School Trips and Visits
La casa de Robert Graves, where the internationally renowned poet and author created a large part of his work, is a resource which should be made the most of by teachers of English, especially in Mallorca. The school trips and visits take place preferably in the low season from November until April when they do not disrupt the larger amount of visitors during the other parts of the year and whose presence allows us to keep the house open. The school visit in a 55-passenger bus lasts some two hours. We try to have English speaking volunteers present so that the children hear nothing but English spoken. The visit begins with a the 15 minute I, Graves documentary in English, and then the pupils are split up into those who are studying the 6 metre “time-line”, those that visit the house, and those that visit the garden. The pupils bring with them their appropriate Work-sheet, and fill in the answers to the questions as they make the visit. We suggest, where possible, that teachers prepare their pupils for the work-sheet questions, and even go through the text of the film if appropriate. All this and other information about the visit is included in the Teacher’s Information Pack.
With this in mind the Fundació Robert Graves is providing various resources for teachers of English:
- a poem, “The Face in the Mirror”, by Robert Graves, with a number of suggested questions and uses of the text.
- a short story, “School Life in Majorca” by Robert Graves with a number of suggested questions and uses of the text.
- a series of resources for a visit to La casa de Robert Graves in Deià which include:
- work-sheets with a sets of questions in English for the pupils to answer during their visit to the house. The aim is to help widen their understanding of the language while learning about Robert Graves and enjoying the visit.
- the English text of the 15 minute introductory video, I,GRAVES, to allow some preparation with the class before viewing the film.
- a Teacher’s Information Pack. This covers preparation for the visit, logistics, costs, timings, risk assessment, how the visit is conducted, etc.
These work-sheets are prepared for pupils at about levels B-1 and B2 of the COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK, although there is also a version for the older primary school children based on a work-sheet prepared by the Aula Balear school.
Downloadable resources
- PDF “The Face in the Mirror”, a poem by Robert Graves
- PDF “School Life in Majorca”, a short story by Robert Graves
- PDF School Visits to La casa de Robert Graves (Teacher’s Information Sheet v. Oct 2014)
- PDF Visit WorkSheet for Primary Schools
- PDF Visit WorkSheet for Secondary Schools (+/- level B1)
- PDF Visit WorkSheet for Secondary Schools (+/- level B2)
- PDF Script of the I,Graves visit documentary
The poem and the short story are provided exclusively for educational purposes. They are under copyright by the Robert Graves Copyright Trust and whose permission has been obtained. In the poem ,“The Face in the Mirror”, Robert Graves describes his face in biographical terms. In the short story, “School Life in Mallorca” tells of the adventures and misadventures of his own children in Palma schools in the 1950s. Both poem and short story come with a series suggestions for the teacher as to how they might be used in class.
La casa de Robert Graves, the house where the internationally famous poet and author created a large part of his work, is a resource which should be made the most of when teaching of English, especially in Mallorca. The school trips and visits take place preferably in the low season from November until April when they do not disrupt the larger amount of visitors during the other parts of the year and whose presence allows us to keep the house open. The school visit in a 55-passenger bus lasts some two hours. We try to have English speaking volunteers present so that the children hear nothing but English spoken. The visit begins with a the 15 minute I, Graves documentary in English, and then the pupils are split up into those who are studying the 6 metre “time-line”, those that visit the house, and those that visit the garden. The pupils bring with them their appropriate Work-sheet, and fill in the answers to the questions as they make the visit. We suggest, where possible, that teachers prepare their pupils for the work-sheet questions, and even go through the text of the film if appropriate. All this and other information about the visit is included in the Teacher’s Information Pack.
However, for any further enquiries please use this contact the form. Or call Tel 971 636185
