Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss Miah.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson.

Let's get started.

In this lesson you'll be able to explain why evacuation was a huge turning point for many children during the Second World War.

Your keywords are on the screen now and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Civilian, bombing, evacuee, morale.

Great, let's find out what these keywords mean.

A civilian is someone who is not part of the armed forces.

Dropping explosives out of an airplane onto the ground below is called bombing.

A person who has been moved to another place for safety is an evacuee.

The confidence and cheerfulness of a group of people is called morale.

Fantastic, let's move on.

This lesson is all about bombing and evacuation.

We have three lesson cycles today.

In our first lesson cycle, we're going to be looking at Operation Pied Piper.

We're then going to have a look at the Blitz.

And lastly, we'll be looking at returning home.

I'm super excited about this lesson.

I hope you are too.

Let's begin.

On the left here we have a map showing the English cities most at risk of bombing during World War II.

In 1939, civilians were evacuated from areas of Britain that were at high risk of bombing if war broke out.

These were places like London, Birmingham and Liverpool.

This plan was known as Operation Pied Piper.

Over to you.

Select the areas where civilians were evacuated from.

Is it A, Liverpool?

B, Wales?

C, Birmingham?

Or D, London?

Remember you are picking more than one.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answers.

So what did you get?

Well, if you got Liverpool, well done.

Birmingham and London.

These are the three areas where civilians were evacuated from.

Let's move on.

On 1st September 1939, two days before the Second World War began, Operation Pied Piper began.

It aimed to move children to the countryside from dangerous parts of Britain, such as London.

And here on the right, we've got a photo of children being evacuated.

Izzy says, "People moved for their safety are known as evacuees.

" Most children left the cities on trains.

Trains left London's main stations every nine minutes for nine hours.

Some children were even evacuated by ship from the River Thames.

Over to you.

On which date did Operation Pied Piper begin?

Is it A, 31st August 1939?

B, 1st September 1959?

C, 1st September 1939?

Or D, 1st September 1919?

What do you think?

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

Well, Operation Pied Piper began on the 1st of September 1939.

Well done if you got that.

Let's move on.

Each child had to carry a gas mask and left with only a few items, such as a toothbrush and one change of clothes.

All of them had a name label pinned to their coat.

And on the right here we can see an illustration of a child evacuee name label.

Living with a new family in a rural location was a great adventure for many children.

And here, we can see a photo of the British countryside.

Lots had never seen the countryside or farm animals, or eaten vegetables before.

Over to you.

True or false?

Civilians were evacuated because there was a risk of bombing in cities.

Is this true or is this false?

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got true, well done.

Now, I'd like you to justify your answer.

So is it because of A, Operation Pied Piper evacuated only children or B, Operation Pied Piper evacuated civilians including children, mothers with very young children and pregnant women.

What do you think?

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got B, you are correct.

Operation Pied Piper evacuated civilians including children, mothers with very young children, and pregnant women.

Well done if you managed to get that.

Let's move on.

Task A.

I'd like you to complete the table below.

There are some questions to help you.

Who was evacuated and why?

Who were the main people moved during Operation Pied Piper?

Why were these people chosen for evacuation?

What did evacuation look like?

How were people evacuated?

What were children expected to take with them?

And lastly, what helped the evacuation to happen?

Which groups of people made Operation Pied Piper possible?

What actions or roles did they take?

You can pause the video here and click play once you've completed the task.

So how did that go?

You may have got something like this.

So for our first column on the left, who was evacuated and why?

Well, lots of children were evacuated because the cities they lived in were going to be bombed.

Pregnant women and mums with babies were sent away too, to keep them safe.

They wanted to move people to the countryside so they would be far from danger.

What did evacuation look like?

The evacuation started on the 1st September 1939.

Trains left London every nine minutes and went to safer places like Wales and Kent.

Children had to take gas masks and bags with their clothes, so a towel and shoes.

They had a label on them with their name and school.

Lastly, what helped the evacuation to happen?

You may have written something like this.

Lots of people helped, like teachers and people who worked on the trains.

The Women's Voluntary Service also helped.

There were 17,000 of them.

And lastly, they helped make sure the children got to the right places safely.

Well done if you managed to mention some of those key points.

Let's move on.

The Blitz After France was invaded in June 1940, there was a risk that Britain could also be invaded by Nazi Germany.

Thousands more evacuees were sent on ships abroad.

And here we can see a map of the world.

There's North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand.

Nazi Germany began the bombing of British cities in 1940, hoping to destroy British industry and morale.

Here we have a map showing major cities bombed in the UK.

Liverpool, Swansea, Plymouth, Sheffield, Birmingham, Coventry, London.

Over to you.

Why was Nazi Germany bombing British cities in World War II?

Is it A, to destroy farmland?

B, to destroy churches?

Or C, to destroy industrial areas and morale?

What do you think?

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got C, you are correct.

Nazi Germany bombed British cities to destroy industrial areas and morale.

Let's move on.

The night-time bombing attacks on major British cities by Nazi Germany from September 1940 is known as the Blitz.

And here on the left we can see a photo of people walking through rubble caused by bombing.

The Blitz turned towns and cities into rubble.

Public shelters could be cold, crowded and noisy.

People brought in musical instruments and record players to keep up morale.

On the left we can see photo of people in an air raid shelter in London in 1945.

Over to you.

Identify whether each statement is true or false.

Indicate your answers with a tick for true or cross for false.

A, evacuees were sent to other countries in 1940.

B, cities with industries essential for the war were bombed.

C, all children were evacuated from their cities.

D, people tried to keep up morale by playing instruments in air raid shelters.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've completed this check for understanding.

So what did you get?

Well, A is true.

Evacuees were sent to other countries in 1940.

B is true as well.

Cities with industries essential for the war were bombed.

C, all children were evacuated from the cities.

This is false.

Unfortunately, not all children were evacuated.

And D is true.

People tried to keep up morale by playing instruments in air raid shelters.

Well done if you managed to get all of those correct.

Let's move on.

Task B.

I'd like you to write a sentence to explain why there was bombing in British cities from 1940.

Two, I'd like you to also write a sentence to explain why many evacuees were sent abroad.

You could use the words below to help you.

Morale, industry, safe, invasion.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've completed this task.

So how did that go?

This is what you may have written for one.

There was bombing in British cities from 1940 because Nazi Germany wanted to destroy morale and important areas for industry.

Two, many evacuees were sent abroad to be kept safe from the risk of invasion from Nazi Germany.

Well done if you managed to include those key points.

Let's move on.

Lesson cycle three, returning home.

When evacuees were able to return to the cities after the war, their lives and families were completely different.

The war affected their homes, education, food and family life.

More than 2 million homes were badly damaged or destroyed across Britain.

Families had to deal with being houseless and the loss of loved ones.

And here on the right we can see a photo of people on wreckage of buildings after a bombing raid of London during World War II.

Over to you.

How many homes had been damaged or destroyed during World War II?

Is it A, 10,000?

B, 200,000?

C, 1 million?

Or D, 2 million?

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get?

If you got D, 2 million, you are correct.

Let's move on.

Lots of children had stopped going to school during the war due to the bombings.

Lessons had to be in cellars or even tube stations.

There were not enough teachers, books, paper or chairs.

On the left here we can see a photo of an air raid on London in 1940.

Over to you.

Select all the ways that children's lives were affected by the Second World War.

A, they were separated from their families.

B, they ate more meat.

C, they did not go to school regularly.

D, they made new friends.

You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answers.

So what did you get?

Well.

.

.

A, children were separated from their families.

C, they did not go to school regularly.

And D, they made new friends.

Well done if you got those correct.

Task C.

Laura is thinking about evacuation in Britain during the Second World War.

One, I'd like you to identify the three mistakes in Laura's statement.

Have a look.

Laura states, "Civilians were evacuated two days after the war began in September 1939.

For safety, they traveled away from areas where there was a low-risk of bombing.

In 1940, some children were even sent to live in other countries.

This changed the lives of millions of children forever because, when they returned, life was the same.

Everything was different, including their families, homes and schools.

You can pause the video now and have a go at this task.

Click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So the three mistakes have been identified here and they have been highlighted in blue.

If you highlighted after, low-risk and the same, you are correct.

Let's move on to part two of this task.

Two, rewrite Laura's incorrect sentences.

You can pause the video here and click play once you've done that.

So how did that go?

Well you should have got this.

I will read out what Laura's correct statement should have been.

So civilians were evacuated two days before the war began in September 1939.

For safety, they traveled away from areas where there was a high-risk of bombing.

In 1940, some children were even sent to live in other countries.

This changed the lives of millions of children forever because when they returned life was different.

Everything was different including their families, homes and schools.

Well done if you managed to correct these sentences as well.

We're now at the end of this lesson.

Let's summarize our learning.

So this lesson was all about bombing and evacuation.

You now understand that during the Second World War, there was mass bombing against British civilians for the first time.

Two days before the war began, in September 1939, millions of children were evacuated from the cities, Nazi Germany targeted British cities in 1940 to 1941, hoping to destroy British industry and morale.

This is known as the Blitz.

For many evacuees, it was an exciting adventure and was the first time they had been to the countryside, seen farm animals or eaten vegetables.

After being away from home for so long, returning after the war was difficult and the lives of children had been changed forever.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson.

Bye!