So, here we are. Despite many reservations and assurances to my colleague that 'we'll only do WW1 for a week', we have just finished our KS1 WW1 Mantle after 6 (nativity-interrupted) weeks. One of the (many) reasons I wasn't sure about approaching such a topic with 5-7 year olds was the inevitablity of "Let's shoot the baddies!" comments. There have been a few.
As it turns out, this human aspect was exactly why we needed to approach this topic and why it worked so well. I've written before about the grace element, and this final session was a powerful example of how drama and Mantle can develop empathy and understanding in children.
We wanted to bring the Mantle to a close and, it being Christmas, the Christmas Day Truce seemed like a good event to explore. Again, there were several 'is this too much?' and 'is it too deep?' type comments from me, but we decided it was the best way to introduce the children to the idea that the 'baddies' were actually humans.
There were some not so good bits (e.g. mass, barely controllable and very loud panic in the English trench), but they were hugely outweighed by the good bits.
The session, mostly in brief
We cleared the classroom and set out some signs; it was the trenches, with a sign saying 'No Man's Land' and a representation of a football in the middle. The children were invited in to explore.
As the children started to get the idea that these were trenches I invited them to represent the English and French soldiers. At this point one boy said, "But that doesn't look like a trench" which just happened to be a perfect lead in to the next task: co-creating the trench. "Do we all agree with Sam? I wonder what we could do about that?" Cue 10-15 lovely minutes of trench-signing. One end had a particularly bad rat problem, while somewhere in the middle a dog had a dead rat in its mouth.
When we (and not just The Teachers) had all agreed that the trench was suitably trench-like, the children represented soldiers on Christmas Day - writing postcards home, eating chocolate, opening care packages and so on. I used the narrative voice to tell a story of the Christmas Day Truce up until the part where a football came bouncing across the trenches with a note attached.
"The note on the ball said, 'Spielst du mit uns?" - 'Will you play with us?'
"I wonder.... what should we say? Should we play football with the German soldiers?"
A predictable array of answers came back:
"Yes of course!"
"No they'll kill us!"
"What if it's a trick?"
We couldn't decide. I asked whether it might be helpful to meet a soldier. My colleague represented a soldier in the opposite trench and the children discussed what they thought. Answers were restricted to 'she's lonely' and I realised I needed more soldiers to represent the trench. I took a risk. I decided the children could represent the German soldiers (half thinking they might start fighting with the English soldiers, but hoping otherwise)... so ten of them did. I invited them to represent the German soldiers on Christmas day. I went along the trench asking them what they were doing.
"Writing a postcard home."
"Looking at a photo of my mum."
"Eating some chocolate."
"Sleeping. I'm tired."
"Opening a care package."
And there it was. The grace element - the human side of the German soldiers - came from the children. These five minutes were the most effective of the afternoon; the 'enemies' had become humans, through the work and ideas of the children rather than the adults.
Following this the English soldiers agreed to play football with the German soldiers. One or two still weren't sure and we agreed they might not be sure yet; it was okay to hang back.
We went down to the hall (pesky weather) and dramatised the truce with adults in shadowy role joining in; hand shaking, sharing chocolate, showing photographs of loved ones. At the end my colleague and I stepped into role as captains, ordering the two sides back to their trenches because "the war continues tomorrow."
And that is where it ended.
We spent a while reflecting on this with the children - it was a lot for them to take in. We asked them what it was like to meet the 'enemy' and to play with them. They said such things as:
"I didn't think they'd be nice but they were."
"They were friendly."
"I liked them."
"He gave me some chocolate from Germany."
"I liked them."
"He gave me some chocolate from Germany."
"It was sad to leave them."
and
"It was sad... I don't want to fight with them any more."
And that was how the 'baddies' became real people.
A few notes:
- There were a couple of moments of potential chaos... the main reason being the signing needed to be clearer for the Year 1 children. They were not drawn in quite so easily as the Year 2 children and so began to cause mischief.
- Successful spontaneous use of children-in-role: I should do this more
- Children continue to surprise me with the power of their thoughts
- WW1 is not an inaccessible topic for KS1. This means that other such topics should be explored in the future.
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