Topic: The end of monarchy. Causes of the Great French Revolution

Target group

6th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XV. A great revolution in France. Pupil:

1. explains the main causes of the revolution and assesses its results.

General aim of education

Students get to know the pre‑revolutionary society of France

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to explain the differences between the estates in France;

• to characterize features of the feudal system of government;

• to indicate the links between the situation of society and revolutionary moods.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• exposing

  • film.

• 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

Before classes

1. The teacher asks students to read the chapter of the e‑textbook: „Bankrutujący król i lekkomyślna królowa” and do Task 4.

Introduction

1. The teacher gives the students the subject, the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. Students discuss with the teacher the financial policy of the court of Louis XVI. The teacher asks auxiliary questions: What is the budget deficit? What were the revenues of the royal court? What were the costs of maintaining it? What burdened the French budget the most? Was Ludwik XVI's policy beneficial to the state budget?.

3. The teacher explains what the lesson will be and what success criteria should be achieved by the students.

Realization

1. The teacher divides the students into groups (5‑6 people each) and gives pre‑arranged teaching aids: the fictitious „profiles” of French society, briefly described on colored sticky notes eg. Pierre - the owner of a large manufactory, educated, successful in doing business etc.; Bastien - the owner of a small farm affected by the crop failure, father of 6 children; Roland, Count de Moulles - aristocrat without property, kept man of the French court, poorly educated, rowdy, intriguer and drunkard, etc .; (representative of each state on a card of suitably selected color, with the third order representatives overbalance). During the work of the groups, the teacher monitors the students' activity, provides help, and watches the time.

2. The task for groups can be performed in the following way: students in groups receive a sheet with a table, divided into 3 columns. The cells contain the questions: Who pays taxes? Who has offices? Who advises the king? Who receives protection from the king? Then students will get acquainted with the profiles of representatives of three different states and assign them at their own discretion to the table on the sheet.

3. Students read their results. After the results presentations, the teacher discusses the actual state in which third‑party representatives (one color, e.g. green) are sent to the paying unit. Then, he asks students to do Task 1. Students after reading the interactive illustration tell what information about the French society wanted to convey to the author.

Summary

1. The teacher, using the results of group work and information from Task 1, creates a metaplan on the board. Students can use self‑adhesive sheets. The teacher, referring to the differences in the rights and duties of each order in pre‑revolutionary France, asks the students: How was it? Why was it not like it should be? How should it be? Students provide solutions, verbally or written on self‑adhesive sheets; they stick them in appropriate places or write on the board; share their insights with the class and the teacher. Then the teacher makes sure that the exercise has been done correctly and gives feedback to the students.

2. The teacher explains that already in the period before the revolution there were people in France who tried to answer similar questions (Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès - questions about the importance of the third order, Montesquieu - the idea of the tripartite power). He asks to do Exercise 1, that is, supplementing the sentences with missing words. At the end, he makes sure that it has been properly done by the students and gives them feedback.

3. The teacher gives students evaluation surveys in which they evaluate their own work during the lesson, the work of the teacher and colleagues.

Homework

1. The teacher sets homework (it is not an obligatory part of the script): he proposes reading the chapter „Społeczeństwo francuskie wyrasta z feudalizmu”, the sources of resistance to the authority of Louis XVI and the implementation of Exercise 2. Students, using the drawing machine, should match the illustrations to subtitles and information provided.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The end of monarchy. Causes of the Great French Revolution

At the end of the 18th century, France was the most populated country in Europe. The wealth of France was available only to a few. The first and second estates (higher clergy and nobility) had a monopoly on occupying the most important positions in the church and army, as well as extensive economic and judicial privileges. Those social strata that formed part of the third estate and contributed the most to France's economic growth, on the other hand, had far fewer opportunities to benefit from the results of their work. The worst situation was for peasants and labourers (sans‑culottes) belonging to this estate, because France was hit by numerous natural disasters and food prices rose sharply. The country was hit by a crisis caused by the incompetent rule of King Louis XVI. This monarch ordered his ministers to seek financial resources in order to balance the budget. At the same time, however, he did not see a need to improve the situation of France's poorest people or to carry out deeper reforms. Under the pressure of the still unresolved question of raising money, the king had to summon the Estates General (i.e. the assembly of representatives of all three French estates), which could decide on new taxes. However, it did not happen so. On 17 June 1789, the representatives of the third estate invited to Versailles proclaimed themselves to be the National Assembly, ignoring the members of the nobility and clergy, or even Louis XVI himself.