Wars with the English Student Activities

Create a map of the major battles of the Seven Years' War.

Draw a colour picture of a British and French soldier of the Seven Years' War.

Construct a timeline of wars and treaties between France and England from the creation of Royal Government in 1663 to the fall of New France in 1763.

Research and construct a timeline of the major battles of the Seven Years' War.

You are one of the first of Wolfe's soldiers to have scaled the heights of Quebec. You have some time to wait until the rest of your comrades join you. Write a diary entry on the eve of the Battle.

Create the dialogue for a scene that took place in an Acadian home as a father and a mother attempt to explain the expulsion to their young teenaged son and daughter. If time permits, present it for your class.

Debate the following resolution: The British were justified in expelling the Acadians in 1755.

Either individually or in groups write a fictional account that looks at what might have happened had the French won the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

In chart form assess which side had the best chance of victory on the eve of the Seven Years' War. You might include such factors as colonial population, army, navy, weapons, forts, aboriginal allies, leadership, etc.)

Working in teams of two, pretend each of you is a soldier on opposite sides on the eve of the Battle of Dusquesne. Write a diary entry. Then compare your observations and feelings by reading one another's diary.

Adopt one of the following roles and write an account of your feelings in the immediate aftermath of the capitulation of New France. The roles are: a parish priest, an artisan, a habitant, a trader, a soldier, a wife and mother, an aboriginal, and a coureur de bois.

Convene the negotiations of the Treaty of Paris. Conduct the discussion surrounding the trade-off of Guadeloupe for New France.

For each of the major battles of the Seven Years' War, design an appropriate newspaper headline.

Discover what the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was and what impact it had. What policy line does it indicate that the British are adopting at the close of the Seven Years' War? Is that a wise policy? Why or why not?

Find a map with the positions of the respective forces on the eve of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Sketch the positions.

Research what the United States calls the Seven Years' War. Why do you think they have a different name for the war? Why is that difference important?

You have been commissioned to write the inscription for two monuments. One is for General Wolfe and one is for General Montcalm. What words would you choose?

Analyze why there was so much antipathy between the French and the English.

Explain Michel Brunet's 'decapitation thesis?' What historical evidence is there to support it? What historical evidence is the that contradicts it? Write a final summary paragraph on your view of the thesis.

Explain what happened to Acadia after each successive war between the French and the English. Why do you think that occurred?

Find the Canada: A People's History clip of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. What is the impression that producer Mark Starowicz is trying to convey about the Battle? Explain.

Find Gordon Lightfoot's recording of "Plains of Abraham." What is the message that he's trying to convey in the song?

Go to the Documents section and read Longfellow's poem "Evangeline." What is both the tone and the message of the poem.

Research Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, the man who started the Seven Years' War. Create a poster display and make a presentation to the class of your findings.

Select the three most significant battles of the Seven Years' War. Justify your selections with historical and military evidence.

What impact did the fall of New France have on the Thirteen Colonies? What affect did it have on the aboriginal peoples?

What is 'la survivance?' What is the motivation behind it? What are its pillars? What ramifications did it have for the future of French Canadian society?

What is the significance, both psychologically and militarily, to be 'conquered?'

Which factor do you feel was the single most important in determining the outcome of the Seven Years' War? Why?

Write a military assessment of the significance of the British capture of Louisbourg.

Write a newspaper editorial that might have appeared in a Paris paper arguing that France had just committed a grave error by relinquishing Guadeloupe for New France. Make sure to include sound arguments. But as well, make sure that you write it as though you were living at that time, and not now.

Write and deliver a one-minute eulogy for either Wolfe or Montcalm.