INDEPENDENCE DAY

This is Thomas´ slideshow on "Independence Day":

Activities - Diamond Jubilee

Hi everybody!

During the last session of the course on Wednesday 6 June, we ran a series of mini brainstorms inspired by slides 5-8 of my Diamond Jubilee slide show. Some of the ideas were directly related to the Monarchy, Royal Family and ongoing Jubilee celebration, whilst others were freer variations on the theme. All contributions were of course more than welcome.

Sorry to have taken so long to upload them, but here they are finally. Better late than never...I hope you get a chance to use them and enjoy them with your classes. I certainly enjoyed reading them and have added a couple of my own.

Don't forget the time capsule idea. See http://www.jubileetimecapsule.org/

STREET PARTIES (Slide 5)

• British end of year party - bring sweets, crisps, soft drinks, bake a cake with parents;
• Organise a parade - stalls, decorations, special clothes, food, dancing, maybe bring a favourite English song;
• Prepare the classroom for a visit by the Queen with information on our customs – decorate with flags, bunting etc.;
• Create and explain recipes; provide a list of necessary ingredients
• Prepare typical English/British dishes;
• Party Organisers - everything you need to organise a street party – food, drink, music, tables, list of guests;
• A competition of some kind – maybe a quiz on knowledge of British customs or the Royal Family?

HISTORY / GEOGRAPHY (Slide 6)

historypin.com  

• Choose 15 -20 photos, show them to the students and get them to order chronologically;
• Vote for the best Queen/King;
• Study the Royal Family history, perhaps a family tree;
• The Queen’s biography: a simple PowerPoint with photos and texts selected by students;
• School trips: students compile a history of all the places they have visited through their secondary education with photos and comments.

CHARITIES – THE DIAMOND JUBILEE TRUST (Slide 7)

http://www.jubileetribute.org/the-trust/

• Organise a charity race to help “Save the Children”. A student may have as many sponsors as they wish and they pay 1 euro per km;
• In groups, students choose one charity and brainstorm ways of helping it;
• Choose a charity and collect money, food or clothes to send to them;
• Charities debate: the school or class collects money, for example by selling crafts or doping sponsored races. Now the students must have a debate and decide which charity this money should go to.
• Think of one cause which is not part of the Jubilee Trust and propose why it should be included;
• Design an awareness-raising campaign with simple pictures and texts, encouraging people to help one of the charities;
• Collect books and school material for poor countries – perhaps write a letter to the children explaining why we think this material may be useful or fun for them;

Culture and Heritage

• Students have to compare their way of living (including gadgets, tools, games…) and that of their grandparents ;
• Interview grandparents about their life as teenagers and report to the class in English about their findings; ideally they should write questions and carry out the interview in English, so perhaps interviewees could be any adults that speak English.

THE COMMONWEALTH (Slide 8)

• Students can prepare web quests with tasks about Commonwealth countries;
• Look for info on Commonwealth countries on the Internet, draw a map, colour in the countries and name them, also perhaps collect information abut their population, capital cities, geographical features etc.
• Ask students about countries which could be included in a Spanish Commonwealth!
• Look at a blank map and mark the countries which belong to the Commonwealth (could add a competition element here – set a time limit etc.)
• Find out as much as you can about a given country – individually or as a class project;
• Give students a cut out of the 15 realms and a map and get them to stick countries in the correct place.

QUEEN´S DIAMOND JUBILEE

This is Neda´s slideshow on Queen´s Diamond Jubilee and Trooping the colour celebrations:

Activities Diamond Jubilee, brainstorming ideas from participants.

Is there really cause to celebrate?

Here is an article which takes a different stand on the Jubilee Celebrations.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Hi everyone,

This is the "central weekend"of the Jubilee celebrations with a lot going on everywhere. This article from the guardian (it's my preferred newspaper, as you have probably guessed) has a summary of activities going on these days, and for those who are not royalist, myself included, there are some ways to escape the madness!

Also, here you can read some thoughts on growing up during the reign of Queen Elizabet II by a few well-known writers who were all born in 1952 (the year she ascended to the throne).

See you on Wednesday!

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