Activity 4: A Response through Drama
(a) Stimulus: a picture of a farming homestead
- Children could examine some pictures which presented a reconstruction of the probable life on ancient farms, or farms in the Middle Ages. (Examples - a ringfort or monastic farm)
- In groups children would get into a freeze frame which would show what the picture was depicting. They might be given a problem to solve such as one to do with food shortage, a raid for cattle, or worsening weather.
- The group would have to solve the problem with the information they were given. They might have to choose from a number of options given. The latter would demand preparatory work on the part of the teacher so that the options would suit the scenarios being considered.
(b) Thought-tracking: As the children make their freeze, another child or the teacher might lightly touch a few of the children so that they would speak in role as to what they were feeling, thinking of etc.
Activity 5: Going to the Fair
Central focus:
- Where were products of the farm sold in the past?
- Where are they sold nowadays?
Fairs and markets were, until quite recently, a frequent occurrence in a large number of Irish towns and cities. Depending on the location of the school, the study of a fair day in the past through an examination of written records found in old newspapers, journals and traveller's accounts or folk memory, postcards and pictures might allow an examination of local history to be undertaken in this area.
For schools which cannot easily source such local records, a picture of a fair might be introduced to the class.
- Children might be asked to study the picture for evidence of the sale or purchase of agricultural livestock such as sheep, cows, hens, horses or pigs.
- They might notice what bedding was in evidence for the animals, what forms of transport were in evidence, and how the animals seemed to be restrained.
- It would be very beneficial to have a map of the town shown in the picture so that children might speculate on why a fair was held there.
- Children might also locate a fair green in a town, or a market house.
- Compare and contrast: Children could examine old pictures of a livestock fair and some modern pictures of marts and make comparisons. Continuity - Find out what towns still have famous fairs (Puck Fair; Ballinasloe horse fair)
Hiring fairs:
An interesting area of study would be hiring fairs. These usually took place at fairs.
- Empathy: Children could speculate on how it would feel to be hired as a young boy or girl to become a farm labourer or a servant boy or girl for a period of 6 months.
- They could be asked to decide on a reason why a ploughman (a skilled worker) might be paid about twice what a housemaid or labourer might be paid in the early 1900s.
- For information on particular regions and eras a very useful text for the teacher to consult is Irish Fairs and Markets: Studies in Local History D.A.Cronon, J.Gilligan and K. Holton (eds.), Four Courts Press 2001.