Title: Back and forth or alone through Africa

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Back and forth or alone through Africa.

Target group

8th‑grade students of an eight‑year 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;

10) uses in the interpretation of literary texts elements of knowledge about history and culture;

11) uses in the interpretation of literary works the necessary contexts, eg biographical, historical, historical‑literary, cultural, philosophical, and social.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

2) organises information depending on their function in the message;

4) recognises the differences between the fine literature and scientific literature, popular science, journalism and determines the functions of these types of writing;

5) recognises journalistic genres: reportage (...).

II. Language education.

2. Differentiation of language. Pupil:

2) recognises personal and local names, types of local names, uses correct grammatical forms of names, surnames, local names and names of residents.

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

1) functionally uses rhetorical means and understands their impact on the recipient;

3) creates a statement using the appropriate composition for a given form and the principles of linguistic consistency between paragraphs; understands the role of paragraphs as a coherent whole of thought in the creation of written utterances and applies the paragraph rhythm (interweaving of long and short paragraphs);

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

IV. Self‑study. Student:

8) develops the ability to think critically and formulate opinions.

The general aim of education

Students deepen their knowledge about reportage as a literary genre.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• gives the features of reportage;

• interprets a fragment of the account of Kazimierz Nowak through Africa;

• marks the route on the map;

• considers different attitudes towards traveling;

• creates advertising text.

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;

• work in groups;

• collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

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

2. The teacher starts the lesson with a talk about travelling: the past and present methods of travelling, the hardships of travel and the problems of travellers. The teacher draws attention to the fact that travelling was once much more difficult than today.

Realization

1. Students, in order to revise information, do interactive ex. no. 2, which is to indicate the characteristics of a reportage.

2. The teacher introduces the figure of Kazimierz Nowak – a traveller who travelled alone across Africa in the 1930s (the teacher may also ask about Ryszard Kapuściński and his reportages or about contemporary travellers known from the media – e.g. Martyna Wojciechowska or Wojciech Cejrowski). On the basis of the teacher's story and available sources, the students put in order the stages of Nowak's journey (interactive ex. no. 3), then mark on the map the route of his travel (interactive ex. no. 4) and learn about the languages spoken by the inhabitants of the places visited by the traveller.

3. Students start the lesson “Back and forth - alone across Africa” from the e‑textbook and read a fragment of Kazimierz Nowak's account. Based on the text, they do interactive ex. no. 6 – they decide which statements are true and which statements are false.

4. Students talk in pairs about the way the traveller approached the issue of money and comforts (were they important to him?, what consequences of their lack he had to deal with?).

5. The teacher draws attention to the figure of a doctor appearing in the text and encourages students to compare his attitude and the attitude of Kazimierz Nowak (aspects such as habits or behaviour).

6. Students, working in groups, create a short advertising text encouraging to buy and read the Nowak's book.

7. Students look at the photo gallery of Kazimierz Nowak's travels and choose one photograph that they would put on the cover of his book. They justify their choice in a few sentences.

Summary

The teacher distributes questionnaires to the students to evaluate their own work and that of the teacher.

Next, the teacher sums up the lesson.

Homework

Create a brief account of the journey you made (e.g. during holidays). Attach a few selected photos. The material can be prepared in a multimedia form.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Back and forth or alone through Africa

Traveling to another continent, to exotic countries, does not pose such difficulties today and does not require such financial outlays as in the past. Modern means of transport make it possible to travel long distances in a relatively short time. People sometimes live on the move. Previously, different reasons (political, social, financial and other) made travelling difficult or simply impossible. All the more admiration should be given to those who, in spite of adversities and difficulties, stubbornly sought to get to know the world.

Kazimierz Nowak (1897‑1937) is a Polish traveller and photographer, one of the pioneers of Polish travel reportage. Between 1931 and 1936, traveling by bike, on foot, by boat and on the back of a camel, he crossed Africa alone. He accomplished this incredible feat without great resources, without the support of sponsors, exposing himself to many different dangers (such as: challenges of the terrain and climate, tropical diseases, predators, bandits), believing in the value of his African dream, trusting the hard will, hoping for human kindness and a smile of fate among the vast areas of the Black Land. He attained his end and left us with a lot of pictures and impressions from this extraordinary journey written in beautiful Polish. He began his expedition in the north of the continent – from Tripoli, on the Mediterranean Sea, he headed southwards towards Cape Agulhas which he reached in April 1934. He then returned to the north to reach Algiers in November 1936. After returning to Poland, he gave lectures, planned a book release and another expedition. Premature death, however, thwarted these plans. The book “Rowerem i pieszo przez Czarny Ląd” was prepared and published (for the first time in 2000) on the basis of letters that Kazimierz Nowak sent during his travels.