Topic: China after World War II

Target group

8th‑grade students of an elementary school

Core curriculum

XXXVI. World after World War II. Pupil:

  1. discusses the changes in China after World War II.

General aim of education

The student will learn about the changes in China after World War II.

Key competences

  • communication in foreign languages;

  • digital competence;

  • learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

  • how communists gained power in China;

  • why there are still two Chinese republics;

  • who Mao Zedong was;

  • what the “Beijing Spring” was.

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

Introduction

  1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

  2. The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

  1. Reading the content of the abstract. The teacher uses the text for individual work or in pairs, according to the following steps: 1) a sketchy review of the text, 2) asking questions, 3) accurate reading, 4) a summary of individual parts of the text, 5) repeating the content or reading the entire text.

  2. Students analyze the illustration and execute Task 1. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

  3. On the basis of information presented on the timeline and news from available sources, students in pairs prepare a discussion on the conclusions of the investigation they carried out. They have to show causal relations among the events presented on the axis. Then the students present their discussions. Colleagues evaluate their work, taking into account the manner in which conclusions are presented and the clarity of justification.

  4. The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.

  5. Students analyze the illustrations and execute Task 3. To answer the questions, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

  6. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.

  7. Students analyze the gallery of illustrations and execute Task 4. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.

Summary

  1. The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

  2. The teacher discusses the course of the lesson, indicates the strengths and weaknesses of students' work, thus giving them feedback.

Homework

  1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

  2. Make at home a note from the lesson, for example using the sketchnoting method.

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The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Communism
Communism
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nagranie słówka: Communism

Komunizm – ideologia głosząca powstanie jednej klasy społecznej, likwidację własności prywatnej i wspólny podział dóbr. Miała obalić istniejące ustroje polityczne i wprowadzić utopijny model państwa pozbawionego ucisku i wyzysku innych.

Kuomintang
Kuomintang
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nagranie słówka: Kuomintang

Kuomintang – chińska partia utworzona w 1912 r. początkowo o nurcie socjalistycznym, a obecnie centroprawicowym. Pozbawiona po II wojnie światowej władzy w wyniku wojny domowej została wraz z zwolennikami ewakuowana na Tajwan. Jej liderem i przywódcą był Chiang Kai‑shek.

Nationalization
Nationalization
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nagranie słówka: Nationalization

Nacjonalizacja – inaczej upaństwowienie, przejęcie przez państwo majątków, przedsiębiorstw i kapitału prywatnego.

Planned economy
Planned economy
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nagranie słówka: Planned economy

Gospodarka planowana – system gospodarczy, w którym decyzje dotyczące produkcji i inwestycji podejmowane są przez władze centralne w postaci planów gospodarczych. Najczęściej występuje w okresie wojny oraz w krajach socjalistycznych. Jest przeciwieństwem wolnego rynku.

Purge
Purge
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nagranie słówka: Purge

Czystka – eliminacja, najczęściej fizyczna, niepożądanych osób zwykle stojących na czele instytucji sprawujących władzę (wojsko, policja, rząd). Najczęściej charakteryzuje się bezwzględnością i masowością.

Hundred Flowers Campaign
Hundred Flowers Campaign
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nagranie słówka: Hundred Flowers Campaign

Polityka stu kwiatów – chińska kampania społeczno‑kulturalna zapoczątkowana przez Mao Zedonga w 1956 r. o charakterze liberalnym. Doprowadziła do odwilży politycznej, która z obawy o masowość została szybko stłumiona.

Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward
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nagranie słówka: Great Leap Forward

Wielki skok naprzód – chińska kampania gospodarcza z lat 1958‑1962 zakładająca szybkie przekształcenie Chin z zacofanego kraju rolniczego w potęgę przemysłową. Zakończyła się klęską doprowadzając do zapaści gospodarczej i głodu.

Cultural revolution
Cultural revolution
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nagranie słówka: Cultural revolution

Rewolucja kulturalna – ruch społeczno‑polityczny w Chinach zapoczątkowany przez ich przywódcę Mao Zedonga w 1966 r. Jego celem była eliminacja politycznych rywali i wprowadzenie chińskiego wariantu komunizmu (maoizmu).

Gang of Four
Gang of Four
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nagranie słówka: Gang of Four

Banda czworga – potoczna nazwa odnosząca się czwórki radykalnych działaczy Komunistycznej Partii Chin, którzy odgrywali decydującą rolę w rewolucji kulturalnej, a po śmierci Mao Zedonga próbowali przejąć władzę.

Beijing Spring
Beijing Spring
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Pekińska wiosna – wydarzenia z maja i czerwca 1989 r., do których doszło w Pekinie po wizycie przywódcy ZSRS Michaiła Gorbaczowa. Domagające się liberalizacji i demokratyzacji społeczeństwo wystąpiło hasłami zmian w ogromnych protestach, które zostały brutalnie stłumione przez chińskie władze (masakra na Placu Tian'anmen).

Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
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nagranie słówka: Dalai Lama

Dalajlama – początkowo duchowy przywódca Tybetańczyków, od połowy XVIII w. również świecki władca Tybetu.

Texts and recordings

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Nagranie abstraktu

China after World War II

During World War II, the Chinese communists of Mao Zedong and their political opponents from the Kuomintang party of Chiang Kai‑shek cooperated in the fight against the common enemy – Japan. After it capitulated and left continental Asia, the communists gained many supporters. This allowed them to win the civil war and, thanks to the considerable help from the USSR, to take control of most of China, announcing the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Chiang Kai‑shek and his supporters escaped to Taiwan, where he proclaimed the only legal Chinese authority (hence the two Chinese states). Mao began the process of transforming the country, following the example of the actions of the Soviets. The economy was nationalized, central planning was introduced, and purges were carried out in the country, getting rid of a million of actual and alleged enemies. In 1957, life was liberalized for a short time (Hundred Flowers Campaign), but this state of affairs was quickly suppressed for fear of its massiveness. In the late 1950s, changes were also introduced in the economy, which were supposed to transform the economically backward country, known as the “Great Leap Forward”. However, they were completely ill‑considered (e.g. construction of primitive bloomeries next to every house), and led to economic collapse and famine. Another idea to strengthen the ideology was the ‘cultural revolution’ (starting from 1966), which aimed at eliminating political rivals and introducing the Chinese variant of communism (Maoism).

After Mao’s death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping took power in the country and undertook to modernize it. He introduced some economic liberalization as well as liberalization of public life. The latter manifested itself with all its might in the spring of 1989 in Beijing. But the protesters, who were demanding democratization and openness, were brutally pacified in the Tian'anmen Square Massacre. Despite the West’s condemnation of the events, no political changes took place in China. The moving away from full economic control has contributed to a rapid enrichment of the population, and has made the PRC the world’s factory manufacturing products purchased globally.