William Adams' journey to Japan
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe William Adams' journey to Japan.
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.
Teacher tip
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.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.A seafarer explores the...
Q2.Which of these is a tool for navigating ships?
Q3.What is rigging for?
Q4.Which of these is a tool for measuring how deep water is?
Q5.Which continent is to the east of Europe?
Q6.What tool can show you if you are travelling north, south, east or west?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.William Adams was the first English person to go to...
Q2.True or false? All 5 ships in Williams Adams' group arrived to Japan.
Q3.Sailors got sick because they didn't have enough...
Q4.Match the oceans to the correct descriptions.
Q5.What happened in the Pacific Ocean?
Q6.How long did William Adams' journey to Japan take?
To help you plan your 1 history lesson on: William Adams' journey to Japan, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 1 history lesson on: William Adams' journey to Japan, 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 1 history lessons from the William Adams and Brunel unit, dive into the full primary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.