Letters Home

Introduction:

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.

Learning outcomes:

• To develop students’ reading and discussion skills
• To give practice of present simple and present continuous
• To introduce the concept of censorship during the First World War

Age and level: 

A2

Time: 

80 minutes

Materials:

You can download the lesson plan, PowerPoint presentation and student worksheets below.

Warmer: Discussion about letter writing (10 mins)

• Write the word ‘Letters’ on the board in a circle. Draw lines coming out of it, like a mind map and ask students to tell you different reasons for writing a letter. 
• Suggested answers: thank you letters, letters of condolence when someone is sick or has died, job application letters, letters of complaint, love letters, letters giving a reference. 
• Ask the students which kind of letters are the hardest to write.
• Ask the students if there are some occasions when they still write letters.
• Ask the students if they like writing letters/receiving letters.
• Ask the students if they have relatives who work in another country. Ask them how they keep in contact. Ask them if they sometimes write letters, or if they always Skype/email etc.

Task 1: Quiz about letter writing in the First World War (10 mins)

• This short quiz is to introduce students to letter writing in the First World War and raise their awareness of the idea of censorship, which will be explored further in Tasks 4 and 5. 
• Distribute the handout.
• Put students in pairs to discuss the multiple choice questions in Task 1 and complete the quiz.
• When students have finished, go through the answers. 
• Elicit feedback about the quiz. Ask the students if they were surprised by any of the answers. 
• Ask them if they would feel comfortable about someone checking their letters before they were sent home. 
• Answers for Task 1: Quiz about letter writing in the First World War 1.a 2.c 3.c 4.a 5.c 6.b 7.a

Task 2: Life in a trench (10 mins)

• This exercise is to introduce students to conditions in the trenches where letter-writing took place and provides a backdrop for Task 3 – Dear Albert: Present tense grammar practice. 
• Hand out Task 2 – Life in a trench.
• Show students the PowerPoint slide show (‘Letters home photos of trenches’) and tell them to circle the adjectives in the box that would most accurately describe life in a trench.
• Check the answers as a whole class. Suggested answers: noisy, damp, uncomfortable, dirty, dangerous, crowded.
• Ask students if they can think of any other adjectives (smelly, cold in winter, hot in summer).

Task 3: ‘Dear Albert’ Present tense grammar practice (20 mins)

• Ask students to read the letter and decide whether Tom’s life is hard (yes), and ask them if they think they could manage to live in a trench. 
• Tell them to read the short grammar presentation and check understanding 
• Then ask students to read the letter again and find two sentences which use the present simple and two which use present continuous. 
• When students have finished, elicit and check answers.
• Suggested answers:
• Present simple (Example: We wake up early every morning.) I hope you’re well. I’m fine. It’s very noisy here. We don’t sleep much at night. After breakfast we dig new trenches. After lunch we repair the road. I feel too tired.
• Present Continuous (Example: Are you working hard at school?) Living in a trench is difficult, but I’m making friends. Right now we’re having a rest. Some of the soldiers are playing football. I’m not playing today. Other soldiers are smoking or cleaning their boots. My friend Sandy is mending his jacket.

Task 4: Missing words (10 mins)

• This exercise gives practice in reading skills and more exposure to present simple and continuous. It also prepares students for Task 5 – Censoring a letter. 
• Hand out Task 4 – Missing words. 
• Write the verb: to censor on the board. Ask students if they know or can guess what to censor means (to change or delete something). Tell students that letters sent home from the war were always checked for sensitive information. Ask them what sensitive information might mean. (Anything that might upset/worry those at home or help the enemy). Explain to students that an officer, or someone in charge, checked, or censored all letters. The officer crossed out any sensitive information, so it could not be read by the soldier’s friends or family.
• Ask the students to work with a partner, read the new letter from Tom to Albert and try and match the missing words to the gaps in the text. 
• Elicit answers.

Task 5: Censoring a letter (20 mins)

• This exercise allows students to practice their speaking skills and also gives them a hands-on approach to censorship that will help to stimulate discussion during the Extension Activity. 
• Ask the pairs of students to join with another pair to make a group of four. 
• Tell them to imagine that they have the job of censoring the third letter from Tom to Albert.
• Ask them to read the letter as a group and cross out anything that might upset Albert and his family or help the enemy. They are only allowed to delete five words and so they must decide as a group which five to choose. 
• When they have finished, ask groups to feedback their decisions to the whole class.

Extension Activity

• Class discussion – Ask the students if they think it was fair/unfair to censor Albert’s letter. Ask them if they feel guilty about censoring the letter.

Homework

• Ask students to imagine that they are a soldier in a trench. Tell them to write a letter home using the present continuous and present simple to describe their everyday routine, feelings and experiences.