Topic: The natural environment and cultural heritage of Belarus

Target group

Sixth‑grade student of elementary school

Core curriculum

VIII. Neighbors of Poland: changes in industry in Germany; the cultural heritage of Lithuania and Belarus; natural environment and tourist attractions of the Czech Republic and Slovakia; political, social and economic problems of Ukraine; natural and socio‑economic diversity of Ukraine; natural and socio‑economic diversity of Russia; relations between Poland and neighbors.

Student:

2) designs a tour of Lithuania and Belarus taking into account selected values of the natural and cultural environment

7) understands the need to shape good relations between Poland and its neighbors.

General aim of education

The student will discuss the natural environment and plan a trip around the most interesting places in Belarus.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• Describe the location of Belarus on the map of Europe;

• Characterize the natural environment of Belarus;

• Discuss the current political situation in Belarus;

• You will learn about the cultural heritage of Belarus;

• You plan a trip to Belarus.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• physical map of Europe;

• statistical yearbooks;

• geographical atlases.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher gives students the topic and goals of the lesson.

• The teacher launches an interactive board on an interactive whiteboard and asks students to write down associations related to Belarus. Discussion.

Realization

• The teacher at the earlier lesson asked students to familiarize themselves with the source material concerning the political situation in Belarus. Students prepare messages at home. Thanks to this, it is possible to discuss the events in Belarus and their impact on the current political situation.

• Work of the whole class team. Students determine the geographical location of Belarus. They indicate the neighboring countries.

• Work in pairs. Characteristics of Belarus's natural conditions: vertical configuration, river network, forests and climate. Students work with geographical atlases and a handbook for teaching geography and e‑textbook.

• The indicated persons discuss the developed issue. They use the map of Belarus - a hypsometric map of the textbook displayed on the interactive whiteboard.

• The teacher displays on the interactive whiteboard a map of the textbook The distribution of the population of Belarus. He asks students to read cities with the largest population. Then he asks for information on the size of the population of Belarus on the Internet. Students formulate their own conclusions.

• Work in groups. The teacher divides the class into 4 teams. Students in each group develop a tour of Belarus, taking into account the values of the natural and cultural environment. Each group receives a sheet of A1 paper, markers. Students use source materials (geography teaching handbook, internet resources, e‑textbook). Students present their suggestions using a talking wall.

• The teacher uses a YouTube video presenting the performance of the Belarusian folk group. Initiates discussions about the culture of Belarus.

Summary

• The teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer? If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

• The teacher asks pupils to perform the indicated interactive exercises themselves..

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

• Make at home a note from the lesson using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The natural environment and cultural heritage of Belarus

Belarus is a medium‑sized country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of more than 207 thousand kmIndeks górny 2², which corresponds to 2/3 of the area of Poland. The capital of the country is Minsk.
Belarus is the largest landlocked European country. It is surrounded on all sides by neighboring countries – Russian Federation in the east, Ukraine in the south, Poland in the west, Lithuania in the northwest, and Latvia in the north. The length of our border with Belarus is 418 km, but its borders with Russia and Ukraine are more than twice as long. The border of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia is simultaneously the external border of the European Union, which is very difficult for Belarusians to cross.

Belarus is a lowland country situated entirely in the west of the East European Plain. The surface of the land is mostly flat, although there are some variations. In the central part, there are small hills of the Belarusian Ridge with the highest point of the country, the Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, with an altitude of 345 m above sea level. In the north, there is the slightly undulating Belarusian Lake District with the largest lake – Lake Narach – which has an area of 80 kmIndeks górny 2² (slightly larger than our Łebsko Lake).

Many large rivers of a typically lowland character flow through the flat terrain of Belarus. Most of them – the Dnieper, Daugava, Neman, Pripyat – are cross‑border rivers. The Belarusian Ridge is the watershed of the catchment areas of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. The catchment area of the Baltic Sea includes the river basins of the Daugava, Neman, and Vistula (the Bug, the Narew), while the catchment area of the Black Sea – the river basin of the Dnieper.
The climate in Belarus is temperate, warm, and transitional, but with a predominance of continental effects. Marine effects are clearly limited due to the considerable distance from the sea and the ocean.  
The natural vegetation of today’s areas of Belarus used to be mixed forests. Their substrate produced low‑fertility podsolic and lessive soils, and, in some places, slightly better brown soils.
Belarus is a rather densely forested country – forests cover almost 40% of the area. One of the most valuable forest complexes is the Białowieża Primeval Forest, most of which is located on the Belarusian side. Other well‑known forest areas are the Grodno Forest and the Naliboki Forest. There are also many bogs, marshes, and peatbogs. As a result, many wildlife areas have been preserved in the territory of our eastern neighbors.

Belarus currently has about 9.5 million inhabitants. This is less than in the Czech Republic, for example, which is more than 2 times smaller. As a result, the population density in Belarus is almost three times lower – only 45 people per 1 kmIndeks górny 2² (in the Czech Republic it is 133 people). The low population density of Belarus is mainly due to significant forestation and relatively large areas occupied by wetlands that are difficult to access. Only about a quarter of the population lives in the countryside. This is also due to the model of Belarusian agriculture, which is based mainly on large state‑owned farms (kolkhozes, sovkhozes), where relatively fewer people are needed to work than on small private farms.
3/4 of the population of Belarus are inhabitants of cities, but there are not many cities. The capital city – Minsk – is home to nearly 2 million people, which is 1/5 of the total population. The remaining cities are much smaller – the largest of them is Gomel, which has fewer than 500 thousand inhabitants, and the next four (Mogilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, and Brest) have about 300 thousand each.

Nearly 80% of the country’s inhabitants are Belarusians. The most numerous national minority are the Russians, who account for about 15% of the population. Interestingly, Russian is still commonly used and remains the second official language alongside Belarusian, which is a proof of the strong social and cultural links between the two countries.
The number of Poles in Belarus is estimated at about 400 thousand, i.e., 4% of the country’s population. They live mainly in border areas, especially Grodno and its vicinity. The Union of Poles in Belarus operates there but, in 2005, there was a split in it. One part of the union remains loyal to the state authorities, and the other openly opposes them, demanding that these authorities respect fundamental rights of the Polish national minority, such as the right to use the Polish language or to travel more freely across our border.

Tourist attractions of Belarus.