Lesson plan (English)
Topic: A Strange End To the War. The Year 1918
Target group
7th‑grade students of elementary school
Core curriculum
XXV. First World War. Pupil:
3) discusses the specificity of war operations: position warfare, maneuvering, air and sea operations;
5) describes the revolution and civil war in Russia.
XXVI. Polish case during the First World War. Pupil:
2) discusses the internationalization of the Polish cause: the act of November 5, 1916, the role Of the United States and the Russian Revolutions, declaration of June 3, 1918;
3) evaluates the Polish armed and diplomatic effort, lists state‑building work during the war.
General aim of education
Students learn political and military events at the end of World War I; consequences of the October Revolution for Russia and Europe; international conditions of the Polish cause.
Key competences
communication in foreign languages;
digital competence;
learning to learn.
Criteria for success
The student will learn:
to list the political and military events that took place near the end of World War One;
to describe the consequences of the October Revolution for Russia and Europe;
to characterize the international circumstances of the Polish couses and the Polish state‑forming endeavors during the war.
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
Before classes
The students should recall with the help of the e‑textbook and note down what measures Roman Dmowski undertook regarding the ceasefire line in Poland.
Introduction
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.
The teacher asks students to do Task 1, i.e. to indicate the boundaries of war fronts at the end of 1917. Then - still displaying the map of Europe during the World War I - he briefly explains the decisions and military actions of Germany and the Entente states in 1918 and the internal situation in Germany and Russia.
Realization
Students divided into two or three groups follow the same Task 2 (the teacher can inform them that when listening to the mini‑lecture, they should pay attention to the political and military strengths of Poles after the war) and do Exercise 1. Each group on a large sheet of paper notes the information needed. Then the groups hand over completed tables and supplement or correct the military and political strengths of Poles. The teacher watches their work, but avoids interference. At the end, students choose the most accurate wording (written in their own words) and mark it in a colorful way. They photograph everything.
The teacher asks students to do Exercise 2 and Exercise 3. Students use English‑language materials posted on the Internet and look for information about the person depicted in the picture. The teacher takes care of the feedback provided to the students during solving exercises and executing tasks.
Summary
The teacher explains to students how they imagined independent Poland in 1918. He talks about the importance of democratic reforms announced by the Ignacy Daszyński's Provisional People's Government of the Republic of Poland and the government of the leftist politician Jędrzej Moraczewski. The teacher indicates the reasons for granting women's electoral rights. He recommends useful popular science literature.
The teacher assesses the students' work during the lesson, taking into account their input and commitment. For this purpose, he may prepare an evaluation questionnaire for self‑assessment and evaluation of the teacher's work and other students.
Homework
The teacher sets homework (it is not an obligatory part of the script): he proposes to prepare a multimedia presentation about the involvement of women in political and military activities on polish lands during the World War I as a prelude to receiving electoral rights.
The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson
Terms
Czternaście punktów Wilsona – słynne orędzie do Kongresu, wygłoszone przez prezydenta Wilsona w dniu 8 stycznia 1918 roku, złożone z czternastu punktów, w których zreferował on swoją wizję urządzenia powojennego świata. Punkt 13. orędzia przewidywał utworzenie niepodległego państwa polskiego.
Układ brzeski – traktat pokojowy podpisany w Brześciu 3 marca 1918, między Cesarstwem Niemieckim i Austro‑Węgrami oraz ich sojusznikami: Królestwem Bułgarii i Imperium Osmańskim (Trójprzymierze) a Rosją Sowiecką; także: układ niemiecko‑ukraiński z lutego 1918.
Rząd lubelski – powołany 6/7 listopada w Lublinie Tymczasowy Rząd Ludowy Republiki Polskiej, z Ignacym Daszyńskim na czele. Opierał się na politycznych siłach PPS, PPSD oraz ugrupowań ludowych.
Błękitna Armia – polska siła zbrojna, utworzona we Francji w czerwcu 1918 r, na mocy dekretu prezydenta Francji R. Poincarégo; znajdowała się pod dowództwem Józefa Hallera; w jej szeregach walczyli Polacy zwerbowani w armii francuskiej, ochotnicy z USA, Brazylii, z rosyjskiego korpusu ekspedycyjnego walczącego we Francji oraz jeńcy z armii państw centralnych; uznana jako „jedyna, samodzielna, sojusznicza i współwalcząca armia polska”
Rada Regencyjna – najwyższa władza (tymczasowa) w Królestwie Polskim, utworzona we wrześniu 1917 przez Niemcy i Austro‑Węgry i od nich zależna;
Rosja Sowiecka – potoczna nazwa państwa rosyjskiego, w okresie od rewolucji październikowej 1917 do utworzenia ZSRS w grudniu 1922
zawieszenie broni na froncie zachodnim – po tym, gdy latem armie ententy przeszły do działań zaczepnych, odrzucając Niemców z północnej Francji i zachodniej Belgii; 11 listoipada 1918 Niemcy podpisały pod Compiègne zawieszenie broni z państwami sprzymierzonymi.
Texts and recordings
A Strange End To the War. The Year 1918
In 1918, Germany saw a rise of revolutionary attitudes and worker strikes. In July, the Entente managed to stop the Germans at the Marne for the second time. Its forces managed to break the resistance of Bulgaria as well, and in October, the Ottoman Empire surrendered. On 9 November 1918, German Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated under the pressure of the people’s rebellion. On 11 November, the representatives of the newly‑created Weimar Republic signed the armistice of Compiégne, ending the Great War. On 8 January 1918 President Woodrow Wilson repeated his stance on the Polish cause in his famous address to the Congress, envisaging the creation of an independent Polish state. On 3 June 1918, the states of the Entente made the Declaration of Versailles, acknowledging Poland’s right to independence. In the last month of the war, the Poles’ great advantage was the fact that they possessed Polish structures of power in the Kingdom of Poland. On 7 October 1918, taking advantage of the chaos of the war, the Regency Council issued a manifesto to the Polish nation on the assumption of the principle of the independence of Poland. After Józef Piłsudski’s return from Magdeburg on 11 November, the Regency Council granted him authority over the forming Polish military. On 14 November, Piłsudski created a new government under the direction of the leftist politician, Jędrzej Moraczewski. On 28 November 1918, the Polish women were granted elective rights, later confirmed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In Russia, after having dispersed the Constituent Assembly in January of 1918, the Bolsheviks took measures aiming to create an one‑party dictatorship. The power in the state was taken over by the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (abbreviated in English as RCPb). The old tsarist generals (“whites”) took a stand against the Bolsheviks. Thus began a civil war that would last until 1922.