Unit 1: Identity and Language – Identity Through Language: Ashti’s Story
Time Frame
- 2 class periods
Materials
- Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Fargo High School – Ashti Mohamed Ali’s story and video
- Highlighter
- Pencil and Notebook
- Vocabulary and Definitions Handout
Connections to the 7 Cs of Ethnic Studies
- Cultivate: empathy, community actualization, cultural perpetuity, self-worth, self-determination, and the holistic well-being of all participants, especially Native People/s and People of Color
Instruction (ICCR)
Day 1 – Identity, Language, and Iraqi Cultural Background
Ignite
Show these visuals:
- Map of Iraq
- Baghdad on the map
- Photos of Iraqi families, schools, and daily life
Provide brief context:
- Iraq is an Arab country.
- Many people there speak Arabic.
- Some communities also speak Kurdish and other languages.
- There are different Arabic dialects across the Arab world.
Quick write:
Respond to one of the following prompts:
- What languages are part of your identity?
- When have you felt like you belonged, and when have you felt like you didn’t belong?
- What did you learn about Iraqi culture?
- What surprised you?
- How can language help people stay connected to culture and family?
Invite students to share with a partner.
Vocabulary Introduction
Distribute the Vocabulary and Definitions Handout before viewing Ashti’s video. Review each word, discuss the definition, example, and critical question. Students should keep the handout on their desks during all activities.
Cultural Background
Iraq is a country in the Middle East with a rich and ancient history. Baghdad, where Ashti was born, is the capital city and one of the oldest cities in the world. Iraq is home to many different ethnic and religious groups, including Arabs and Kurds.
The Kurdish people are an ethnic group with their own language (Kurdish) and culture, found primarily in northern Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Many Iraqi and Kurdish families came to the United States as refugees or immigrants, often fleeing violence, war, or political persecution. Minnesota and cities like Fargo, North Dakota have significant Iraqi and Kurdish communities. These communities have brought rich cultural traditions, languages, food, music, and values to the United States.
The name Ashti (آشتی) means peace in Kurdish. Names in Iraqi and Kurdish culture often carry deep meaning connected to family history, values, or hopes for the future.
Watch Ashti’s Story
After watching video, have students think-write (one sentence):
- What languages are part of your identity?
- When have you felt like you belonged, and when have you felt like you didn’t belong?
- What did you learn about Iraqi culture?
- What surprised you?
- How can language help people stay connected to culture and family?
Exit Ticket
- What is one thing you learned about Iraqi culture, language, or identity?
Day 2 – Ashti’s Story, Identity, and Belonging
Warm-Up Review
Quick Partner Discussion:
- What do you remember about Ashti’s story?
- What language challenges did she face?
- What did you learn about Iraq or Iraqi culture yesterday?
Chunk
Read and Analyze Ashti’s Story:
- Preview vocabulary list
- Read Ashti’s story together as a class or independently.
- Stop at certain points for annotation and discussion.
Students annotate parts related to the following questions:
- Ashti’s story says Iraq/Baghdad was unsafe. What clues help you infer why it might have felt unsafe?
- What might Ashti have lost or had to leave behind, and how could that affect her identity or sense of belonging?
- What language challenges did Ashti face when she came to the US?
- How did those challenges impact her identity and sense of belonging?
- Why is language important to culture?
- What parts of Ashti’s identity stayed the same after moving?
- What parts of her life changed?
Chew
Partner Discussion
Students exchange ideas about identity, language, and belonging using text-based evidence. Refer to their annotated reading during discussion.
Discussion Roles
Student A shares for 1 minute using evidence from the text.
Student B listens and responds, adding on their thoughts.
Switch roles.
Make sure students use at least one of the vocabulary words.
Sentence Stems
- Based on the clues or details in Ashti’s story ___, I infer that Iraq/Baghdad may have been experiencing ___, which created a sense of . . .
- Her text says it was unsafe. One clue is . . .
- Ashti likely left behind ___, which could affect her identity by . . .
- A language challenge Ashti faced was . . .
- She had difficulty with ___ when she came to the USA.
- These challenges may have affected her identity by . . .
- This could impact her sense of belonging because . . .
- Language helped Ashti connect to ______.
- One part of Ashti’s identity is ______.
- Moving to a new country changed ______.
- It did not change ______.
Graphic Organizer
Create a four-quadrant graphic organizer chart to support the conversation.
Identity Reflection
Choose one question to answer:
- How did language shape Ashti’s identity?
- How did moving to a new country affect Ashti’s sense of belonging?
- What parts of Ashti’s identity stayed the same after moving?
- How did Ashti stay connected to her culture and family?
Reflection Sentence Stems
- One part of Ashti’s identity is . . .
- Language shaped her identity by . . .
- Moving to a new country affected her because . . .
- Ashti stayed connected to her culture by . . .
- I think identity is connected to language because . . .
Writing Task
Prompt
Explain how language, culture, and experiences shaped Ashti’s identity and sense of belonging. Use two examples from the text.
Structure
- Main idea: ________
- Evidence from text: ________
- Explanation: ________
Exit Ticket
Write one word or one sentence.
- How did language shape Ashti’s identity and sense of belonging?
- Ashti’s story shows that language, identity, and belonging are connected because . . .
Multilingual and ELL Support
- Model the use of sentence stems included in the lesson.
- Show Ashti’s video with captions in students’ home language as an alternative to the reading.
- Convert Ashti’s story to students’ home language so they can understand the context of her story.
- Allow students who are WIDA level 1–2 to fill in the blank instead of writing.
Resource List
- Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Fargo High School – Ashti Mohamed Ali’s story and video
- Background on why Iraq was dangerous at that time when Ashti and her family emigrated (this is for teacher context) www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/iraq
- Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Values and Principles (7 Cs) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cGOs7rsY9wT2qI-yIQh5dye8snRjGYxr/view
Unit 2: Resilience and Resistance – Hmong Resilience and Resistance
Time Frame
- 1–2 class periods
Materials
- Green Card Entrepreneur Voices – Bo Thao-Urabe’s story and video
- Hmong Town Marketplace and Hmong Village images
- Hmong Resilience and Resistance worksheet
- Gallery Walk worksheet
Connections to the 7 Cs of Ethnic Studies
- Celebrate: using Hmong counter-stories and community narratives through storytelling
- Challenge: understanding how Hmong individuals and organizations contribute toward action, organizing, advocating, and healing in their local communities
Instruction (ICCR)
Ignite: Qualities for Success
- Display on the board images of either Hmong Village or Hmong town Marketplace in St. Paul, MN.
- As students are looking at the visual, give them this prompt:
- The first Hmong refugees began arriving in MN in 1975. They first arrived with little money, no English, no credit history, and very little of value other than the clothes on their backs and small household items such as pots and pans. Experts predicted they would be dependent on welfare for generations. Today, the Hmong community contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy in Minnesota, with large shopping centers such as Hmongtown Marketplace, Hmong Village, and lots of other Hmong-owned businesses, shops, and restaurants throughout the Twin Cities.
Turn and Talk
Ask students to brainstorm with an elbow partner what strengths a community needs to survive a war, migrate to a new country, and build a robust economy from scratch in fifty years.
- Ask a few students to share out loud with the class.
Chunk: Resilience
Acknowledgement: This was the shared journey for many Hmong Americans. There are other Hmong narratives that may contrast this one, such as Hmong Chinese, Hmong Laos, Hmong Vietnam, and other groups with their own different experiences. Some may have fought along with the communists or with the Pathet Lao for their own survival or by choice. Similarly, not all Hmong followed the refugee journey or chose to migrate to the United States, as many chose to remain in Laos and Thailand, and some even migrated to different countries throughout the world. This lesson will focus mainly on the shared experience of Hmong Americans.
Explain that the Hmong were an ethnic minority group from China. Throughout history, the Chinese and Hmong fought many wars against each other over land and resources. Eventually, Hmong fled China into Southeast Asia. In Laos, the CIA recruited the Hmong to help fight against communism and the Pathet Lao during the Secret War. They were recruited due to the Hmong being familiar with the land; many joined out of necessity to survive during wartime. When the US withdrew from the Vietnam War, they also abandoned the Hmong in Laos. The Hmong faced persecution and genocide by the Pathet Lao and had to fend for themselves in the jungles of Laos.
The journey to get across the Mekong River to Thailand was in itself a journey of resilience. The Hmong had to hide in the jungle, forage for food, travel in groups, and often move under the cover of the night sky to evade the Pathet Lao. Along the way, some had to abandon personal belongings, some had to leave behind family members, some elders had to be carried, some crying babies were drugged with opium to keep them silent when the enemy was nearby, and some babies did not make it. It was their mental and physical resilience that helped them to reach the river and to cross it into Thailand to gain their freedom. (Background Information)
- Resilience is the ability to get through an incredibly hard time and keep going.
- Quick Check-In: What is one example of how the Hmong showed resilience?
- The Hmong had to hide, travel at night, and look out for each other in the jungle to reach safety across the Mekong River.
Chunk: Resistance and Power
Transition from history to community, by introducing the clan system and political representation. Explain how Minnesota is home to over 90,000 Hmong immigrants, with St. Paul being the largest urban concentration in the US.
Cultural strength
- Explain how the clan system is a strength for the Hmong. Explain what a clan is and how it functions.
- Clans acted as a resistance to poverty.
- They allowed families to help each other in times of need.
- Clans often pooled their money to help each other, especially during celebrations like weddings and hardships like funerals.
- Connection to Resistance: Explain to the students that resistance doesn’t always mean fighting, and can also mean organizing to make sure your people or community have a voice and receive fair treatment.
Politics
- For a long time, the Hmong community in MN did not have anyone in city or state government who understood their history or culture. Hmong lacked political representation until Mee Moua came along in 2002. Mee Moua was the first elected Hmong state senator.
- Not only did she use her voice to make sure Hmong were heard, she also opened the door for Foung Hawj and others to follow, attracting Hmong Americans to participate in politics.
Chew: Bo Thao-Urabe’s Story
- Watch the “Bo Thao-Urabe” video from Green Card Entrepreneur Voices.
Group Task
- Watch: Watch the video together.
- Discuss: How can Bo’s narrative of her Hmong American identity be seen as something to celebrate? What inspired Bo to want to help others? How did Bo first become an entrepreneur, and what were some of her challenges?
- Analyze Resilience: How did Bo’s resilience allow her to become a successful entrepreneur? How did she challenge the system?
Chew: Gallery Walk
Let’s do a gallery walk to analyze some examples of how Hmong Americans have persevered. There are four topics that show how Hmong have dealt with resilience and resistance, by using their voice and demanding changes.
Create handouts for each of the topics below, and have students work in groups as they rotate around to read and fill out the worksheet for each case study topic. At the end, have students answer the reflection questions.
Fight for Hmong Veterans’ Benefits (Kare11, Sahan Journal)
- System: Even though Hmong soldiers were recruited by the CIA, they were never officially recognized as US Army soldiers and were denied military benefits.
- Resistance: Hmong veterans participated in decades of lobbying, protests in DC, and intentional wearing of military uniforms to public events to increase visibility of Hmong participation in the Secret War.
- Change: Although Hmong soldiers are still denied the benefits given to American soldiers, Congress passed the Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000, making it easier for Hmong veterans to gain US citizenship. In 2026, MN became the first state to pass a bill to grant veteran status to Hmong soldiers who fought during the Secret War in Laos.
Hmong American Day (Pioneer Press, NBC Bay Area)
- System: Hmong have resettled in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin since 1975. However, many did not see themselves reflected in the school curriculum or represented elsewhere. Also, many Americans still did not know the Hmong’s identity and history, and many still questioned why the Hmong were here.
- Resistance: Hmong advocated for themselves and spoke up. Hmong began to tell their stories and shared their culture with special events and celebrations, such as observing the Hmong New Year and hosting large sports tournaments.
- Change: In 2013, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton officially proclaimed May 14 as Hmong American Day; other states also followed. The day would serve to honor Hmong history, culture, and contributions to the US, acknowledging the sacrifices the Hmong have made, educating the public about the Hmong, and celebrating the resilience and achievements of the Hmong community.
Educational Resistance (Hmong American Charter Schools, HCPA)
- System: An English-only education system led to high dropout rates for Hmong in the 1990s, and there was a lack of Hmong representation or culture presented in the schools. Hmong wished for their language and culture to be taught in schools.
- Resistance: Hmong parents and leaders organized and created several Hmong charter schools that would focus on Hmong language and culture, employ Hmong staff, and serve Hmong food for lunch.
- Change: Minnesota is a hub for Hmong charter schools, such as Hope Community Academy, Hmong College Prep Academy, Noble Academy, and New Millennium, along with Hmong language instruction. Saint Paul Public Schools was the first district in the state to create a Hmong dual-language immersion program.
Hmong Politicians (MinnPost, MPR, Pioneer Press)
- System: Politicians often did not care about Asian constituents, especially Hmong, due to their perceived lack of understanding and involvement in politics.
- Resistance: Hmong leaders understood that to be heard, they needed a seat at the table. Slowly, Hmong leaders began running for office, starting with the school board and state office.
- Change: Hmong leaders in the Twin Cities have learned how to successfully run grassroots programs and campaigns. Many Hmong officials throughout California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have been elected as city council members, state representatives, state senators, and even mayors (Kaohly Her, Jay Xiong, Fue Lee, Samantha Vang, Nelsie Yang, etc.).
Reflection/Discussion Questions
- What connections or patterns do you notice with these four topics and the current experiences of Hmong Americans?
- Do you think Hmong American Day is important? Why or why not?
- How has the creation of Hmong charter schools affected the public schools in the Twin Cities area?
- Why do you think so many Hmong individuals became involved in politics?
- How have these four topics impacted the Hmong community?
- What can we celebrate or critique about these four topics?
Review: Exit Ticket
Have students fill in the blank to answer this question prompt: “The Hmong community united together and drew on their strength of ______________________ to challenge ____________________, and created a lasting change by _____________________.”
Multilingual and ELL Support
Provide sentence stems for reflection questions:
- I noticed that . . .
- I think / I believe Hmong American Day is important / not important because . . .
- I think many Hmong became interested/involved in politics because . . .
- We can celebrate / critique _______________ because . . .
Vocabulary and Definitions
- System: the organized way of doing something based on the way it was set up and meant to work
- Resilience: the ability to bounce back after a tough experience or time
- Clan system: a large extended family connected by both a shared last name and shared ancestors
- Change: the process of something becoming different than what it was before
- Politician: a person elected to help run a government and make decisions for the city, state, or country
- Entrepreneur: a person who starts their own business or projects to help solve a problem or provide goods or services
Resource List
- River Crossing Paj Ntaub www.lchshistory.org/hmong-story-cloths
- Green Card Entrepreneur Voices – Bo Thao-Urabe’s story and video
- Background Information on The Secret War, Chippewa Valley Museum-Hmong in Eau Claire Secret War, www.cvmuseum.com/explore/the-secret-war
- The CIA, the Hmong and Secret War www.mnvietnam.org/story/the-cia-the-hmong-and-the-secret-war/index.html
- Clan System https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/ethno-med/hmong/hmong-american/introduction/family.html
- Hmong Politicians
- Educational Resistance
- Hmong American Charter Schools https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1195&context=jsaaea
- HCPA www.hcpak12.org/aboutus/district-history/hcpa-history
- Hmong American Day
- Fight for Hmong Veterans’ Benefits
- Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Values and Principles (7 Cs) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cGOs7rsY9wT2qI-yIQh5dye8snRjGYxr/view
Unit 1: Identity and Language – Hmong Identity and Language
Time Frame
- 1–2 class periods
Materials
- Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a St. Paul High School – Iya Xiong’s story and video
- Paj ntaub images – pick one
Connections to the 7 Cs of Ethnic Studies
- Cultivate: learning about the Hmong history, people, and language to provide opportunities for identity affirmation and healing
- Celebrate: using Hmong counter-stories and community narratives through storytelling
Instruction (ICCR)
Ignite: Language or Visual
Option A: Language
Write on the board:
Nyob zoo. Kuv lub npe hu ua . . .
(Hello. My name is . . .)
Ask students if anyone recognizes the language or can read it. Call on a few to guess or read it out loud. Ask students to raise their hands if they speak a language other than English at home.
Turn and Talk
Imagine if you were to move to a new country where no one speaks, reads, or understands your language. How would you tell them who you are? How would you tell your story?
- Ask a few students to share out loud with the class.
Option B: Visual
Show an image of an older traditional paj ntaub clothing piece.
Ask students to discuss what language or words the designs may convey. Explain that the Hmong believe that their original language was widely written or sewn onto Hmong clothes and paj ntaub as a secret message to warn others of threats and danger. However, over a period of time, the language was lost; all that is left now are symbols and designs.
Chunk: Oral Tradition
Introduce the Hmong people as an ethnic group from China with a rich culture, who migrated throughout Southeast Asia and eventually migrated to the United States due to their involvement with the CIA in during the Secret War in Laos. Today, Hmong live throughout the United States, with the biggest populations in California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and the Twin Cities as home to the largest concentration of Hmong. The Hmong identity has been shaped by a fight to retain their language and culture.
Explain that for centuries, the Hmong were primarily an oral culture. The Hmong had no written history due to Chinese persecution. They fled from China into South China before migrating to Southeast Asia, and along the way, they lost their written language.
However, oral tradition has been the primary method of instructing and passing along Hmong history, values, beliefs, cultural knowledge, and stories. Hmong have been able to pass along their rich culture and history through storytelling and oral stories. Stories share life lessons, glimpses of the world, and a sense of identity and community. Storytelling was also the main method of record-keeping of ancestral origins, migration patterns, and life experiences, including major wars and conflicts.
Chunk: Hmong RPA
- Explain Hmong RPA (Romanized Popular Alphabet), the most common Hmong writing system today. It was developed in the 1950s by Western missionaries and Hmong advisors in Laos: Txiv Plig Nyiaj Pov (Father Yves Bertrais), Dr. Smalley, and Dr. Barney, along with some local Hmong villagers.
Turn and Talk
How does it influence identity when a foreign power helps structure your written language?
- Ask a few students to share out loud.
Chunk: Hmong Language and Tones
- Briefly explain that Hmong is a tonal language with eight tones. The final letter in a written Hmong word is usually not pronounced; it indicates the tone or vocal pitch, and each word has its own meaning.
- Hmong words are mostly monosyllabic and short. Each word consists of a consonant, a vowel, and a tone.
- Consonants can range from one to a blend of four. Vowels are either single or double, and tones are always single.
Turn and Talk
How does one pass on their oral tradition or history if they don’t know the language?
- Ask a few students to share out loud.
Chew: Iya Xiong’s Story and Analysis
- Provide an excerpt from “Iya Xiong” from Green Card Voices: St. Paul, from the top of page 3 to page 4 (see below, starting with the first full paragraph).
- Have students read the passage of Iya’s experience in America.
Group Task
- Read: Read the excerpt together.
- Discuss: How did Iya’s story help to preserve her identity? How was she able to assimilate into the American culture?
- Analyze Identity: How does the author maintain and celebrate her Hmong identity despite writing in English?
Guided Questions for Class Discussion
- In the text, how was language a bridge or a barrier?
- How did Iya show that she belonged and affirm her Hmong identity?
- Compare and contrast Iya’s narrative to yours. How can we celebrate or appreciate the differences?
- With over 90,000 Hmong people in Minnesota, why do you think Hmong history is often left out of standard American history textbooks?
- How is language important to the Hmong identity? Can one truly be Hmong without knowing the Hmong language? Why or why not?
Review: 3-2-1 Exit Ticket
On a slip of paper (regular notebook paper or sticky notes) or a digital form, students must write and turn in:
- Three specific facts they learned about Hmong history or the language
- Two ways that language and culture influence Hmong identity
- One question they still have about the relationship between language and identity
Multilingual and ELL Support
- Provide sentence stems for class discussion and discourse.
- In the text, how was language a bridge or a barrier?
- Language was a bridge because . . .
- Language was a barrier because . . .
- How did Iya show that she belonged and affirm her Hmong identity?
- Iya felt she belonged because . . .
- Iya felt she could be herself more because she could . . .
- Compare and contrast Iya’s narrative to yours. How can we celebrate or appreciate the differences?
- Iya and my experiences are similar in that . . .
- Iya and my experiences are different in that . . .
- With over 90,000 Hmong people in Minnesota, why do you think Hmong history is often left out of standard American history textbooks?
- I think Hmong history is left out because . . .
- How is language important to the Hmong identity? Can one truly be Hmong without knowing the Hmong language? Why or why not?
- Hmong is important because . . .
- One can/cannot truly be Hmong without the Hmong language because . . .
Vocabulary and Definitions
- Diaspora: the spreading of a group of people from their original home to other countries
- Paj ntaub: traditional Hmong art that is made by stitching a needle onto a fabric cloth
- Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA): the Hmong reading and writing system that uses the same letters found in English
- Oral tradition: the practice of passing down Hmong history, culture, and language by telling stories rather than writing
- Assimilation: the process of fitting into a new culture
Resource List
- Paj ntaub images – pick one
- Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a St. Paul High School – Iya Xiong’s story and video
- What is Hmong Oral Tradition? https://www.mochimag.com/arts-culture/hmong-oral-tradition/
- What is Hmong RPA? https://www.hmongrpa.org/
- Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Values and Principles (7 Cs) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cGOs7rsY9wT2qI-yIQh5dye8snRjGYxr/view