Grandparents talk about their primary school days: Oral History 1

Ms Singleton’s Room 5 students (Years 5 and 6, ages 9 and 10) have been learning about the past, and have discussed some of the ways in which we can preserve the past. Some of them have been able to look more closely at oral history, and have decided to record some of the stories of their own grandparents. They were most interested to find out about life at primary school for their grandparents and as a group developed some questions, and put them into a logical sequence. They practised their interviewing skills and learnt how to use an mp3 recorder, and Garageband on the school’s Macbooks. Then away they went with the recorders to carry out their interviews with their grandparents. Back at school they recorded their intros and outros, edited the recordings they had made, and chose some appropriate music to tie it all together. As a result, they have five oral history interviews to share with you. These will be released here on Podomatic one at a time, over the next few weeks (and the grandparents interviewed will also receive a CD with their interview). We’d love you to listen to these precious stories. The grandparents interviewed are a range of ages. How was school different for our grandparents, and how was it the same as it is today? We are very grateful to the grandparents who allowed themselves to be interviewed – they have told some marvellous stories. And, didn’t the students do well too! This was their first opportunity to do real interviews with people, and here is their work, published online for everyone to share. Our first interview is conducted by Lucy, who interviews her Grandpa, Harold Johnstone. This interview was conducted by telephone. 4:12 minutes, 4.1 MB, mp3.