Time needed: 5 – 10 min
Why? Every child likes to search what happen in families, parents, grandparents past. Special stories from grandparents and their experience of life every child like to listen to again and again.
When? Any time you think life connected experiences of the past can fit in your syllabus and subject topics.
How? Give students direct the task to ask parents and grandparents about their life experiences in different topics. Grandparents like to talk about the past, when they have been children how they lived. Parents like to talk about their study time in the university and how they met. Those personal connections you can use to ask the students to find out more about several topics. After that let them talk about their research in front of class to share it with their peers, every student is proud to give those information, because everyone is proud for the life experience and background of the own family. Some times you also can invite them as specialists to speak in front of your class, this is mostly very refreshing the lesson atmosphere and the students are very interested in those life experiences and direct contact with people who went through special life experiences.
Any risks? Children in difficult family situations, without parents or with separated parents, or without grandparents it could be not nice for them and hurting them, that everyone else has stories to tell except them. Calculate this and take special care for those children and give them special offers to whom they can ask, like a closed friend, or neighbor or guardians, or also a favorite teacher they feel closed to. Just don’t let those children alone and give them special support and guidance to overcome those sad family realities. It is also thinkable that they really want to talk about their own experiences to overcome sadness, give them the chance and special place and guidance for that.
