Free for schools
The Christmas Truce of 1914 in the Classroom
Ready-to-use worksheets with letters from the front, from three countries. No sign-up, no cost.
The First to Stand Up
A teaching resource for about 90 minutes, or about three hours with every module
At Christmas 1914, at many points along the Western Front, soldiers climbed out of their trenches and walked towards the enemy. This resource lets three men who were there speak for themselves: a German volunteer, a British captain and a French schoolteacher.
Students compare their letters, test what is true in the famous story of the football match, and look at how images of the enemy are made. The guiding question comes at the end: what makes someone the first to stand up?
- Download the teaching resourcePDF · 15 pages · 2.0 MB
- Subjects
- History · RE and Ethics · English · Citizenship; in German and French also for modern foreign languages
- Ages
- 13 to 16, with extension work up to 18
- Time
- about 90 minutes with one focus, or about three hours with every module
- Contents
- five photocopiable modules, lesson plan, background and answer guidance
- Use
- free to copy, print and hand out in class; not to be sold or altered (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
- Version
- 1, October 2026
What is inside
- M1
The front at Christmas 1914
map, timeline and a sentence to start with
- M2
Three letters from three countries
a German, a British and a French letter, each on its own page for a jigsaw activity, with a comparison table
- M3
Myth and reality
what is true about the famous football match? Working with sources
- M4
The enemy factory
how hatred starts with words, and why it falls apart up close
- M5
The first to stand up
from Christmas Eve 1914 to the vaccination Sundays in El Salvador in 1985, with an optional writing task
Plus pages for teachers with two routes through the material, background and answer guidance.
A look inside
M1 · Map and timeline
M2 · Gustave Berthier’s letter
M3 · The football match
M5 · The first to stand up
Good to know
No book needed. Every text is in the resource, and the letters are given in full.
Handled with care. The idea of silent trenches inside families appears only in an optional writing task. No one has to read out what they have written.
Sourced, not invented. The texts come from letters, diaries and war diaries. The drawings are illustrations made in 2026 and are labelled as such.
The book behind it
The First to Stand Up tells the story of the truce in full, from Flanders to the Somme, and asks what it can teach us today about the trenches in our families and between nations.
Feedback
Feedback from the classroom helps us improve the resource. If you have used it, we would be glad to hear what worked and what did not.