Title: Newspeak – the language of totalitarian power

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Newspeak – the language of totalitarian power.

Target group:

4th‑grade students of a high school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

4) recognises in the literary text the means of artistic expression learned in primary school and the means of meaning: oxymoron, periphrase, euphonia, hyperbole; lexical, including phraseologies; syntactic: antithesis, parallelism, enumeration, epiphora, ellipse; versioning, including the launcher; defines their functions;

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

6) reads non‑literary cultural texts using the code proper in a given field of art;

II. Language education.

1. Grammar of the Polish language. Student:

3) recognises the argumentative nature of various syntactic constructions and their functions in the text; uses them to build your own statements;

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

7) recognise the valuing vocabulary; distinguishes neutral vocabulary from the vocabulary with an emotional color, official from colloquial.

3. Language communication and language culture. Pupil:

3) recognizes and defines text functions (informative, poetic, meta‑linguistic, expressive, impressionistic – including persuasive);

3) defines the functions of language: cognitive (categorizing the world), communication (adapting language to the communication situation) and social (building a regional, environmental, national community); ZR

4) defines the role of language in building the image of the world. ZR

III. Creating statements.

4) explains how the rhetorical means used (eg rhetorical questions, calculations, exclamations, parallelisms, repetitions, apostrophes, metadases, inversions) affect the recipient;

10) understands the novel phenomenon; defines its features and functions in the text.

General aim of education

Students define the features and functions of newspeak.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• recognises and defines functions of the text;

• indicates linguistic measures characteristic for the newspeak;

• explains how the rhetorical means used affect the recipient;

• gives a definition of the linguistic image of the world;

• recognises the valuing vocabulary and uses it in his/her speech.

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;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Read any part of the speech of the PRL politicians - eg Władysław Gomułka or Edward Gierek - and write out the slogans in which „socjalistyczny”, „ludowy” adjectives appear, or the nouns: „postęp”, „lud”, „sojusz”, „obowiązek”. Check whether these words appear in modern political speeches, and if so, in what context..

2. Students read Irena Kamińska‑Szmaj's text in abstract.

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. A reminder of the history lesson on the political system of the Polska Republika Ludowa and the realities of life at that time. The teacher asks the students whether they have already encountered the term „nowomowa” and what it means..

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. Analysis of the interactive illustration. Participants familiarize themselves with the content presented in the interactive illustration. Then the teacher discusses the issues with the students.

3. Introduction to reading the literary text of George Orwell. The teacher provides the most important information about the author and the circumstances of the release of the novel. He asks students what her title tells them in the context of the date the book appeared. He draws attention to the special reception of Orwell's work in Poland, underground editions, etc..

4. Work with literary text. Students get acquainted with a fragment of George Orwell's novel „1984”. They pay attention to the causes of the the appearance of the newspeak.

5. Students in pairs solve the Exercise 3.

6. Conversation on the language of contemporary political propaganda based on the text of Irena Kamińska‑Szmaj read at home. The teacher brings to the classes a few fragments of programs of selected political parties. He/she divides the class into groups, each one assigns one text. The groups' task will be to indicate propaganda elements and present the discussion on the class forum.

Summary

1. A brief discussion on: what can the language of values used in the neophyte lead to, in which the world and people are divided according to the „good‑bad” scheme?.

Homework

1. Find on the internet and view the most popular propaganda posters of the Polish People's Republic. What image of the world and man emerges from them? What features of the propaganda language do you see? Indicate the words that are typical of the word speech.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Newspeak – the language of totalitarian power

1. Look on the internet and take a look at any edition of „TV Journal” from the 1980s and consider how the language in this program is different from modern news services.

2. Read part of a speech by any politician from the PRL – eg Władysław Gomułka or Edward Gierek – and note down the slogans using the adjectives socialist, people's or nouns progress, people, union, duty . See if these words appear in modern political speeches and if so, in what contexts.

Ancient rhetoric describes methods of obtaining power through words. As masters of language, the Greek and Roman philisophers (eg Aristitle, Plato, Cicero) demonstrated in their speeches and treatises how the rulers would convince the ruled, making reference to their will, imagination, emotions and aesthetic feelings. As regards free speech, politicians use the art of persuasion on a daily basis to try to gain the support of voters. In the 20th century, totalitarian regimes used unjust and manipulative strategies to incite and exercise control via the media. This method of communication can be defined as Newspeak.

Newspeak is a metaphor for the propaganda language of totalitarianism. Linguists refer to this as the official language of politics and the media during the Polish People's Republic, or PRL (1945 – 1989). During this era, the means of communication with citizens was subject to censorship, and all documents were subordinate to party doctrine (the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party - KC PZPR). In terms of social consciousness, the language of the period from 1945 – 1989 can be seen as a collection of hackneyed propaganda slogans. There were appeals to emotions within them, which praised, amongst others, the so‑called Eastern Bloc alliance, at the same time spreading the cult of the leadership.

Texts using propaganda of this kind differ from contemporary political communications for a number of reasons:

The term Newspeak derives from the anti‑Utopian novel of the English journalist and philosopher – Geroge Orwell. In 1948 he wrote his parabolic novel 1984. He describes in it a brutal world subordinated to the rule of the Party and an oppressive, violent system of propaganda, whose symbol is „Big Brother” – a modern allegory of a totalitarian ruler, who follows every movement of the characters in this dark tale.

Orwell shows how, by using words that change the social image of the world, it is possible to manipulate the minds of those being ruled. The language of power creates a new reality by using words – often schematic, which divide people and their achievements – into good/bad, new/old.