Lesson plan (English)
Topic: German‑Soviet war
Target group
8th‑grade students of an elementary school
Core curriculum
XXXIII. World War II and its stages. Student:
1. presents and situates in time and space groundbreaking events of World War II (political and military).
General aim of education
The student will learn about the German‑Soviet war
Key competences
communication in foreign languages;
digital competence;
learning to learn.
Criteria for success
The student will learn:
to describe why the Third Reich attacked the USSR;
to explain why the German‑Soviet war is called the Great Patriotic War;
to list the most important battles and campaigns of the German‑Soviet war;
to characterize the consequences of the German army defeats at Stalingrad and in the battle of Kursk;
to define what people policy was conducted by the Germans and the Russians during the German‑Soviet 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
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 plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard. This way, students practice listening comprehension.
Realization
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.
Discussing information presented on the timeline. The teacher then divides the class into groups - as many as there are events on the axis. Each team works on one assigned issue, deepening the information contained in the abstract. Then the students present their discussions.
The teacher together with the students sums up the current course of classes.
Students analyze the illustration and execute Task 2. To answer the question, they can use Internet sources or other publications. The teacher checks the correctness of the answer and provides feedback to the students.
Students in pairs solve the Exercise 1. The teacher checks if the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback to students.
The teacher displays the map from Task 3. He reads out the task and, if necessary, helps student work out the answers.
Summary
The teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer?
If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.
Homework
Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.
Students solve exercises that were not completed during the lesson (from the polish version of e‑textbook).
The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson
Terms
Lebensraum – dosłownie przestrzeń życiowa; nacjonalistyczna i rasistowska niemiecka koncepcja polityczna zakładająca i usprawiedliwiająca ekspansję terytorialną Niemiec dla zdobycia niezbędnej przestrzeni do życia.
Sojusz – układ dwóch lub więcej państw lub organizacji, który ma doprowadzić do wspólnego zamierzonego celu.
Blitzkrieg – inaczej wojna błyskawiczna, termin oznaczający szybki i zmasowany atak siłami zbrojnymi, najczęściej wszystkich typów (lotnictwo, marynarka, wojska lądowe), w celu zajęcia kraju.
Plan Barbarossa - plan agresji Niemiec na ZSRS w czasie II wojny światowej. Była to największa i najważniejsza operacja niemiecka w czasie wojny, której klęska zdecydowała ostatecznie o niemieckiej przegranej w całej wojnie.
Deportacja – przymusowe przesiedlenie (wywózka), najczęściej do odległego miejsca, połączone z ograniczeniem wolności.
Front – terytorium, na którym walczą ze sobą wrogie armie.
Czystka – eliminacja, najczęściej fizyczna, niepożądanych osób zwykle stojących na czele instytucji sprawujących władzę (wojsko, policja, rząd). Najczęściej charakteryzuje się bezwzględnością i masowością.
SS (Die Schutzstaffel) – dosłownie oddział ochronny, paramilitarne formacje nazistowskie odpowiedzialne za masową eksterminację narodów i organizację terroru na podbitych terenach.
NKWD – (Narodnyj komissariat wnutriennich dieł); organ władz bezpieczeństwa ZSRS. Potocznie określany jako policja polityczna pełniąca główne narzędzie terroru i ludobójstwa wymierzonego przeciwko wszystkim wewnętrznym i zewnętrznym przeciwnikom.
Wielka wojna ojczyźniana – propagandowy termin określający wojnę radziecko‑niemiecką z lat 1941‑1945.
Ludobójstwo – termin utworzony pod koniec II wojny światowej opisujące masowe morderstwa całych grup ludzkich. Przyjęty w prawie międzynarodowym w czasie procesu w Norymberdze.
Katiusza – radzieckie wyrzutnie rakietowe używane w czasie II wojny światowej. Nazywane przez Niemców „organami Stalina”.
Propaganda – celowe działania, które mają doprowadzić do określonych zachować i poglądów. Służy ona do upowszechnienia dogodnych informacji dla nadawcy. W języku potocznym synonim kłamstwa i manipulacji.
Ofensywa – gwałtowne uderzenie w przeciwnika, mające na celu przełamanie jego obrony i wdarcie się w głąb jego wojska lub terenu.
Kapitulacja – poddanie się części lub całości wojska przeciwnikowi. Może być bezwarunkowa lub pod pewnymi wcześniej ustalonymi warunkami. Najczęściej kończy konflikt zbrojny.
Texts and recordings
German‑Soviet war
Adolf Hitler planned the war with the Soviet Union since 1940. At that time, a plan to attack the USSR was created and its code name was „Barbarossa”. Its implementation was supposed to create a new „living space” (Lebensraum) for the Germans in the vast areas to the Urals. Initially, the war against the USSR was intended to break out in the spring of 1941, but the German intervention in the Balkans postponed this term to June 22, 1941.
An unexpected attack was a complete surprise for the USSR. The Offensive of the German forces crashed the unprepared Red Army and burst into the country for several hundred kilometres, capturing thousands of soldiers. In September the German front reached Leningrad. Its siege lasted nearly three years. The Germans moving at a rapid pace reached Moscow in mid‑November. They did not manage to conquer it, because of the winter and unfavourable weather conditions. The enormous resistance and the return of the Soviet army from the Far East made it possible to counter‑attack and push the enemy away from the capital.
The Blitzkrieg assumed by the Barbarossa plan failed. In the spring of 1942 the next stage of the war began. Another German offensive started, and its aim was to take over the strategic areas of the Caucasus. The German army was detained at Stalingrad. The battle lasted for over half a year (July 1942‑February 1943), claimed nearly a million victims on both sides, and ended up with the defeat of the German army. This allowed the Russians to move to a counter‑offensive and to expel the Third Reich army to Ukraine. In attempting to regain the initiative, the German command made another attempt to break out the front. Their strike near Kursk (summer 1943) went down in history as one of the greatest armoured battles. The Germans suffered huge losses (about 500,000 soldiers were killed and over 2,500 tanks and guns were destroyed), and began a retreat on the whole line of the front.
The victory on the Kursk Arc initiated the Soviet attack. In the following months, the Red Army and the allied forces liberated further areas. In March 1944 they entered the lands of the pre‑war Romania, Poland and Czechoslovakia, and then, other Central and Eastern European countries. In January 1945, the last stage of the fights began, in which the western Polish and Czechoslovak lands were freed, and the Odra was crossed. On May 2, 1945, the Red Army seized Berlin, where on the night of 8 to 9 May 1945, in the headquarters of Marshal Gieorgija Zhukov, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the capitulation of Germany.. Find information about them.