People as historical sources
Oral history in school
Oral history methodology can be introduced to Foundation Phase learners as they are expected to know their own lives and how their families have developed and changed over time. The NCS for Foundation Phase emphasizes story-telling and questioning skills when doing family history. Encourage learners to find out about:
Time and place of birth (their own, their parents’ and if possible, that of their grandparents’)
Great /significant events (national or community) that took place at the time (for example: a drought, animal disease or locust plague, a flood, a war, an election, a great invention or discovery, etc.).
Languages spoken that might have died out or are still being used today (and therefore encourage them to use the language of the person being interviewed if they can speak the language. In this way, we help to prevent languages from dying out.
Oral history research makes their experience of doing and understanding history much more interesting and relevant to context and time.
Related Pages:
Next page: How accurate are oral histories?
Previous page: The value of doing oral history – ‘history from below
References
How to conduct & present historical research
Oral history - an educational tool for educators and learners
Source: Unpublished material from 3 Provincial History Conferences, December 2002, supplied by Claire Dyer, SA History Project, National Dept. of Education.