Topic: Shock. Russo‑Japanese War and its aftermath

Target group

7th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XXIII. Europe and the world in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pupil:

3) explains the causes, extent and consequences of the colonial expansion of states European in the 19th century;

XXIV. Polish lands under the partitions in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Pupil:

5) explains the social and national aspects of the revolution in 1905‑1907;

General aim of education

The student learns and describes the causes and effects of the Russian‑Japanese war of 1904‑1905.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• about the directions of the Russian expansion in the Far East;

• why the war with Japan broke out;

• what were the consequences of the war for Russia and Japan.

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;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The teacher asks the chosen student or students to get acquainted with the abstract material and to prepare the illustrative material for the lesson.

Introduction

1. The teacher asks students to do Task 1.

2. The teacher explains the students the goals of the lesson and develops success criteria together with them.

Realization

1. Students do Exercise 1. They wonder about the political problems caused manchurian ambitions of Russia. Did it have the support of European countries? The teacher tells students about the position of the Japanese and Russian authorities in the face of the upcoming conflict. Then invites the students to read the source from the era. Students do Task 2. They write down conclusions.

2. Students do Exercise 2. The teacher briefly presents the breakthrough moments of the war. Then the students do Exercise 3 summarizing main facts. The teacher provides feedback to the students.

3. The teacher gives students pre‑planned pyramid schemes of priorities. The subject of the work is: What factors were decisive in Russian defeat and the victory of Japan? The students work in pairs, they write on the self‑adhesive sheets the factors (priorities of the parties to the conflict, advantages of location, internal conditions, main clashes of the war and their consequences, etc.). Then each of the designated teams at the appropriate levels of the pyramid puts further aspects of the issue. The aim of the work is to determine the hierarchy of factors that decided about the defeat of Russia and the victory of Japan.

4. The teacher provides feedback to students.

Summary

1. Representatives of groups read the factors placed on subsequent levels. They justify the choices made by the group. The teacher or the designated student sums up the lesson.

2. The teacher gives the students an evaluation questionnaire, in which they evaluate their own work, colleagues and the teacher.

Homework

1. Homework (Note, homework is not an obligatory part of the scenario) Search the Internet for information about Poles fighting in the Russian‑Japanese war. Write a short essay on this topic.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Shock. Russo‑Japanese War and its aftermath

On the night of 8 to 9 February 1904, the Japanese attacked Russian ships at Port Arthur without any warning or declaring a war. Main Japanese forces attacked Korea and the remaining ones in – Manchuria. The conquest of Port Arthur, after a few months' sieges in January 1905, was the key moment. During the war, it turned out that Russia was a colossus on clay legs. Most of its fleet had to sail around the whole continent of Africa and across the Indian Ocean to reach the destination. When they eventually got there after the 8‑month journey, they got completely destroyed in the Battle of Tsushima (27–28 May 1905). That defeat was shocking not only to Russian public opinion but also to the European superpowers and the United States.

Russo‑Japanese war, Trans‑Siberian Railway, Manchuria, Kwantung, Liaodong Peninsula, Tsushima, Mukden, Shenyang, photography