Virtual Workshops

What we offer:

Jane Austen’s House offers a range of virtual learning sessions to enhance your pupils’ study of pre-nineteenth century literature.

Each session is led by our knowledgeable and experienced staff, who will guide your class through:

  • an engaging power point presentation, rich with images and specially-made video content
  • a stunning virtual tour of Jane Austen’s House
  • a series of hands-on activities that they’ll complete in real time

We’ll also provide:

  • a printable pupil booklet that they’ll use throughout the session
  • a series of printable info sheets that can be used for pre or post-session research
  • interactive post-session activities to be used in class or at home

Our approach:

Jane Austen is one of the most important writers in English literature. Her books are read by people all over the world and have been made into countless TV, film, theatre, opera and radio adaptations.

This is all the more impressive because she only wrote six full-length novels. In order of publication, these were: Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion.

But Jane Austen was writing 200 years ago. Why are her books still relevant, and why should you encourage your pupils to read her today?

By engaging with our three online workshops – Art of the Author, Time Travellers and Zooming Out – we provide exciting insights to Jane Austen’s world. Through activities, objects, talks and videos we make her novels accessible to pupils today.

We take pupils through the historical context and enrich their knowledge of cultural capital. Studying Jane Austen’s novels will support their ability to actively read in depth with curiosity and enjoyment.

By working together in a chatty and social way we encourage pupils to read Jane Austen’s work aloud. We use small extracts to entice and interest pupils.

Through discussion we hope to encourage them to develop essential empathy, compassion and self-reflection following the path of development for many of Jane Austen’s heroines.

The approach we take is to encourage pupils to generate their own hypotheses about the language Jane Austen used, explore vocabulary choices and decide on meanings. We support pupils to draw on quotations and other forms of evidence to back up their ideas and interests.

Still from Jane Austen's House Virtual Tour, showing the Drawing Room

Our workshops:

Jane Austen and the Art of the Author
This stimulating session delves into Jane Austen’s creative genius, exploring how her writing form, style and subject matter developed through her lifetime : from her wild and adventurous teenage writings to her mature, published novels and final unfinished manuscript, Sanditon. We’ll examine her writing materials and editing process, objects that reveal her inspiration, the influence of contemporary fiction and theatre on her writing, and her own private letters. Find out more

Time Travellers: Money and Marriage in Jane Austen’s England
Daily life in Regency England was full of rules and conventions that may be puzzling to a modern reader. This thought-provoking workshop explores what it meant to survive in the Regency era, from successfully getting married to making a living and working out the complicated business of inheritances and entails. Your students will explore real examples from Jane Austen’s life and from her novels, to really get a grip on what life was like for Jane Austen and her characters. Find out more

Zooming Out: The Wider World of Jane Austen’s Novels
This entertaining workshop explores the wider context of Jane Austen’s world and that of her novels. It was a dramatic era, with the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars raging overseas and impacting on life at home. Jane Austen was fully aware of world events, with newspapers, books and personal accounts from her globe-trotting family to inform her. This workshop provides valuable global context about the Regency period and gives students greater confidence to use it in their own work. Find out more

Before the workshop:

Our workshops are delivered live over zoom. In order to make sure your class gets the most out of the session, please complete the following actions in advance:

  • Check AV, audio and picture quality
  • Download and save all documents to a folder on your computer
  • Print out the pupil handbooks and make sure each pupil has a copy
  • Ensure pupils have highlighters, pens and spare paper for notes
  • Make sure all pupils can hear and see the screen
  • Pupils will need to be able to work in pairs, trios and small groups. Pre-planning these will help efficient use of time

Please email learning@janeaustens.house for more details and bookings, or to discuss your needs