Topic: War Beyond Europe

Target group

8th‑grade students of an elementary school

Core curriculum

XXXIII. World War II and its stages. Pupil:

1. presents and situates in time and space groundbreaking events of World War II (political and military).

General aim of education

The student will learn about the military actions of World War II in the Far East.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to describe why and when did the United States join World War Two;;

• to explain the nature and significance Lend‑Lease Act;

• to define the “leapfrog” tactic;

• to list the war operations in Africa and Asia;

• to characterize the significance of the atomic bomb.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• exposing

  • film.

• 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

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. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

1. Reading the content of the abstract. The teacher uses the text for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

2. The teacher displays the map from Task 1. He reads out the task and, if necessary, helps student work out the answers.

3. Discussing information presented on the timeline. The teacher then divides the class into groups - as many as there are events on the axis. Each team works on one assigned issue, deepening the information contained in the abstract. Then the students present their discussions.

4. The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.

5. Students analyze the illustration and execute Task 3. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

6. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.

7. Students analyze the illustrations and execute Task 4. To answer the questions, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

Summary

1. 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.

2. The teacher displays the criteria for success and asks the students to assess their skills acquired during the classes.

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. Make at home a note from the lesson, for example using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

War Beyond Europe

War operations outside of Europe have been conducted in 1940 by the Italian army. Their aim was to take control of the Suez Canal, situated in the British zone of influence. After a brief period of success, the Italian army had to acknowledge the Allied armies’ superiority, though; what’s more, the Allies took over a part of the Italian colonies (Libya). It led to the German intervention in Africa, commanded by gen. Erwin Rommel (known as the “Desert Fox”). His activities enabled the Axis to retake the territories lost by Italy and enter Egypt. However, the supplying difficulties and the activities of the British airforce put an end to the expansion (the Battle of El Alamein, 1942). In the end, due to the entry of the British and American forces into Africa (Operation Torch), the Allied forces managed to take control of Northern portion of the continent, forcing the Axis armies to surrender.

At the outset of the war in Europe in September 1939, Japan declared its neutrality and agreed to an armistice with the Soviet Union in the war between the two states in the Far East. The United States assumed a similar stance. The situation changed dramatically on 7 December 1941. The unexpected Japanese attack on the American military base of Pearl Harbor that resulted in the sinking of 5 battleships and over 2300 American casualties caused the US to join the war on the Allied side. From that moment onwards, the main American front of operations was the war against Japan on the Pacific. The US achieved their first success as early as May 1942, stopping the Japanese at the Coral Sea, then in June of the same year, inflicting heavy casualties upon the enemy in the Battle of Midway. In the months that followed, owing to the so‑called “[leapfrog]” tactic, they managed to take control of other Pacific islands, threatening Japan directly. The Empire of Japan, however, was not willing to surrender. However, after the Soviet Union’s entry into the war in the Far East (after the conclusion of the war in Europe in May 1945), and, especially, the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the fighting ceased. The act of unconditional surrender has been signed on 2 September 1945, aboard the battleship Missouri; thus ended the bloodiest armed conflict in the history of humanity.