Dedicated educators continue their research to provide inspirational school trips for their pupils. Class outings, be they day trips or something a bit more extended, are both an excellent learning tool and a great social development aid. This goes some way to explaining why many institutions and teachers are so passionate about their importance to the lives of young learners.
Teachers, parents and students have not only continued to invest in this type of learning, but have widened the scope to include previously little-visited destinations. Short stints in foreign countries with classmates are no longer dream for most western schoolchildren, and this willingness to innovate has undoubtedly given rise to plenty of inspirational school visits for any number of students over the past decade or so.
Explore History in Amsterdam
In this regard, few places can be more interesting than the Anne Frank House, a central tourist attraction in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. This museum-house will no doubt hold an interest for secondary-school History teachers and pupils, as Anne Frank and her plight are a recurring subject in syllabi for this age bracket. For students who identify with or relate to the young German heroine, this can be one of the most inspirational school visits they will ever make, while any other pupils will benefit from experiencing Anne’s living conditions first hand.
A Tragic Reminder
The Anne Frank Huijs allows visitors to trawl the several different divisions of Anne’s actual living quarters, most of which have been left untouched apart from a few informative posters. Guests can also access the famous annex described in the book, in which Anne, her family and neighbours attempted to hide from the Nazis in order to avoid deportation. The tragic end of that story only makes these sights that much more affecting.
To complement the experience of exploring the house itself, visitors to the Anne Frank Huijs are also treated to a wealth of related material, ranging from videos to documents, not only about Anne and her family but also concerning the plight of German Jews in general during World War II. In-depth, but still accessible to the average schoolchild’s intellect, these complementary materials are sure to make pupils interested in the time period, and Anne’s story in particular, even more invested.
Teachers pondering inspirational school visits for their pupils should certainly consider heading to Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank Huijs as an excellent option.