Teachers' Notes

Please note the following activities are suggestions and are in no way intended to be specific set tasks, but more as a guideline or starting point when planning work for your class.

The aim of this site is to provide you with access to a variety of historical sources, linked to HMS Belfast’s past. All the sources on this site are displayed in an interactive whiteboard friendly format and many are primary sources, providing a unique opportunity for your class to explore key events in history through the experiences and memories of those who witnessed them first hand.

The events covered provide ample opportunities for cross- curricular links in a variety of subjects especially History, Citizenship and Literacy. The sources and themes explored on this site are suitable for activities across all key stages and ability ranges.

Suggested activities:

• Identifying fact from opinion – Think about writing an official account of an incident compared with a personal account of the same incident, do the facts differ? Any of our primary sources could be used alongside official sources to explore the difference between fact and opinion.
• Devising hot seating activities – perhaps as a sailor witnessing D-Day or on board during the Battle of North Cape or far away from home for the first time.
• Writing diaries or accounts – use the letters from sailors on board HMS Belfast as a starting point for children to develop their own writing.
• Comparing accounts written at the time and those recorded after the event. This provides a good opportunity to explore the ideas of primary and secondary evidence.
• Creating descriptive writing, poetry or even drama – for example in Captain Morgan Giles’ letter to the sailors’ families (Peace Time) he writes of how important these letters were to the men while far away from home. This or indeed any of the other letters could be used as a starting point to explore ideas of homesickness.
• Exploring changes in usage of language - Nautical or Naval terms, discussing how writing styles and word meanings have changed over time, and how Navy terms have become part of everyday language.
• Comparing different ways of recording events. The project uses a variety of sources including photos, films and documents, which demonstrate the different ways in which history is recorded.
• Using the original documents to create your own versions – children could design their own Crossing the Line certificate or Service Record.

Whilst every effort has been made to trace copyright holders of the material used in this project, the Museum would be grateful for any information which might help to trace those whose identities or addresses are not currently known.

All transcriptions have been faithfully taken from the originals, so spellings, grammar and slang terms used are authentic to the documents. Teachers may wish to take the opportunity when using the documents in the classroom to discuss whether words such as Jerry would be seen as appropriate today.