A soldier in the Great War

Project: The project is to put yourself in a First World War soldiers shoes and to write
a letter explaining what you are living. Students must know the causes and
development of the war and read diaries, letters and texts from contemporary novels.
Deadline: 30th-31st March, 2016.
Pair-work: You are going to do this project in pairs.
Creativity and accuracy will be highly valued. On the other hand, plagiarism will be
punished.

Instructions for the letter

1. PERSONAL INFORMATION.
1.1. Name and surname of the soldier. Invented or real, but according to your
nationality. Remember, women were not recruited for fighting in first line.
1.2. Nationality and alliance. Although it can be clear in the first point, you must
reflect the country and the alliance the soldier belongs to.

2. HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE.
2.1. The front: Western or Eastern. Battle. Place and date. The soldier must be in a
front and fight in a battle. You can use the most known ones (Marne-first-,
Tannenberg, Verdun, Somme, Marne-second-) or search for another one. The letter
must have in the upper part on the right the place, name of the battle and the date
(day, month and year).
2.2. Live in the trenches. In the letter you must write about the inhuman conditions
that soldiers are living in: poor diet, cold, humidity, mud, dirt, illnesses, living with rats
and lice, etc.
2.3. The new weapons. You must write about the new weapons used in the war, like
planes, tanks, machine guns, grenades, shells, gas, and also, the use of anti-gas masks.
2.4. Censorship. You can refer to the censorship through which the mail is passed or
the dangerous content of your letter.

3. FEELINGS.
3.1. The addressee. The student must clarify who is he writing to, usually a relative
(mother, father or both-, sisters, wife and children), his girlfriend or friends. The letter
must be believable and feelings of sadness and happiness must be present.
3.2. New communication or response to other letters. The letter can be a new
communication or a reply to another letter.
3.3. Mood. According to the date and battle you have chosen, you must show the
mood of the troop: excitement, patriotism, hate for the enemy, desperation,
disappointment, mutinies, desire for peace, etc.
NOTE: All these aspects dont need to be presented in this order, but they must appear in your
letter. Please, avoid any kind of incoherence. For example, dont date the letter with a
different date than that from the battle you are writing about, dont speak about a soldier who
fights against another of his own alliance or dont write about the use of tanks before the date
they were introduced.

4. PRESENTATION AND FORMAL ASPECTS.

4.1. Cardboard or A4 paper, envelop and plastic. The presentation of the document
can be done in a cardboard with an adequate colour or in a A4 paper to which you will
give a lightly brown color or sepia not as dark as you cannot read the letter - you can
get this colour with a bit of coffee. Sometimes, other students burn some parts of the
paper or cut it. The letter must be handed in a envelop with a stamp, even with strings,
where you have to write the name and surname of the addressee and the sender at
the back.
4.2. Legible handwriting and appropriate for the time. The handwriting must be
legible, with distinctions of the paragraphs by topic and, when possible, a bit leaning to
the right. You must avoid spelling and orthographic mistakes.
4.3. Length. The recommended length is one paper for one side, but, if it is necessary
you can extend it to both sides.
4.4. Identification of the student. The student must write his/her name, surname and
course on the back of the paper, in a corner. Next to this information you will be
graded.

5. READING.
5.1. Reading in class in front of your classmates. The reading in class will be very
interesting and it is compulsory to complete the project. You also can opt for using an
appropriate background music while you are reading it.

LINKS:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/letters-first-world-war-1915/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zqtmyrd#z2p634j

Some examples: