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Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans

Bring Vancouver’s urban and social history, visual culture, and commercial evolution to life with the Visible City: Vancouver’s Neon Stories. Teachers and students in grades nine through eleven can use these lesson plans as a stand-alone resource, or pair them with a visit to the MOV. Explore and reflect upon the social and cultural trends that influenced the neon movement – its past, present and future.

Each lesson plan consists of images, video, instructions and classroom activities aligned with social studies, civic studies, and language arts Provincial Learning Objectives (PLOs) for British Columbia.

Find out more about arranging your class/group trip to the Museum of Vancouver by contacting the Education Department of the Museum of Vancouver.

Lesson Plans

Image of Granville Street and the Great White Way
Granville and the Great White Way: Neon & Civic Identity
Learn about Vancouver’s welcome of neon and its eventual restriction as a way of understanding how architecture relates to civic identity.
Image of Granville Street in the 1950s
Musical Neon
Through analyzing the neon signs of four iconic Vancouver music venues, students link aesthetics to the music and audience attracted by each venue.
Image of restoration of Save on Meats
Revitalization or Gentrification in Vancouvers Downtown
Learn about the concept of gentrification within the context of the controversial redevelopment of the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver.
Image of Chinatown Neon
Neon Restaurants: From Racism to Diversity in Chinatown
Discover the history of the Chinatown area and Chinese immigration in Vancouver through food and gathering places for new Canadians.
Image of the Balmoral Hotel sign
Tales of the Balmoral: Social Housing in Vancouver
Students are introduced to issues surrounding social assistance and social housing in Vancouver, focusing specifically on the Balmoral Hotel and its large neon sign.