Learning activities

Starter activities

Starter activity Sa (Links to any Main activity)

Where have you been recently (over the last week, half term and so on)? How did you get there? How long did it take? Teacher could record this on a chart or point out locations on their own maps. Compare journeys, for example local, regional, national and worldwide.

Starter activity Sb (Links to any Main activity)

Thought shower different types of transport. When would you use each type (make links to distance travelled)?

Starter activity Sc (Links to any Main activity)

Show local map - teacher will need to source this. Where do your parents work? How long does it take them to get to work? Where do different members of your family live? Discuss distance, for example Brighton to Worthing is 13 miles and takes approximately 30 minutes by car. What would happen if there were no cars?

Main activities

Main activity Ma (Links to any Starter activity, and Pb)

Look at Sources 1 to 6. Source 6 to be used by more able or older children. Briefly discuss and list features. Children to write their own diary entry. Imagine that they are going to make a journey using one of the modes of transport shown. What is the journey for? How are they planning to get there? What are the conditions like, for example time, road and feelings? Lower ability children could record their diaries onto tape with their own sound effects; more able children to be encouraged to write their diaries using the style and linguistic devices that they have seen in Richard Turner's diaries.

Main activity Mb (Links to any Starter activity, and Pa)

Using Sources 5 and 6, complete a table that compares types of transport and travel times between modern and Victorian transport (see children's activity sheet Mb).

Main activity Mc (Links to any Starter activity, and Pc)

Using sources 1 to 6, complete Children's Activity Sheet Mc (could be individually, paired or online).

Plenary activities

Plenary activity Pa (Links to Sa and any Main activity)

Whole class discussion - How have the changes in transport affected people's lives? How have the changes in transport affected the local and global environment? Refer back to the chart made at the start of the lesson.

Plenary activity Pb (Links to Ma)

Children to share their diaries. Which are good? Why? How else is Victorian transport different apart from length of journeys?

Plenary activity Pc (Links all Main activities)

Children to make a mind map of what they now know. Could be decorated if time allows.

The coming of the railways is covered in Transport: Activity 3 - Coaches and trains, however, it could be interesting to mention here that in 1825, 10 years before Richard was writing his diaries, the first steam-powered passenger train service began (Stephenson's Stockton to Darlington line). In the 15 years after the diaries were written, this new form of transport completely changed the way people travelled as railway lines were built all across the country.