Shakespeare Week: KS2 or 3 activity: Elizabethan lady's letter about first impressions of London

A thorough unit of work with full instructions and a clear mark scheme. Students imagine that they are a well to do Elizabethan lady (or lord!) from the fifteenth or early sixteenth century country shires, visiting seedy Southwark for the first time.
Students have to write a letter home to the country Manor House in a suitably formal style, telling their loved ones all about the sights, smells and sounds of Shakespearean London.
Included is a good sample response and some useful handouts about the area. Globe education also offer students excellent information too.
You could start the students off with the task, get them to brainstorm, research the playhouses and city using the handouts as a starting point, look at the sample letter, then ask them to write their own letters.
The responses look great as wall displays. This task will encourage students to enjoy Shakespeare rather than fear him!