Notes for Instructors

This booklet will take time to work through, but it addresses many important issues. By looking at a time when there was virtually no social safety net, students will see the significance of current social programs. One of the main goals of this piece is to create a sense of history. Students should develop an understanding that things can and do change over time, and that they change for better or worse as the result of conscious decisions made by people in power, and in response to public pressure.

Section One introduces the subject of child mortality by looking at the sampler made by Annabella Butt. This sampler, and the Mercer family sampler in Picture Two, are in the Newfoundland Museum on Duckworth Street. They are not normally on display, but you may arrange to see them by contacting the Collections Manager for History at the Duckworth Street museum. For students in St. John's, a field trip to the Duckworth Street museum would add greatly to an understanding of many topics covered in this booklet. Trips to smaller community museums in other parts of the province may be useful as well. The graph in Section One, "Deaths by Age in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1910," provides an opportunity to discuss the idea of using graphs to make statistics easier to understand.

Section Two, "Living Conditions in the Past," can spark a discussion of government services and standard of living. The Illustrated History of Newfoundland Light and Power by Melvin Baker, Robert D. Pitt and Janet Miller Pitt, contains some wonderful photographs of St. John's in this time period, as well as pictures of early electrical appliances.

Section Three, "Nutrition and Health," relates to the section "Nutrition" in the Integrated Unit HEALTH, pp. 95-96 in the ABE Level I Instructor's Handbook. The Canada Food Guide is a good resource for this section. Eating habits and nutrition have changed dramatically in Newfoundland and Labrador since Confederation with Canada. Many older Newfoundlanders can remember when people did not get enough to eat. Stories about hunting, fishing, berry picking, food preparation and "the hungry month of March" are common. Students could be encouraged to talk to older friends and relatives about food in the past. This would make a good focus for an interview project. (See the notes to instructors for the piece "Learning from Interviews" in the booklet Learning About the Past.)