'London Calling' Post-visit Activities

1. Ask students on their own to identify 2 or 3 reasons why community is important & discuss as a class.

2. Identify instances where students do not feel part of a community - what makes them feel like that?

3. What are the solutions to having good community life? Brainstorm the essential features of a good community.
The teacher should try to highlight that this is increasingly important in a multi-cultural society. Suggest to students what is meant by multi-cultural - there are many different communities in the UK today with many different races, religions and cultures. 

The teacher should try to illustrate that the differences between communities are also not just about race issues but are much broader than that. However, the teacher may wish to focus on how to improve relationships between different race communities.
The new millennium has been marked by some communities within England living in increasing isolation and hostility to each other. This has been illustrated and increased through various events such as:
• Riots between different communities in the northern towns of Burnley, Oldham and Bradford in the summer of 2001
• The events of September 11 have led to increased abuse of and attacks on Muslims and those of Asian origin in England

4. Students could investigate further information about multi-cultural Britain and produce a leaflet/small project on the real facts. For example, try the Guardian website. It is worth highlighting that the multi-cultural experience of London can be quite difference to other parts of the UK, where numbers of people from ethnic minorities can be much smaller.  Students should research both aspects, and perhaps compare the large city centres with more rual experiences of multi-culturalism.

1. Pupils to work in small groups to write a press release of no more than 400 words about the "London Calling" performance which illustrates what the pupils think are the key issues highlighted by the play and explains to other students why they should go and see it.

2. Students should work in groups to collate photos of black / ethnic minority London past and present to use in photo-montage to be attached to the press release. Students may wish to visit the Museum of London online sources for inspiration.

1. Pupils should work in small groups to consider from their own experience how culturally diverse their local community is – mind map examples.

2. Ask pupils to nominate a representative to explain to the rest of the class why they think diverse communities of people can and do live in harmony.

3. Commission pupils to write a poem or rap to highlight how diverse London’s (or their own) community is and how it is beneficial to everybody who lives in it. Encourage students to use the London Black history Splice interative to produce their rap or music.

1. Conduct a class discussion or mind-map on who MPs are and their basic role.
Explain to the class that only in relatively recent times has Britain had several MPs that are female and/or from ethnic minority backgrounds. See http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snsg-01528.pdf

2. Pupil’s should write an individual, group or class letter to their local MP (finding out what/who their MP is can be an exercise in itself) or one from an ethnic minority background inviting them to come into their school to visit, see the work they have done on Black London’s past based on the London Calling performance. They could invite the MP to speak on a subject which the MP has strong feelings about / campaigns about. See http://www.parliament.uk/

1. Briefly discuss what ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’ are – ask students to consider the dictionary definitions.

‘Rights’ = Something that is due to a person or governmental body by law, tradition, or nature.
‘Responsibilities’ = A duty or obligation

(N.B. There are many variations on these definitions which the class might explore)

2. Ask students what rights and responsibilities they feel were highlighted in the "London Calling" performance. Mind-map suggestions on the board.

3. Arrange for pupils to work in groups to consider and jot down what rights and responsibilities they think people in their local community should have today.

4. From the results they should select what they think are the 5 most important rights and 5 responsibilities and display them in a charter to be put up as part of wall display.

5. A speaker from each group should then justify their rights and responsibilities to the rest of the class but also explain why they discarded some of the others when they could only select 5.

1. In small groups pupils should come up with a working definition of ‘prejudice’ and ‘discrimination’. Hold a class discussion on the difference between the two and copy down the dictionary definition.

Prejudice =

a) an unfavourable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. 
b) any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favourable or unfavourable. 
c) unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

Discrimination =

treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favour of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

2. From their own experience or from what they have seen on TV / read in the newspaper pupils should identify an example of prejudice and discrimination in the world today.

3. Pupils should consider the London Calling performance and identify what prejudice was shown against the individuals in the play and how they were discriminated against.

4. Pupils should then consider in groups what those individuals did to combat prejudice and discrimination. Ask students to record their discussions, possibly in a grid or table structured around the individuals in the performance.

Extension: Hold a class discussion where the pupils consider why prejudice can be dangerous?