Teachers' notes for 'Did poor children go on holiday in the past?'

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Teachers' notes for 'Did poor children go on holiday in the past?'

The teaching and learning activities below were developed by Susan Billington and her pupils from Inglehurst Junior School in New Parks, Leicester. The film clips used are part of the film archive housed at the Media Archive for Central England (MACE), based at the University of Leicester.

Clicking on the links in each activity will connect you directly to the relevant clips on the MACE website.

Activities are designed to support the teaching of History, Citizenship and Literacy at Key Stage 2.

Activity 1 - Questioning

Here we go!

Click here to watch Clip 1 on your interactive whiteboard or digital projector, pausing the film to allow pupils to consider the following questions:

Where are the children arriving? Why are they all together?
When was this film made? How can you tell?
How do you think the children are feeling?
Who do you think the adults are?
Where are they going?

Pupils can record their answers here Activity 1 - Answer grid (28 kb) .

Activity 2 - Lights! Camera! Action!

Breakfast

Click here to watch clip 2 as a class. In smaller groups or indivdually, ask pupils to complete one of the following activities:

Design a modern or 'old-fashioned' poster advertising children's trips to the seaside at Mablethorpe
Write and present a commentary for the film clip pretending to be a documentary filmmaker or news reporter
Create a storyboard for a film of their last holiday

Pupil's designing a poster could use these sites to help them: Old photos and postcards of Skegness and Mablethorpe; Mablethorpe; Old Railway Posters

Activity 3 - Boys and Girls

Boys will be boys?

Click here to watch clip 3. Ask the pupils to think carefully about:

the differences between the film of the Boys' and the Girls' homes
the activities the boys and girls were shown doing
what differences still exist between boys and girls at school and at home

As an extension activity, consider asking your pupils to debate if girls and boys should be treated the same.