Holocaust Lesson?

[daejeondarryn]

Hey all,

I currently work at a Middle School and one of my areas of study in University was genocides and crimes against humanity. After having a conversation with my students I was surprised that none of them knew what the Holocaust was. I know when I was 12 we did a whole segment in school on it, thereby opening our minds to problems outside of our own country. As you may have guess, I am passionate that everyone should have at least a base understanding of human rights and the horrors that come with genocide.

The question I pose is, how would you teach about the Holocaust (I want to talk about Rwanda and Cambodia as well, if possible) to students who English is not their first language?

[roger.smith]

Hmm I'm not too sure about how to approach that. I too studied in a similar field; I tried to talk to a few people about it, to no avail.
If I was to approach it, I'd link it to the Japanese rule over Korea and the atrocities that happened over here. Then talk about the similar things in China and north Korea...
I'd link this to problems further afield afterwards.

Hope this helps

[conorsean]

Did you learn about the Holocaust in French or Spanish class? I doubt it. Leave it for the History or Ethics teacher. You're here to teach a language.

[portlandzach]

Trust Me, the lesson would BOMB....don't do it...its too deep and the images would be too disturbing. Yes, its terrible that middle schoolers don't know about it but its not your place to do it here. My opinion....

[ame]

Hmm.  My Middle School students were familiar with the story of Anne Frank, but I don't know if they studied her story in isolation, or WWII in general.  I am not sure which class they studied it in, but it wasn't English.

[Thomas Mc]

To "Conorsean" language is about communicating and we must have something to communicate about.

How would I approach this? Well I probably wouldn't want to show too many shocking photos. Maybe mistreatment photos or videos would be enough to get the point across.

You say they don't know about the holocaust. Yet I am sure they know about Hitler. What do they think of him? Was he evil? And if so why?

I'm sure Korean kids would easily get the idea of race. The question is could they get their head around the idea of nazism. The idea that one race is better or superior to another.

[nzaslow]

I teach at a middle school where students read part of Anne Franks diary (in Korean). A while back I was teaching a cultural lesson about winter holidays, and I pointed out that I'm Jewish and that I celebrate Hannukah.

One of my students then asked my co, in Korean, "But, aren't all the Jews dead?"

We're here to teach communication. That could be grammar -or- talking about the Holocaust. They aren't too young. Go for it!

[Rutten]

The story of Anne Frank is a good idea actually.

But, ultimately, I agree with some of the other posters. I teach middle school and trying to teach about genocide and death camps is a big 'wtf' for me. Leave it to the history teachers. Why you would choose to teach them mass murder related vocab over, say, theme park attractions or things 13 year-old Koreans could actually relate to blows my mind. Don't complicate things for them.

Mind you, I taught the story of Guy Fawkes to them last year and that included words like 'hanging' and 'torture'. But that was directly related to my culture and the time of year. Not saying that the holocaust isn't related to us, just saying that you could probably find something more suitable for Korean children than talking about how the SS gassed millions of Jews and threw their bodies into mass graves.

[Brirish]

If the other teachers at your school tell you to teach it then teach it. Don't just take it on yourself to "educate" them - they will learn. I've never met an adult Korean who didn't know about it. And perhaps they already do. I'm sure all of us on here could attest that if you ask a bunch of 12 year old Koreans in English "Do you know the Holocaust" they wouldn't have a clue what you're talking about. How did you ascertain that they definitely don't know?

And if you're going to teach it, and going to do it in regular class time, then your lesson must have a linguistic focus, you're primary objective should be language learning, using this as, as somebody else said, "something to communicate" with.

[KevinA]

I really don't think that is a good idea. Regardless of personal passions and spreading awareness, I don't think our jobs as foreign language teachers in this country is the proper forum for bringing up such issues. Such subject matter is inherently depressing, I can't see how broaching such materials is directly beneficial towards acquiring a foreign language. If it were a much older age group, then yes, but 12 year olds in Korea? I can imagine the hours of cricket sounds or the awkwardly offensive comments that may arise.

If you really want to teach about it, I would strongly recommend discussing it in depth with your co-teachers or co-workers before dropping it in the class room.

If a student expresses interest about Judaism, then you could bring it up as an aside, but as a full length lesson... I agree that you should focus your lessons on things that blow students minds in a positive way (like amazing theme parks or video games...)

[portlandzach]

I've never met an adult Korean who didn't know about it

No disrespect but really, how often do you talk about things like the holocaust with adult koreans? Does not seem like a subject that would come up in context and going around asking, "do you know about the holocaust?" to adult koreans, is frankly, weird...my humble opinion....

[jglide]

A class like this can work under the right circumstances and it is noble of you to want to teach such lessons.

First I'd get approval from your co-teacher. I'd also do a lesson like this only in an afterschool class and only with high level students. I'd suggest having the class be more conversation based rather than just you giving a history lesson. You also have to decide whether or not your class is mature enough to digest such a lesson. In my home state of Massachusetts genocide curriculum is mandatory for elementary school, but one must consider if students can really grasp the context of such an events. Learning about the holocaust without knowing much about the War or Germany/Europe pre-holocaust would not make much sense. It would not do good to simply villify other cultures.

I've done a class on poverty and homelessness and my fiance has done one on gender-based violence. Both classes were successful, albeit in teacher classes not with our students. We both used photography and videos to engage the class and had them talk about how the images made them feel. Also it is important to get them to relate their own experiences. Not with questions like "have you seen a genocide", but with ones like "where do you see hate/prejudice in Korean society?", "how can we/you help avoid such atrocities". I woudl keep your discussion more broad rather than merely honing in on one genocide and just relaying the gritty details. Maybe give them an outlet to do more research if they want to and if the class is interested then pursue it further.

A class like this can be great in an ESL setting because students can become so enveloped in the subject that they worry less about making mistakes and their speech becomes more natural and fluent. Nevertheless, teaching such a lesson obviously implys an intent to do more than just teach English, but also morality and ethics. Like others have said it is not your obligation to teach this though and I would first seek approval from your school.

Hope that helps.

[hilarity ensues]

When you were 12, did you learn about the Holocaust in a language class?

Personally, I wouldn't do this at all... but I suppose the best way to go about conversation classes like this is to write up a vocabulary list, including the words 'gas chamber', 'fascism', 'misery and suffering the likes of which you or I couldn't possibly imagine', 'creation of the state of Israel' and "Steven Spielberg'. Then you could give them readings pertaining to Judaism, Nazism, genocide, and the political and social climate in Germany up to that time. Then you could show them a video of emaciated bodies being burned or dumped into pits. Then you could discuss why you think this kind of thing happens while everyone sits there silent and freaked out.

So yeah, I'm with the people who are saying 'wtf' This doesn't really relate to their everyday lives and to be honest it would be hard to convince me that this isn't more about you than it is about the students.The Holocaust relates to Americans because of the Jews that relocated there before during and after, and because Steven Spielberg is a rich and powerful man in Hollywood, but it has zero connection to Koreans-- you're doing this for you, not for them.

[hilarity ensues]

I'm sure Korean kids would easily get the idea of race. The question is could they get their head around the idea of nazism. The idea that one race is better or superior to another.

So how are you enjoying your first month in Korea?

[Damien]

Some Koreans I have talked to, who have studied history, tend to view Hitler much more in historical context than we do. We tend to not see passed the holocaust ie. he is a baddie with no redeeming features. They look at him as a strong leader who rebuilt Germany after the depression and inflationary episode and brought relative prosperity, who also did some bad stuff.

Obviously teaching a lesson on the holocaust is a bad idea.

This statement is very true. I had a University course on Europe 1900-1945 and the professor was describing Hitler without using his name. She talked about just the positive things he did for Germany and not the Holocaust. 90% of the class didn't even know who she was talking about and she asked who. People said like Charles de Gaulle or other leaders. I said Adolf Hitler and the class got mad at me. A guy called me a Nazi lol. The professor said I was right.

I am not defending the evil things the Nazi regime did, but we tend to completely overlook everything during that time period. A lot of our modern technology and infrastructure game from that time. The modern US highway system is based off of the Autobahn. He helped pull Germany out of the worst inflation rate in the world, until Yugoslavia years later.

Teaching this in class might not help solve the issue, "We don't know about the Holocaust." They have a lot of German things in Korea. The name "Lotte" is from one of Goethe's writings. A lot of Koreans know German poetry and literature. I know a lot of Koreans that studied German. They have lots of German cars, German style bars, candy, etc. I asked a few Koreans why there is this German foothold in a lot of things. They all told me, "Japan." They got a lot of culture and influence from Japan. Japan and Germany were allies in WWII. The image of the German soldiers during that time period are an iconic symbol to some. They aren't Nazi supporters, but they find the look very appealing. A Korean said to me, "They did evil thing, but they look so cool. They have bad a$$ uniform. They have awesome look to them. I no support killing the people. We like to overlook that."

Teaching about the Holocaust could possibly promote more issues. They could become more interested in the Nazi regime or Nazism. They could question more things that happened and you really don't want to share them in class. The list can go on. Just leave it to a history teacher or time lol.

[jaspar]

I'll say for the record that I, for one, did learn about things like Algeria and Haiti in my French classes. History is often relevant to culture. So, sometimes it's useful to know about history to be able to understand cultural references that people make in the language that you're studying.

That said, I agree that it's probably a bad idea. I agree with others that the students will surely learn about it elsewhere.

I also think that if you do give this kind of lesson, that your students probably won't instantly get it in the way you'd hope they would. I think you'll need to be prepared for a very frustrating and potentially offensive class period.

[kawaiikitty]

Actually, surprisingly, my coteachers don't know much about the Holocaust. I was really taken aback.

[conorsean]

This doesn't really relate to their everyday lives and to be honest it would be hard to convince me that this isn't more about you than it is about the students...

-- you're doing this for you, not for them.

Nail. On. Head.

[aaronmillar]

I agree that we are not here to teach history and you should stay clear of this. It should be taught by someone who can clearly explain in their native language all the details. If you say something wrong, cross a line or teach something inaccurate it could cost you your job. We are not here to deal with politics but language.

[conorsean]

To "Conorsean" language is about communicating and we must have something to communicate about.

I'm well aware of that, thanks. But as has been suggested before, the emotionally charged topic of National Socialism in the context of World War 2 is not appropriate subject matter for a Korean Middle School class. While the teacher may be eager to impart some of the knowledge he gained from University he is unqualified to teach that subject to foreign teenagers. He would be acting way outside his remit.