Lesson plan: I do like to be beside the seaside

Song Bank Link 

I do like to be beside the seaside

(Words and Music by John Glover-Kind) 

Subject Links

• History QCA Unit 3: What were seaside holidays like in the past?

• Music QCA Unit 15: Ongoing Skills

Duration

45 mins – 1 hour

Learning objectives

• Children will use common words and phrases relating to the passing of time.

• Children will identify differences and similarities between ways of life at different times.
  
  

Resources

• Media (eg. film, photos) of the modern seaside

• Seaside objects, memorabilia (optional)

• I do like to be beside the seaside – all audio tracks
  
  

Introduction

• Watch some contemporary film footage or explore photographs of people enjoying the seaside today.

• Talk with the children about their own seaside memories.

• Can the children find any clues in the lyrics that suggest that the song is old? (eg. words like ‘glee’, ‘tiddly om pom, pom’, ‘prom’.)

• Designate an area for role-play; decorate it with seaside objects and encourage the children to bring in items from home.
  
  

Main activity

• Invite one or more granny or granddad (or great-granny or granddad) into school to talk to you about their memories of seaside holidays, covering topics such as: food, (eg. picnics, fish and chips, candy floss, toffee etc.); entertainment, (eg. Punch and Judy or the ‘end of the pier’ show); clothes and swimwear; beach games; travel to their seaside location; pocket money; fairgrounds; souvenirs; lack of sun cream; or where they stayed.

• Gather artefacts and seaside memorabilia from past decades to illustrate the talk.

• Talk with the children about the differences and similarities between seaside holidays then and seaside holidays now.

• Ask them to choose a seaside object or experience, (eg. fish and chips, rock, swimming hats, deckchairs) from either the past or the present and write it on a sticky note. Have two large sheets of paper for ‘Then’ and ‘Now’, and ask the children to stick their notes on the correct sheet. Discuss how some seaside experiences appear not to have changed at all, while others are very different. Why do the children think this is?

• Play the song again, explaining that it was written over a hundred years ago. Encourage the children to join in with the words ‘prom, prom, prom’ and ‘tiddly om pom, pom’. Ask your visitor if they remember the song and invite them to join in!
  
  

Independent activity

Children could work in small groups on one or more of the following tasks:

• Research summer holidays in past times using the Internet or online resources.

• Write a list of things to pack in a suitcase for a holiday 60 years or more ago (eg. no i-pods or electronic games!).

• Record an imaginary holiday diary entry for a long-ago, seaside holiday, using the visitor’s memories and memorabilia to stimulate evocative writing. Display these alongside photographs of seaside artefacts.

• Conduct one-to-one interviews with your visitor using a microphone and recorder or camcorder.

• Encourage independent role-play in the seaside corner.

• Make ‘Punch and Judy’ puppets and improvise conversations.
  
  

Differentiation

Support

• Have a CD of this song and other period ballads together with a CD player and headphones in the role-play area to help develop independent role-play.

• Offer prompts of support in group and independent activities.

Extension

• Prepare the song I do like to be beside the seaside for a class/assembly performance. Use the audio tracks to help you.
  
  

Plenary

• Ask the children whether, if time travel were possible, they would choose to go on an ‘old-fashioned’ holiday. What reasons do they give for their choice?

• Talk about the entertainers who worked in seaside towns. Sing I do like to be beside the seaside again, adding some actions. For example, mime steps on the word ‘prom’ or wave straw hats/boaters. Try to join in with all the words of Verse 1.
   

Differentiated success criteria

All children will: 

• Use words such as: ‘before’, ‘in the past, ‘in the olden days’ and ‘a long time ago’, both orally and in their writing, to demonstrate their understanding of different times.

• Identify the differences and similarities between seaside holidays now and in the past.

Some children will:

• Further their understanding of seaside holidays in the past by using the resources you have available (your visitor, you, photos, film or the Internet).

A few children will:

• Use the role-play area to explore and demonstrate what they have learned.