New
New
Year 1
William Adams' journey to Japan
I can describe William Adams' journey to Japan.
New
New
Year 1
William Adams' journey to Japan
I can describe William Adams' journey to Japan.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- William Adams was an English sailor who went on many long voyages about 200 years after Zheng He.
- Adams wanted to follow in the footsteps of other explorers and travel to Asia.
- Adams sailed across the Atlantic to the Americas with five ships, before crossing the Pacific with only two.
- On the voyage a huge storm sunk one of Adam's boats and he arrived in Japan with just one boat and a very sickly crew.
- Adam's voyage took over two years and he chose to stay in Japan, working with a local leader to build ships.
Keywords
Atlantic Ocean - the Atlantic Ocean is the ocean between Europe and the Americas
Americas - the Americas are the continents of North and South America
Asia - the continent to the east of Europe is called Asia
Pacific Ocean - the Pacific Ocean is the ocean between the Americas and Asia
Common misconception
When looking at a 2D map of the world, pupils may think that there are two Pacific oceans.
The Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean on earth. We can see on a globe that it is one large body of water between the Americas and Asia.
There are 5 oceans on earth. Pupils have encountered two of them by this point. Challenge pupils to learn all of the ocean names by making up their own mnemonics like "Alice Smith is a princess" for Atlantic, Southern, Indian, Arctic and Pacific.
Teacher tip
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
- Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Starter quiz
Download starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.
A seafarer explores the...
land
air
Q2.
Which of these is a tool for navigating ships?
lead line
canoe
longboat
Q3.
What is rigging for?
catching the wind
steering the ship
Q4.
Which of these is a tool for measuring how deep water is?
flag
canoe
compass
Q5.
Which continent is to the east of Europe?
China
America
Q6.
What tool can show you if you are travelling north, south, east or west?
calculator
rudder
Exit quiz
Download exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.
William Adams was the first English person to go to...
Spain
Scotland
Q2.
True or false? All 5 ships in Williams Adams' group arrived to Japan.
True
Q3.
Sailors got sick because they didn't have enough...
hot drinks
hats
Q4.
Match the oceans to the correct descriptions.
the ocean between Europe and the Americas
the ocean between the Americas and Asia
Q5.
What happened in the Pacific Ocean?
one ship went the wrong way
one ship turned around
Q6.
How long did William Adams' journey to Japan take?
10 years
6 years
Additional material
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