How To Teach A Great
Unit on The Vikings at
Year 8 For The
Australian Curriculum
Why should we care about the Vikings?
• The way of life in Viking society (social, cultural, economic and political features) and the
roles and relationships of different groups in society (ACDSEH007)
• The role of a significant individual in the expansion of Viking settlement and influence,
such as Erik the Red or Leif Ericson (ACDSEH049)
• Significant developments and/or cultural achievements that led to Viking expansion,
including weapons and shipbuilding, and the extent of their trade (ACDSEH047)
• Getting students engaged
It’s important to start a unit by engaging students in the topic and guiding them to see its
relevance. Some ancient cultures, such as ancient Greece and Rome had significant
impacts on Western life, and it’s easy to establish why we should care about cultures that
have impacted us so much. But why should we care about Vikings? We can get students
thinking about this, by asking them this: When was the last time you used one of these
words?
• Cake
• Awesome
• Thursday
We can tell students that every time they use those words or read those words, they’re
communicating in Viking. Each of those words came to English from Viking culture. All
around us, our modern culture is influenced by:
• Viking language
• Viking customs
• Viking stories
Ask students to look at the resource ‘Modern Viking Influences’. After students have read
through this resource, they should thinking about why it’s important to study Vikings by
finishing this statement:
Vikings have influenced modern culture in a number of ways. For example....It’s important
to study Vikings, then, because...
• Viking 101
Before proceeding any further in a unit on the Vikings, students will need the basics of
who the Vikings were, where they came from and when they existed. Here are a few
activities for students to work some of these things out for themselves.
A Ticking Mind Resource
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• Where
Students can think about where the Vikings existed by considering that one word people
from England used to describe the Vikings was ‘Dene’. Today this word has come to part
of the modern name for one of the countries the Vikings came from. Give students the
attached map of Europe and ask students to look through the countries and Europe and
see if they can discover which country might be related to the word ‘Dene’. Once students
have discovered Denmark, tell students that Vikings spoke a language called Norse and
were called Norsemen - which literally means ‘men from the north’. Get students to look
again at the map of Europe. Why might the Vikings have been called ‘Norsemen’?
Vikings in fact came from more places than just the modern Denmark. Today, all the places
that Vikings originally inhabited are called Nordic - from the word Norse, because all these
countries once spoke Norse. Show students the map ‘Nordic Countries’ - the very dark red
on this map indicated the places that Vikings first came from - the other colours represent
where they spread to. Ask students to look at this map and then to their modern map of
Europe. What modern Nordic countries were the places that Vikings originally came from?
• Who
The modern word viking comes from the Norse word viking. Write these three viking
words on the board for students to see and copy down:
Viking: A pirate voyage, a raid
Vikingr: A sea rover, raider; Someone from a vik
Vik: A small bay, inlet
Get students to think about the meaning of these words and to look again at the Nordic
Countries map. What do the Viking words tell us about where specifically Vikings might
have come from (i.e what type of region within the Nordic countries) and where they went
to (and why). Discuss this as a class.
• When
The ‘Nordic Countries’ map provides some basic dates about the spread of Vikings.
What’s interesting about these dates is that they are listed as 8th century, 9th century
etc...This provides an opportunity to discuss with students what set of of years is the 8th,
9th or 20th century. Get students to create a simple timeline in their books by ruling a line
from the top of a page to the bottom and to evenly divide the line into 20 sections. The
first section should be marked 0CE (Common Era), then 100CE, through to 2000 CE. Once
students have done this, ask them to look at the information on the ‘Nordic Countries’
handout and to identify what years on their timeline the Vikings existed in. A common
mistake from students will be to say that the Vikings existed from 800 to 1100, because
they will think that the 8th century equates to 800. This is where it needs to be pointed out
that the 8th century in fact means the 700s. Students can work out a bit more about exactly
when the Viking age began and ended. Attached in a resource ‘The First And Last Raid’
students will see information about raids at either end of the Viking era. Ask students to
A Ticking Mind Resource
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