Here’s an open letter to my 6-year-old nephew, Bertie. I sent him a postcard from the Great Wall of China with a link to this blog post written on the postcard. If he receives it, it will give him some fun Great Wall of China themed activities he can access himself or with his class mates if his teacher thinks it might be relevant. I sent the postcard to him via his school.

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Dear Bertie

If you are reading this, you will have received my postcard. I hope you are well.

As you will know, I’m in China and getting to know this fantastic country. The other day, I was lucky enough to visit the Great Wall of China. What can I say, it was terrific! I only wish you were here to see it for yourself. It’s extremely old and very long. To give you an idea, it’s older than the Roman Empire and almost twice the length of Britain. It makes you wonder how on earth they managed to build something like this so long ago.

I’ve put together a video of the day for you to watch. I left in the morning, and it took about an hour to get there by car. I was delighted to take a cable car to the top of the mountain were the Great Wall is located; it gave me breathtaking views of the countryside below. I walked along the Great Wall for about 1.5 hours before sliding back down the mountain on a sledge! That’s right, I slid back down! Please enjoy the video- if your friends are interested, too, you could ask your teacher if you can all watch it in class. Otherwise, it’s something to look forward to when you get back home. I’ve added a few Great Wall facts in the video so pay attention as there’s a Kahoot quiz afterwards!

Before you watch the video, think about these questions, and maybe make a few notes:

• What do I know about the Great Wall of China?
• What do I want to know about the Great Wall of China?

Now watch the video and pay attention to the facts:

What did you think? Pretty cool, right?!

How much can you remember from the video? Let’s recap some of the facts about the Great Wall of China. I’ve made some dominoes for you:

• Print this PDF: The Great Wall of China dominoes. Ask your mother to print it for you. If you are watching the video in class, you could also ask your teacher if you can all play dominoes, too.
• Each printed set of dominoes is good for 1-3 people to play.
• Cut along the perforated lines.
• Don’t cut along the solid lines.
• There are 20 dominoes in total.
• Match two parts from each domino to make 10 Great Wall of China facts. These are the same facts from the video.
• The last domino you put down will join the first domino; the formation should make a big circle with every domino joining up.

Do you want to play a Kahoot quiz? Can you remember what to do? We played one when I came over to visit last time. I have two versions:

The first quiz could be played on your TV at home but if your teacher doesn’t mind setting it up, you could play with your whole class. It does require players to have a phone or tablet but there are low-tech ways of doing it instead, such as holding up coloured cards to indicate your answer, e.g., if the answer on the screen is in a blue box, hold up a blue card. Click here: https://create.kahoot.it/share/the-great-wall-of-china/48f3c41b-7d68-4213-8d54-e2cac9abcdb9

The second quiz has the same questions but can be played individually at home. Feel free to share the link with your friends if they want to play, too. Click here: https://kahoot.it/challenge/04941041?challenge-id=cafa8df8-6832-471f-96fb-de3a7507d5d8_1700577858634. Game PIN: 04941041.

Want more? Go back to the original questions:

• What do I know about the Great Wall of China? Were you correct with what you knew?
• What do I want to know about the Great Wall of China? What did you learn?

If you watched the video, played dominoes, and played a Kahoot quiz with your friends, ask them what they have learnt and share your ideas.

The last point in the dominoes and quiz is the most interesting for me:

The Great Wall of China represents China’s ability to work together for the good of the country.

How have you worked together with your school friends or family? Has anyone helped you recently? Have you helped anyone? Have you been working on a project with others at school?

Take care and I will send you another postcard soon!

Uncle Oliver x

References:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/facts/

https://kids.kiddle.co/Great_Wall_of_China

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-66714547.amp

Are you a teacher? If yes, you might be interested in these adaptable games and board games, including a language dominoes template: Games and board games