Filipino American History Part I

This lesson falls under our homeschool curriculum on Asian American History. We recommend that this lesson be taught after the sub-curriculum on Latin American History.

1. Internet Access – Pull up the following:

1. World Map

2. Pictures of St. Malo village

2. St. Malo Wharf Coloring Worksheet

3. Picture Frame Worksheet

4. Crayons

5. Pencil

1. Teacher: Get ready, because today we are going to the Philippines to study one of the first Asian Americans to come to the United States – the Filipino American people. The Filipino American people came from the country called the Philippines, here [point to the Philippines on the World Map – click anywhere in the map and drag right until you see the Philippines (island nation), located to the lower right of China].

2. Teacher: So, are you ready to learn about one of the first Asian Americans people to come to the United States?” [Get positive response from Student and begin lesson].

1. Teacher: Now, like I said before, one of the very first Asian people to come to the United States are the Filipinos from a country called the “Philippines”. These people came to the United States a long long time ago, even before I was born and before grandma was born and even before grandma’s grandma was born and before we had cars and airplanes! And do you know how they got here? [Have the Student guess how the Filipinos got to the United States by looking at the map and help her think about methods of travel back in those days]. Note: One of the first Asians to reach North America was the Filipinos, who traveled by ship with the Spanish to land in Louisiana in the early 1760’s.

2. Teacher: [Pointing to Louisiana on the World Map] Actually, the Filipinos came to North America and made their own village and named it “St. Malo” – it’s in Louisiana, one of our 50 states. Actually, the Filipinos came to North America so long ago that the state of “Louisiana” wasn’t even created!

3. Teacher: [Showing the picture of a St. Malo village – scroll down to see pictures] This is a real drawing of what St. Malo looked like back then. The Filipinos lived in St. Malo, which was in the middle of a swamp. A swamp is a piece of land that is covered partly by water. Why do you think the Filipinos made their houses on stilts? [Engage in conversation with the Student, but ultimately arrive at the fact that the houses needed to be above the water to keep dry].

4. Teacher: The houses were made of wood, but since the houses were in the swamp, where very small animals called algae lived (algae love to live in swampy areas), the entire village looked green – green swamp water, green mud, and green houses.

5. Teacher: And what kind of food do you think the Filipinos ate? [Engage the Student in conversation but let her figure out that that because there was water everywhere, the main type of food was fish and other animals from the water such as shrimp].

6. Teacher: [Giving the Student the St. Malo Coloring Worksheet] So now, you’re going to make St. Malo come to life! I’m giving you a picture of a house in St. Malo. Using crayons, can you color St. Malo? [Give the Student 10 minutes to color].

7. Teacher: Great work! It looks just like the real St. Malo village!

8. Teacher: Now, the Filipino men were usually cinnamon-yellow in color because it was very very hot down there in St. Malo and the sun really made the men’s’ skin tan. In fact, most of them wore hats. Also, since they spent most of their time fishing, they usually had fishing rods in their hands. Can you imagine how these men fished? [Engage conversation with the Student, but remind her that since there was water everywhere, fishing was done in boats].

9. Teacher: Great job! It seems like you know how it was in St. Malo!

10. Teacher: [Giving the Student the picture frame worksheet] Now, you’re going to get to draw and color what a Filipino man looked like in St. Malo – remember, the men were cinnamon-yellow and wore hats. Also, they had fishing poles. Finally, next to the man, you’re going to draw and color a fish that the man has caught with this fishing pole. [Have the Student complete the exercise].

11. Teacher: Great job! That really looks like a Filipino man in St. Malo! Now, on the first line under the picture, give your Filipino man a name.

12. Teacher: Now, I said earlier that the Filipinos ate fish. Do you know how they ate the fish once they caught it? Since it was hard to make a fire in their village, most of the fish were eaten raw with some oil and vinegar. If you cannot cook your food, what else can you do to it before you eat it? For example, today we can go to our kitchen and fry our food or bake it in the oven. We can also steam our food over the stove. [Provide definitions of each type of cooking method to the Student as this is explained to the Student].

13. Teacher: So, I gave you some examples of how food is prepared today, what ways do you think food was prepared when you can’t use fire to cook it? [After some discussion mention that although one way to prepare food is to eat it raw (with seasoning), also mention that the other way to prepare food without cooking it is to dry the food by laying it out in the sun].

14. Teacher: That’s right, the sun is used as the fire when fire was hard to make (because of the swamp conditions).

15. Teacher: And the Filipinos were especially good at using the sun to cook food. In fact, cooking shrimp by drying it was something that the Filipinos taught the Americans how to do. Even today, in Louisiana, making dried shrimp by laying it out in the sun is a big part of how some people live, and the Filipinos were the first ones to teach Americans how to do it!

16. Teacher: Ok – time for review, stand up and get in front of the class (consider inviting other members of the family also to set the stage). [Ask Student the following:

1. Who was one of the first Asians to come to North America? Filipinos

2. How did they get to North America? In ships

3. What village did the Filipinos live? St. Malo

4. What kind of food did the Filipinos eat? Fish (and other water animals)

5. What did the Filipinos show the Americans to do? Dry shrimp.

Next Week's Lesson: Filipino Americans - Part II >>