Ruby's first day at school

Objective & content

This Look Closer episode (Civil rights mini-series, episode 21) is a short documentary about Ruby Bridges, who became the first Black pupil at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans on 14 November 1960, when she was six. A single narrator opens on her first morning, when she thought the crowd in the street was Mardi Gras, then explains that the South had segregation in its schools and that in 1960 a court told the schools of New Orleans to open their doors to all children. Four US marshals walked with Ruby and her mother into the school; many white parents took their children out, and only one teacher, Barbara Henry from Boston, agreed to teach her. For almost the whole year, Ruby was in a class of one. The narration closes on Ruby today, speaking to young people about respect for people who are different, then asks a last question: how many pupils were in her classroom that year? It is a comprehension episode: the narration tells the story in the past simple, with two passives (was born, were not allowed), and no grammar point is taught. Learners listen, then answer the 10 questions in the app: 7 on facts and 3 on vocabulary (marshal, segregation, Mardi Gras). The study topic is people who stood up for equal rights: who they were, what they did, what changed.

Materials & prerequisites

The folder holds the audio, the slideshow and the script. Each pack is a one-page PDF with the text, three photos, the key words and the 10 questions: a pupil pack, and a teacher pack with the answers highlighted. It also has a pupil sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key. It has no lesson plan. The photos follow the story: Ruby with the US marshals on the school steps in 1960, the school today, and Ruby Bridges in 2010. The key words define segregation plainly, and the questions ask for facts, never for a judgement. Learners should know the past simple of common verbs (saw, thought, took) and be able to read dates such as 1954 and 1960.

Curriculum alignment

Tagged c4-school-and-society ("École et société") and c4-encountering-others ("Rencontre avec l'autre"), Cycle 4 (4e): the episode is about a school that a court opened to all children, and about respect for people who are different. The episode targets CEFR level A2+.