Explore WWI outside the classroom in FLANDERS FIELDS - Explore with your class WWI 1 in FIELDS FLANDERS is booklet brings together inspiring initiatives in various counties and cities around the First World War. Use this guide to create your own WWI trip and wander o the beaten track. 2 - Explore with your class WWI Explore WWI outside the classroom WWI the outside Explore PREFACE This guide, produced by Visit Flanders in partnership with the Province of West Flanders, aims to help tour operators and teachers organise field trips to WWI sites for English-language primary and secondary school pupils. The guide provides dozens of ideas for enriching the experience for the children. You will find the most famous WWI memorials on the Western Front in Flanders listed in these pages but also many other locations in Flanders Fields and the wider area that tell the story of occupied Belgium. In other words, besides the ones we have all heard of, there are many smaller sites worthy of a visit. Moreover, this guide covers tips for visiting a memorial, teaching resources for preparing a trip, interesting websites, accommodation, alternative transport, how to organise a multi-day trip, and information on the cultural programme GoneWest, including the unique sculpture project ‘ComingWorldRememberMe’. We profoundly hope this information will inspire and help you to schedule trips to Flanders Fields with your school groups. They are most welcome – we consider it our duty to pass on the legacy of WWI by offering them a quality educational and visitor experience. 5 - Geert Bourgeois Minister-President of Flanders Flemish Minister for Foreign Policy and Immovable Heritage Myriam Vanlerberghe Commissioner for Culture, Province of West Flanders Explore with your class WWI PRACTICAL INFORMATION TABLE OF CONTENTS This guide provides you with an overview of the educational facilities for each 9 Introduction site. We also list the ticket prices, the category (museum, visitor centre, military cemetery, monument, etc.), provide brief descriptions, addresses 10 Tips for a visit to a memorial and contact information. 12 Inspiration and teaching resources about WWI There is also a map with symbols that inform you of what exactly you will find at a location. Two symbols, ‘guide’ and ‘educational package’ , show you 15 Gonewest / CWRM when you can make use of either the guide or an educational package. 18 Youth accommodation centres Are you travelling to Flanders Fields with a pupil/group of pupils with a disability? The wheelchair symbol is used in this guide to indicate 19 Restaurants accessibility. Some sites are independently accessible, but there are others that do require additional assistance or planning. You will find detailed 21 Sites accessibility information about the sites indicated with the wheelchair symbol in the following brochures: Great War Centenary – Accessible for all 73 Transportation and Great War Centenary – Tips for visually impaired visitors. Further info: www.visitflanders.com 80 Suggestions for tours 84 Fascinating WWI – websites and applications 6 SITES 7 85 Cross-border projects - - Most visited sites Other interesting sites 21 Diksmuide 44 De Panne 87 Other visitor attractions in Flanders 24 Nieuwpoort 46 Heuvelland 26 Poperinge 51 Houthulst 89 Contact Information 31 Ypres 53 Koekelare 38 Zonnebeke 54 Komen - Ploegsteert 56 Langemark-Poelkapelle 59 Messines Explore with your class WWI Explore with your class WWI 67 Ostend 68 Roeselare 70 Veurne INTRODUCTION In 2002, the Province of West Flanders decided to combine all initiatives on the theme of the Great War into one network: War and Peace in Flanders Fields. The initiative is supported by Flanders Fields itself (museums, associations, local authorities, etc.), but the run-up to the centenary also saw the emergence of numerous quality educational initiatives from outside of the Flanders Fields region. All of these initiatives contribute to the ‘learning from war’ aspect of education about WWI. It is crucial for the story of the Great War to be directed towards the responsibility of memory and a clear message of peace. The range of educational facilities is so extensive that the Province of West Flanders in partnership with Visit Flanders has assembled them all into a guide full of inspirational programmes and activities organised by the various towns to assist you in planning your field trip to Flanders Fields. 8 9 - - Explore with your class WWI Explore with your class WWI TIPS FOR A VISIT TO A MEMORIAL ¬ Consider well in advance what you want to achieve by visiting a particular site with your pupils. ¬ Remember that a memorial site never tells just one story. The way that a place is commemorated can be an interesting subject in itself. ¬ Give your pupils the opportunity to explore a place at their own pace and make time later to talk about it with them. ¬ Look for objects, images, stories, poetry or music that you can link to the site. ¬ Visit memorial sites in your area. This makes pupils aware of local history. ¬ Wherever possible, allow your pupils some say in the planning of the trip and let them be the guide now and then. ¬ Remember that the sites you visit are no playground. It is proper to visit these World War 1 sites with great respect for those who have fought and died here. Source: Province of West Flanders in partnership with the Special Committee for Remembrance Education 10 11 - - Explore with your class WWI Explore with your class WWI INSPIRATION AND TEACHING TOUCHSTONE 14-18 RESOURCES ABOUT WWI - WAR AND PEACE NETWORK The 2014-2018 commemoration seeks to provide support for individuals who are involved in or who wish to undertake a project on WWI. For this purpose, Touchstone ’14-’18 was developed, a tool and/or guide to bringing a project to WEGWIJZERWOI.BE (WWI MANUAL) fruition. The website www.wegwijzerWOI.be is a collabo- ‘Learning from the War’ is an aspect of war studies that the Province of West ration between the Province of West Flanders Flanders has been keen to promote for a very long time. The story of the war and the Province of Antwerp for the European should be one with a clear message of peace. Remembrance education is project Great War. Visitors can search in depth based on three very important by topic, timeline, target group or location from factors: (1) knowledge and insight; a wealth of material about WWI (projects, sites (2) empathy and solidarity and (3) and monuments, books, websites, songs, edu- reflection and action. We elaborate cational material, etc.). It is available in English, on these three factors using French and German from January 2016. challenges, ideas, opportunities and concrete educational projects. Further info? www.wegwijzerWOI.be We also link this programme with educational attainment targets. Lastly, there is an appendix: 14-18 ON FILM FOR TABLET background information on WWI. This touchstone wants to help as many This application gives an overview of what there is to see and do in people as possible to develop interesting and worthwhile projects on the Great Flanders fields and aims to provide teachers and students with inspiration War. 12 13 for their field trip. As part of the commemoration of World War I in Belgium, - - young people have the opportunity to create their own film projects using www.west-vlaanderen.be/genieten/cultuur/advies/oorlog_vrede/Documents/ Touchstone.pdf digital storytelling, which stimulates critical and creative thinking. They learn how to analyse historical photographs, write a script and score a film. The emphasis is placed on how and from what perspective they tell their story. The exercise sharpens their sense of history and the cross-curricular approach RESPECT! – COMMONWEALTH can function as a stimulus for a school WAR GRAVES COMMISSION project focused on WWI. This application is designed for students in the second The Commonwealth War Graves Commission ensures that commonwealth Explore with your class WWI Explore with your class WWI and third year of secondary education. people who died in the first world war will never be forgotten. They care for hundreds of cemeteries and memorials in Flanders Fields. They are also Further info? Type 14-herd18 and dedicated to providing high quality learning resources that are fit for all ages. download the free application. The application is available from Appstore and Have a look at http://www.cwgc.org/respect/default.htm Google Play Store. GONEWEST: CULTURAL COMME- MORATION OF THE GREAT WAR CENTENARY ‘To go west’, an expression attributed to a Native American belief, means ‘to die’ but it acquired a more literal meaning during the First World War. For the men at the Allied Front, this journey of the dead west to meet the setting sun became more than just a metaphor. The British, French and Belgians occupied the western part of the Western Front, which dissected West Flanders and northern France from the north to the south. They were forced to bring their dead and wounded to the west. This saying had the dual function of disguising the slaughter and destruction of the war and making it very present. Furthermore, with the German invasion, the war in Belgium moved from east to west through the country until both sides dug in for four years on the Western Front. GoneWest, which was launched in 2014, is, therefore, an apt name for an artistic commemoration of the war years in the Province of West Flanders. This cultural act of remembrance brings together numerous life stories in a historic context. GoneWest unlocks these stories, large and small, through music, dance, theatre, literature and visual arts. If you would like your class to participate in any of the many activities, please click the link to check the 14 15 programme: www.gonewest.be - - This event is ‘Intro ok’, which means that it provides facilities for people with a disability.