Their Past Your Future > Learning Centre > Inside the classroom > Learning with Veterans > Learning with Veterans teaching activities

Inside the classroom

This activity uses veterans’ experiences of events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and veterans’ comments on how the war is remembered, to initiate discussion about why we should remember the war. The activity is divided into three parts, which can be carried out over two sessions, but teachers may decide to combine Part One with just one of the subsequent sections.

Remembering B

In this activity students are encouraged to consider how they would like wartime events to be commemorated, now and in the future. Option One is to create a commemorative wall display for the classroom, school hall or another community venue, using quotes from Second World War veterans about what the war meant for them.

Changing Lives

This activity uses extracts from questionnaires that mention experiences of change when veterans joined the armed forces at a young age, made new friends, and visited places they would may never normally have had the chance to see. In their own words, veterans describe the effect that ‘joining up’ had on them, their friends and family members.

Cooperation and Community

The extracts used to support this activity come from veterans who have had direct experience of a major conflict between nations. They have had time to reflect on their experiences and the development of international relations since the end of the Second World War, and their attitudes sixty years later can provide important lessons for contemporary society.

Human Rights

The questionnaire extracts in this activity are taken from veterans who were Prisoners of War during the Second World War. There are also extracts from veterans who witnessed the aftermath of the Nazi concentration camp system.

What Makes a Memory?

This introductory activity can be used to prepare pupils, of any age, for learning activities based on Their Past Your Future veterans'
reflective questionnaires. It encourages pupils to engage with the material and think about the process of making memories, by asking 'what do we remember most? And why?'

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