Hijab (Veil) in Pre- and Post-Revolutionary Iran

1. Hijab (Veil) in Pre- and Post-Revolutionary Iran Iranian women after the Revolution Iranian women in 1979, just before the Islamic revolution

2. Description of the Target Students • Heritage learners of Persian are mainly second-generation Iranians (and sometimes Afghan heritage) who were mostly born and raised in the U.S., with a smaller group who were born in Iran or Afghanistan, but left the country at a young age with some who have gone to school in Iran or Afghanistan for a few years. • These university level learners have been exposed to the heritage language through speaking with parents and relatives, attending cultural events such as Nowruz celebration, watching Persian satellite TV, listening to music and few may have visited Iran or Afghanistan. This group of learners include sequential as well as simultaneous bilinguals.

3. Assessment CriteriaACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and Standards • Proficiency Level: Advanced • Students can narrate and describe in major time frames and deal effectively with unanticipated complication. • Standards: Students demonstrate understanding of the target Culture through the 5C’s: Community, Comparison, Culture, Communication, Connections

4. Goals and Objectives • Content Objective: • Students will gain a deeper understanding of the different styles and types of hijab and its intended value. • Language Objectives: • Students will practice using new vocabulary to describe their understanding of the theme of hijab, convey their perspective through engaging in discussion and analysis of the theme. • Students will be exposed to, and practice complex sentences using subjunctive mood and relative clauses • Students develop critical thinking skills • Cultural Objectives: • Students develop cultural awareness/social awareness regarding pre- and post-Iranian Revolution

5. Materials used: • News clips, video clips, texts, images, and interviews • Differentiated Instruction Strategies • Centers • Students explore historic events of the pre- and post-revolutionary era regarding Hijab using internet sources as they prepare for their presentation. • Exit Cards • Students reflect on their learning by providing two exit cards at the end of Day 1 and Day 3, responding to two prompts: a) describing an “Aha!” moment of the day’s lesson, and b) an unclear question, or how they can relate their learning to everyday life. • Vocabulary Rubrics Students strategize about their grasp of the unit vocabulary by completing a chart provided by the teacher, which includes items such as: vocabulary that I can use, but did not know how to write; vocabulary that I can use correctly when speaking and writing; writing two or three words that have the same root • Text-to-self-connection Students pick out something of interest to them regarding the topic of hijab from one of the readings, news or video clips and write a reaction paragraph to it with the following prompts: I agree or disagree because….. I find this interesting because….

6. Day 1 • Preview: Students will be provided with handouts containing a set of images of women in different types of hijab, and asked to examine and express their impressions and discuss what they see, what they know (eliciting background knowledge about the images). • They are then asked to discuss among themselves and answer the following questions: • 1. What do you think about these photos? What are your impressions? • 2. What is the women’s dress code in Iran? • 3. Can you identify the different forms of hijab, “without hijab,” “bad hijab,” and “with hijab?” What do these different forms mean for the Iranian women? • Students report to class.

7. روسری مانتو و شلوار مقنعه چادر

9. Examples of Hijab Related Vocabulary • حجاب • چادر • مقنعه • روسری • با حجاب • بی حجاب • بد حجاب • پوشش اسلامی • .........

10. Task • Students view a short clip about an Iranian swimmer ElhamAsghari, whose record has been held hostage over 'un-Islamic attire.’ • http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/05/iranian-swimmer-elham-asghari • Students then read a text of recent news about the same swimmer. • They come up with the main idea of the short clip and the reading passage. • Students will be provided with a handout which includes a series of questions for discussion. Students first discuss among themselves, then as a whole class. • ElhamAsghari

11. Day 2 • Students look at images of Iranian women in pre-revolutionary era and compare them with the images of their handouts from yesterday that contained post-revolutionary hijab. • In groups, L2 learners are asked to speak about the differences/similarities they observe in the images, while HLLs write down the ideas expressed by the L2 learners. • Groups share their ideas with the class.

12. Iranian women’s demonstration immediately after the revolution

13. Task • Students watch a short clip of an early post-revolutionary demonstration by women opposing “observing the hijab,” followed by listening to a recent news clip of a demonstration against “bad hijab” women in Iran today. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybrxS0PlmqE • Students are asked to identify similarities and differences between the above clips, as well as the clips they watched the previous day. • They discuss in groups and then report to class.

14. Day 3 • Students are made aware of Women's Awakening  movement enforced by Reza Shah Pahlavi (1936–1941), which sought to eliminate the veiling. • Students compare and contrast enforcement of Hijab policy pre- and post-Islamic Revolution. • Students practice identifying opposing views via listening and reading.

15. Women’s attire before and after the Awakening Movement

16. Task • Students read a passage about Women’s Awakening movement of 1936 and underline opposing views. • Students listen to audio recordings of two elderly women who experienced the Women's Awakening  movement. Then they complete a chart indicating the similarities and differences they hear in the recordings. • Students will be provided with a handout, which includes a series of images of post-revolutionary hijab enforcement in one column, and short news reports in another column. They are then asked to match each image with the appropriate text from the second column, followed by another matching of related news reports. Students are asked to provide reasons for their choices.

17. Post-revolutionary newspaper Articles regarding observing the Hijab

18. Task • Students are asked to compare and contrast Women’s Awakening movement in Iran with women’s emancipation in the US. • Students are given a real time dictation based on the Women’s Awakening movement passage worked on earlier in class. • Homework • Students interview their parents, relatives, friends and the community. • They call grandparents, relatives in Iran (if possible) • They search the internet for related news clips and information • They prepare a Prezi/Powerpoint presentation

19. End of the unit project • Students will research the topic of hijab, and its different types and stylesin modern day Iran. In addition, they will interview family members, relatives, the community, in the US, and in Iran via Skype, telephone (if possible). • They will present their work in a Prezi/Powerpointpresentation. Students will be provided with guidelines on how to prepare their Prezi/Powerpoint presentation, as well as rubrics for assessment. • Each student presents for 10 minutes. • Students are provided with peer-evaluation forms, which they complete as presentations are presented.

20. Task • Students listen to a news report and fill in the blanks in a passage using words from the word bank. • They listen to another report and use words from the word bank to replace the underlined words in the passage.