Retelling a Windrush story
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can tell the story of one fictional person's experience on the Empire Windrush and on arrival in Britain.
Key learning points
- Caribbean immigrants were drawn to the UK by the promise of better pay and living conditions.
- The Windrush arrivals were given some support by the British government, but they faced discrimination.
- It could be hard to find housing and many could only find jobs at a lower level than they were qualified for.
- The weather and appearance of Britain was also a shock to some of the Windrush immigrants.
- Nevertheless, many stayed in Britain and their descendants live here to this day.
Keywords
Immigrant - someone who has come to a country different to their country of origin to live permanently
Windrush Generation - the name given to people who emigrated from the West Indies to the UK in the decades after World War II, starting with the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948
Text map - a visual representation of a series of events, where pictures represent events; it can be used to orally rehearse events to embed them in our memory
Common misconception
Pupils may believe they are expected to say their text map the same each time they repeat it.
The purpose of the text map is to remember the events; ideally, pupils would have repeated opportunities to rehearse the text map, trying out different language each time. You will find pupils readily copy language you used in your own retelling.
Teacher tip
You may want to model constructing the text map with the class to ensure that pupils focus on events and not on making detailed drawings. You may also want to give children additional time to rehearse the text map, or you could pair pupils together to tell it in pairs.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Roughly how many people were ruled by the British Empire at its height?
Q2.Which of the following were British colonies?
Q3.Why had the UK population fallen after the Second World War?
Q4.How was the UK seen by many Caribbean people at the end of the Second World War?
Q5.Which of the following did the government do to help Windrush immigrants?
Q6.Where did many immigrants of the Windrush Generation find work?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Where did Celia sail from?
Q2.How much did a ticket on the Empire Windrush cost?
Q3.What did Celia's family do to raise money for the ticket?
Q4.Which option best describes Celia's mother's reaction to the Windrush ticket sale?
Q5.Why could Celia not find a place to live when she arrived?
Q6.Which of the following was a worry for Celia about arriving in the UK?
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Retelling a Windrush story, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Retelling a Windrush story, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the The Empire Windrush: diary writing unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.