Bring a suitcase to class

This is session two in a scheme of work on the evacuee experience.

Resources

• Photograph of evacuee children. These are available online.
• A suitcase, or a photograph of a suitcase.
• A whiteboard or screen.
• Pen and paper as necessary.
• Optional: access to timewitnesses.org

Movement and voice warm up

Start in a circle and lead a voice and movement warm up.

Ask students to move around the room and to ‘freeze’ on command. Invent a ‘freeze’ signal with the group first – raising your arm for example. They freeze in interesting shapes, hold for a count of three, and then bring their freezes to life. Talk about how the shapes might suggest a character. (Someone with their arms in a circle might be someone carrying a heavy box, for example.) Demonstrate this first. Once this is established, introduce ‘thought tracking’ to remind students of the skill you practised last time.

Me after teaching this session to 5 & 6 yr olds

The 1940s suitcase I use to teach this session

Activities

1. Introduce the suitcase to the group. Ask students to imagine what might be inside it. Ask for a few contributions and write them up on the whiteboard. Then ask them to think a little more about the suitcase. They could draw it, discuss it in pairs, or write about it. (The biggest issue I have had with this exercise in practice is that students get so curious about what’s inside, they try to open it!)

2. Ask students to work in pairs. First they discuss where they would like to go on holiday. Ask for a few suggestions to get them started. Demonstrate how they might mime putting objects into a suitcase. They improvise packing a suitcase in pairs. Ask them – in character – about their destination.

3. Have some pairs show their improvisations to the rest of the class. Use ‘thought-tracking’ to reveal what the characters are thinking.

4. Return to the photographs of World War 2 evacuees that you covered in the last session. Ask students what evacuees might have packed in their suitcases. As an extension of this work, the students could look at an eye-witness accounts of an evacuee preparing to go away – does that give them any clues? What destinations did the evacuees travel to?

5. Ask students to combine their pairs so they are in groups of 4, working on small group improvisations. They’re going to bring to life the evacuee, packing their suitcase ready to go away. What will they need to take? Talk about creating characters, and the kinds of characters that might be present in the improvisations.

6. Return to the circle to look at one or two of the improvisations. Use thought-tracking again to reveal what each character is thinking.

Extension activity

Ask students to carry out their own independent research into the story of an evacuee. For example, you could take a look at the Time Witness website: http://timewitnesses.org/evacuees/list.html 

Go to session three

Back to scheme of work overview

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