Activity 3b - Living in an institution: work machines

Aim

To be engaged with types of work in institutions; to be engaged with the repetitive and futile nature of the work.

Curriculum area(s)

• Year 5 upwards
  • Drama

Suitable for adults with learning disabilities?

Yes

Learning outcome(s)

Students have engaged physically with the theme of work.

Time required

15 minutes

Resources

• No Longer Shut Up film - footage of laundry (8.00-9.00 mins)
• Clothes and shoes for performance
• Institutionalisation: an historical perspective (teachers should read pp. 6-7 of Institutionalisation: an historical perspective to find out more about the role of patients in providing labour in the institutions)

Activity

1. Students work in small groups. They are asked to create a ‘machine’ where they all work in laundry or in the cobblers. They must create a conveyor belt or human production line you might find in a laundry or a cobbler’s. 
2. Perform and share.

Ideas for follow up

• The machine can become cyclical. You must keep the machine going for 4 minutes. 
• Discussion around how people were given jobs to keep them occupied, not because they were needed.

Previous activity

Next activity