Gidday Tinks. Have a look at this website mate....it will give a bit of a background to Australia's involvement in the Korean Conflict.

Australia in the Korean War

Another.

3 RAR History Complete

This is an interesting website that may be of value to you.

A Chronology of Australia in the Vietnam War

Another.

Australia in Vietnam

Hopefully you will get plenty of information about Australia's involvement in both Korea and Vietnam from the above websites. If not, let me know and I will do a little more searching for you.

Cheers, Vince

Keetoowah, oh I have a lot of videos that are documentries for my kids to watch its just that my master teacher (I still need to follow even though as of 2:05 Friday I'm done with college) uses movies and I am kinof expected to follow her lead. I've found these great box sets of old archive footage from WWII and now Vietnam and they work great. I'm taping off of National Geographic tonight a thing on North Korea that I watched a few days ago and it's really good. I agree that we shouldn't expect movies to teach history, but than again all history is tainted no matter how hard we try not to slant it one way or the other. I also use a lot of the sites that you listed and have since under grad. I love them but was hoping for something more. I don't what but something, maybe the non-US slant.

As for "making" them relive what they did in Vietnam or Korea wouldn't happen. I ask if they say no I let it be. It's just hard to get ahold of the Vets Center here so I was looking somewhere else which is what I'm told any good teacher will do. Around here the most of the Vets are happy to talk to the kids about what happened to them since my kids (students) are at the age where their friends and/or family members are going to Iraq right now and there is still that little bill floating around where they want to restart conscription.

Friday I gave the kids the list of all the countries involved in Korea and they were in shock that it was beyond England, Australia, and Greece since these are the ones that are all ways shown on MASH.

Unfortunetly I can't spend the time on these wars that they deserve because we are expected to cover so much more of world history than we were even 5 years ago (No Child Left Behind messed up a lot of things while making others better). I get like 2 weeks to do the whole Cold War time period with kids whos attention span is like 5 minutes or less.

[quote="rdncktink"]As some know I'm student teaching a World History class in California. I am starting the Korean War tomorrow (4/26) and would like to have more information. All of the stuff I have comes from a few websites since the stupid textbook we use only has like 2 pages of it. ]

May God bless your efforts to educate our kids in a poor environment sir.
It is somewhat surprising that your text includes the Korean conflict at all.

I wonder if your text includes such currently popular "historic" people as Marylyn Monroe and William Clinton but omit the currently less poplar ones such as Ben Franklin, Gen. Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Gen. Jackson, etc. I know some current "history text books" do have that sort of weak historical perspective!

Thank You.
I am finishing up the Cold War era Friday that covers Korea and Vietnam. I found out that the book I hate so much is brand new this year.

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions.

P.S. It's Miss not Sir

Tink,
How did the Vietnam and Korea presentation go?
Ed

Not to bad. Kids learned some things, it was one of their better test truly. I think that with the Judge coming in they now understand that "real" people were there. And there was things that he didn't want to talk about which I think showed the kids how sensative things are. Also he talked about how movies ARE NOT a good place to get your information.

Well done Tinks.......anything that shows our kids the vagaries of war and what it does to ordinary people who have to go off and do things, both terrible and extraordinary, can only give them a better understanding of why some people are the way they are.

It may also help them to decide that fighting and warring solves very little...if anything.

I know its odd for an old soldier to say, but I firmly believe in making love, not war. Much more pleasant.

Cheers, Vince

While the judge was there the kids just sat and looked bored to death but after they left they came a live and started talking about stuff that he had said. They loved that he didn't pull any punches on things like when they asked what he did for fun and he told them about the whores who would set up outside of camp. And then the guys getting who would be thrown on the tables in the MASH units with the blood runing into the buckets. They really are starting to get it. Some are even starting to like history.
I think what got to them was that he was telling them he wasn't that much older than they are when he enlisted and the kids that were under him in Vietnam were around their age.
They are now starting to tell me about their friends and family in Iraq, I think it finaly sank in.

Thanks to all for their help.

Vince said:

"I know its odd for an old soldier to say, but I firmly believe in making love, not war. Much more pleasant."

Ah'men brother.
Ed