The Historian\ · 1st Year

Active learning ideas

Emigration: Leaving Ireland for a New Life

Active learning engages students with the human stories behind emigration, moving beyond dates to lived experiences. Through mapping, role-play, and writing, students connect geography, history, and personal choices in ways that build lasting empathy and understanding.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary Curriculum - Myself and the Wider World - Life in the 19th Century
• NCCA: Primary Curriculum - Myself and the Wider World - Exploring Local History

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• 45 min · Pairs

Mapping Activity: Emigration Routes

Provide outline maps of Ireland and key destinations. Students mark routes in pairs, adding labels for push/pull factors and ship hardships using colored markers. Discuss findings as a class to highlight patterns.

Why did people leave Ireland during the Famine?

Facilitation Tip

For the Mapping Activity, provide blank maps and colored pencils so students can trace routes and mark major ports like Liverpool, Boston, and Sydney with brief notes on why those locations mattered.

What to look for

Provide students with a card asking: 'List one push factor and one pull factor that might have caused someone to leave Ireland during the Famine. Then, name one country where Irish emigrants often settled.'

Activity 02

• 50 min · Small Groups

Role-Play: Famine Decisions

Assign roles like farmer, landlord, or emigrant family. Groups debate whether to stay or leave, using evidence cards on blight and evictions. Each group presents their choice and reasons to the class.

Where did Irish people go when they left?

Facilitation Tip

In the Role-Play activity, assign roles with clear stakes—some students must decide to leave while others debate the fairness of British policies or landlord actions.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine you are an Irish person in the 1840s facing starvation. What would be the hardest part of deciding to leave your home and travel across the ocean? What would you hope to find?'

Activity 03

• 40 min · Whole Class

Timeline Build: Emigrant Journey

Students sequence events from Famine onset to arrival abroad using sticky notes on a class timeline. Add drawings of ships and letters. Review by walking the timeline and sharing insights.

What was it like to travel to a new country a long time ago?

Facilitation Tip

For the Timeline Build, use large strips of paper for students to sequence key events, leaving space to add personal milestones like 'first sight of land' or 'quarantine delay' to deepen engagement.

What to look for

Show students a map of the world. Ask them to point to and name at least three countries where Irish emigrants settled. Then, ask them to briefly explain one reason why they might have gone there.

Activity 04

• 35 min · Individual

Letter Writing: Emigrant Voices

Students write first-person letters home describing travel conditions, drawing from primary sources. Exchange letters in pairs for peer feedback before displaying on a 'coffin ship' wall.

Why did people leave Ireland during the Famine?

What to look for

Provide students with a card asking: 'List one push factor and one pull factor that might have caused someone to leave Ireland during the Famine. Then, name one country where Irish emigrants often settled.'

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with primary sources to ground students in reality, then layer in secondary context to avoid overwhelming them with too much information at once. Use jigsaw discussions where groups investigate different aspects like ship conditions or arrival cities, then share back with the class. Avoid presenting emigration as a simple escape from poverty, but instead frame it as a last resort with no guarantees.

Successful learning looks like students explaining push and pull factors clearly, debating decisions realistically, and writing letters that reflect both hope and hardship. They should also trace journeys geographically and express the emotional weight of leaving home.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Mapping Activity, watch for students who label potato blight as the only cause of emigration.

  Use the map as a visual anchor to discuss evidence cards with students during the Mapping Activity, asking them to place crop failure alongside landlord policies and British export laws as interconnected causes.

• During the Role-Play activity, listen for assumptions that emigrants instantly found wealth in new lands.

  In the Role-Play activity, provide role cards that include realistic outcomes, such as discrimination in work or crowded tenements, to ground students’ decisions in historical realities.

• During the Letter Writing activity, watch for students who describe the journey as safe or comfortable.

  Have students reference the Timeline Build’s ship conditions when writing their letters, prompting them to include details about overcrowding, disease, or storms to correct this misconception.