Title: On the road to the truth – about the world and ourselves

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

On the way to the truth about the world and yourself.

Target group:

8th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

7. defines existential issues in the texts being studied and reflects them;

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;

10. 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. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

6. carry out the inference as part of the argumentative argument;

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

IV. Self‑study. Student:

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

The general aim of education

Students get acquainted with the concept of cultural taboo.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• social and civic competences;

• cultural awareness and expression.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• defines the problems of the text;

• refers to social, ethical and religious values in the interpretation of the text;

• reads the symbols of the text;

• recognises phrases in the text, gives their meaning;

• assesses the behavior of the heroes of the literary text;

• understands what a language taboo is; recognises its presence in the statements.

Teaching methods / techniques

• problematic: directed conversation, discussion;

• programmed: using a computer and e‑textbook;

• practical: exercise exercises;

• intersemiotic translation.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity;

• group activity.

Lesson plan Overview (Process)

Before the lesson

Students read a fragment of Dorota Terakowska's novel Samotność Bogów in the abstract.

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the classes and gives the students criteria of success.

2. Different meanings of „roads”. The teacher asks the students the question: what does it mean to be on the road? The students give their associations.

Realization

1. Exercise 1 in the abstract: recognition of the meanings of proverbs and phrases with the word „way”. Students form sentences with recognized phraseological relationships.

2. Brief description of the content of the fragment of Samotność Bogów by D. Terakowska (the teacher makes sure that the students have read the text). Division of text into parts and their title (Exercise 3).

3. Determining who the heroes of the novel fragment are. Students carry out exercise 4 in abstract.

4. Next, the teacher, by means of a directed conversation, conducts an attempt to interpret the text together with the students, using the questions in exercise 5 in abstract.

Students discuss how shamans and priests fit into the image of the „old and new world”. They wonder what it means that the priest Isak is BETWEEN.

Indication of fragments of the work describing the confusion of Jon who wants to satisfy his curiosity. The teacher asks students how they judge Jon's behavior, or his attitude is admirable.

5. What is a taboo? Participants of the course read the information about the taboo (interactive illustration). They give different examples of cultural bans, they can be written on the board. In pairs or in groups, students form their own hierarchy of taboo areas in Polish culture and compare their choices. The teacher notes that the taboo is changeable. What once was a taboo and aroused fear, such as a black cat, can today be considered a superstition (the belief that a black cat brings bad luck).

Students give examples when taboos are broken in our culture (eg public speaking about private matters, embarrassing, embarrassing, artistic installations, films).

6. Taboo in Samotność Bogów. Conversation aimed at identifying the area covered by the taboo broken by the hero of the text by D. Terakowska.

7. Explanation of the symbols: Kamienna Droga, Wioska, Dalekie Kraje, rzeka.

Summary

The teacher asks questions prompting students to summarise, e.g.

• What situations can force us to break the taboo?

• Why is it „very wrong to be in between”? What is missing for people who live in this way?

Homework

Write a short story in which you'll use the theme of the road.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

On the road to the truth - about the world and ourselves

The road is a common motive in literature and art. It is associated with wandering, relocating, searching, and also, with danger or a challenge. A man, who got on the road becomes richer with the experience, and the knowledge about the world, and about himself. Wandering means also satisfying the needs, seeking adventures and the attempt to find the truth. Which of these paths is Jon – a character from the novel by Dorota Terakowska Loneliness of the Gods – going to choose ?

Jon broke the taboo. Because taboo is something that arises fear, Jon’s act caused panic among the villagers. But taboo is associated not only with fear.

It covers at least three different areas of life.