What sort of jobs did people do in castles? This was the basis of a guessing game I created for my class.
I drew cartoon pictures and wrote a brief description of 10 jobs in a castle: baron, constable, knight, squire, jester, soldier, cook, beer taster, gong farmer or prisoner.
I made three copies of the list and divided the class into six equal groups, three “job” groups and three “guesser” groups, which then paired up.
Each job had a job card. Each guesser took it in turns to “guess who?”, asking one question to identify the job, who could answer yes or no.
If a guesser correctly identified a job, then the pupil was awarded a house point. The job then hid the card. When all of the guessers had correctly identified all of the jobs, the groups swapped over.
Pupils could design their own version, such as jobs on an Elizabethan Man o’ war pirate ship.
Andrew MacKay is head of history at Brigidine School in Windsor, Berkshire.
