Jan Lewandowski

If you’re considering organising a school trip, Rouen is another great place to visit. Packed with interesting historical and artistic associations: Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) was burned at the stake there and Monet painted the famous cathedral at many different times of day. If you can’t get to Rouen in person, you might like to take a look at this illustrated alphabet which uses a collage technique taken from an XV Century tapestry from the Bibliotheque Municipal in Rouen.

I contacted the designer Virgile Laguin who was very happy to let me use the illustration on this site. I love his original, quirky, innovative work; so many educational websites are just plain ugly! (Sorry personal rant over). I don’t suggest you use the alphabet all in one go in its entirety but for the odd five minute now and again I think it’s a winner! You’ll need to explain some of the words here and there and possibly some of the humour, but this is a ‘sophisticated’ little resource which might appeal to Year 6 or work as a resource for secondary transition and it has plenty of potential to form the basis of some creative arts and/or language work.

Many are the school visits I’ve run to Normandy and a favourite day trip has always been to the Bayeux Tapestry or as the French call it ‘La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde’. I’m always astounded by the length, skill and detail of the tapestry and how you go round a corner and there’s yet more and more. The children are usually equally interested, especially after they’ve seen the excellent presentation beforehand. One year, a boy in my class wanted a particularly close look at the tapestry as apparently one of his ancestors was in it! He must have had precise instructions from his mum as to where to find the said ancestor but still we managed to miss him (not surprising really as he was one of the many dead and injured scattered around the battlefield.

Anyway, I was allowed to accompany my pupil along the tapestry one more time and this time we found him! It really brought history to life for us and his mum was really pleased that we’d found the ancestor. There’s a fantastic video of the Bayeux Tapestry. It’s in English but would be really good for doing some cross-curricular work. Do take a look!