I was waked to do a 20 minute or so talk to the year 3 and 4 classes at my Mum's school (four classes in total).
I started by talking asking about what the children would pack for a holiday - how would that change if they had to walk for a month and carry everything that they took before telling them that that was exactly what I did! I had a map of the Frances route and showed them how far I walked and then explained that to Christians this was a Pilgrimage which was a journey to a special place before telling them about how, according to Christian story/tradition, a shepherd had seen a bright star in the sky which had taken him to the body of Saint James.
I then had a picture of a mediaeval Pilgrim (they had been studying 'Dungeons and Dragons' and so knew a bit about this period which made it easier) and we went over what he carried with him (shell, staff, gourd etc) and mentioned as well that he probably didn't wash during his pilgrimage (which they loved!).
I then picked up my (not fully) packed bag and had a couple of them try the weight of it - one lovely boy offered to carry it for me net time I go!
We then went through everything in my bag and compared it to what the mediaeval Pilgrim carried - we split everything into two piles.
Then I told them about how we now follow yellow arrows and the story of the Priestpainhow he had wanted to increase the numbers walking the Camino and so had convinced the highway agency to give him some yellow paint and had gone out with his car packed with these tins to paint the arrows. Then one day a policeman had seen these arrows and, wondering what they were, had followed them and found the Priest and asked him what he was doing to which he had replied, 'Preparing for an invasion' - an increase in the number of Pilgrims walking.
Next I showed a picture of the Cathedral in Santiago ('a big Church') and told them how in mediaeval times each pilgrim had carried a bit of limestone to make the mortar to build the Cathedral.
We then talked about what happened once you went inside - seeing the casket, hugging the apostle, the tree of Jesse and the botafumero (how it's a big incense burner used partially because the Pilgrims smelt so bad and the incense covered up the smell!). I also told them how the botafumero had come off it's rope and gone flying out of the window once.
Lastly I had a picture of my Compostella and invited a pupil to come up and read it before revealing that it was in Latin and giving them a brief resume of what it said. I also told them about collecting sellos.
There was then a time of questions before I gave them four worksheets that they could do.
We'd talked about what I took on Camino and what mediaeval pilgrims took so they had to draw/write what they would take with them - those who suggested their Xbox were a little off mark but I liked the ones who wrote that they would take chocolate!! Not sure about the girl who wrote that she would take 100 bottles of water but still, it was a good idea ..... Below there is an example of what one child thought.
The children all seemed to enjoy it and asked a lot of questions. I might be going back to do the talk again to another class!
I started by talking asking about what the children would pack for a holiday - how would that change if they had to walk for a month and carry everything that they took before telling them that that was exactly what I did! I had a map of the Frances route and showed them how far I walked and then explained that to Christians this was a Pilgrimage which was a journey to a special place before telling them about how, according to Christian story/tradition, a shepherd had seen a bright star in the sky which had taken him to the body of Saint James.
I then had a picture of a mediaeval Pilgrim (they had been studying 'Dungeons and Dragons' and so knew a bit about this period which made it easier) and we went over what he carried with him (shell, staff, gourd etc) and mentioned as well that he probably didn't wash during his pilgrimage (which they loved!).
I then picked up my (not fully) packed bag and had a couple of them try the weight of it - one lovely boy offered to carry it for me net time I go!
We then went through everything in my bag and compared it to what the mediaeval Pilgrim carried - we split everything into two piles.
Then I told them about how we now follow yellow arrows and the story of the Priestpainhow he had wanted to increase the numbers walking the Camino and so had convinced the highway agency to give him some yellow paint and had gone out with his car packed with these tins to paint the arrows. Then one day a policeman had seen these arrows and, wondering what they were, had followed them and found the Priest and asked him what he was doing to which he had replied, 'Preparing for an invasion' - an increase in the number of Pilgrims walking.
Next I showed a picture of the Cathedral in Santiago ('a big Church') and told them how in mediaeval times each pilgrim had carried a bit of limestone to make the mortar to build the Cathedral.
We then talked about what happened once you went inside - seeing the casket, hugging the apostle, the tree of Jesse and the botafumero (how it's a big incense burner used partially because the Pilgrims smelt so bad and the incense covered up the smell!). I also told them how the botafumero had come off it's rope and gone flying out of the window once.
Lastly I had a picture of my Compostella and invited a pupil to come up and read it before revealing that it was in Latin and giving them a brief resume of what it said. I also told them about collecting sellos.
There was then a time of questions before I gave them four worksheets that they could do.
Excuse the bad quality of these pictures - I forgot to take any photos before I handed the sheets out and so these are pictures of the sheets on my computer. This one is an arrows and the students are asked to draw something that's important to them just as Pilgrims follow this arrow to somewhere important.
Pictures of sellos and a suggestion that they designed their own based on something from Nottingham (eg Robin Hood or the castle) or something from their school
This one I did take a picture of! Simply complete the scallop shell and colour it in
We'd talked about what I took on Camino and what mediaeval pilgrims took so they had to draw/write what they would take with them - those who suggested their Xbox were a little off mark but I liked the ones who wrote that they would take chocolate!! Not sure about the girl who wrote that she would take 100 bottles of water but still, it was a good idea ..... Below there is an example of what one child thought.
The children all seemed to enjoy it and asked a lot of questions. I might be going back to do the talk again to another class!
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