• Cultural Understanding - exploring how religious practices have influenced the development of various cultural traditions.
• Mutual Understanding - developing a range of skills to promote sensitivity and empathy when discussion religious issues.

Cross Curricular Skills:

Communication

• Find, select and use information from a range of sources;
• Develop, express and present ideas in a variety of forms and formats, using traditional and digital resources, for different audiences and purposes.

Using ICT (if appropriate)

• Create, develop, present and publish ideas and information using a range of digital media;

Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities:

Self-Management

• set personal targets and review them;
• organise and plan how to go about a task;
• review learning and some aspect that might be improved.

• research and manage information effectively to investigate religious, moral and ethical issues;
• demonstrate self-management by working systematically, persisting with tasks, evaluating and improving own performance;
• communicate effectively in oral, visual, written and ICT formats showing clear awareness of audience and purpose.

How do you express yourself?

How do ... celebrate these festivals?

Core Activity: Teaching Activity 1

Teacher Preparation:

• Provide pupils with research information about 1 key festival celebrated within the world religion being studied (if possible each group should look at a different festival celebrated in the religion being studied).  This could be done through web sites, books or information sheets for pupils to research their key festival. (See relevant web sites)

Group work – using the web sites, text books etc. pupils produce a fact sheet about ONE key festival containing information about the following:

• background to the festival (origins);
• planning for the festival (how people prepare to celebrate the festival);
• the celebrations (locally and globally);
• significance of the festival for followers.

Ask pupils to organise and plan how they are going to go about the task as a group and to set targets as individuals (pupils could be provided with a planning sheet to facilitate this).

Pupils also prepare a set of sentences based on the key festivals studied (these should relate to the four sections of their fact sheet). These sentences are to be cut into strips and jumbled up. Place these in an envelope.

Core Activity: Teaching Activity 2

Teacher preparation:

• Make out cards for each group with the category headings:
  • BACKGROUND TO THE FESTIVAL;
  • PREPARATION FOR THE FESTIVAL;
  • HOW THE FESTIVAL IS CELEBRATED;
  • SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FESTIVAL FOR FOLLOWERS.

Place the pupil fact sheets at the front of the room for reference.

Group work - WHAT AM I? Pupils swap their envelopes with another group.

Take the information strips from the envelope. Study the information, and divide it into the categories on the cards.

When the information has been categorised and discussed by the groups, pupils can be given the fact sheets about the various festivals within the world religion.  They then have to agree on what festival they have been discussing and state why they believe it is so.

Individual work - complete a self evaluation form about how they felt they worked in the group situation, their contribution to the activity that they have completed and what they could improve for a future group activity.

Reinforcing Activity: Teaching Activity 1

Teacher Preparation:

• Become familiar with the IDEAS FUNNEL exercise Active Learning and Teaching Methods (pages 38 &39).
• Provide the groups with a Flip Chart Page and marker pens

Group work – groups of 4 pupils can decide or be given one of the following roles:

• SCRIBE;
• TIMEKEEPER;
• FACILITATOR;
• PRESENTER.

Some work may need to be done explaining each of the roles in the group and the importance they have to the task.

Based on the question “Why do …’s celebrate … (one key festival)?” pupils generate as many ideas as possible from their research, and then note them at the top of the page.

Prioritise what they think are the FIVE most important reasons, write these at the bottom of the page.

The presenter from each group brings the page to the front of the classroom and presents their findings to the class.

Group work - pupils then decide on the ONE idea they feel is most relevant to the celebration of a particular festival (skills of negotiation and justification are required here).

Each group’s agreed idea is then noted on a flip chart, and the justification of the idea can be discussed.

End Activity: Teaching Activity 1

Individual work - design and create a booklet to be used as a young person’s guide to a religious festival within a world religion.  Clear instructions needed for pupils to ensure that their books relate to the target audience. Success criteria could be decided with pupils at the beginning of the activity and reviewed at the end. Alternatively pupils could be asked to present the information about a festival to a target audience in a format that they feel is most suitable.

Pupil Evaluation
A debrief will ask pupils to evaluated how they performed throughout the activities.  A self assessment sheet could be used here for pupils to review their work and focus on an improvement they may wish to make for the future.