Road of Faith lesson

Mr Slater writes –

Our Year 7 Humanities curriculum, which involves one teacher teaching religious studies, history, geography and PSHCE, has enabled us to show students the connection between the subjects.  Often students find what they learn in one subject complements what they learn in another. A great example of this is the lesson recently taught on the Road of Faith with students in 7PRI.

First  the room was transformed into a map of the ancient world with tables labelled as China, India, Persia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Each table had objects relating to the goods and ideas  that travelled the ancient ‘Silk Road’ which led to the economic and cultural development of the kingdoms situated along the trade network. Students then had to take on the roles of merchants,  ambassadors, travellers, missionaries and even robbers to bring the lesson to life. One student would carry statues of the Buddha to show the spread of Buddhism from India to China, while  another transported menorahs to represent the spread of Judaism to Europe, Persia and Africa. Another student acted as an ambassador between ancient Rome and China enabling a merchant to  trade glass for silk. Some students build the Royal road which spanned through Persia enabling them to tax traders and while others lurked in the spaces looking for the opportunity to raid a  caravan and steal both goods and people for the highly profitable slave trade of the time. Credit to the students for their enthusiasm and cooperation with each other to bring the lesson to life. They  really enjoyed it and it was a great opportunity for me to get dressed up too!