Topic: The legendary beginnings of Poland

author: Katarzyna Kuczyńska

Target group

4th grade student of elementary school.

Core curriculum

II. The most important elements of Polish cultural heritage. Student:

2. knows legends about the beginnings of the Polish state.

General aim of education

Student gets to know the legendary beginnings of Poland.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Lesson objectives

Student:

• tells the wording of the Lech, Czech and Rus legend and Piast and Popiel legend;

• gives the characteristics of the founding and dynastic legends, is able to indicate examples thereof;

• explains that legends are important to communities (they give their members the feeling that they belong to a unique and important group of people).

Forms of work

• collective activity;

• activity in groups;

• individual activity.

Methods/techniques

• programmed methods: using e‑textbook;

• problematic methods: activating methods: discussion, creation of the founding legend;

• practical methods: exercises concerned, working with text;

• exposing methods: explanations and comments from the teacher.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Before classes

The teacher asks the students to read the extract “What is a legend?” in e‑textbook.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the classes. He/she gives the students the criteria for success.

2. The teacher discusses with the students what the legend is and asks them to perform Exercise 1.

Realization

1. Then the students fulfill Instruction 1. and perform Exercises 2 and 3.

2. Referring to the lesson “Ancient Rome” (the lesson plan “Why do all roads lead to Rome?”), the teacher reminds the students what the founding legends are, and asks them to remind the characteristics of the founding legend and to give examples.

3. The students find the characteristics of a founding legend in the legend of Lech, Czech and Rus. The task can be carried out in the following way: selected characteristics of the founding legend are matched by specific colors (e.g. stories about the beginning of the community - yellow, elements indicating uniqueness, non‑contingency of a given community - pink), students, in groups or in pairs, on printouts of the legend about Lech, Czech and Rus mark the extracts they consider appropriate with given colors. The accuracy of the individual markings is discussed in the class.

4. Students fulfill Instruction 2. and perform Exercises 4 and 3.

5. The teacher explains the concept of dynastic legend* and asks students to indicate which of the legends they have known so far can be considered dynastic ones. (*Dynastic legend describes the features of the ruler and the values that he/she embodies and thanks to which he/she can/ should govern).

Summary

1. Students perform Exercise 5.

2. The teacher gives homework - asks to perform Exercise 6.

3. The teacher also gives an additional task to the interested students: creation of a founding legend for their own region/city/school. Students send the developed legends to the teacher via e‑mail or submit the works in writing.

Summary of the most important contents of the lesson

1. Learning the wordings of the legends about Lech, Czech and Rus and about Piast and the evil prince Popiel.

2. Recalling characteristics and significance of founding legends, work on the example of the legend about Lech, Czech and Rus.

3. Indication of characteristics and significance of dynastic legends, work on the example of the legend of Piast and the evil prince Popiel.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Legendary beginnings of Poland

The origins of the Polish state are lost in the mists of time. There aren’t any surviving written sources from that period. Poland’s earliest history is told in legends, i.e. traditional stories written down a few centuries after the described events took place. There may – or may not – be a grain of truth in them. These tales are brimming with accounts of fantastic creatures and extraordinary events. Therefore, their function is similar to that of myths. The oldest Polish legends concentrate on two traditions: that of Greater Poland (Gniezno) and that of Lesser Poland (Cracow). It is believed that Lech, the brother of Czech and Rus, was the forefather of Poles (Lechites). Many years later, an evil duke called Popiel came to rule Gniezno. His subjects expelled him and elected a new duke called Siemowit, a son of a smallholder farmer named Piast. A popular legend of the Cracow region was the tale of Krakus and the Wawel Dragon.