Starter quiz
- When did the Vietnam War take place?
- 1939-1945
- 1950-1953
- 1955-1975 ✓
- 1982 - 1982
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- What is chemical warfare?
- using prisoners of war for scientific experiments
- using chemicals to treat injured soldiers or civilians
- using chemical substances as weapons to injure or kill enemy forces or civilians ✓
- the use of missiles or other nuclear weapons
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- What is a rhetorical question?
- a question with more than one correct answer
- a question with no correct answer
- a statement that is phrased as a question
- a question posed for effect or emphasis that doesn't require an answer ✓
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- What is repetition?
- the recurrence of words, phrases, images or ideas ✓
- when two or more lines of poetry begin with the same word(s)
- words, phrases, images or ideas that parallel or mirror earlier ones
- two or more adjacent words that begin with the same letters or sounds
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- Where is Vietnam?
- Europe
- South America
- South-east Asia ✓
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- What does culture mean?
- the physical characteristics of people who all originate from a certain place
- geological formations found in a particular geographical location
- the shared customs, beliefs, arts and practices of a particular society or group ✓
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Exit quiz
- Why were many people critical of anti-communist military strategies during the Vietnam War?
- People believed that there were too many different countries involved.
- Many people thought that the US exploited Vietnam's natural resources.
- Many believed that the use of chemical weapons was unnecessarily brutal. ✓
- Powerful propaganda persuaded people that the war was unnecessary.
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- Complete this sentence: 'What Were They Like?' was written in ...
- 1955, the year the Vietnam war began.
- 1967, while the conflict of the Vietnam War was still on-going. ✓
- 1975, the year the Vietnam war ended.
- 2000, to mark the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
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- How might the Vietnam War be described as the first 'modern war'?
- it was the first war that used automated weapons like machine guns
- it was the first war be fought across multiple continents
- it was the first war with extensive global media coverage ✓
- it was the first war to have occurred since the invention of the internet
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- Complete this sentence: 'What Were they Like?' is set ...
- in an alternate future, with two observers watching the conflict take place.
- in an alternate future, as two people discuss what remains of Vietnamese culture ✓
- in modern day, exploring the many reasons why the war in Vietnam was inevitable.
- in Vietnam during the war, depicting a photographer who sees a napalm attack.
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- Identify the correct statement about the structure of 'What Were They Like?'
- It is written as a sonnet, exploring a love of Vietnamese culture.
- The poem has a strict rhyming pattern that gives it a musical quality.
- The poem is in two sections: six numbered questions and corresponding answers. ✓
- The poem has a cyclical structure, beginning and ending on the same image.
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- In 'What Were They Like?', how does Levertov imply that there is very little knowledge of Vietnamese culture in her alternate future?
- The noun "strangers" implies the Vietnamese people are a mystery to the speaker.
- She uses repetition to suggest not much is remembered of Vietnamese society. ✓
- She spells Vietnam wrong, implying the speakers aren't very familiar with it.
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Worksheet
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Levertov was active in protesting against the Vietnam War.
- The poem was written before the withdrawal of American troops in 1973.
- The Vietnam War was about defeating communism.
- The US used napalm, a particularly harrowing weapon, against civilians.
- This poem explores what may have happened if the US and anti-communist forces had won the war.
Common misconception
The Vietnam War was a conflict fought between the US and the country of Vietnam.
Following the First Indochina War, Vietnam was split into two regions: communist controlled North Vietnam and South Vietnam, controlled by a non-communist government (supported by the US). The Vietnam War was fought between these two regions.
Keywords
Civilians - non-military individuals who are not actively engaged in armed conflict
Napalm - highly flammable sticky substance, typically used in warfare to create firestorms
Agent orange - a powerful herbicide and toxic chemical used by the US in Vietnam to eliminate forest cover and crops
Culture - the shared customs, beliefs, practices and social institutions of a particular group of people or society
Communism - an ideology where resources are owned collectively and distributed, aiming for a classless society
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