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Maine Sampler Part II

Year of the Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

IHoughton Mifflin, Boston, 1991

Summary: World War II, the occupation of Korea and the division of the country at the 38th parallel are no longer just topics to memorize for a history test. They are dramatic and heartbreaking memories seen through the eyes of a sensitive and courageous young girl.

Level: Young Adult (Teachers might wish to preview the passage about "Spirit Girls" for some readers. pp. 52 - 63)

Themes:

Korean culture
Oppression by an occupying army
Courage,
Resistance movements
Underground railroads.

Activities:

1a. Sookan's grandfather secretly taught her to read and write in Hangul, the Korean script. Discuss why the "Japanese wanted all Koreans to dress like them and speak only their language. Everything Korean was forbidden." What other methods did the occupying army use to subdue the Korean people? (Rationing food. Work quotas. Property seizure. Curfews. Worship and travel restrictions. Brainwashing. Indoctrination, etc.) [Information Skills: Select and Evaluate Information. Thinking skills: Knowledge and Comprehension]

1b. Hangul is the Korean alphabet. Look it up in an encyclopedia such as Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul) to discover its history and how it is different from Chinese pictographs. Other sources might be: foreign language dictionaries, non-fiction books about China or other reference books. Try writing some of the Chinese characters. Use chalk, special felt-tipped calligraphy pens or some oxtail brushes, if possible. Read about the Chinese characters Yong-Wun on page 4. Create your own version of the "Dragon Cloud" or another word picture.[Information skills: Identify Key words, Develop Questions to Organize Search, Interpret, Infer, Analyze and Paraphrase. Thinking skills: Synthesis]

2a. Sookan hated singing the Kimigayo, the Japanese national anthem. Find the passage that describes this painful memory (pp. 70 - 73.)
Some Americans do not like "The Star Spangled Banner," our national anthem; some do not think students should be forced to say "the Pledge of Allegiance;" some burn the American flag. Use The Readers' Guide to Periodicals, Facts on File, The New York Times Index, Infotrac, etc. to research articles on "The Star Spangled Banner" or flag burning.

Have the class or small groups brainstorm the reasons people think the national anthem should be replaced ("difficult to memorize, warmongering, and insulting to America's staunchest ally." Margaret Carlson. "Oh Say Can You Sing It?" Time, February 12, 1990, p.27.) Draw up a list of possible replacement songs.
Poll your school family to see if the majority favor a new song; if so, which one. AND/OR Have a debate about flag burning. Have one group support the "right" to burn the flag. Have the other denounce the practice.

2b. Read Nothing But the Truth by Avi, a novel that involves the national anthem in a dispute between a student and a teacher. Imagine that Phillip's next English assignment is to read The Year of Impossible Good-byes. Write an entry in his diary telling how he feels about the Kimigayo incident. AND/OR Imagine that Sookan emigrated to the U.S. and was a student in Miss Narwin's class. Decide whether she would take the teacher's side or Phillip's. Write a letter of support from her to the character you chose.
[Information skills: Integrate Concepts, Locate Sources of Information, Search for Relevant Information, Select and Evaluate Information, Interpret, Infer, Analyze and Paraphrase. Thinking skills: Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation]

3. Sookan's family hired a professional guide to help them get from Pyongyang in the North to Seoul below the 38th parallel in the South. Sadly the guide was a double agent who betrayed their mother to the Communist soldiers. Recall what you know about, or research information about, the Underground Railway in the American Civil War. Compare and contrast Sookan's guide and the people who helped her with Harriet Tubman. Write a description of a real or hypothetical place where you would hide a fugitive if you were in charge of a stop on an underground railroad. OR Imagine that you are trying to escape to freedom. Write a dialogue between yourself and a prospective guide. List your criteria for deciding whether or not to trust him/her. State which is the most important one and tell why. [Information Skills: Relate Question to Prior Knowledge, Apply Information for Intended Purpose. Thinking skills: Application, Evaluation]

4. Sookan's memories tell of many brutal and unjust happenings. Review the list from exercise number 1. Without in any way condoning the Japanese oppression of the Koreans, it is important to look at the whole picture. Research information about the Japanese Internment camps in the United States during World War II. Discuss stereotypes, prejudice and current instances of "Japanese bashing." To experience how it feels to be oppressed, try this simulation exercise: Divide the class into two groups (all those with brown eyes in one group, all other color eyes in the other; all those whose names begin A - M in one group, all names N - Z in the other; all those whose birthdays are in Jan. - June in one, from July - Dec in the other; or any other arbitrary grouping.) Specify time period ( a day, a week, long enough to "feel oppressed," but not so long that it depresses the class spirit!) The Teacher Emperor/Empress will deny the rights of one group for the specified time period. The oppressed will:

Speak only when spoken to
Address those in the other group as "Illustrious Sir or Ma'am"
Leave the room last
Be assigned extra homework
Students in the current "superior" group could brainstorm other rights to deny.
Naturally, it is important for both groups to switch places.
[Information Skills: Relate Question to Prior Knowledge, Integrate Concepts, Select and Evaluate Information, Interpret, Infer, Analyze and Paraphrase, Apply Information. Thinking Skills: Application, Synthesis, Evaluation]

Books of Interest:

Avi. Nothing But the Truth. Orchard, 1991.
A student's suspension for humming the national anthem. RL 6

Farley, Carol. Korea: A Land Divided. Dillon Press, 1983.
A Discovering Our Heritage book. GR 5 -8.

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
A story of the Danish resistance movement. RL 5

Nash, Amy. North Korea. Chelsea House, 1991.
Places and Peoples of the World series. GR 5 -8.

O'Dell, Scott. My Name Is Not Angelica. Yearling,
. A Senegalese girl is taken as a slave and given a new name. RL 6

Prepared by Margaret McNamee, Scarborough Public Library, St. Thomas School

Many thanks to Martha Vickery for correcting errors in this submission. 11/2006