Students often fail to look carefully at ALL parts of a cartoon, photograph or poster. To help them to take all significant features into account, this image of an election poster is broken up into jigsaw sized parts, each slowly revealed. At each stage students deepen their understanding until the whole message becomes clearer.
The fact that the poster is written in German means the students have to rely more than usual on their interpretation of images. By ending the lesson with students trying to write a better caption than the one in the textbook students build their confidence and ability to handle similar images in the future.
With thanks to Laura Dowd and Nick Bacon of Hamble school, nr. Southampton, Hampshire who were part of the original design of this lesson.
Learning objectives
- to consolidate knowledge of the main problems facing the Weimar Republic.
- to identify and explain features of an election poster.
- to discern subtle interpretations of the poster.
- to write informative captions showing understanding of purpose and audience.
Starter
The main stimulus for the lesson is provided by a German political poster from 1924. This is slowly revealed as soon as the students enter. Their first
