Teaching Activities

My Travel Diary
Imagine you are a Huguenot migrant coming to England. Create a diary of your journey leaving France and travelling to your new country. Write or make sketches about the mode of transport and the difficulties you face seeking food, drink and shelter.

News Report
Cover the landing of Huguenots at Dover in the style of a broadcaster describing the scene as a boat docks on the jetty. Describe the exhausted passengers, luggage, emotion and state of health.

England at the time of the Huguenots
Research information about the food, living accommodation, work, clothes, schools and transport and compare how we live today.

Where did the Huguenots settle?
Research Soho and Spitalfields in London and locate regional towns on the map including Dover, Norwich, Southampton, Canterbury, Rye, Sandwich and Winchester.

Hold an Assembly on Huguenots
Talk about their characteristics of thrift, hard work, commitment, courage, and family. Also, talent and business skills. What can we learn from them and what was their legacy?

The Homes of the Weavers
Read about and research the elegant Master Silk Weavers’ houses in Spitalfields and the Journeymen weavers – the men who sat for hours on end weaving silks and other cloth.
What was essential for the Journeymen as they wove intricate patterns? How would you look after fragile, expensive items you had made? How would you protect your work?
Make a sketch of a room inside the elegant Silk Weaver’s house.

The Weaver Story
Research the lives and working conditions of the dyers, spinners weavers and children who worked in the silk trade in Spitalfields. Describe their talents and also how they lived and worked in poverty and how it affected their health.

Block Printing
Research the methods of block printing. Firstly, sketch your your own simple design taking inspiration from Huguenots colours and design and then block print it on fabric. Make a frame for your work and give it a title.

Art and Fashion
Design your own Royal Court or day dress – dress or jackets, hats and shoes.
What are the similarities and differences with your own dress?

Poetry
Write a poem on the plight of the Huguenots, weaving long hours, not knowing the language, earning little money and in a strange country.