Using topical cartoons to help with GCSE source questions

Andy Butterworth,

Bridgemary Community School, Gosport

• In a moment you will see a cartoon about a speech made by the Conservative shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

• It appeared in the Guardian newspaper.• Under the headline. Public pay freeze and tax credits to be

slashed as Tories promise 'honesty'

• What message is the cartoonist trying to get across?• What does it tell you about the people who read the

Guardian?

Cartoon caption : Public pay freeze and tax credits to be slashed as Tories promise 'honesty'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/video/2009/oct/07/steve-bell-george-osborne

• Steve Bell the Guardian cartoonist is being what we call ‘ironical’.

• He puts the word honesty in inverted commas as if the Tories say one thing but do another.

• He seems to be supporting Osborne by repeating the words of his strong message.

• But then…• The use of ‘My arse’ at the end needs no

explanation!

Can we do the same for a cartoon in German nearly 100 years old?

• It comes from an OCR exam question

• Study Source C. Why do you think this cartoon was published in Germany in 1919? Use the cartoon and your own knowledge to explain your answer.

Study Source C. Why do you think this cartoon was published in Germany in 1919? Use the cartoon and your own knowledge to explain your answer.

Level 5 = 7/7 Uses knowledge of contextANDDetails from cartoonTo explain WHY ThereWHY Then

A cartoon published in Germany in 1919.

The German mother is saying

to her child, “When we have

paid one hundred billion

marks then I can

give you something to eat.”

So let’s answer the question Study Source C. Why do you think this cartoon was published in Germany in 1919? Use the cartoon and your own knowledge to explain your answer.

I think this cartoon was published by a German to make people hate the Treaty of Versailles.

Many German people felt they had been treated very unfairly in the too harsh Treaty of Versailles of 1919.

They had been blamed for the war and were going to be punished by having to pay huge reparations - this is the 100 billion marks mentioned. The lady tells the boy he will be fed when the reparations are repaid. We all know this will never happen-the sum is just too large

Many Germans felt they would not be able to afford to eat properly if they had to pay reparations.