Preparing for your visit
Ready to plan a visit to a local Chinatown or Vancouver’s Chinatown? Students could prepare in advance by researching different landmarks or vignettes in the mural.
Share some images, videos, and links from our supplementary resource folder to get your group thinking about the mural’s stories.
Discussion Topics
During the excursion, consider engaging youth of all ages with these thought provoking questions:
- How are history, place and identity connected?
- What other murals do you see in Chinatown? How is the women’s mural similar or different to other murals in the neighbourhood?
- What is the significance of having the mural in Chinatown?
On-site Field Trip Activities
Have the students provide their own self-guided tour. Small groups of students could each offer a brief presentation of a landmark and/or scene in the mural to the rest of the group. The presenters could engage the group with an interactive task such as making connections, looking for clues, or making inferences about symbols or architectural features. Considerations for creating an informative and engaging tour could include:
Significance: Students explain the historical significance of the landmark or (people in) the scene (how notable were they at the time; in what ways are they insightful or revealing; how they helped shape Vancouver’s Chinatown and the history of the Chinese Canadian community?)
Evidence and interpretation: Students rely on accurate and reliable evidence (avoiding prejudiced or unfounded sources); make inferences and draw conclusions by corroborating and interpreting secondary and primary sources.
Perspective: Students provide insightful historical context to help classmates to better understand the significance of the landmark or people.
Intergenerational or historical consciousness: Students offer their classmates the opportunity to develop their historical consciousness by inviting them to connect the past with the present or future.