Main task: China journey.
Investigation: Did China get there first?
Extra: Sweet and sour spaghetti?
Thursday 6 September 2007
Sweet and sour spaghetti?
Did the Chinese invent pasta?
A big argument is goling on between the Italin and Chinese governments.
The Italians say they invented pasta.
The Chinese say that Italian travellers like Marco Polo saw Chinese noodles and took the idea back to Italy.
Who is right? You decide. You'll have to find evidence first, though....
China journey
In the late Middle Ages the Ming emperors ruled in China.
Ming China was rich and powerful.
During this time huge Chinese ships sailed far and wide.
Chinese goods such as china pottery became famous all over the world.
The Great Wall of China was repaired.
The palace of the Emperors was inside the Forbidden City.
From time to time European visitors travelled to Ming China.
You are one of those visitors. You see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. You visit the fleet of wooden ships and meet its admiral Zheng He. You admire Ming porcelain vases and find out about how people live.
Create a PowerPoint presentation about your visit to show people back home.
Follow these links for information and ideas:
Wednesday 5 September 2007
Did China get there first?
Only 500 years ago the advanced civilisations of the world were not in Europe or North America. They were in West and Central Africa, China, India, Turkey, Central and South America. Great cities, powerful empires, complex cultures. So much has happened since...
Each week the blog will look at a different story from those times. This week, were the Chinese the first to discover Australia and America and sail round the world? Were they in fact the greatest explorers ever?
Each week the blog will look at a different story from those times. This week, were the Chinese the first to discover Australia and America and sail round the world? Were they in fact the greatest explorers ever?
'1421 -the year China discovered the world' is a controversial book by Gavin Menzies about a Muslim admiral called Zheng He.
History books say the Portuguese were the first to sail round the world, the Spanish were the first outsiders to reach South America and the British 'discovered' Australia. But did Zheng He's massive treasure ships get there first? Menzies says they did, and the Europeans used Chinese maps later to do the same journeys. Others accuse Menzies of getting it all wrong. They say there is no real evidence.
TASK
What do you think? Read the evidence and write down or post your views.
Monday 9 July 2007
Surviving
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How did Londoners cope with the Blitz?
After the Battle of Britain in 1940 Hitler ordered his airforce to start bombing British cities, especially London. The Blitz - as it was called - hit the East End especially badly. German bombers were trying to destroy the docks and warehouses: as they were surrounded by tightly packed workers' houses the effect on East Enders was devastating.
Bombs dropped on Leyton, too. In October 1940 a stick of bombs fell around Farmer Road School. One landed in the playground and blew out the school windows. Another landed where the DT block now is and destroyed several houses. A third landed in Skelton's Lane and killed a family of cricket bat makers. Four years later a V2 rocket blew up half of Lea Hall Road.
What was it like for children in the school during the Blitz? How did their families cope with the round-the-clock bombing? How did people shelter from the bombs? What food was available? How did people live their daily lives?
Books about the Blitz often talk about ordinary people being brave and putting up with things, carrying on with normal life without complaining, sticking together and helping each other. But there are other stories, too: of fear, panic and anger, of people close to breaking point.
What can you find out? You have a pack of resources including newspapers from the time, extracts from the school log books, a map of where the bombs dropped in Leyton, individual stories and memories. Use them to piece together a picture of living through the Blitz.
Bombs dropped on Leyton, too. In October 1940 a stick of bombs fell around Farmer Road School. One landed in the playground and blew out the school windows. Another landed where the DT block now is and destroyed several houses. A third landed in Skelton's Lane and killed a family of cricket bat makers. Four years later a V2 rocket blew up half of Lea Hall Road.
What was it like for children in the school during the Blitz? How did their families cope with the round-the-clock bombing? How did people shelter from the bombs? What food was available? How did people live their daily lives?
Books about the Blitz often talk about ordinary people being brave and putting up with things, carrying on with normal life without complaining, sticking together and helping each other. But there are other stories, too: of fear, panic and anger, of people close to breaking point.
What can you find out? You have a pack of resources including newspapers from the time, extracts from the school log books, a map of where the bombs dropped in Leyton, individual stories and memories. Use them to piece together a picture of living through the Blitz.
Try these links too.
There are various ways of posting your work. You can post a comment on this blog. You can make a presentation and upload it to the wiki http://gmhistory9.wikispaces.com/ . You can email your work to Martin.Spafford@sch.walthamforest.gov.uk . You can print it out.
Some Second World War games:
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