Title: A common language connects people

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic

A common language connects people. Variations of the general language.

Target group

7th‑grade students of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Perception of cultural texts. Student:

1) searches for the necessary information in the text and cites relevant parts of journalistic, popular or scientific texts.

II. Language education

2. Language differentiation. Student:

1) recognizes the diversity of vocabulary, including recognizing national vocabulary and limited vocabulary (eg scientific terms, archaisms, colloquialisms); recognizes native and borrowed words, knows types of abbreviations - defines their functions in the text;

5) distinguishes environmental and regional varieties of language;

IV. Self‑education. Student:

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

4) participates in educational projects (eg. creates various presentations, exhibition designs, implements short films using multimedia technologies);

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

The general aim of education

To familiarize students with various environmental language variants.

Key competences

• communicating in the mother tongue;

• communicating in a foreign language;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• recognizes the diversity of language varieties;

• skilfully uses dictionaries;

• recognizes environmental language variations;

• uses and processes information;

• creates consistent oral statements;

• uses gained knowledge.

Methods / techniques

• giving: explanation;

• activating: discussion;

• exposing: presentation;

• programmed: using a computer.

Forms of work

• uniform collective;

• uniform and differentiated in group;

• work in pairs.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Before classes

Students execute the command 1 and command 2 in „Before lesson” section in the abstract „Common language connects people”. Note: the teacher should guide the youth that environmental groups can be, for example, fans, volunteers, rock fans, hip‑hop fans, athletes, etc.

Introduction

1. The teacher introduces students to the subject matter of the classes, and then introduces the youth to the goals of the lesson.

2. The teacher initiates a conversation about various environmental groups and asks students to complete tasks 1 and 2 and answers the following questions: What links people who are in a given environmental group? What distinguishes a given group (characteristics)? Are the names calling individual groups positive or negative? Do the environmental groups indicated in the pictures have their own language?

Realization

1. The teacher reads the information about environmental language varieties aloud or the students play the recording. Next, the teacher explains unintelligible concepts to the youth (eg „jargon”, „slang”, „subculture”).

2. Together with students, the teacher reviews the abstract examples of online dictionaries: „Słownik slangu” and “Urban dictionary”. Briefly check how to navigate the given pages, entering their examples (independent work, up to 3 minutes).

3. Students present materials prepared at home, applying the collected information to an interactive map.

4. The teacher reads information on three types of sociolects. Then the students perform the task (they determine, referring to the vocabulary gathered before the lesson, to which of the three types of sociolects belong the words indicated by them).

5. Work with the text: students read a statement stylized as a youth slang. Then they do the tasks to the text:

• setting the date describing the language stylization (the teacher discusses this procedure, also gives other examples than in the abstract);

• describing the impressions created by students on the text stylized as a youth slang;

• writing out words characteristic of youth slang from the text, searching for their more modern equivalents.

Conclusion

1. The teacher refers to the vocabulary characteristic for Internet communication (he must prepare examples of such statements in advance). It encourages students to discuss the language of the Internet.

2. Students fill out a short questionnaire in which they answer the following questions:

In today's lesson, I learned ...

It was easy for me ...

It was difficult for me ...

Homework

Project. The trainer divides the youth into groups and each of them entrusts the preparation of a student's vocabulary (see the last exercise in the abstract).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Common language connects people

1. You are a student and therefore a member of the student community. Prepare a list of environmental groups that you have contact with or you belong to.

2. Find websites with vocabulary typical for different environments on the internet. They can be dictionaries of words used by the representatives of various professional groups (e.g. doctors, stockbrokers), but also by computer players, sportsmen, fans of a specific musical genre (e.g. rap, hip‑hop) etc. On this basis, create a list of the most original words (terms) or the most interesting definitions.

The language that people use every day has many functions. Thanks to the language, you can create an infinite number of texts, extract, name and describe reality, communicate, transfer your knowledge, share your experiences and emotions. The language can finally unite members of a given professional community, environmental or peer group.

Individual environmental groups have developed their own means of communication. They can be called environmental language variations or a group language. Environmental language variations differ mainly in vocabulary. Examples of such environmental language variations may be: the language of students, sportsmen, soldiers, doctors or IT specialists.... Environmental variations also include slangs and jargons, ie languages of informal groups, subcultures (e.g. hip‑hop).

Many words functioning in group languages have equivalents in general Polish. Some of them, however, have a stronger emotional meaning. It is enough to compare pairs of the following words: „rodzice” – „staruszkowie” („parents” – „old people” ) or „dyrektorka” – „dyrka” (lack of corresponding word in English). A lot of dictionaries containing words characteristic of a specific environmental language variation have been created so far. Such dictionaries published on the internet have been particularly popular recently (see eg. Słownik slangu or Urban Dictionary).

A very important role in contemporary Polish is played by sociolects, ie variations of language functioning in a specific social group. Nobody knows what number of sociolects currently exists in Poland. The reason is that actually every group that work together can have their own way of communicating. Some social classes create it unintentionally. Then the sociolect is created only because people work together and talk about it. Other groups create sociolect on purpose. We can say that they do it deliberately, making sure that the way of mutual communication is in accordance with the rules.

Remember that sociolect is not a separate language (such as sign language or Kashub language). Actually, it is above all a collection of words that are not used outside the group. For example, in the sociolect of make‑up artists, words related to make‑up appear, such as nouns: „kocie oko” (cat's eye), „fluid” (liquid foundation), „korektor” (concealer), „kreska” (eyeline), but also verbs (action names): „rozświetlić” (light up), „przypudrować” (put face powder), „wklepywać” (pat in). The sociolect of bodybuilders includes words that call different types of muscles: „grucha”, „klata”, „tricek”, „kaptury”, „motyle” but also commonly known words got here, used to name other activities: „pakować” (pack), „pchać”, „cisnąć” (push) etc.

Read the below statement of your peer.

After reading the text, follow the instructions.