Learning activities
Starter activities
Starter activity Sa (Links to any main activity)
List on the board the places that the children go to
be entertained, for example cinema, theatre and so on. How
many of these do the children think would have been entertainment
for a Victorian child?
Starter activity Sb (Links to
Ma or Md)
Look at a local newspaper and ask the
children to work out what people do to be entertained, for
example Adverts for restaurants, theatre, concerts, bingo, and
so on.
Starter activity Sc (Links to Mb and Mc)
Listen to Source 3b, and children to look at Sources 2 and 3a,
the poster and the newspaper advertisement. What information can
the children gather from these sources? What language are they not
familiar with? Discuss. How is this different from what they would
see in a newspaper today? Teacher could select and share modern
local examples with the children.
Main activities
Main activity Ma (Links to Sa or Sb)
Study the sources about Victorian attractions. Write a version
of 'What is on in our local town?' in Victorian times. Children
could complete this as a newspaper article.
Main activity Mb (Links to Sa and Sc)
Webquest - Children to research and find out the meanings of the
language used in Sources 2 and 3a, the poster and the newspaper
advertisement. Children then to design their own poster. This would
be an ideal activity to complete on the computer.
Main activity Mc (Links to Sa and Sc)
Children to have a copy of Source 3a, the newspaper
advertisement (see Children's Activity Sheet Mc). Children to
annotate around the edges of the advertisement what they can see.
Can they identify what the entertainment was? Children to adapt the
language of the advertisement to be more modern/easily
understood.
Main activity Md (Links to Sa and Sb)
Children to complete a mind map with as much information as they
can think of about Victorian versus modern entertainment. Decorate
with pictures, colours, and such like.
Plenary activities
Plenary activity Pa (Links to any main
activity)
What are the reasons for the differences between Victorian and
modern entertainment? Discuss. How would you have felt as a
Victorian attending an entertainment event? Teachers to try to get
the children to empathise with the Victorians' awe at the 'newness'
of the entertainment, for example seeing moving slides or
an elephant for the first time.
Plenary activity Pb (Links to Ma, Mb and
Mc)
Look at the children's newspapers/posters. Is it a successful
Victorian poster? Is the language appropriate?