Discussion/activity: Emotional reunions for Koreans

February 28, 2001
Web posted at: 2:05 PM EST (1905 GMT)

Editor's note: If you are planning to use the news story that this discussion/activity is based on for a homework assignment, please write the URL on the board and have your students copy it. CNNfyi.com updates the site in the early evening, so students may have difficulty finding it without the URL. You can find the lesson plan by going to the Subject Areas page and clicking PREVIOUS in the square for Today's Lesson Plan.

Have students read the CNNfyi.com article "Hello and goodbye" and ask the following:

1. Why did 200 Koreans have to bid hesitant farewells? How long were the government-sponsored reunions? What is a goal of Red Cross officials in both countries? Why do you think it is important to have a permanent meeting place for separated family members?

2. What type of communication have family members been allowed across the border? How do you think the inability to communicate affects families? Meetings were limited, and attentive government "minders" monitored the reunions. How would you define a government "minder"? How do you think that monitors affected the quality of the reunions? Why do you think this system was created by the government, and was it appropriate, or perhaps necessary? Explain.

3. According to the CNNfyi.com article "Hello and goodbye," why are North and South Korea still considered to be in a state of war? Who is Kim Dae-jung? What award did he receive last year and for what reasons? Who is Kim Song-il? What type of contacts have these two leaders had in the past? Do you think that they will be able to unify North and South Korea? Why or why not?

4. Divide the class into small groups. Have each group research the causes and outcomes of the Korean conflict in 1950-53. Students should include charts and graphs to represent the information they have found. Students can share their research with the class.

Extension

Set up a mock example of two cultures by dividing the class in half and allowing one half to study quietly while you teach the other half. Create as much physical separation as possible so that one half cannot hear what you are doing with the other half. With one half, spend 10 to 15 minutes working as you normally would, encouraging discussion and debate. With the other half, cover the same material, but assume a dictatorial role in which you tell students what they must learn and believe, and do not allow discussion. Bring the class together and pair off students, one from each half. Choose equal numbers of students from both halves so that there is one student monitor for each pair. Give the pairs five minutes for a "reunion" that is strictly monitored. For the remainder of the period, bring the class together to reflect on the activity. At that time, you can explain to both groups that you dealt with them differently. Allow them to discuss the experience and the reunions, and find out how much information about the teaching experiment students could glean from one another when reunited in a monitored meeting. Then extend the discussion to imagine how the Koreans must feel after years of separation.

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