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GROW · Humanities

Festival lights across places

Autumn 2 · Week 4 · 40 minutes

Learning intention

I can use named sources to describe festival examples in different places.

Success criteria

  • Locate three country examples by continent.
  • Separate place, practice and meaning.
  • Use a source limit to avoid an overclaim.

Use Next to begin. Ask for word help or your usual support when needed.

Arrival · 2 min

Place is not belief

Use the place table.

Name one country and its continent.

What tells us who made a source?

Does one example tell us about everyone?

Today we follow two festivals across places.

Place reference. These are examples, not the borders of a faith.
Example placeCountryContinent
LondonUnited KingdomEurope
BeijingChinaAsia
US cities: not namedUnited StatesNorth America
Starter · 3 min

A festival far from one place

London and Beijing are both in our evidence.

Read the two cards.

What can they show?

What can they not show?

A · London · BAPS, 2023

The London Hindu temple describes Diwali as a time of hope and light. People gathered for prayers.

What it cannot show

One institution’s event cannot describe every Hindu person or every Diwali celebration.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

B · Beijing · WJC, 2006

The World Jewish Congress reported a gathering to light Hanukkah candles in Beijing.

What it cannot show

This older report does not say how many Jewish people live there now.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

I do · 5 min

Read place and meaning

Keep three questions apart.

Where was the example?

Who wrote the account?

What did they say it meant?

Light can have different meanings in different festivals.

Diwali · BAPS perspective

This Hindu source links its celebration with hope, light and goodwill.

Chanukah · Reform Jewish perspective

This guide links eight days of light with the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Named community perspectives, paraphrased. Hanukkah and Chanukah are two English spellings of the same festival name.

Place reference. These are examples, not the borders of a faith.
Example placeCountryContinent
LondonUnited KingdomEurope
BeijingChinaAsia
US cities: not namedUnited StatesNorth America
We do · 6 min

Build an evidence trail

Match each source to a place.

Use the table.

Choose the claim that fits.

Explain why one example is limited.

A · London · BAPS, 2023

The London Hindu temple describes Diwali as a time of hope and light. People gathered for prayers.

What it cannot show

One institution’s event cannot describe every Hindu person or every Diwali celebration.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

B · Beijing · WJC, 2006

The World Jewish Congress reported a gathering to light Hanukkah candles in Beijing.

What it cannot show

This older report does not say how many Jewish people live there now.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

Place reference. These are examples, not the borders of a faith.
Example placeCountryContinent
LondonUnited KingdomEurope
BeijingChinaAsia
US cities: not namedUnited StatesNorth America
Paper or spoken route

Use source cards A/B and the place table. Circle the choices listed in the guided cases.

I do · 4 min

Eight days: one source view

The Reform Jewish guide explains Chanukah.

It describes eight days and rededication.

It mentions lights in windows and public places.

This adds meaning; the Beijing report gives a place example.

M · Reform Jewish guide

Chanukah recalls rededication. The guide discusses lights made visible at home and in public.

What it cannot show

A guide and an event report answer different questions. Neither represents every Jewish person.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

We do · 5 min

Can we place an unnamed city?

Read the new country-level evidence.

Which country is named?

Which continent is it in?

Can we name the exact city from this card?

C · United States · WJC, 2006

The report also mentions Hanukkah lights in cities across the United States. It does not name those cities.

What it cannot show

We can place the country. We cannot invent a city or mark every community.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

Place reference. These are examples, not the borders of a faith.
Example placeCountryContinent
LondonUnited KingdomEurope
BeijingChinaAsia
US cities: not namedUnited StatesNorth America

What is the careful location label?

Independent · 12 min

Make a world evidence board

Use new cards C and D.

Give each example a place label and source code.

Record one practice or action.

Add one limit to each claim.

Explain why a faith is not the same as a country.

C · United States · WJC, 2006

The report also mentions Hanukkah lights in cities across the United States. It does not name those cities.

What it cannot show

We can place the country. We cannot invent a city or mark every community.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

D · London · BAPS, 2024

BAPS reports that Neasden Temple worked with Tesco to collect and distribute food to local food banks and charities during its celebrations.

What it cannot show

This account describes one group’s action. It is not a rule for all Hindu people.

Short factual paraphrase. Source details are in the staff guide. No original photograph is reproduced.

Place reference. These are examples, not the borders of a faith.
Example placeCountryContinent
LondonUnited KingdomEurope
BeijingChinaAsia
US cities: not namedUnited StatesNorth America

Supported

Use C. Give its country and continent, name its source and add one limit. Then try D.

An adult reads exactly. Choose from the place table; you choose the claim.

No name is needed. Save your written notes before closing or reloading.

Exit · 3 min

One place, one careful claim

Choose one claim from your board.

Name its source.

State what the source supports.

Add what remains unknown.

Claim frame

Source ___ reports ___ in ___. It cannot show ___.

Use your evidence.

Lundy Loop

Choose how to share. Your adult will listen and say what happens next.

Complete

Lesson complete

Show one thing you learned.

Tell your adult what helped or what needs another look.

Save any written notes you want to keep. Your teacher will agree the next step.

Use Print for pupil sheets or Back to revisit a stage.

Slide 1

TA Brief

Current stage

GROW · Festival lights across places

Autumn 2 · Week 4

SoW

GROW Weekly - Autumn!B56, C56

  • Investigate festivals of light around the world (Geography link).

Autumn 2 Week 4, current calendar absolute Week 12. Uses the operative workbook outcome; a legacy donor filename can have an earlier week number.

Prior: Uses earlier community connections and country/continent work.

Next: Feeds a careful comparison of two named community accounts.

Preparation

Care and safety

Teacher response guidance

Evidence of learning

Receive the actual decision and reason. A completed activity does not itself certify an award or unit. Record the support actually given.

Access and independence

Offer exact reading or scribing. Allow pointing to evidence. Reduce the number of cards first, then fade the prompt; the pupil still makes the judgement.

Lundy Loop

Give space and a private response route. Receive the pupil’s own choice, name back the evidence heard and agree one actual next teaching move.

Arrival · Place is not belief

Check one country/continent match and the difference between a source creator and a participant. A single example cannot establish what everyone does.

Starter · A festival far from one place

Receive one supported fact from each card. If a pupil generalises to everyone in a city, point to the words one event and ask them to narrow the claim.

I do · Read place and meaning

Do not teach winter as a worldwide property of these festivals. Do not assign 2026 dates from the old event reports.

We do · Build an evidence trail

Expected: London–UK–Europe; Beijing–China–Asia; a named source reports one event in each place. Ask for the source code as well as the location.

I do · Eight days: one source view

Ask which source answers meaning and which supplies an event location. The Reform guide explains rededication; the WJC report locates a Beijing example.

We do · Can we place an unnamed city?

Expected country-level label: United States, cities not named. Reject an invented New York pin even if the pupil knows events may occur there.

Independent · Make a world evidence board

Fresh evidence C and D shifts from the model cases to a country-level report and a new year/action. Avoid inferring recipients’ religions.

Exit · One place, one careful claim

Listen for source, supported action/place and a limit in one sentence. If the pupil claims all participants felt the same, ask what evidence the source actually gives.

Misconceptions

Sources

BAPS London · Diwali and Hindu New Year Annakut 2023
The institution’s account of its 12–13 November 2023 sequence: Sunday prayers and evening fireworks, followed the next day by food offerings and later distribution. One institution and year; practices vary.

World Jewish Congress · Jews around the world celebrate Hanukkah, 19 December 2006
Historical reported candle lighting in Beijing and menorahs in US cities. This is a selected organisational account, not a current population survey.

Movement for Reform Judaism · Chanukah
An archived named Reform Jewish perspective: eight days, rededication, visible lights and public/community gatherings; not every Jewish practice.

BAPS · Diwali and Annakut Celebrations 2024, London
The 2024 institution account records local food-bank/charity support and public community contributions; one named group, not universal Hindu practice.

Review trace

Humanities_Teesside/GROW_W9-W14_2026-27/GROW_HUM_W11_Light_Across_the_Map_OUTSTANDING_V3_1.html

Separate review copy. No live lesson or award record has been changed.

Word help

festival: a special time of celebration or remembrance

source: material we use to find out

practice: something people do

rededication: making something sacred for its purpose again

continent: one of Earth’s large land regions

Cold Call

Give thinking time. Invite a response by voice, pointing or showing work. A pupil can pass; check in privately when useful.

Pause

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