PARENTS AND TEENS: WELCOME TO MY WORLD

PROGRAMME 6: ANTON AND ANDREW

ACTIVITIES

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Guidance

The programme can be used as the focus of a stand-alone lesson. These activities support a variety of individual, paired and group work and can be chosen and adapted to suit the needs of the students involved.

For further information, websites and other resources, see Find out more.

Teachers may want to refer to information on the DfES's Teachernet website about handling controversial issues:
www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/
tacklingbullying/racistbullying/preventing/controversialissues/

Group agreement

If you haven't already done so, consider undertaking the Group agreement activity from Programme 1 to help to establish a safe environment for young people to engage with potentially sensitive issues.

Before viewing

The Background information on communication skills will help to identify the areas where this family is failing to communicate effectively.

Before the Understanding the influences of the past activity, read the introductory Background material about the Vietnam War, and visit some of the websites in Find out more.

Programme-related activities

Understanding the influences of the past
Clip 1: 10:43 – 12:26

• In: (Narrator) 'Andrew's experiences as a teenager had a profound effect on him, but he's never told Anton the story of him fleeing the war in Vietnam.'
• Out: (Anton) 'He wants me to follow his way of life, which I don't wanna.'

Do some research into the experiences of the boat people and prisoners of war during the Vietnamese War and list five facts that you discover. How do you think having such an experience might have affected Andrew's attitudes towards work and family? He says he hasn't told Anton everything, because he's too young to listen. Do you agree with this attitude?

What are the arguments for and against an adult who's had a troubled childhood sharing their experiences with their own children? Does anyone in your family have difficult things in their past that you know about? Have they ever talked about their experiences? If so, did you find that this helped you to understand them?

Living in a different culture
Andrew has done a good job of building a successful life in the UK, but he is still very strongly aware of his native culture and thinks of himself and his family as Vietnamese rather than British.

Drawing on your own experience, or that of other class members, or stories in the press and on television, identify and discuss some of the problems that children of immigrant parents might experience in the case of a conflict between their parents' native culture and the one in which they have grown up. Is it always possible to resolve these differences?

How alike are you?
Although at first Anton and Andrew might not seem to be alike and have different attitudes to the world, some aspects of their personalities are very similar. For instance, they have both shown determination, Andrew in his work to overcome his past and succeed in business and Anton in his single-minded pursuit of a career in dance.

Download two copies of the chart:
PDF, 20KB
Word file, 22KB

Think of three different personality traits that Andrew and Anton both show, and give an example from the film for each one. Is there someone in your own family with whom you share some personality characteristics? On the second table, insert your name and that of your family member and write down examples of the characteristics you share.

What are the no-go areas?
Anton complains that his dad will only talk about school and won't discuss relationships and girlfriends. Why do you think that is? How easy do people in your discussion group find it to discuss their personal lives with their parents? How important is it to discuss these things with parents?

Andrew says that he has never tried to be close to Anton, because that would undermine his role as a father. Do you agree with his attitude? Do you think it's possible for a parent to keep some authority in the family and have a close and openly loving relationship with his or her children at the same time?

After watching the film
What did you think of Andrew and Anton's reactions to the film? Did they understand each other better as a result of watching? What do you think will change in the family as a result of seeing the film?