Defining National Identities Session Information

This session can be taught as: 

• a half-day visit to the Oriental Museum 
• a one-hour online session

Visit to the Museum:

• Gallery Trail – our trail and members of the Learning and Engagement Team will guide your class through our Japan and Korea galleries, looking at how these two countries’ identities have been defined in very different ways.  
• Object Investigation – your class will get hands-on with our Vietnamese object collection, considering how Vietnam’s national identity has been developed and reflected through these objects.  
• Banknote Design – having explored how other nations define their identities, your class will now look at how they would choose to reflect British identity via a redesign of the £5 banknote. Who will they choose to appear on the money used across the country, and how do they reflect what it is to be ‘British’?  

Need to know:

• The half-day at the museum runs from 10am – 12noon approximately and is entirely taught by members of our Learning and Engagement Team.   
• The maximum number of children we can take on one day is approximately 30 children.   
• These sessions are free for KS3 students.   
• Lunch can be eaten in our classroom spaces, or if the weather is good and you would like to, we do have a small grassy area where you can sit and have a picnic.

Online Session:

During the session:

Your class will be introduced to the idea of national identity. They will be encouraged to think about what British national identity could be made up of by considering how Vietnamese national identity is defined and expressed. They will look at four Vietnamese objects and consider what they are and what they can tell us about being Vietnamese. Afterwards, they will create a design for a new banknote, deciding on who should feature on it and what this would tell us about British national identity. 

Need to know:

• An online session for KS3 is one hour in length.  
• Session times are generally fixed to fit in with your timetable as best we can.
• You will need to book a short test call with us to check that you can see and hear us on the whiteboard in your classroom. These are available at 3.30pm, 3.45pm and 4pm.
• We will ask you to book separate sessions for each of your classes so that we can keep them as interactive as possible.
• You will be sent an email with resources to print out for the pre-session work, the class session and then the post-session activity.
• These sessions are free for KS3 students.

Session costs