Anne Rowntree Interview: High Quality Linen
Woven in Ulster: Ulster-Scots and the Story of Linen
Lesson 2: Made in Ulster, for the World
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This lesson enables pupils to explore how demand for linen grew across the globe, how businesses developed to meet that demand and how linen has been replaced by other fabrics. Pupils are provided with an opportunity to use Thinking Skills to solve an exporting problem for Mr Richardson, a mill owner.
Lesson Plan
globalisation globalisation marketing global textile market Board of Directors
Learning Intentions
Pupils will:
- understand that many household items, once prized because they were made from fine linen, are now produced in a great variety of fabrics; and
- understand the global reach of the linen industry and the complex business model required to sell it successfully abroad.
Starter
Provide a selection of items which used to be made from linen for pupils to examine, for example a polyester pillowcase, a jacket, paper hankies, T-shirts, cushion covers, place mats and paper napkins. These should be passed around for pupils to handle. You may wish to compare these with Resource 2.21: Linen Products (IWB).
Ask pupils to work in small groups to answer the questions in Resource 5.5: Linen Questions (IWB). Give pupils 5–10 minutes for this activity, then take feedback from the groups.
Main Lesson
Explain that we are going to learn about how linen was once used to make all of the items we’ve just been looking at. Provide pairs of pupils with a copy of Resource 5.6: Richardson’s Linens Advertisement (IWB) and give pupils about 2/3 minutes to study it.
Display Resource 5.7: Advertisement Definitions (IWB) highlighting the meaning of the difficult words from the advertisement. Ask pupils if they know what the words mean.
After two to three minutes study of the advert, display the first screen of Resource 5.8: Advertisement Questions (IWB). Pupils may work in pairs to answer the questions. Now display the second screen with the answers for pupils to see.
Talk with pupils about the fact that linen is a high-quality, luxury item. Also make them aware that it was popular and very profitable to sell worldwide, as evidenced in the advertisement. Display Resource 5.9: Embroidered Linen (IWB) showing an embroidered linen napkin which would have been used by the rich.
You may also wish to show pupils the video clip of Anne Rowntree, who was born in Belfast in 1928, talking about the high quality linen which was produced in the Belfast mills.
Pupil Activity
The Linen Trade Goes Global: Consider all Factors Activity
Display Resource 5.10: Richardson’s Markets (IWB) showing a world map with places Richardson’s sold to, including Belfast, London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Toronto and Christchurch.
Ask pupils to think about how a company like Richardson’s would have been able to get their linen marketed (and paid for) all over the world – from Belfast to Paris to Sydney.
Now introduce the activity using Consider all factors: Active Learning and Teaching Methods for Key Stages 1&2, pages 9 and 10.
Working in groups, pupils should read the marketing dilemma, see Resource 5.11: Consider all Factors (Worksheet), and using the prompt questions, work out how Mr Richardson can expand his business.
Teacher Information
You may wish to encourage your pupils to think about the collective cost impact on price and on wages paid. You may wish to extend this further by using the CCEA microsite for Financial Capability.
Consider all factors, pages 9 and 10
Plenary
Pupils should present their solutions to a Board of Directors who will take a vote on which strategy they are going to follow and explain why.
Assessment Opportunity
If you wish to assess pupils’ responses to this lesson, see the suggestion below.
Pupils may reflect on their ‘Consider all factors activity’ using the TS&PC Thinking Card: Did your group succeed?
Additional Pupil Activity
Create a Presentation
Pupils could create a PowerPoint presentation entitled, Taking linen from Belfast to Sydney, or How I sold my tablecloths in Australia. You may use the following task as a guide: UICT Assessment Task: Topic Time - Desirable Features: Digital Storytelling Presenting (Levels 3-5).
UICT Assessment Task: Topic Time - Desirable Features: Digital Storytelling Presenting (Levels 3-5).
Links to Curriculum
Cross-Curricular Skills
Cross-Curricular Skills: Communication
Children should be given opportunities to engage with and demonstrate the skill of communication and to transfer their knowledge about communication concepts and skills to real-life meaningful contexts across the curriculum. (Language and Literacy)
Talking and Listening
- Engage in group discussion, with whole class feedback, about the physical properties of a selection of household items; and
- Identify and ask appropriate questions during Consider all factors activity to determine how the linen trade developed as a global business.
Reading
- Read a media text, for example the Richardson’s Linens Advertisement.
Consider all factors, pages 9 and 10
Cross-Curricular Skills: Using Mathematics
Children should be given opportunities to develop the skills of applying mathematical concepts, processes and understanding appropriately in a variety of concepts including real life situations. (Mathematics and Numeracy)
- Develop Financial Capability Skills.
Cross-Curricular Skills: Using Information and Communications Technology
Using Information and Communications Technology across the curriculum has the potential to transform and enrich pupils’ learning experiences and environments.
Across the curriculum, at a level appropriate to their ability, pupils should develop their ICT skills to:
Express
- Create, develop, present and publish ideas and information responsibly using a range of digital media and manipulate a range of assets to produce multimedia products.
Exhibit
- Manage and present their stored work and showcase their learning across the curriculum, using ICT safely and responsibly.
UICT Assessment Task: Topic Time - Desirable Features: Digital Storytelling Presenting (Levels 3-5).
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities
- Thinking, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making (Consider all factors activity)
- Working with Others (Respecting the views and opinions of others during the Consider all factors activity)
- Managing Information (Locate information about linen export)
Consider all factors, pages 9 and 10
The World Around Us
The World Around Us: History
Movement and Energy
- How goods and services have changed over time in the context of linen’s past dominance of the global textile market.
The World Around Us: Geography
Movement and Energy
- The journey of a product, in the context of linen being exported across the globe by different means of transport; and
- Different types of transport used for exporting linen worldwide
Personal Development & Mutual Understanding
Strand 2 (Mutual Understanding and the Community)
- Knowing about the linen industry as an aspect of Ulster-Scots cultural heritage; appreciating the interdependence of people within the community in the context of workers and owners in the linen industry.
Relationships with the Wider World
- In the context of the global networks that developed to facilitate linen export.
Active Learning and Teaching Methods for Key Stages 1 & 2
These active teaching and learning approaches encourage active participation from pupils, making the learning a more relevant and enjoyable experience.
Pupil will think about how a large linen company would have been able to get their linen marketed (and paid for) all over the world – from Belfast to Paris to Sydney. They will use a Consider all factors approach.
Consider all factors, pages 9 and 10
Suggested Websites & Resources
