It’s All About the River Teacher’s Pack
An exclusive DVD boxset of the films commissioned for It’s All About the River was distributed to 25 schools along the banks of the Tamar. An accompanying pack of classroom activities and discussion points uses the commissioned as a jumping off point for students to explore the river as part of their usual curriculum topics.
John Akomfrah’s stunning film Tropikos allows for key stage appropriate activities exploring the history of the slave trade, migration and even English literature. Aspects of citenzenship can be explored by watching Melanie Manchot’s The Hall and The Dividing Line by Mark Vernon and environmental topics are discussed in relation to films such as The Mussel’s Perspective by Uriel Orlow and Reach by Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore.
These are just some examples of the subjects covered in the education resource, which also includes ideas for creative and artistic activities and information on how students can participate in the nationwide Arts Award challenge.
The It’s All About the River Teacher’s Pack classroom activity guides can be downloaded below. Teachers may download the entire pack as one PDF or choose to download individual key stages.
It’s All About the River Teacher’s Pack
Memory Work
Filmmaker Dorothy Allen Pickard worked with a group of young people from the Youth 2 Youth group in Bere Alston to make Memory Work, a film exploring their connection to the river and the heritage of the local area.
The film combines the groups’ own thoughts, archive footage from the South West Film and Television Archive and interviews with local residents and heritage experts from Calstock Parish Archive, The National Trust at Cotehele and Cornish Mining World Heritage. Memory Work is an imaginative and beautiful representation of the River Tamar’s industrial past and the experience of growing up and living on its banks today.
Memory Work and the It’s All About the River Teacher Packs were made possible with an award from the Heritage Lottery Fund.