Seminar: America at War Lecturer: Prof. Dr. A. Müller-Hartmann Students: Sabine Horn - hornsa@ph-heidelberg.de Sonja Müller - skmmail@gmx.de Term: WS 05/06

Teaching unit in "Peace Education“

The Deer Hunter

Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg

Heidelberg, 15 March 2006

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction .........................................................................................2

2. Michael Cimino and his film The Deer Hunter .....................................3

3. Historical introduction..........................................................................5

4. Analysis of the genre.........................................................................10

5. Tasks for the classroom ....................................................................12

6. Annotated bibliography......................................................................20

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1. Introduction

Peace Education is becoming a more and more relevant subject for our classrooms.

Our world sees itself confronted with wars and other conflicts of any kind day by day.

We as teachers have to support the students in the process of developing a critical

view on the past and present wars and conflicts. What ideologies or aspects such as

gender, race and/or class have an influence on certain historical developments? The

combination of different subjects such as history, social studies and a second

language can help to get a good insight into areas of conflict.

In Peace Education the subject matter rarely concerns those people who have to

cope with their relatives being sent out to war or those soldiers who returned home

physically or mentally disturbed. Instead, it mostly talks about the actual warfare or

civilians who have to deal with the cruelties of a war as innocent “spectators”. To

point out the misery which soldiers as well as their relatives are in before, during and

after a war, we chose the film The Deer Hunter. This movie explicitly deals with a

group of friends, their relatives and their way of coping with the Vietnam War. We

chose to look at this film with students at grade ten, “Realschule”. Deal with

The “Bildungsplan Realschule 2004 Baden-Württemberg, Klasse 10“:

In the subject history the students should gain knowledge about the topic “Wars -

violent holding of conflicts between different states”. It is closely linked to the

“Fächerverbund EWG”. Keeping the peace and protecting future prospects is one

aspect the teacher should talk about with the students in grade ten in these subjects.

Using the film The Deer Hunter is one possibility to deal with this topic.

Another important subject which is dealt with in this context is English as a foreign

language. First of all the students train their communicative skills. By watching the

film they must follow different speakers in various acoustic situations. Referring to the

syllabus, the students should be able to take out information from a film which deals

with everyday life as long as the foreign language is spoken in a way they are familiar

with. They should be able to take part in discussions and express their personal point

of view about a certain topic. According to the syllabus they also should be able to

write about political contents. Furthermore, they should acquire socio-cultural

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competence. They should apply their knowledge concerning the linguistic, social and

political conventions in the United States referring to questions of global meaning.

The students should do all this by using different techniques. They should be able to

express their own opinion, take notes about a text they either listened to or they read

themselves. In addition to that they should be able to work in a team. (cf.

Bildungsplan Realschule 2004)

2. Michael Cimino and his film The Deer Hunter

The filmmaker’s biography

The American filmmaker Michael Cimino was born on February 3, 1939 in New York

City, New York. After his graduation from high school, Cimino studied at Yale

University. He finished university with a Master in Fine Arts.

In the early 70s, Michael Cimino directed his first movie. This production was called

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and featured Clint Eastwood as the principal actor. The

film even gained an Oscar nomination for the best supporting actor (cf. Dunder

2006). Cimino’s second film, The Deer Hunter, though being harshly criticized, turned

out to be an even bigger success as it won a couple of academy awards. After

Cimino himself won the Oscar for “best director” he was one of the most demanded

filmmakers in Hollywood (cf. wikipedia 2006).

After his major success with The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino suffered a crash. He

almost bankrupted the studio because of immense costs for the production of his

third film Heaven’s Gate. No financial support from United Artists could prevent the

upcoming disaster. The film ended up costing more than 19 times the price that was

estimated earlier and gained bad reviews only (cf. Dunder 2006).

After this blowback critics started to downplay the success of The Deer Hunter and

none of the productions which followed gained praise or critical acclaim (cf. wikipedia

2006). “He has become something of a ghost in Hollywood and it looks like his career

in films might be over” (Dunder 2006).

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The Deer Hunter – Cimino’s biggest success

This war or rather anti-war film deals with the fate of three steelworkers. Michael

(Robert de Niro), Steven (John Savage) and Nick (Christopher Walken), who are

sons of Russian emigrants, leave their hometown in Pennsylvania to fight in the

Vietnam War.

Before they leave, one gets introduced to Linda (Meryl Streep) whom Nick is in love

with. Linda gets beaten by her father, a brutal alcoholic. After various other scenes

and the celebration of the last night on his own, one sees the wedding of Steven and

his high school love. After the wedding the friends go hunting. Both, the wedding

ceremony and the hunt, show the close relationship between the friends which is

characterized by their solidarity among each other.

After this first part of the film, the scene of action moves to Vietnam. There, the

friends are captured by Vietcong fighters and forced to play Russian roulette against

each other and some of their American fellows. Nick is completely disturbed and

traumatized but Michael never gives up hope and animates Steven to escape. One

day they succeed. They leave their prison and drift down a river on a log. Finally they

see a helicopter of the American forces which Nick gets rescued by. Steven and

Michael still float down the river. At one point Michael finds a way to hand injured

Steven over to an American medical unit.

Steven is sent to a hospital to recover while his wife back home can hardly live

through the days not being sure about the condition her husband is in. Michael

returns back home where he tries to go back to normal. He cannot do so as the

pictures of his experiences from Vietnam are burnt into his memory. Michael decides

to go back to Vietnam in order to find Nick who is lost somewhere in the streets of

Saigon. Nick has completely lost his mind and is addicted to playing the Russian

roulette. When Michael finally, after having spent a lot of money, finds Nick in some

back alley of Saigon, Nick isn’t even recognizing him. Michael tries to bring back

Nick’s memory and asks him to go back home with him but Nick refuses and spits in

his face. All his left over money Michael spends to fight Nick at the Russian roulette.

Michael begs Nick again to quit and return home. Nick seems to remember him now,

he smiles somehow redeemed and pulls the trigger. He shoots himself.

Michael returns home, alone. As the movie began with a marriage it ends with the

funeral of Nick. All the friends come together again, but the mood they are in is in no

ways comparable to what one saw in the beginning.

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3. Historical introduction

The Vietnam War

1945 Japan was forced to leave Indochina, a former French colony; for a few weeks Vietnam was united under Ho Chi Minh 1946 in October the French bombarded Haiphong, a port in Northern Vietnam; war between Vietminh and the French military aid from the United States 1954 French withdraw from the Southern Part of Vietnam; Vietminh remained in the North Diem in Saigon election intended in two years in a unified Vietnam 1957 guerilla activities against the regime 1960 National Liberation Front (NLF) was formed in the South; NLF united various organizations of the opposition to the regime 1961 President Kennedy took office; continued the policies of Truman and Eisenhower in Southeast Asia 1962 NLF membership at 300,000 1963 - a Buddhist monk set himself afire in a public place - Diem and his brother were executed; three weeks later Kennedy himself was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson took office 1964 in August President Johnson launched fullscale war in Vietnam after the events in the Gulf of Tonkin 1965 bombardments on Northern Vietnam cities; war between the North and the South Buddhist pagoda and Catholic churches were bombed a few hundred people had gathered in Washington to march in protest against the war 1967 350,000 people demonstrated against the war under Martin Luther King 1968 more than 500,000 American troops in Vietnam; Air Force dropped bombs; cruelty of the war began touching the conscience of many Americans; Johnson announced he would not run again for President; stopped bombings; negotiations for peace began with the Vietnamese in Paris; in November Richard Nixon was elected for President and began to withdraw troops 1969 about 100,000 people assembled on the Boston Common to protest the war

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1970 Nixon and Kissinger launched an invasion of Cambodia after a long bombardment; bombed Laos; in May the New York Times reported from Washington: 1000 Establishments’ lawyers join war protest more than fifty underground newspapers were circulating at military bases across the country 1971 800,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam by the United States;

the Times began printing selections from the Pentagon Papers more than thousands of Vietnam Veterans demonstrated in Washington against the war; 89,000 deserters

1972 fierce bombings of Hanoi and Haiphong 1973 United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam; continued to give aid to the Saigon government armistice negotiations in Paris 1975 government in South Vietnam totally collapsed; North Vietnam troops entered Saigon; American embassy staff fled 1976 Socialist Republic of Vietnam was founded

(cf. Zinn 2003: 469-501), (cf.wkipedia2006)

The Vietnam War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North

Vietnam), allied with the Communist World against the Republic of Vietnam (South

Vietnam) and its allies – notably the United States.

In 1954 Vietnam was temporarily parted in two after France failed to recolonize

Indochina. This was one result of the Geneva Conference in 1954. The North was

under the government of Ho Chi Minh, the South Vietnam government fought to

maintain its governing status rather than to unify the country as was the goal of the

North. The Southern government, with the support of the United States, blocked the

Geneva elections for reunification. In the context of the Cold War the United States

feared that a reunified Vietnam would elect a Communist government. Thus, South

Vietnam and its Western allies portrayed the conflict as an opposition to communism

(cf. wikipedia2006).

But there was another important point concerning South East Asia. The countries of

South East Asia produced rich exportable surpluses such as rice, rubber, teak, corn,

tin, spices, oil and many others. But these facts were not used by President Kennedy

in his explanations to the American public. (cf. Zinn 2003: 475)

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The North and the South Vietnamese viewed the war as a struggle to reunite the

country and to repel a foreign aggressor.

The Southern government under Ngo Dinh Diem refused to have elections with the

North in 1956. Consequently, covert communist agents in the South received order

from Hanoi to take up their arms and try to overthrow the government of South

Vietnam. To avoid being accused for violating the Geneva Accord the North

government established the National Liberation Front (NLF) and used this

organization as a cover to invade South Vietnam. The NLF was composed of

communists from the South to make other governments believe that the war against

the South Vietnamese originated from the people of South Vietnam and not from

North Vietnam. The escalation of war made some policy makers in Washington think

the Diem government could not cope with the invasion of communists. The Kennedy

administration was more and more annoyed with Diem. He had to face with rebellion

and protest of some Vietnamese generals. Two thirds of the South Vietnamese

population were Buddhist while Diem and much of his administration was Roman

Catholic. He was criticized as being out of touch with his citizens.

He was overthrown and killed on November 1, 1963. His death made the South much

more unstable. Kennedy himself was assassinated three weeks later (cf.wikipedia

2006).

The new president, former Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, confirmed that the

United States intended to continue supporting South Vietnam.

On August 2 and 4, 1964 two US destroyers were attacked on a ”routine patrol” by

North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin.

It later turned out that the Gulf of Tonkin episode was a fake. It was not a routine

patrol and it took place in Vietnamese territorial waters. It also turned out that no

torpedoes were fired at the “Maddox”, a US destroyer. Two nights later another

attack on a further destroyer was reported. This brought a congressional resolution

and with only two dissenting votes in the Senate Johnson was given the power to

take military action in Southeast Asia. This “Tonkin Resolution” gave the President

the power to initiate hostilities without the declaration of war by Congress. (cf. Zinn

2003: 476)

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There was no traditional declaration of war, instead U.S. involvement increased over

several years. (cf. wikipedia 2006)

Immediately after the events in the Gulf of Tonkin, American warplanes began

bombarding North Vietnam. More and more American soldiers were sent to South

Vietnam – by early 1968 more than 500,000 American troops were there. (cf. Zinn

2003: 477)

By the end of the Vietnam War, 7 million tons of bombs had been dropped on

Vietnam. Compared to Europe and Asia in World War II this is more than twice as

much. In addition to that poisonous sprays and napalm were used. (cf. Zinn 2003:

478)

On January 30, 1968 the NLF and the PAVN (= People’s Army of Vietnam) forces

mounted the TET Offensive (= most important Vietnamese holiday) by attacking

nearly every major city in South Vietnam. The goal was the overthrow of the South

Vietnamese government and the withdrawal of U.S. forces. However, all attacks were

repulsed within a short period of time except in Saigon where the fighting lasted for

three days. (cf. wikipedia 2006)

The cruelty of the war began touching the conscience of many Americans. For many

others the problem was that the United States was unable to win the war, while

40,000 American soldiers were dead by this time, 250,000 wounded and no end in

sight. In spring of 1968, President Johnson, whose popularity was at an all-time low,

announced he would not run again for President and that negotiations for peace

would begin with the Vietnamese in Paris. In fall 1968, Richard Nixon was elected

President, pledging that he would get the United States out of Vietnam. He began to

withdraw troops; by February 1972, less than 150,000 were left. However, the

bombing continued, he was not ending the war. (cf. Zinn 2003: 483)

In spring 1970, President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger launched an

invasion of Cambodia. It was a military failure though and Congress resolved that

Nixon was not allowed extending the war without congressional approval. In 1971,

800,000 tons of bombs were dropped by the United States on Laos, Cambodia and

Vietnam. (cf. Zinn 2003: 484)

As the war became more and more unpopular, people in or close to the government

began to break out. A very dramatic instance was the case of Daniel Ellsberg. He

was a former marine officer who often did secret research for the U.S. government.

He helped to write the Department of Defence history of the Vietnam War. He

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decided to make the top-secret document public. In the end it was a 7,000 page

document, which he gave to various Congressmen and to the New York Times. In

June 1971, selections from this “Pentagon Papers” were printed and caused a

national sensation. (cf. Zinn 2003: 488)

In fall 1973, the United States agreed to accept a settlement which would withdraw

American troops. They continued to give aid to the Saigon government, but in early

1975 it collapsed. In late April 1975, North Vietnamese troops entered Saigon. The

American embassy staff fled and the long Vietnam War was over. Saigon was

renamed Ho Chi Minh City and both parts of Vietnam were unified as the Republic of

Vietnam (cf. Zinn 2003: 501).

The anti-war movement in America

The anti-war movement in America is mainly the product of two protest movements

during the fifties: one was the anti-nuclear movement, the other one was the Civil

Rights movement. They were both resistance movements without any force. The

anti-war movement consisted of a number of independent interests united only in

opposition to the Vietnam War.

In 1960 students formed an interest group called SDS (= Students for a Democratic

Society). Throughout the first years of its existence, SDS focused on domestic

concerns. It was not an anti-war organization, they first avoided anti-war rhetoric;

they did not want to endanger the social programs of the Great Society. They

participated in the Civil Rights struggle and proved to be an important link between

the two defining causes of the decade. The protest of the students started when the

U.S. began to bomb North Vietnam in February 1965. In February and again in

March 1965, the SDS organized marches on the Oakland Army Terminal which was

the departure point for many troops who left for Southeast Asia. On March 24, 1965

students held a series of “teach-ins” modelled after earlier Civil Rights seminars.

They wanted other students to become aware of the moral and political foundations

of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and to participate actively in the anti-war

movement. They called for a march on Washington and on April 17, 1965 between

15,000 and 25,000 people gathered at the capital. “Vietnam Day”, a symposium held

at Berkeley in October 1965, drew thousands to debate the moral basis of the war. In

October 1967, leaders of the war resistance called for young men to turn in their draft

cards.

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In January 1967, Martin Luther King jr. expressed openly his support for the anti-war

movement on moral grounds. However, he also made a link to the Poverty Program

for the black people in the U.S.; the war was draining much-needed resources from

this domestic program. He also voiced concern about the percentage of African

American soldiers in the Vietnam War in relation to the total population. As the

movement’s ideal spread beyond college campuses, doubts also began to appear

within the administration itself. In 1967 the Defence Secretary was fired after he had

expressed his concerns about the moral justification for the war.

The Tet Offensive in January 1968 shifted the public opinion of the American

population dramatically. Now there was protest with force, there were brutal clashes

between police and peace activists.

In November 1969 a second march on Washington drew an estimated 500,000

participants. There was also protest music, typified by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.

The leaders greeted returning soldiers with jeers and taunts and spat on troops in

airports and on public streets. Now most Americans supported the cause but

opposed the leaders, methods and culture of protest.

On June 13, 1971 the New York Times published the first instalment of the Pentagon

Papers. At this time Americans became aware of the true nature of the war.

(cf. Zinn 2003: 469-501), (cf.wikipedia 2006)

4. Analysis of the genre

To state clearly what one considers a war film is a tough thing to do. The genre of the

war film obviously represents films which deal with warfare. The detailed description

of a certain war in a war film is possible but not absolutely necessary. Usually war

films do put an emphasis on the actual warfare and the ongoing battles. It is very

common, too, to describe the life of an innocent young man who turns into a fighting

machine and is then being sent out to fight for his country. Nevertheless, there are

also films which deal with closely related but still different subjects. There are films

which describe for example the fates of the bereaved or veterans.

In general, war films focus on the big wars of the 20th century such as World War I,

World War II or the Vietnam War. Some of the stories told in these films are fictional;

others are based on history or show documentation. Examples for popular and

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successful war films are The Deer Hunter by Michael Cimino (1978), Apocalypse

Now by Francis F. Coppola (1979) and Full Metal Jacket by Stanley Kubrick (1987)

(cf. Koebner 2002: 322-325).

There is a distinction between war and anti-war films. Depending on the intention a

specific film has, one puts it into the matching category. At this point of time, the

distinction between the two slightly different genres is too extensive.

The film The Deer Hunter shows a good formal arrangement:

1. Alternation: The film consists of five narrative blocks, which are totally separated

from each other because of the change of places - Clairton/Pennsylvania and

Vietnam. There are no flashbacks or overlapping scenes. In the first part of the film,

the sound of the piano in a bar turns directly into the noise of a helicopter. There is

no transition from one block to the other.

2. Diminution: The symmetry of the scenes (Clairton – Vietnam – Clairton – Vietnam

–Clairton) is in opposition to the asymmetry of the length of time of the different

blocks. Each of the five blocks is briefer than the previous one.

3. Crossing over of motifs:

- The sound of the helicopter introduces both Vietnam blocks as well as the block in

Clairton.

- The motif of the flames is present in the first four blocks. In Clairton it is seen in the

steel mill, in Vietnam it is seen in the flamethrower and in the burning of Saigon.

- The one-shot motif: In Clairton it is found at the deer hunting, in Vietnam it is found

at the Russian roulette.

- There are analogies in the bar in Clairton to the gambling den in Saigon. Only men

are permitted to go there and gamble.

- The sound of the waterfall: First time the viewer perceives it is when Mike, Nick and

Steven are on the run in Vietnam. Another time it is heard on the second deer

hunting, when Mike, back from the Vietnam War, is not able to kill the deer. (cf.

Heinecke 2002: 111-114)

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5. Tasks for the classroom

The film we chose for our teaching module carries a very appalling message. It

shows how the lives, characters and attitudes of soldiers and their relatives change

after returning from the Vietnam War.

Especially the second part of the film, which plays in Vietnam, is very brutal and

harsh. Therefore, we chose not to use these sequences for our teaching unit but only

the scenes before and after the war. It is good enough to use the first and the third

part of the film to have the students compare the different moods of the people

looking at the pre- and the post-war situation. As this is the main goal of the unit we

also decided to leave some parts of the story out as they are not relevant for our

topic. For example, the story that goes with the deer hunt is far too complex for

students to understand. For this reason we confined ourselves to selected scenes

which are appropriate for the age level in terms of language and content.

Before going into detail concerning the single lessons it seems to make sense to give

a brief overview over the different stages and lessons of the sequence. The tasks are

designed according to a pre-, while- and post-viewing structure.

The teaching unit is to be taught in about seven lessons to a grade ten.

A detailed description including didactic and methodological aspects follows this

table.

Overview

Objective Materials / Social Form

Lesson 1 pre-viewing

Pupils read about the Vietnam War in books, on the internet to get an idea of the developments during the Vietnam War.

internet-research-data, history books group work

Lesson 2 pre-viewing

Pupils create a time-line to understand the details of the war and their correlation.

paper / posters, pencils etc. group work

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Lesson 3 pre-viewing

Pupils share and collect their ideas concerning possible reasons for going to war and create a mind map that includes the main ideas.

board, chalk class conversation

Lesson 4 while-viewing

Pupils watch the selected scenes of the film and find evidence for patriotism. They take notes about the moods the different characters are in.

film-DVD paper, pencils individual work

Lesson 5 post-viewing

Pupils choose one pre- and one post-war scene they saw and re-write what happened in those scenes. They compare the different moods.

paper, pencils individual work

Lesson 6 post-viewing

Looking at the characters Steven, Nick and Michael before and after the war, the class develops a table which shows the changes or striking aspects in these characters.

board, chalk class conversation

Lesson 7 post-viewing

After having watched the scene again when Michael returns home from Vietnam, the pupils are supposed to put themselves into his position and write about it. Some of the students present their ideas.

pencil, paper individual work presentation

Pre-viewing tasks

Similar to a pre-reading or pre-listening task, the pre-viewing task is supposed to

prepare the students for the actual watching of the film. The students’ curiosity about

the film is to be aroused as well as the raising of expectations and a field of

awareness (cf. Müller-Hartmann / Schocker-von Ditfurth 2004: 128).

When creating pre-tasks, a teacher should always try to activate the students’ prior

knowledge. One possible way of including the pupils’ previous understanding is a

brain-storming and the subsequent creation of a mind map (cf. Müller-Hartmann /

Schocker-von Ditfurth 2004: 81).

Pre-tasks of any kind should explain the students the purpose of watching a certain

film or listening to a certain text “so that they can focus their attention on relevant

aspects” (Müller-Hartmann / Schocker-von Ditfurth 2004: 81) of the movie or the text

later on. They prepare the students to being able to work on the while-viewing task

later on.

Before the pupils start working on the while-viewing task, the teacher hands out a

summary of the whole film. This will help the pupils to understand the scenes better.

Other than that they know about the content of the whole movie as there is no time to

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show it in class. In addition, some parents might not agree with showing the war

scenes in class, watching it is too time-consuming and following the whole story in

their second language might be too tough for tenth grade “Realschule”.

Lesson 1: pre-viewing

The main goal of this first lesson is to raise the pupils’ awareness for the topic of the

teaching unit. To gain enough background knowledge for understanding the movie,

the pupils’ have to become familiar with the events of the Vietnam War.

1. Purpose: Pupils gain historical knowledge about developments during the Vietnam

War.

2. Process: Pupils search history books and internet for useful data (in English or

German) and discuss the material which they found in groups.

3. Product: Collection of pictures and articles

The pupils are given the instruction to collect anything they find at home about the

Vietnam War and bring it into class. For this reason the class is being divided into two

large groups. One (group A) is being assigned to the years of the war until 1964; the

other half (group B) is assigned to the years 1965 and after. They can bring pictures,

history books, articles from the internet or any other source they can find. The

sources can both be in German or in English. As the Vietnam War shows a pretty

complex development it might be easier to understand the details in the mother

tongue and then transfer it into the second language.

Back in school, the two large groups are being divided into smaller groups again

(depending on how many students there are in the class, approx. 4-6 pupils each

group) and discuss the material they found. If certain groups still have the need to do

more research, they could either search the internet or use the school library (both is

obviously dependent on the facilities the school has to offer). By means of their

material, they try to develop their own timeline according to their assigned years.

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Lesson 2: pre-viewing

In the whole class the two parts of the timeline are brought together. This happens

via short presentations of the different groups. The teacher intervenes if there are

language problems or he/she sees some of the war-correlations are being

misunderstood.

1. Purpose: Pupils understand and visualize the important dates of the Vietnam War.

2. Process: Pupils share their results in class and create one big timeline.

3. Product: timeline

To make sure that Group A has a critical look at the years that Group B worked on

and understands them, too, Group A has to visualize Group B’s results on paper as a

big timeline one can put up in the classroom and vice versa. The timeline can include

anything from writing or photos to self-made pictures.

Lesson 3: pre-viewing

After having found out about the historical setting of the film, there is another

important aspect that needs to be discussed before actually watching the film.

The teacher gives the pupils a silent stimulus to make them think about reasons for

going to war. He/she writes a guiding sentence on the board, i.e. “What makes

people go to war and fight for their home country with even risking dying?”; “People in

the U.S. were not threatened by the War in Vietnam directly but they still left to fight

for their country. Why?”

A brainstorming is supposed to give the students the chance of an individual

reflection and collection of different ideas they associate with the silent stimulus.

“Scribbling down ideas about the topic and developing those ideas as the mind

makes association” (Hedge 2000: 310) is what is meant when creating a mind map

afterwards. “The end result is a map with a number of subtopics or aspects radiating

from the central topic […]” (Hedge 2000: 310). Sharing and collecting ideas that

belong to one specific topic can be supported by creating a mind map (cf. Hedge

2000: 310-312).

In connection with the topic of the teaching unit the method of creating a mind map

can be used as follows:

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1. Purpose: Pupils are able to express their ideas in their second language and put

themselves into the position of a soldier.

2. Process: Pupils share and collect their ideas around the silent stimulus given by

the teacher.

3. Product: mind map that includes the main ideas.

When collecting the students’ ideas, it is important for the teacher to give precise

directions in terms of what answers he/she is looking for. The teacher has to make

sure that the answers stay topic-related. Still, although the teacher has to give certain

guidelines, he/she has to be open for students’ suggestions.

Possible answers for the mind map are: desire to be a hero, patriotism, honourable

act, money, way to get a well-paid job and possibly escaping unemployment etc.

Words as patriotism might not be familiar to the students. Therefore, this task does

not only function as the sharing and collecting of ideas but it also helps overcoming

topic-based language problems.

While-viewing task

During the phase of watching a film / reading a text / listening to a text, there is room

for more specific interpretation tasks. The main principle for while-tasks is to allow

students to watch the film or listen to or read a text without overloading them with

complex and difficult tasks. Besides watching the movie and listening for the gist, the

students should still learn to listen or watch for certain detailed information (cf. Müller-

Hartmann / Schocker-von Ditfurth 2004: 81+128).

Lesson 4: while-viewing

While watching the film, the students should pay attention to how the moods of the

main characters change, comparing the pre- and the post-war sequences.

Pre-war scenes: 27min22sec – 27min32sec & 32min-33min30sec:

Steven’s wedding: pictures on the wall of the three men who are

shortly going to Vietnam framed by American flags and banners;

wedding speech held by a man who congratulates Angela and

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Steven but mainly wishes luck to the “stars of the night”, the “heroes”

who go to Vietnam, Nick, Steven and Michael.

Post-war scenes: 1h46min22sec – 1h49min25sec:

Michael returns home. His friends arranged a welcome-home-party.

When Michael sees the banners they put up for him, he decides not

to attend ‘his’ party but go to a motel to be alone.

2h23min – 2h24min50sec:

Michael calls Steven who is still in the veterans’ hospital. He lost both

his legs and one arm. On the phone he tries to keep his face and not

show his suffering. When he hangs up, he starts crying heavily.

2h37min48sec – 2h39min12sec:

Michael arrives in Vietnam to convince Nick to come home. Nick is

under the influence of drugs and does not recognize Michael. He is

addicted to the Russian roulette.

2h44min27sec – 2h45min26sec & 2h51min13sec – 2h52min18sec

Nick’s funeral and the funeral ceremony. Everybody is depressed and

as the film began with a wedding, it ends with a funeral. They all sing

the patriotic hymn God Bless America.

1. Purpose: Pupils realize that the formerly euphoric mood turned into a rather

depressing one.

2. Process: Pupils watch the film and write down notes.

3. Product: Notes

Post-viewing tasks

The goal of post-tasks is to have the students analyse and evaluate their results and

perspectives. The tasks should combine all different skills a student has. Creative

skills should find consideration as well as cognitive skills such as reading, speaking

or writing (cf. Müller-Hartmann / Schocker-von Ditfurth 2004: 82).

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Lesson 5: post-viewing

The pupils are supposed to write a short summary of the scenes they saw. To make

sure that all of them got the gist of these sequences this is an important thing to do

before going on with the other tasks.

1. Purpose: Listening- and watching-comprehension

2. Process: Pupils write down what they saw and heard in the scenes.

3. Product: written summary

Lesson 6: post-viewing

1. Purpose: Pupils develop a critical look at going to war and see how it can harm

even those who seem to be on the “strong” side.

2. Process: Pupils think about changes they see in the main characters of the film

and discuss how participating in a war can change individuals.

3. Product: table

The main goal of this stage of the teaching unit is to discuss how participating in a

war cannot only harm people physically but also mentally.

To achieve this level of knowledge, the teacher draws a table on the board that

includes the three main characters and the two stages of the time before and after

the war. Before leaving their hometown for Vietnam the men are enthusiastic and

proud to fight for their country. Opposed to that they return from war as changed

characters. Michael is not capable of continuing his “normal” life because he cannot

forget the pictures of the cruelty he lived through in Vietnam. Nick is addicted to

drugs and the Russian roulette and kills himself in the end. Steven is physically hurt

as he lost his legs and one arm. The three friends are not together any more and the

two of them who survived have to accept that everything around them has changed.

“Nothing is as it was before.”

Lesson 7: post-viewing

Creativity can be shown in an autonomous development, discovery, experiment,

transfer, association etc. Creative writing tasks in the foreign language classroom ask

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students to show their cognitive abilities and ask for personal experiences or ideas.

Creative tasks are very open and do most of the times not only allow one but many

correct answers. The two main aspects that should be fulfilled in creative tasks are:

the productive use of the second language and some kind of interactional

involvement (cf. Bausch 2003: 308-310).

For this teaching module there are lots of possible creative writing tasks. One will be

introduced in the following:

The teacher asks the pupils to think about the ideas collected in the mind map and to

put themselves into the situation of being sent out to war. Especially after the

discussion in the previous task on possible consequences of going to war this is a

task which can help to achieve that each and every pupil has a critical look at his or

her own opinion on the subject matter. Guiding questions can be: What are possible

thoughts that run through your mind? How would you feel? Would you want to go?

Why / why not? How could you avoid going to war?

1. Purpose: Pupils put themselves into someone else’s position. They change

perspectives.

2. Process: Pupils write down their thoughts about having to go to war.

3. Product: written thoughts about own feelings and ideas about going to war or

objecting to it

This is a rather difficult task because the texts should on the one hand show the

pupils’ abilities of changing perspectives and on the other hand contain a reflection of

their own opinions.

The interactional aspect of creative tasks can be fulfilled by simply having the

students share their texts with a partner or the whole class. It would also be nice to

collect all the texts and publish them in one book which the students can read during

their breaks.

Additional suggestions

The here presented teaching unit focuses on the three soldiers and their lives after

the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, the film also gives a good opportunity to put the

emphasis on friends and relatives of the soldiers to show how their lives change

because of the three men leaving their hometown for a war. Depending on how much

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time one wants to use for this teaching unit, one could either add this aspect to the

unit or change the focus.

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6. Annotated bibliography

o Bausch, Karl-Richard et al (ed.) (2003). Handbuch Fremdsprachenunterricht.

Tübingen: Francke Verlag.

o Hedge, Tricia (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom.

Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

o Heinecke, Herbert (2002). “Die Debatte um The Deer Hunter – politische und

künstlerische Dimensionen.“ In: Strübel, Michael (ed.): Film und Krieg.

Inszenierung von Politik zwischen Apologetik und Apokalypse. Opladen:

Leske & Budrich.

This book takes a closer look at the methods of films which focus on the political

topic “war”. Its main emphasis is put on visual politics in films but also on media

coverage.

o Koebner, Thomas (2002). Reclams Sachlexikon des Films. Stuttgart: Reclam.

This encyclopaedia of film describes the important film genres and styles. It

explains all different aspects which are part of the filmmaking, such as music,

production, camera, technical terms and much more.

o Müller-Hartmann, Andreas & Schocker-von Ditfurth, Marita (2004).Introduction

to English Language Teaching. Stuttgart: Klett-Verlag.

With the help of this book one gets a good insight into the basics of the foreign

language teaching. It not only gives information on the theoretical background but

also illustrates practical examples. When planning lessons according to the task-

based approach, the instructions and ‘recipes’ given are well-structured.

o Zinn, Howard (2003). A People’s History of the United States. 1492 – Present.

New York: Perennial Classics.

22

“A People’s History of the United States” is an analysis of the most important

events in the history of the United States. The author is a historian who was a

shipyard worker and an Air Force bombardier before he went to college. He tells

the American history from the view of the American people.

• Bildungsplan Realschule 2004 Ba-Wü. February 21th, 2006.

http://www.bildung-staerkt-menschen.de/service/downloads/Bildungsplaene/

Realschule_Bildungsplan_

• Dunder, Jonathan. Michael Cimino. February 12th, 2006.

http://www.freeinsociety.com/site.php?postnum=580

• Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia. Indochina War timeline. March 8th,2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_war_timeline

• Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia. Michael Cimino. February 12th, 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Cimino

• Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia. Opposition to U.S. involvement in the

Vietnam War. March 8th, 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_U.S._Involvement_in_the_vietnam_

war

• Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia. Vietnam War. March 8th, 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War