- Summary
- Teachers' notes
- Support files
- Archive items
Teachers' notes for 'What can film tell us about holidays 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.
Suggested activity 1 - Questioning
With the sound turned down, click here to watch the first clip. Ask pupils to consider the following questions:
- What was the postman delivering?
- Why might someone be signing for the letter?
- Why is everyone excited?
Watch the clip again with the sound turned up and discuss the pupils' answers and reasons.
Suggested activity 2 - Mind mapping
Click here to watch Clip 2 as a class. In small groups, ask pupils to imagine they are in Skegness and produce a 'senses' mind map:
- what and who they can see, near and far
- what sounds they can hear and what they can smell
- what colours there are around them
- how they feel
Following the group-work, ceate a class senses mind map using the 'no hands' rule.
Suggested activity 3 - Hotseating
Pupils or teachers can pretend to be one of the people in the clips - get the class to ask questions about the holiday and what skegness was like to visit. Using the senses mind map, film clips and the archive items, ask pupils to:
- write a postcard to their friends or families imagining they are in Skegness in 1964 and / or
- draw one of the characters from the clips and use speech bubbles to to show what they are saying and / or
- write a short story about what type of holiday their family might have if all expenses were paid
