The title of this thread is a bit tongue in cheek but upon re-reading the e-mail that I wrote to tomorrow's students, it occured to me to mention it on CL.
I do sometimes cheekily get Charlton squeezed into English classes but normally only if someone has expressed an interest in football.
I recently did (again) the history of Charlton to teach the Past Simple, and for tomorrow I'm doing the lesson below.
I was wondering if anyone would like to suggest what they think should or shouldn't be on my list, or the one place that they would recommend to visitors to London.Anecdote: The most memorable of lessons given involving Charlton was when I showed on TV an extract of The Valley Party to a student interested in politics. In fact he worked for the local council in Lyon. This was about 15 years ago but I can still remember it. He was not amused saying that football supporters should not be meddling in such matters. He said that councils have a difficult job to do, that there is the whole population to consider, not just the needs of a football club. Obviously I didn't push it with him. The exercise was of value as a source of listening comprehension and to show him some local politics in London, so the lesson was good and he liked it, but didn't appreciate the content.Anyway, here is tomorrow's effort:
I would like you to imagine that as a class we are all going to visit London together for the week-end. Time is limited and so it will be impossible to go everywhere. In order to see what you to see you have to be prepared to persuade the others as to its value. Choose one of these places and prepare to tell the rest of the class about it. You need to say why you find this the most interestting: what is there, what it's about, tell a little of its history, anything that you think will help to ensure that the majority agree to go there.
David's list of The Best Things To Do & See In London:
- The Tower of London
- Buckingham Palace
- Westminster Abbey
- St Paul's Cathedral
- The Monument to The Great Fire of London
- The City Centre: Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Oxford Street, Bond Street & Regent Street, Chinatown, Soho, Trafalgar Square & Nelson's Column
- Greenwich: Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, The Cutty Sark, Queen's House, A Cruise up The Thames, O2 Arena, Greenwich Market, The Valley SE7 (the true jewel of London
) - A Tour of Wembley Stadium
- Madame Tussaud's
- Camden Market
- London Eye
- Hampstead Heath
- British Film Institute
- Hyde Park
- Brick Lane Street Art
- Brixton’s Electric Avenue
- National Gallery, Trafalgar Square
- Natural History Museum
- The Imperial War Museum
- The Churchill War Rooms
- HMS Belfast
- The Science Museum
- The London Dungeon
Here are some links to websites to help you:
https://www.visitlondon.com/?ref=nav
https://www.thecrazytourist.com/25-best-things-to-do-in-london/
https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/101-things-to-do-in-london
https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/london-areas/greenwich
https://www.iwm.org.uk/
https://www.cafc.co.uk/club/club-overview/stadium-tours
A demain,
David
Comments
* Camden Place, Chislehurst - the temporary home of the exiled Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie, in the 1870s
* 41 Birchwood Rd, Petts Wood - the temporary (rented) home of General Charles de Gaulle and his family, during 1940
Secondly, I'd start at Charing Cross - explain the significance as the centre of London. Then Trafalgar Square/Nelson's column. An hour or two in the National Gallery. Out and down through Admiralty Arch into St James Park. See the Pelicans and let them have a run around, then onto Houses of Parliament. If you're being strict around just one thing it would be the National Gallery.
the National portrait gallery is a really good trot through British history.
and as we are told over and over again there is a good museum at the Valley.....
You need to tell of the significance to Charlton supporters, And how today, long after his acting career finished, he's still making himself known on Charlton Life.
The National Gallery is so far a popular choice.
By the way, in more general terms of this 'raising awareness' lark (which I must stress is tongue in cheek - I'm not that mad), I just want to mention that after my son's first football training session (which run into mid/late June) after our play-off final, I showed up with a couple of bags of fun-sized chocolate bars and handed them out to people stating that it was to celebrate our victory at Wembley. Most guys who like football remember Charlton from our Premier League years and are interested to hear what's happened since. The boys are a nightmare though: it's almost all PSG, Man City and Chelsea. There are a couple with Nantes shirts (our nearest pro club) then there's one boy with a Lens shirt and my boy who wears his Charlton shirt.
If going to the Royal Observatory, it's handy for the General James Wolfe statue.
Also Hyde Park is handy for the Wellington Arch and then onto The Royal Exchange where there is a rather fetching statue of Arthur Wellesley on his horse Copenhagen.
Shame the Antigallican is closed down.
Anyway, no- one chose
London Dungeon although someone did enquire about Harry Potter
Guided tours available on their web site.
The only information I can find online are these:
I grew up in Orpington and cycled through Chislehurst daily on my way to secondary school in the 1960s, so I knew it quite well, including sites associated with both Napoleon III and General de Gaulle.
Napoleon III was originally buried in St. Marys Church, and there was an impressive tomb in the church - sounds like it is still there, judging by this website
http://www.chislehurst-society.org.uk/Pages/About/People/NapoleonIII.html, which includes a link to a long contemporary account of his funeral from The Graphic.
His funeral sounds the sort of event which may well also have featured in the Illustrated London News