Title: We sail to Ithaca. The adventures of Odysseus

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

The journey of Odysseus as a metaphor of human fate.

Target group

8th‑grade students of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

1) recognises literary genres: epic, lyric and drama; determines the characteristics of particular types and assigns the work to the appropriate type;

2) distinguishes epic, lyric and drama genres, including: a diary, comedy, epigram, sonnet, song, tren, ballad, epic, tragedy – and lists their basic features and indicates the genre characteristics of literary works read;

4) recognises in the literary text: neologism, euphemism, Homeric comparison, invocation, symbol, allegory and defines their functions;

7) defines existential issues in the texts being studied and reflects them;

8) defines the aesthetic values of the literary texts being studied;

9) uses, in the interpretation of literary works, references to universal values related to social, national, religious and ethical attitudes and prioritises them;

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

6) defines the aesthetic values of the cited cultural texts;

7) finds in the texts of contemporary popular culture (eg in films, comics, songs) references to traditional literary and cultural themes.

II. Language education.

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

2) recognizes personal and local names, types of local names, uses correct grammatical forms of names, surnames, local names and names of residents;

3) knows ways to enrich vocabulary.

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

7) agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion.

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

2) perform transformations on someone else's text, including shortening, summarizing, expanding and paraphrasing.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1) reliably, with respect for copyrights, uses information;

6) develops skills of independent presentation of the results of their work.

The general aim of education

Students analyse the theme of Odysseus' journey as a metaphor of human life.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• organises chronologically the next stages of Odysseus's wandering;

• indicates selected places of stay of Odysseus on the map and tells about events happening there;

• develops vocabulary related to travel;

• explains phrasing about mythologies;

• talks about the metaphor of human life as a journey.

Teaching methods / techniques

• giving: talk;

• practical: discussion, subject exercises;

• programmed: using a computer, using an e‑manual.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• work in pairs;

• collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the purpose of the course: the students will talk about Odysseus' journey. The teacher gives students the criteria for success.

2. The teacher reminds that the Iliad and Odyssey are epics related to the events of the Trojan War.

Realization

1. The students do the puzzle to see Arnold Böcklin's painting and explain what Odysseus' adventure the author refers to (title of the painting: Odysseus and Polyphemus).

2. The teacher points out that Odysseus and Ulysses are different versions of the same name (Greek and Latin). Together with the students, the teacher determines the main topic of Odyssey and organises the information about the time and place of the action.

3. The students check the meaning of the word odyssey written with small “o” in the dictionary.

4. Students do interactive task 4 – they arrange the stages of Odysseus' journey in the appropriate order (based on the text read at home). Then, thanks to a map showing the main stages of Odysseus' journey, they verify the correctness of the answers in task 4.

5. The students, working in pairs, come up with as many adjectives as possible to describe Odysseus.

6. The teacher asks the students to recall what an invocation is. Then the students read the invocation starting Homer's Odyssey and answer questions (e.g. how Odyssey's wandering was shown, what was the direct cause of the wandering, etc.).

7. The teacher emphasises that Odyssey is the source of many idiomatic expressions and sayings. Students do task 8, which consists in explanation of the meaning of the given idiomatic expressions (e.g. siren song, a Trojan horse).

Summary

The teacher summarizes the class by asking students questions, e.g.

• Why is the story of Odysseus considered a metaphor of human fate?

Homework

Explain what the statement that the life of every human being resembles Odysseus' wandering means to you (written statement, at least 10 sentences).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

We sail to Ithaca. The adventures of Odysseus

The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer represent the same literary genre, i.e. epic (called classic), both of which deal with the theme of the Trojan war. The Iliad focuses on the course of the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans for beautiful Helen. The Greeks owe their victory mainly to the cleverness of Odysseus who invented a ploy with a horse given to the Trojans.

The main theme of The Odyssey are the adventures of the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, one of the main Greek heroes of the Trojan war, returning from Troy to his home. The plot starts in Odysseus' tenth year of wandering and lasts for 40 days. We learn about all previous adventures from the hero himself who tells about his experiences at the court of the King of Phaeacians, Alkinoos (Book VIII).

The Odyssey is one of the classics of world literature. To this day, it is the source of motifs and themes used in literature, art and even architecture. From there come the sayings, phrases and phrases without which our language would be very poor.