Literature and didactics: The British Empire

By: Heidi Alida Dørmænen 

In the first part of the task I am going to define what the British Empire was and discuss how the British Empire has influenced the British society. In the second part of the task I am going to give a presentation of a cross-curricular teaching plan, and how it can be used together with the British Empire as the main topic.

The British Empire

The British Empire was the largest empire, and the influence on the world was so huge, that even though we are not aware of it, I think most people know something about it and its consequences. Jackson (2013, p. 3) defines the British Empire as a collection of overseas territories governed by offices of the British state or its representatives, though the degree of control varied as well as the space in which indigenous people could retain a measure of autonomy.

Jackson (2013) says that out of the world’s 203 nations, sixty-three were once ruled by Britain. They also ruled over 500 million people, which is over a fifth of the worlds population. With the control over 203 nations, also the sentence the sun never sets on the British Empire make sense.

As well as ruling the nations, the British Empire had a merchant marine and navy who were supreme at sea (Jackson, 2013). This made it possible to conquer and invade nations from the sea, as well as an opportunity to transport both slaves and goods from their colonies. One of the most familiar routes connected to the British Empire is the Triangular Trade. It was a trade route that developed between Britain, the West Coast of Africa and the Carribbean/America. One of the thoughts with the triangular trade was to trade slaves to work in the plantation sector.

As a result of the colonies world wide, the British Empire had access to some of the best raw material. Some of the plantations produced cotton, sugar and tobacco (Ndla, n. d. - B). The raw material from the colonies, got transferred to Britain where they produced and sold it as manufactured goods back to the colonies and the rest of the world. Jackson (2013) is mentioning the history of tea, chocolate and narcotics, and how these goods are connected to the British Empires history. The British teatime is still a very familiar and well known characteristic of the British society. Other areas that have been transferred into Britain are the religion Christianity and sports.

There is no doubt the British Empire have had a huge impact on the economics for the area, but it has also affected the multicultural Britain. A multicultural nation can be defined as a nation that consists of two or several cultures (Ndla, n. d. - A). Later in history many immigrants, 2^nd and 3^rd generations of first comers, have claimed their right to be British and a part of the British society because they came from former colonies with British passports (Ndla, n. d. - A). The influence from the immigrants have made a huge impact on the multicultural Britain that exist today.

The British Empire as a cross-curricular topic

For this teaching program I have found my inspiration in Munden and Myhre’s (2015) chapter 8, concerning English with other subjects. The British Empire is a topic that is very open for including other topics, or as a way into other topics. From earlier practice periods I have experienced that English is a subject with few lessons a week, and that it often is a subject that gets abandoned because of other unexpected projects. By making a cross-curricular teaching plan, I hope to be able to work deeper with the topic and get more English included as well.

I will emphasis my discussion on how to use the topic on the arguments that I agree with and find important in Munden and Myhre’s list on why cross-curricular work is important for English (2015, p. 164-165).  I have chosen to work with the competence aims for 5-7. grade, and make the project suitable for the learners in that age because that is where I have been having my practise the last year.    

For the cross-curricular project I have chosen competence aims from different subjects in Kunnskapsløftet:  

English:
- Use digital tools and other aids to find relevant information and to create different types of text.
- Communicate short texts about topics one has chosen (Kunnskapsløftet, A)

Arts and craft:
- compose and assess how writing and pictures communicate and influence each other in various contexts (Kunnskapsløftet, B).

Social studies:
- use digital tools to present work in the social sciences and comply with the rules for personal data protection and copyright (Kunnskapsløftet, C).  

I would begin the project with an introduction to the British Empire. What was the British Empire, when was it, who did it affect, some very classic, but necessary facts to get the learners activated. I would include some research on the world map for the learners to understand how big the Empire really was. Then I would continue by presenting a video clip for the learners. Again a short introduction to the British Empire, but with some illustrations. I hope to activate all the learners, by conveying it in different ways.

The British Empire is a topic that involves many aspects of both history and geography. The British Empire is therefore a good opportunity for working with country’s, and connecting history with new aspects of the country. Comparing old history with the country today can also help the learners to see the result after the British Empire. Which will give the learners an opportunity to reflect and formulate their own opinion around the British Empire.

The purpose with the project is for the learners to learn more about the British Empire and the lands affected by the empire, through making a wall paper and presenting it in a group for the rest of the class. As Munden and Myhre (2015, p.  164) says, project work makes language learning more meaningful, because the language is put into a context where it makes sense and is used for a purpose. Another key word is choosing a topic that interests the learners and that they can relate to.

There is a significantly large chance that the learners have connections and experiences with a country that once have been ruled by the Empire, by letting the group choose a country, they may choose the one that interests them. On the wallpaper I want them to include some basic facts about when their chosen country was under the British Empire, how they are affected now, traditions, both pictures and text in English. But I also want the learners to decided on some important actualities that they mean reflects their chosen country. Munden and Myhre (20015, p. 165) says cross-curricular projects provides plenty of opportunities for differentiation. My experience is that the diversity of English abilities among the learners is varying, but in a project like this they get the possibility to learn and help each other. On the oral presentation of the wallpaper, some of the learners can also get the opportunity to do it in Norwegian. The differentiation possibilities with a group project is endless, and it all will be decided after the learner’s level.  

References  

Munden, J. & Myhre, A. (2015) Twinkle Twinkle. (3.edition) Oslo: Cappelen Damm AS

Ndla (n. d - A) Multicultural Britain. (retrieved 07.04.16, 10:47)  http://ndla.no/en/node/93538

Ndla (n. d - B) The first empire – from Queen Elizabeth 1 to Queen Victoria. (retrieved 07.04.2016, 11:51)  http://ndla.no/en/node/98522

Ndla (n. d - C) The rise and fall of the British Empire. (Retrieved 07.04.16, 11:52) http://ndla.no/en/node/93538  

Utdanningsdirektoratet. (n.d, A). National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion. English subject curriculum. (retrieved, 06.04.2016, 19:27)  http://www.udir.no/kl06/eng1-03/Hele/Kompetansemaal/kompetansemal-etter-7.-arstrinn/?lplang=eng

Utdanningsdirektoratet. (n.d, B). National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion. Arts and crafts subject curriculum. (retrieved, 06.04.2016, 19:31) http://www.udir.no/kl06/KHV1-01/Kompetansemaal?arst=372029323&kmsn=189205472  

Utdanningsdirektoratet. (n.d, C). National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion.  Social studies subject curriculum. (retrieved, 06.04.2016, 19:29) http://www.udir.no/kl06/saf1-03/Hele/Kompetansemaal/kompetansemal-etter-7.-arssteget/?lplang=eng