York Castle Museum launches trail to improve English Language

With more and more students entering Primary schools in England with English not as their first language, the York Museum Trail has launched a trail that aims to help them. It will also help English speaking students learn more about History and English in an interactive way.

York Castle Museum covers history from the past 300 years, and now brings more to its educational offering in the form of a trail which teachers can download for their pupils before visiting.

ESOL Museum Trail

The ESOL Museum Trail (English for Speakers of Other Languages) involves a downloadable pack which includes activities and worksheets for pupils to fill in as they go around the museum, allowing them to interact and immerse themselves in the displays they are seeing when visiting.

The trail packs have been written by a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher and aims to give students a better focus whilst visiting, helping to improve English Language skills and tie in with History. You can download the trail here.

Activities that the trail involves includes matching items to the period kitchens, discovering missing objects from scenes, and questions to get classes thinking about context and real-life situations.

Clipboards and pencils are available to borrow for a special price when arriving.

York Castle Museum for schools

There is a large educational offering at the museum including workshops catered for every Key Stage.

There are also various other trails available including the Chocolate Trail and Literacy Trail for Key Stage 1, the Victorian Childhood Trail for Key Stage 2, and Prison History Trail for Key Stage 3 and 4. 

Workshops are available too, including Rowntree and Poverty in York, Suffragettes, and Queen Victoria’s Empire.

Teachers looking to book a trip with their class can email groupbookings@ymt.org.uk or call 01904 687633 for more details.

For more information, visit www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk.