Today
I gave a talk to the seven-year-olds in Oystermouth Primary School.
It was my first Alina talk to children, and the first time I used my
new Powerpoint slides.
I
had a great time, and the children seemed to enjoy it. It was strange
to hear a chorus of 'Good morning Mrs Thomas.' I also learned a lot.
For instance, they liked it that some of the children had the same
names as people in the story. I hadn't thought of that. I also
learned to be careful of the words I use – I said that Alina's
husband was executed, and they didn't know what it meant.
I
managed to involve them by getting them to try to say 'Gillaume de
Briouze' when I said he changed his name to 'William de Braose' to
make it easier to say. Then they had to remember that Hugh le
Despenser the Younger was the king's best friend. They were all
impressed to find out that Hugh became a pirate and later that Alina
was locked up in the Tower of London.
One
little boy was very nervous when he heard about Alina's ghost, so I
did my best to reassure them. Some people don't believe in ghosts,
but if you do, it's just that Alina loved Oystermouth Castle so much
and it's where she died, so she doesn't want to leave. I told them
she only comes out at night, and only walks around, so she won't even
take any notice of you.
I
had some odd questions afterwards. One boy wanted to know how people
died, and they loved hearing that some people had their heads chopped
off and some were hanged. One girl asked how old Alina was when she
died, and I didn't know, but guessed about 35 (she was 40). They were
horrified so I had to explain people were old in those days when they
were 40, because they had such hard lives and no medicine, so they
would even die of the 'flu.
The
Powerpoint worked OK, but I need a prompt sheet to remind me which
slide comes next, which I got wrong several times. I'm going to work
on it, and when it's done I'll produce a Slideshare version you can
all see.
I
didn't charge a fee, but I think I'd like to do more, just for the
fun of it, and who knows where the news might spread and lead to more
sales?
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