Task
Everyone will be assigned to a group and every group will be assigned a task.
Group "Experts":
To better understand how it came to working and living conditions as they are in 1844 in Manchester one should know about the development of this city.
As experts it will be up to you to research and to make clear how those huge factories came to be and how they influenced the City of Manchester.
- Find out about inventions that revolutionized the production process in Manchester in the last 30 years. Give a detailed report.
- Have a look at the economic impact this modernization has had on the world market. In what way was Manchester's significance and influence changed by this.
- Who benefited from this revolutionary modernization? What were the repercussions on the society? Give examples.
You will have to deal with some scientific texts about the economic history of Manchester.
In the end it is your task to produce a hypertext document that allows the reader access to detailed information about the three given subjects.
Group "Writers"
As someone who knows the city it will be up to you to explain to the public how the Manchester of the year 1844 was really like.
- You should conduct some research to get an overview about living in Manchester. Put up a short Power Point presentation, that gives the key facts about Manchester in 1844.
- Find out what kind of people lived in Manchester. Why did they live there? And where, in what kind of housings, did they live?
- Imagine what it must have felt like to walk through the streets of Manchester in 1844. Give your readers a report on what you perceive (see, hear, feel, smell) while walking through different areas in Manchester.
Group "Volunteers"
By supporting the labour movement you try not only to change the life of others but your own as well. You participate because you know first-hand how it is to be a lower class worker.
- Assume the role of either a female, male or child worker. Think of a name and what you would possibly look like. For this you will have to conduct some research to get background information on your character.
- Start writing a diary and give your readers an insight to your life.
- For the final presentation, prepare a poster with other workers that summarizes the demands of the labour movement.