Silk Stockings and Sand-traps

Social Studies Online

TEACHER Alison Tuck

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:

1. Starter Activity: What would you do if...
   Imagine that you have just returned from holiday and as you drive round the corner to your house you discover that it is on fire.
   • Brainstorm your reactions to this crisis as a class.
   • Complete the crisis star diagram by selecting FIVE reactions that you might have to such a crisis.
   • Study your five reactions, put them in order under these headings:
     • First impressions
     • Reaction
     • Regaining control

   Identify the THREE most common responses recorded by the class on the star diagrams.
   Construct a pictograph to show the three most common responses to crisis recorded by the class.
   Find out how to draw a pictograph.

2. New Zealand and the crisis of World War II
   On September 3 1939 New Zealanders turned on their radios to hear the Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage say that New Zealand was at war with Germany.

   Make a list of the dangers people might face.

   What kinds of preparations would people in New Zealand have to make? Divide your list up into the following:

   Home	School	Work
   Men	Women	Children

3. Using different types of questions
   Open questions are those types of questions that allow a person to give their opinion, or to give an answer that involves more than a yes/no answer.

   Closed questions are those that only require a one word answer or yes/no answers.

   Think up two open questions to try on your partner and two closed questions. Write down their answers to your questions.

   Formative Assessment
   Assessment Schedule

4. Life in New Zealand
   New Zealand was a very different place in 1940 than it is now. Find out about New Zealand at the Centennial Exhibition.

   Use this template to study six aspects of life in New Zealand in 1940 and show how these aspects have changed in New Zealand today. Use those that are listed or research your own.

5. How it was a World War
   This war was called a World war because it involved a large number of countries.

   On a blank map outline of the world locate and label the following: (use coloured shading)

   • Five allied nations including New Zealand
   • The THREE major axis nations (Germany, Italy, Japan).
   • The area closest to New Zealand that was captured by the axis nations.
   • New Zealanders went to fight in a number of places overseas. Use symbols to locate and label:
     • TWO countries where New Zealand soldiers went to fight.
     • TWO countries where New Zealand air pilots went to fight.
     • TWO oceans where New Zealand sailors went to fight.

   Give your map an appropriate title and a key.

6. Protecting the Community
   One of the immediate tasks once war was declared was to let people know what to do. Look at this "B Ready Kit" to see a list of items you might need in an emergency.

   In 1940 the Government would send around Emergency Household Circulars. They were very important documents and they were printed in red on white paper.

   • Prepare a B-Ready kit for a family in New Zealand in 1940.
   • Prepare an Emergency Household Circular to distribute to the local area so people would know what to do in case of an air raid or if there was an invasion.

7. The Emergency Precaution Service - Case Study of a Civilian Organisation
   The Emergency Precaution Service was a civilian (not soldiers) organisation. They were responsible for:
   • Fighting fire
   • Dealing with bombs
   • Making sure people were following the Blackout Rules

   Tasks

   • Imagine you are the local Emergency Precaution Service Warden and you have to organise a training session to deal with bombs. Create a mindmap to explain how you would deal with a bomb that has landed on a group of shops.
     You might like to use New Zealand: A Response to Crisis by Ruth Naumann (New House) to help you.

   • Use a map of your local area that shows all the streets within two kilometres of the town centre or commercial centre and draw up a patrol route for the members of the local Emergency precaution Service.

   • Make a list of the duties for each patrol to carry out on their nightly checks.

8. The Home Guard - Case Study of a military organisation
   The Home Guard was set up in 1940 to provide a group of men who could protect the community in the event of an attack by enemy forces (from 1941 the most likely enemy would have been the Japanese). Their task was to delay and disrupt enemy action until the armed forces arrived.

   Click here to find out about a group of Home Guardsmen and their activities in an area just south of Auckland.

9. Women at War
   Watch the video War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us (available from National Library Service).

   Choose TWO of the women in the video and compare their stories in a chart.

10. Women's response to World War II
    More and more men signed up to go to fight in World War II. There were labour shortages, so women began to fill the roles that men would have done had they been here. One organisation that was used to provide labour in jobs that were previously done for men was the Women's War Service Auxillary.

    Find out about some women and their jobs in war-time

    Activities:

    • Read the information about the Women's War Service Auxiliary.
      • What types of jobs did this group do?
      • Why were they needed?
      • When did they begin and end their duties?
      • How did being in the WWSA help these women to develop new skills?
      • Who were the women mentioned in the article and what background did they come from?
      • Where did these units operate (parts of New Zealand)?

      This photograph of Therese Bonney shows the impact on civilians in wartime. Study the photograph and answer these questions:

      • Why was this photograph taken?
      • What does it tell us about the impact of war on families?
      • How would you cope in this situation?
      • When was the photograph taken?
      • Where might this photograph have been taken?
      • Why did Therese Bonney take photographs like this?

    • Imagine you are the little girl/boy in the photograph. Write a diary account of what has happened to your family over a period of three days. Describe your experiences and how you are feeling about your situation.

11. Landgirls - the New Zealand experience
    A large number of men from farms went to fight in World War II. They were replaced by women who came to be called "Landgirls". These women did a lot of the work on farms in New Zealand during World War II. Their duties included feeding animals, milking cows, shearing, shifting stock, driving tractors and harvesting crops. They helped the farmers' wives look after the farms until the men returned.

    Activity: The Landgirl's Life

    • Choose a farming type (eg. sheep, dairy, horticulture).

    • On a blank map of New Zealand, locate your local area and identify the predominant type of farming during World War II (dairy, cropping, sheep farming).

    • Write down what your wages would be.

    • Make a list of your duties.

    • Describe what your new life as a landgirl would be like between 1940 and 1942.

12. Conducting an Oral History Interview
    Get tips on conducting an oral history interview.

    Read oral histories of American women during World War II

    Activity:
    Choose the stories of THREE women to read. These stories will help you to frame the questions for your own oral history.

    Write a brief summary of the experience of one woman that you read about.

13. What Did You Do In The War Grandma?
    Summative Assessment Activity
    Assessment Schedule

RESOURCES

Electronic

• New Zealand 1925-50 - Women's roles/landgirls
• New Zealand 1925-50 - NZ on defence
• New Zealand 1925-50 - School pupils' efforts
• New Zealand 1925-50 - One man's experiences

Print

• Morris, K and N (1992) Franklin Remembers: The War Years 1939-1945 Franklin Historical Society. Pukekohe
• Foote, W. J (2000) Bread and Water: The Escape and Ordeal of Two World War 2 Conscientious Objectors Phillip Garside Pub., Wellington NZ
• Taylor, E (1991) Heroines of World War 2 ISIS. Oxford ,England
• Brewer Kerr, D (1990) Girls Behind the Guns: with the ATS in World War 2 ISIS
• Grant, G (1986) Out in the Cold: Pacifists and Conscientious Objectors in NZ during World War 2 Reed Methuen Auckland NZ
• Ebbett, Eve (1984) When the Boys Were Away: NZ Women in World War II. Reed Wellington NZ.
• Patrick, G (1991) Family Life in World War 2 Waland. Hove, England
• Wood, M (1989) "We Wore What We'd Got" Women's Clothes in WW2 Warwickshire Books. Exeter, England.
• Tonkin, Rachel (1995) "What was the War like Grandma?": Emmy Remembers World War II Reed For Kids. Dingley, Victoria.

Other

• Ministry of Education (1995) In Fear of Invasion Teaching kit for Schools.
• Ministry of Education (1995) Ordinary People: NZ Remembers the Second World War (kit)
• Video: Prescott G (1995) War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us