Title: A trip to the Ancient Greece theatre

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

A trip to the ancient theatre.

Target group:

1st‑grade students of a high school.

Core curriculum

Core curriculum (old)

I. Receipt of statements and use of information contained.

2. Self‑education and access to information. Student:

1. searches for literature useful for the development of various issues; selects it according to the indicated criteria (in library resources it uses both traditional book collection as well as multimedia and electronic records, including the Internet);

2. uses dictionaries and lexicons, including etymological dictionaries and symbols;

II. Analysis and interpretation of cultural texts.

1. Initial recognition. Student:

1. presents his own experiences resulting from contact with a work of art;

2. Analysis. Student:

1. indicates the means of artistic expression used in the work and their functions (previously known, in addition: oxymorons, synecdoors, hyperbolas, ellipses, parallelisms) and other determinants of the poetics of a given work (from the basics of verification, composition, genology) and their functions;

4. Values and evaluation. Student:

2. sees national and universal values present in literary works and other cultural texts;

III. Creating statements.

2. Linguistic awareness. Student:

1. operates vocabulary from specific thematic circles (at this stage developed and focusing primarily on the topics: Poland, Europe, the world - the present and the past, culture, civilization, politics).

Core curriculum (new)

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

3. distinguishes epic, lyrical, dramatic and syncretic genres, including: genres learned in primary school and epos, ode, ancient tragedy, psalm, chronicle, satire, idyll, ballad, romantic drama, poetic novel, as well as variations of the novel and drama , lists their basic species traits;

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

4. determines the influence of the ancient Greek theater on the development of theatrical art; understands the concept of catharsis and characterizes its role in shaping the reception of the work.

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

1. formulates theses and arguments in oral and written speech using appropriate syntax structures;

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

10. in the interpretation presents a proposal to read the text, formulates arguments based on the text and known contexts, including personal experience, and performs a logical argument for the validation of formulated judgments;

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1. develops the ability of independent work, among others, by preparing various forms of presenting their own position;

2. organises information into a problematic whole by valuing it; synthesizes the learned content around the problem, topic, issue and uses it in your statements;

3. uses multimedia sources of information and makes their critical evaluation.

General aim of education

Organizing information about the ancient Greek theater.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• talks about the genesis of Greek theater and its influence on the development of theatrical art;

• constructs a scenic dialogue;

• describes the construction of Ancient Greece theater;

• explains what the principle of the three unity and principle decorum are based on.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• 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;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Students search photos of the remains of Greek amphitheatres on the internet.

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. Eager or selected students present the collected footage. They talk about photographed objects.

Realization

1. Students get acquainted with the content of the drop‑down table (information about costumes and accessories). Then they discuss what's left of the ancient theater to this day..

2. Students get acquainted with the content of the drop‑down table (information about costumes and accessories). Then they discuss what's left of the ancient theater to this day.

3. Analysis of the interactive illustration. Participants familiarize themselves with the content presented in the interactive illustration. Then the teacher discusses the issues with the students.

4. Analysis of a photo of the Greek amphitheater depicted in the abstract. Joint performance of the exercise 3. The teacher draws students' attention to the terminology.

5. Work with the illustration. In pairs, students write the content of a hypothetical stage dialogue that could take place between the people depicted in the illustration. An attempt to staging selected dialogues.

6. Discussion on the subject: What have we left of the Greek theater?.

Summary

1. The teacher chooses one student by random method and asks him or her to explain in own words the meaning of a given word or concept learned during the lesson.

2. 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.

Homework

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

2. Prepare an oral answer to the question: „Why people theater?”.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

A trip to the Ancient Greece theatre

A vast majority of historians agree that drama and theatre have their roots in ancient religious customs. During such ceremonies, the ancient Greeks praised the god Dionysus, the god of wine and wild nature. It is not surprising that initially such festivals were full of wine drinking and ecstatic dances of men and women. Since the VII century BC, the ceremonies praising the god Dionysus have started to civilize. Among all, they comprised the choral singing worshiping the god. The choir was led by the Coryphaeus whose role was to choose the songs called dithyrambs. Thespis, living in the VI century B.C. was probably one of them. Was he any special? He was, coming up with a revolutionary idea to make one person stand out from the choir. The chosen one didn't initiate the singing like the Coryphaeus did, but actually answered the whole group. This resulted in the creation of a sort of dialogue. The actors and the drama itself came along. Among the festivals worshiping Dionysus, The City and Rural Dionysia stood out. Although it may be hard for now, try to match the following terms with the two festivals.

The names of the two genres of drama indicate the character of the individual plays.

Tragedy = tragos (a goat) + ode (song)
Comedy = komos (a joyful retinue) + ode (song).

These names probably indicate that:

• the members of the choir praising the Dionysus in songs wore goat leather to look more like the satirists and silenuses who surrounded the god of wine;

• the retinue of peasants from Athens wearing costumes with funny elements (such as big genitalia), was singing facetious songs and telling (sometimes quite unsavoury) jokes.

The tragedy was part of the religious ceremonies. Therefore, it was important that everyone heard and saw it well. It was, of course, the specific seating plan that was responsible for good visibility for the audience. The acoustics were supported by:

• the tubes embedded in masks thanks to which the voice of the actors was amplified,

• resonators (in a form of copper hemispheres) functioning as loudspeakers. They were set up in the amphitheatre in order to reinforce the words of the actors and the choir singing. It was necessary due to the numerous audience. The oldest amphitheatre built in stone - the theatre in Athens - could accommodate even 17 000 people.

As the drama has developed, the role of the choir was reducing in order to enhance the actors in the play. However, the role of the choir, assembling dozens of peoples, didn't change much. The choir played a role of a narrator (remember this term refers to the epic, not the drama). Therefore, it was commenting on the ongoing situation and adding information about the past or future events.

At the end of our journey, look at some information about the costumes and accessories used in the theatre.