Trailer

Begin the lesson by asking the students to listen carefully to the song 16 Tons from Mining Review 10/10. Don't show them any visuals.

What do they think the song could be about? Play it again and ask them to focus on its tone, imagery and language. Encourage them to think about the song's rhymes and repetition. Do they think it's an upbeat song? Can they comment on the style of music?

It might be useful to capture the students' ideas on the board.

Main Attraction

Now show them the film with sound and follow this with Mining Review 10/11: The Plodder Seam (entry point 3:33 in the 9 min extract above). It might be useful to hand out the lyrics to the songs at this point (see downloadable Teacher's Notes).

Also, offer students the table (see downloadable 16 Tons Lyrics pdf) to help them capture their ideas about the songs and the films made to accompany them.

Once they have collected together their ideas, encourage them to discuss, in pairs or small groups, the similarities and differences between the two extracts.

The aim here is to develop students understanding of the cultural context in which these types of songs were written and to encourage them to think about how this impacted on the 'form' of the industrial folk song. Some questions:

• Who do they think might have written these songs?
• Where do they think they came from?
• Where might these songs have been sung? And by who?
• What impact and significance do they think these songs had on the communities that produced them?

One interesting point, that you might want to spend some time discussing, is the difference between the written lyrics and those sung in the extracts (astute students might have noticed this). This is the result of the ways in which such songs were not learned verbatim, but passed on orally.

It is also worth remembering that Songs of the Coalfields were produced and exhibited as part of the newsreel Mining Review and that these were shown primarily in cinemas to mining audiences. Why do students think the songs were included by the newsreel producers - where typically the main focus was on information-giving? Do they think this is successful? It might be useful to draw parallels with 'magazine' type programmes on television today, such as 'The One Show'.

End Credits

Ask the students to think about current trends in music or film that continue, or relate to, the traditions of these folksongs. Some thoughts:

• Do they think there is any continuity in terms of films and music today? If not, why not?
• What do contemporary protest songs focus on?
• Where might you go to hear them?

Finish by showing them the short animation Signature (1990) - an oppressive, yet evocative film about the monotony of an office worker's life in a hostile London. How does this compare to 16 Tons and The Plodder Seam? Again they could think about atmosphere, sound, imagery, tone, etc.