Title: On Robinson's desert island

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

On a journey to the uninhabited island of Robinson.

Target group:

7th‑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;

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;

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;

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.

III. Creating statements.

1. Rhetoric items. Student:

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

2) collects and organises the material material needed to create statements;

5) differentiates the example from the argument;

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

IV. Self‑study. Student:

6) develops skills of independent presentation of the results of his work;

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

The general aim of education

Students learn about the genre of travel and adventure novels (robinsonade).

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• social and civic competences;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Operational objectives

Student:

• names the type of narrative, defines its function in the text;

• indicates stylistic means used in the prose text, determines their function;

• gives the features of the adventure‑travel novel;

• defines what robinsonade is;

• describes the world presented in a literary text, characterises the hero.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion, modified method of expert tables;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: objective exercises, work with literary text.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective collective activity;

• group activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Before the lesson

The teacher offers volunteer students a task to read information about Daniel Defoe's adventure and travel literature as well as work in the abstract. The teacher informs students that their task will be to present this information to the whole class.

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the purpose of the course, which is to learn the example of a travel and adventure novel, popular in the 18th century. The teacher gives students the criteria for success.

2. The teacher asks the students to imagine a stay on a desert island and to create, in groups, a map of associations connected with this place. When finished, group leaders present the results of their work. Students compare mind maps and discuss the differences.

Realization

1. Students whose task was to read information about Daniel Defoe's adventure and travel literature as well as work present it to the class.

2. The teacher divides the students into two groups. One half of the students is asked to read the first excerpt of Robinson Crusoe's novel and does the related exercises in the abstract, the other half – to do the same with the second excerpt.

The first group:

• Students write down the information about the geographical location and the geographical names mentioned in the excerpt; they wonder why the character describes his journey in great detail; they indicate the genre that this report resembles (deck logbook and memoir).

• Students recall the information about the types of narration; then they identify the type of narration in the quoted excerpt of „Robinson Crusoe” – they give appropriate examples.

• Students pay attention to the way of building tension in the description of a shipwreck; they indicate stylistic devices expressing emotions.

The second group:

• Students determine the emotions of the character based on selected fragments of the text. They pay attention to their change – from uncertainty, perhaps even terror, to admiration and pride in owning an island.

• Students describe the island. They pay attention to those fragments which prove that the character found himself in an environment completely unknown to him.

• Students characterize the character based on the fragments cited during the lesson. They name his character traits. At this point, it is worth considering whether this behaviour is typical of someone who has found himself on a desert island, far from people and civilisation.

3. Students from the two groups pair so that in each pair there is one person from the first group and one from the second group. Then, they exchange knowledge and observations concerning their part of the work during the lesson: they pass on information to the other person. The purpose of this task is to learn from each other. During the exchange of information, each student writes down the most important information in his/her notebook. The teacher verifies the correctness of the task and takes care of the correct course of classes.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students what they have learned today and if they found the lesson interesting. The teacher asks if the fragments read during the lesson encouraged them to read the whole novel.

2. Students write down in their notebooks the key words to the lesson they consider to be the most important.

Homework

Imagine you are a reporter who is to interview a survivor returning after several years spent on a desert island. Write down the questions (at least three) you would like to ask him or her.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

On Robinson's desert island

Many people and many characters of works of art were on the deserted island. For some, it is a dream come true. For others – a terrible necessity resulting from the catastrophe of a ship or an aircraft. The most famous inhabitant of the desert island is Robinson Crusoe.

Check out the following information before reading parts of the novel with Robinson Crusoe as its protagonist.

A completely different goal was pursued by another English writer – Daniel Defoe, the author of the famous The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Przypadki Robinsona Crusoe).

Read an excerpt from Daniel Defoe's novel and follow the instructions.

Robinson Crusoe finally reached the island where he will live for more than 28 years. One of the first reactions was a desire to know the place where he was thrown by fate.