The Wrong Trainers - Rural Poverty

Literacy & Geography
Text level/An environmental issue

Overview

One in four children in the UK live in poverty. The Wrong Trousers animation gives six of those children a powerful voice. Danielle's film looks at rural poverty and damage to her local environment.

Use the video story as a way into learning about rural poverty and how children can tackle a local issue like rubbish.

Learning aims

Learn about issues involved in a change in the local environment, about recent or proposed changes and how people can affect change.

Introduction

GUIDE TO GOVERNMENTS Click here to find out about governments

Ask comprehension questions to gauge understanding of the video's aim of portraying rural poverty.

Add some open-ended questions such as 'How can we change things for the better?', 'Who is responsible for making changes?' and 'Why should we get involved?'

Discus a local issue of contention that children agree needs addressing, for example, rubbish, traffic, road crossings, the effect of new housing etc.

Model how to write a letter to an official which covers the main points. Use these sentence starters, if required.

I am angry because...

I feel that...

I think you should...

If you don't change this...

I think money should be spent on...

Main activity

Children write a draft letter to their local MP outlining the concerns.

Guide the children into writing a reasoned letter which uses facts to back up their opinions.

Later, the children read their letters to a partner and they swap ideas about how to improve it.

Extension activities

Type the letter using a computer ensuring the school address and date is used.

Write a poem to express their feelings about an issue, real or imagined. Ideas for an acrostic poem could be RUBBISH, POVERTY, TRAFFIC etc.

Plenary

Divide children into two groups, or take the council role yourself, to role-play a public council meeting - councillors versus protestors.

Teachers' background

• One-in-five people live in poverty according to the Commission for Rural Communities.
• Research shows that 78% of people said it was difficult to find decent affordable housing, 64% acknowledged well-paid jobs were in short supply.
• More than 33% of the 1,000 people surveyed thought some people did not have enough money to cover the basics.