Teaching WWI

[Jonathan Saunders]

Andy,

This might be long winded so bear with me.

I have no formal teaching background but I did some voluntary classroom teaching a few years back. My method was to give the children something tangiable and something they could directly relate to. Not easy with WW1 as it was so long ago but my track would be remember yr G/pts, well their parents were involved in ... and obviously in the UK depending on yr location something like 80%+ of the children would have relatives involved in WW1. At home the chances are there would be photos of those participants, perhaps only in old age, but something they could relate to. Not as easy for you, but how about using yr own ancestor if he was involved in WW1, or using a first hand account. The visual is also very good as you have already pointed out. I think it would be hard to describe the everyday life of a soldier on the WF and make it interesting but if u can introduce the connection to their family, yr family or someone whose words you have introduced, then once you have yr audience you present the Great War, much in the way as Tim summarised, with the peer/social pressure, the Great Powers slipping into war on a wave of euphoria etc.

I hope this helps and I havent gone down the wrong track.

[Neil Burns]

Hi Andy,

I certainly think you can also use the 'stench' routine with the First World War. Just about every kid knows the smell of a dumpster in August! I am not a teacher though my wife is and we discuss methods quite often. I think kids are so used to movies and images that they eventually tune things out. I've sometimes felt that just audio, whether an audio tape of a veteran (perhaps) or reading out a portion of a journal may have a greater impact since so many films and TV shows have shown these kids images of every type of violence that the people in the films are totally unreal to the kids. Unfortunately I think the more films you show the kids the less real the people in those films are. It's all just Rambo or Terminator to them they have trouble making the connection between the people on the screen and actual people.

Off to my third shower today,

Neil

[Chris_B]

Andy,

I feel confident that anybody who has mentioned "All Quiet on the Western Front" is talking about the original 1930 film made by Lewis Milestone, in which Lew Ayres played the lead role.

Try these two links for recent articles about the film in UK quality press (7 and 9 Nov 2003).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayrevie...1079272,00.html

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Crit...1081200,00.html

ChrisB

[trenchwalker]

you could try your local ww1 re enactment group thewy are always willing to help spread the word of the great war.