First World War

This lesson is about daily life in the trenches during the First World War.

This lesson uses information gaps to create a speaking activity in which students recount three different eyewitness accounts of the outbreak of war in 1914. Students work in groups of three, with each describing the experiences of a different person. The lesson then features study of the past tenses used in these three accounts, and students again compare notes in groups of three to check their answers. 

This lesson is about two brothers, one a soldier who fought in the Battle of the Somme, the other a conscientious objector who was imprisoned for his refusal to do any work that supported the war effort. Students read some background about the brothers, do a jigsaw reading about their experiences during the war and then role play a newspaper interview with one or both of the brothers.

This lesson is about migration during the First World War. It provides students with information about where, why and when people migrated. It allows students the opportunity to compare migration trends around the War with today.

This lesson examines the motives and men who volunteered to fight for the British Army during the First World War, and features a letter from a young recruit to his mother. This is closely based on the letter written by an English soldier called Frederick Wade, which is in the collection of the Imperial War Museum.

This lesson is about West Indian Soldiers during the First World War. It provides students with information about the history of the West Indies and its relationship with Britain and the First World War. It allows students to practise reading and learn vocabulary related to the war. 

This lesson looks at letter-writing during the First World War. It gives students practice identifying and using present simple and present continuous tenses through the medium of letters. The letters help to bring the period alive and also provide a backdrop for a discussion about censorship. 

This lesson is based on significant numbers related to the First World War. This lesson can also be used as a number revision activity for intermediate students.  

This lesson is based around the poem Exposure by the First World War poet Wilfred Owen. Exposure vividly depicts the experience of the soldiers on the front line of the trenches in the freezing winter of 1917. It provides students with practice in analysing poetry: identifying language features, finding examples in the text and discussing their responses to the poem. It also provides contextual and biographical information about the First World War and Wilfred Owen, including subject specific and historical vocabulary.