Our Day out

[Hollistheteacher]

8-)Paste your essay.

[Mark Dickson]

Our Day Out Mark Dickson

‘Our Day Our’ by Willy Russell is a play about young teenagers in a progress class from Liverpool who go on a school trip to Wales accompanied by the two main characters, Mr. Briggs and Mrs. Kay, who are two completely different types of teachers. Mrs. Kay is a pushover and will do anything for anyone, but, on the other Mr. Briggs is a strict teacher, this is the main difference between them. Russell shows this contrast throughout the play.

Willy Russell shows us the difference the two teachers when they give their rules to the class. Mrs. Kay ‘we want everyone to enjoy themselves. That’s the only rule we have today: think of yourself, but think of others as well’. This is a good rule as Mrs. Kay is telling them to have fun and not to worry about anything. This is also a bad rule as there is no sense of order to the commands. Mr. Briggs also has a rule for the kids. He says: ‘But a lot of you haven’t been on a school trip before so you won’t know how to enjoy yourselves. So I’ll tell you’. This is a good rule as he speaks to everyone and has order. This was also a bad rule as he has a patronising tone and is looking down on them as if to suggest they are too poor to go on a school trip.

The rules are out on the test when the class visit the sweet shop. When the class visit the sweet shop they steal lots of sweets and Mrs. Kay just ignores it. When Mrs. Kay ignores it shows that she lets the kids run circles around her, however, Mr. Briggs acts differently, Mr. Briggs starts screaming and shouting at the children. He states ‘stop! Slater, walk… walk! You boy… come here. Now stop. All of you!’. This is not effective because the children just keep running around. Mrs. Kay’s rule worked as when they stole the sweets they were thinking of stuffing there faces and thinking of themselves. Mr. Briggs was right not to trust the pupils.

When the pupils go to the castle, the teachers have an argument about what the trip is really about. Mrs. Kay thought the point of the trip was to let the children have fun and to go crazy. She says to Mr. Briggs: ‘Do you really think you could educate these kids? Because you’re a fool if you do’. Mrs. Kay believes shouldn’t be learning because their incapable of learning and their stuck. Mr. Briggs replies:’ well, that’s a fine attitude for a member of the teaching profession to have’. Mr. Briggs thinks the trip is about learning. When the children get to the castle he doesn’t patronise them, he explains the castle to them in a sophisticated manor. Mr. Briggs has the best attitude towards the progress class as he wants them to succeed in life.

In the scene set on the cliff we see Mr. Briggs being very successful in helping Carol down to safety. Mr. Briggs’s first approach was by shouting. This does not get her down as she ignores him, he then realises that he has to be gentle and kind to her, for her own safety. This worked as she realises that he cares for her.

In conclusion, there can be no doubt that a combination of Mrs. Kay and Mr. Briggs would be best for the progress class. Mrs. Kay is a laidback teacher who will let the children do anything. Mr. Briggs is a strict but fair teacher. A combination of the two would be good as the children need to have fun but they need to have boundaries.

[our day out erin harley x]

Our day out by Erin Harley.

‘Our day out’, by Willy Russell, is a play about children from Liverpool who are in a progress class and go on a trip to Wales. Most of the children have never been on a school trip before. There are two main characters in the play, Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay. They are both teachers who are taking the children on the trip. The main difference between is Mr Briggs is very professional but overly strict, whilst Mrs Kay is a pushover who lets the children walk all over her, but she treats them with affection.

Russell shows us the difference between the two teachers when they give their rules to the class.
Mrs Kay says “we want everyone to enjoy themselves. That’s the only rule we have today; think of yourself, but think of others as well.”

However, by saying this, Mrs Kay is almost encouraging the pupils and be bad, because by doing this they would be thinking of themselves.
The good thing about this is that these children are from a deprives background and don’t really get opportunities like this.
Mr Briggs also has rules from the children, but his are much different and more strict. He says

“But a lot of you haven’t been on a school trip before so you won’t know how to enjoy yourselves. So I’ll tell you.”

The good thing about this is that he is giving them discipline so they will behave. When he says ‘enjoy’, he really means behave. The bad thing is that he is trying to bring them down and stop the children having fun. He also patronises them in this comment.

A mix between both Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay’s rules would be best for the class to follow, because they would behave but also have fun.

The rules are put to the test when the class visit the sweet shop. When the children go into the shop they end up stealing lots of sweets. Mrs Kay lets them off and says the need to have some fun because they’ve been inside the bus for a very long time. However, Mr Briggs responds very angry and thinks the children can’t be trusted. Mr Briggs says

“Stop! Slater, walk.. walk! You boy.. come here! Now stop. All of you stop!”

By saying this he isn’t that effective as no-one really listens to him. The repetition of ‘stop’ and short sentences shows his commands are not working. Ellipsis shows Briggs is uncertain, not confident here. If he had been more personable and knew the pupils by their first name he might of been more effective.

The pupils didn’t really listen to either of the teachers rules. Mr Briggs is right not to trust them because the proved they can’t be trusted by stealing and all barging into the shop, after having been told not to.

When the pupils go to the castle, the teachers have an argument about what the trip is really about. Mrs Kay believes that the whole point of the trip is to lets pupils have fun and not to learn. She argues

“Do you really think you could educate these kids? Because you’re a fool if you do.”

She uses a rhetorical question because she believes that these children can never properly be educated. So thinks that the trip should just be about having fun. Mr Briggs says

“Well that’s a fine attitude for a member of the teaching profession to have!”

The word ‘profession’ shows that Mr Briggs thinks that this is a serious job and he is unable to have fun if he is a teacher. He thinks the trip is about the children learning and not to have fun. He does actually help the children whist at the castle as he tells them facts about it. At this point Mr Briggs has the best attitude towards the progress class as he treats them all the same and doesn’t have favourite pupils like Mrs Kay. He also treats them maturely, using complicated language.

In the scene set on the cliff we see Mr Briggs being very successful in helping Carol down to safety. Mr Briggs starts by yelling sharp, short commands at Carol but this doesn’t work as she will only listen to rules given by people who she believes are an authority figure like Mrs Kay. Being soft and gentle with Carol, instead of just telling her commands he has a proper conversation with her. Carol then starts to listen to Mr Briggs because she realises he actually does want to help her. Because Mr Briggs treated her as a human she treats him like one, and come off the bridge.

In conclusion, there can be no doubt that a combination of Mrs Kay and Mr Briggs rules would be best for the progress class. Mrs Kay is a very soft and gentle person who is like a motherly figure as she lets them walk all over her, she also has favourites. Mr Briggs is quite a strict, serious person who thinks being a teacher should be a very professional job where you can’t have fun, but he does treat all the children equally. A combination of both Mr Briggs and Mrs Kay would be best for the progress class because they would learn and get a good education whilst behaving but also getting helped and looked after at the same time.