With the lesson, students will get to experience the technique of oral history and conduct short interviews with their parents, grandparents, neighbours and other people close to them to collect and record experiences and perceptions of borders. Based on this information and as a part of a separate lesson, students will create an artistic piece (options include a poster, a video clip, a podcast episode, etc.)

This lesson plan was created by educators as part of the B-SHAPES Summer School organised by ENRS in 2025.

See other lessons created by educators during the B-SHAPES Summer School:

  • Borders through Photography
  • Borders through Landscape

Total time: 45 minutes

Target group: Students aged 16–18 (secondary school)

Goals

  • Introduce the method of oral history.
  • Use the method of oral history to elicit experiences of borders.

Lesson plan

Step 1: Warm up
Ask students to show hands when answering the following questions: How many of you have been interviewed? How many of you have conducted an interview? What was the interview about?  2 minutes

Step 2: Introduce the power and potential of oral history – 8 minutes

Play a short video that demonstrates the method of oral history.

Xenia’s Journey from Ukraine to Romania
https://youtu.be/0MNDt3HVxUI?si=s4voVlAd9hDHvgQ0

After watching, students work in small groups and discuss the following questions:

  • What is the video about?
  • Why was Xienia interviewed?

Invite a few groups to share their thoughts with the class.

Step 3: Introduce the topic of border – 6 minutes

Whole class discussion:

    • What was Xienia’s experience of crossing the border?
    • What did we learn about borders watching the interview?

Step 4: Introduce the method of oral history – 15 minutes

      1. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxrkkhLExxw together.
      2. Discuss and explain the steps – break up the steps further based on the input from the video.

Step 5: Preparing for the interview

Tell the students that their task will be to conduct short interviews with their parents, grandparents, neighbours and other people close to them to collect and record experiences and perceptions of borders.

Students work in groups/pairs to come up with interview questions – each group/pair will write two questions relating to the experience of borders. 5 minutes

Class comes together to share ideas and prepare a list of five to six questions that will be used for the individual interviews – all interviews will be conducted using this set of questions. 12 minutes

In some cases, oral history interviews can touch on very sensitive topics. It is important to make the students aware of the importance of being respectful, considerate and knowledgeable. To practise their empathy skills, you can ask them to come up with questions the elicit emotions and experiences with politeness and understanding.

Step 6: Set homework
Conduct an individual interview using the questions we produced as a class.  2 minutes

Tips:
Interviews can be organised around an object – the interviewee can select an object and organise the interview around the object.

You can ask your students to turn the stories from the oral history interviews into artistic pieces: e.g. photos, podcasts, paintings and sculptures.

Attachement

Presentation on oral history

Oral history

Artworks about borders:

  • Xavier Artigas, Xapo Ortega, Tarajal, Dismantling impunity on the southern border, Documentary film
  • Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait along the Borderline between Mexico and the United States, 1932. Painting
  • Daniel Arévalo, Casas & ¿A dónde? (Houses and Where?).
  • Marcelo Brodsky (with Juan Pablo Cohen), Abrir los puentes (Open the bridges), Photographic series
  • JR, Dreamer, 2017. Happening