Oral history

Topics Year 4/5
This unit is part of Benin (900 to 1300CE) Evidence

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Objectives

History

Study a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300.
Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources; Children should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.

English

Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role-play, improvisations and debates.

Lesson Planning

Re-enact some of the myths of the Edo people about how the kingdoms of Ife and Benin had come into being and discuss how reliable these stories are.

Teaching Outcomes:

To investigate how true some of the oral histories are.
To role play some of the oral histories of the Edo speaking people.

Children will:

Assess the reliability of oral histories.
Act out a story from another culture.

Planning

Provided Resources

Oral histories of Benin
Other evidence related to the stories

Unit Resources

You Will Need

You do not need any particular resources for this session.

Weblinks

Audio of a Benin griot, (storyteller) - YouTube clip
The oral history of Benin from metmuseum.org
Oral histories of the Ogisos and Obas of Benin from edoworld.net
The story of the Iyoba Idia from metmuseum.org
Project run by UNESCO to talk to the descendants of slaves in Nigeria, Benin and Ghana from portal.unesco.org (archived)