Classroom activities

1. Trung writes many letters home throughout the story. Some are letters that he only writes in his imagination. Discuss with students how Mai must have felt back in Vietnam after missing the boat. Ask students to write a letter that Mai might have written in her imagination.
2. The Trung's emotional journey BLM (PDF 405kb) explores the emotions that Trung experiences throughout the story. In this activity, students are asked to comment on how Trung might have felt at various times.
3. Ask students to imagine that they are going to live in Vietnam for a year and attend a local school. In small groups, students should develop a dramatic performance depicting their first day in the new school.
4. The illustrations created by Donna Rawlins for Across the Dark Sea evoke many emotions. Discuss the illustrations with students and encourage them to express their reactions to them. Complete a class art activity, where your students draw in a similar style.
5. Use the Exploring Vietnam BLM (PDF 248kb) to guide the students in undertaking research about Vietnam. Divide the class into six groups and give each group a different task card. When they have finished their research, students should present and display their work for other students.
6. Students can complete an engaging interactive activity about the Hong Hai, a Vietnamese fishing boat that arrived in Australia in 1978, by clicking on the interactive below.

> Interactive on the journey of the Hong Hai
(requires Flash version 6, see link below)
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