Title: Dreams come true

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Dreams come true. How was the mythical Troy discovered?

Target group

5th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

7) discusses plot events, determines the order of events and understands their interdependence;

12) defines the theme and topic of the work;

16) defines the experiences of the literary characters and compares them with his/her own;

2. Reception of cultural texts. Student:

3) determines the theme and main thought of the text,

8) understands the specificity of cultural texts being part of: literature, theater, film, music, visual and audiovisual arts).

II. Language education.

2. Diversity of language Student:

5) recognizes idiomatic phrases in the utterances, recognizes their richness, understands their meaning and applies them correctly in the utterances.

III. Creation of utterances.

1. Elements of the rhetoric. Student:

1) participates in a conversation on a given topic, separates its parts, constructional signals strengthening the bond between the participants of the dialog, explaining the meaning;

3) creates a logical, semantically complete and ordered utterance, using composition and graphic layout appropriate to a given genre form; understands the role of paragraphs in creating a whole mental utterance;

4) selects the information.

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

5) discusses the text he/she has read.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1) perfects reading quietly and aloud;

2) perfects various forms of recording the information acquired;

8) develops the skill of critical thinking and opinion forming;

9) develops the skill of effective use of information technology and Internet resources and uses these skills to present his/her own interests.

The general aim of education

The student learns about the history of Troy's discovery and practices reading comprehension.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• tells the story of the discovery of mythical Troy;

• provides a summary of the myth;

• talks about his/her plans and dreams.

Methods/techniques

• problematic: talk;

• practical: tasks concerned;

• programmed: using the computer, using an e‑textbook.

Forms of work

• uniform individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Before the lesson

The teacher asks a selected student or students to become acquainted with the literary fragment contained in the abstract and prepare a visual illustration for the lesson. Students, working in the intersemiotic translation method, prepare their work using any artistic technique. Their task will be to start classes with the presentation of their impressions or associations and to encourage other students to discuss.

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the goal of the lesson: the students will learn how the mythical Troy was discovered.

2. Selected students present art works prepared for classes with justification for their implementation. They explain why they did it this way. The teacher encourages other students to ask questions, e.g.

• Why did you decide on this art technique?

• What does the element of your work refer to?

If necessary, the discussion about the presented material can be repeated in the summary phase of the lesson. If a student has a problem with formulating fluent statements in English, he/she can give reasons for choosen examples in his mother tongue.

Realization

1. The students perform interactive task no. 1 – they draw their dreams, then present the works to each other (in pairs) and guess their colleagues' dreams. Then the teacher asks the students what their dreams are. Questions:

• Is it worth having dreams?

• What are they for?

• What do other people dream about?

• Do all dreams come true and should they be fulfilled?

2. In search of mythical Troy. Reminder of the contents of the Trojan myth. The teacher talks about the character of Henryk Schliemann who wanted to find the mythical Troy. Students read the text in the abstract so that they can learn about the character's further fate.

3. Discussion of the content of the read text. The directed conversation about the main character of the described story – his dream, ways of implementing the plan, the people who helped Schliemann.

4. Exercises checking the understanding of the text read (no. 2‑6) and enriching the vocabulary, exercise no. 7. The teacher checks the correctness of performed tasks and provides feedback to the students. It is advisable to do exercises together by the whole class team.

5. The students form their own summary of the myth about the Trojan war (4‑6 sentences). Selected students read their works aloud.

6. Presentation of photos contained in the abstract: the reconstruction of the Trojan horse and the ruins of Troja on the Hisarlik hill in Turkey. The teacher asks students to try to imagine that they have moved back in time to the ancient Troy, and describe the imagined situation. He asks:

• What do you see?

• What do you feel?

• What happened just now?

• What will happen in a moment?

Students in groups develop short descriptions of the situation in the present tense.

7. Reminder of the meaning of the phrase Trojan horse (according to information in the abstract).

Summary

The teacher asks students to evaluate their work during the lesson and the level of understanding of the material discussed. He can use the interactive board included in the abstract.

Homework

Write a short story whose hero fulfills his great dream.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Dreams come true

What do you think, is it worth to have dreams? What are they for? What do people dream about? Do all dreams come true? Do you know literary or film heroes who followed their dreams?

Henryk Schliemann, a German merchant, from his childhood dreamed to find a mythical city known only from ancient tales – Troy. Because nobody had ever found the ruins of this city, his desire seemed almost impossible to achieve. See how the story turned out.

The text shows the figure of Helen of Troy – do you remember the history with which she is connected?