Tasks

Students complete Task 1 and/or Task 2. In Task 1, students make a 'What am I?' quiz in Microsoft PowerPoint. In Task 2, they conduct an oral history interview with an older family member about home life when they were young.

Task 1

Ask students to view a collection of household objects from the present and the past.

Students play an 'I Spy' type game. A student chooses an object and describes it. The student might, for example, choose a mix master and say, 'I spy with my little eye an object that is new and shiny white. It is powered by electricity'. Other students identify the object or ask questions to gain further information.

Students make a PowerPoint presentation, 'What am I?' They describe an object from the 'At home' Gallery giving one clue on each slide and revealing the object through text and a photograph on the final slide.

To organise their presentations students could follow this model:

Slide 1: What am I?

Slide 2: First clue, I am made from wood.

Slide 3: Second clue, I am light brown.

Slide 4: Third clue, I have a slit up the middle.

Slide 5: Fourth clue, I hold things on a line.

Slide 6: Reveal the object using text and a photograph from the 'At home' Gallery. I am an old clothes peg.

Ask students to share their What am I? quiz with other members of the class. This might be in small groups or as a whole class.

An old clothes peg

Task 2

Students conduct an oral history interview with their grandmother, grandfather or older member of the family to get their perspective on what life was like at home when they were young. The 'Looking back' video clips provide a model for students to use when they conduct their own interview.

Introduce the concept of open-ended questions.

Students use the think-pair-share strategy to devise two open-ended questions that they could ask an older member of the community to find out about their home life in the past. Provide each pair with two question words such as how, when, where, why or what to guide their questions.

Bring the class together and compile the questions in this PowerPoint slide show (.pptx 52kB). Analyse each question and discuss if it is an open-ended question or a closed question and whether it would provide the information required. Students can use the compiled questions as a guide when they prepare their own interview.

Show students the guide for conducting an oral history interview (.docx 93kB). Read the steps with students focusing on the action verb in bold type.

You might:

  • brainstorm ways to conduct an interview other than in person such as via Skype
  • suggest ways of recording and sharing the interview such as using a video camera, an mp3 recorder, Audacity or VoiceThread
  • talk about and role play ways to show your interest, verbally and non-verbally
  • suggest students ask for more information when needed. They might ask 'Can you tell me more about that?'

Students record their own interview questions on the Student interview (.docx 287kB) sheet. You could use these questions (.docx 21.7kB) to assist your students.

Assist students to conduct and present their oral history interview.