a partner. The assessment asks which person stood out and why, and how a person's history shapes their work and identity. An enrichment activity asks who gets to represent the Cambodian community and whose interests that serves.[1] Supports for learners include pre-taught vocabulary, color-coded key information, checklists, sentence frames and word banks.[1]
Suggested spotlights
The lesson lists these people as examples, and students may choose another Cambodian American public figure with teacher approval:[1]
- Arn Chom-Pond
- Anthony Veasna So
- Bhante Dharmawara
- Chath Piersath
- Daveth Cheth
- François Chau
- Haing S. Ngor
- Jolie Chea
- Kalyanee Mam
- Khatharya Um
- Loung Ung
- Prach Ly
- Sam-Ang Sam
- Sokunthary Svay
- SreyRam Kuy
- Ted Ngoy, known as "The Donut King"
Materials
The lesson uses Chromebooks or computers for research, a graphic organizer handout and the reading Ugly History: The Khmer Rouge Murders. Poster or butcher paper and markers are optional.[1]