Topic: The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

Target group

7th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

XXVII. Europe and the world after World War I. Pupil:

2. is characterized by the provisions of the Paris conference and the Locarno treaty; evaluates the functioning of the League of Nations and the order of Versailles.

General aim of education

Students get acquainted with the provisions of the Paris conference and the policy of the great powers towards Germany after the end of World War I.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• to list main decision makers and decisions of the Treaty of Versailles;

• to characterize post‑war arrangements for the allies states of the former Triple Alliance states;

• to indicate features of the new world order.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• exposing

  • film.

• 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

1. The teacher asks students to read the Introduction to the lesson in the e‑textbook. Students will get acquainted with the message of President Thomas Woodrow Wilson to the US Congress on January 8, 1918.

Introduction

1. The teacher explains the students the subject, the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. Referring to the task prepared by students at home, he tells students that the intention of the politicians of the victorious states was to create a world order that would ensure peoples peace. However, the task turned out to be difficult to implement. The teacher reminds briefly what effects have been achieved more than a century earlier at the Congress of Vienna 1814‑1815. Students watch a silent movie with the signing of the Versailles peace agreement and do Exercise 1.

Realization

1. The teacher displays on the board the timeline from the e‑textbook and divides the class into two groups. Each of the teams will prepare in the course of the lesson arguments regarding the Versailles conference and attempts to create a new world order. Students get acquainted with the issues, look for information about the participants of the congress. They use English‑language materials on the Internet and use the displayed timeline. In addition, both groups carry out exercises relating to the situation of Germany after the conference: indicate the states with which Germany signed separatist peace agreements (Exercise 2), and territorial losses incurred by them (Exercise 3), and also comment on the picture from the Task 1. Students familiarize themselves with information, map, they use the knowledge gained during Exercise 1. They note in the course of their joint work: on the yellow cards, factors conducive to the establishment of stable peace and global order, and on the sheets of green - the unfavorable factors. Then they stick their sticky notes on a sheet of paper, in the triangle box (with the password in the middle) reversed vertically down. Favorable factors „support it” and those unfavorable try to „overturn” it. After completing the task, the representative of each group presents the effects of the group's work on the class forum. The teacher and / or students prepare a photograph of the work. The teacher provides feedback to students.

2. The teacher displays the map „Territorial changes in Europe after World War I” from the textbook and explains to students what arrangements have been signed with Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey. He briefly presents the findings of the Washington conference. Asks students about the possible pros and cons of these findings. Students justify their answer using the lessons learned. The teacher makes sure that the task has been correctly completed and gives feedback.

Summary

1. The teacher gives the students an evaluation questionnaire, in which they evaluate their own work, colleagues and the teacher.

Homework

1. The teacher sets homework (it is not an obligatory part of the script): students follow Task 7 from the e‑textbook - they see photos of David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau and write an essay or prepare a multimedia presentation on: „Friends or opponents” - which matters better to determine the relationship between these policies? Indicate two arguments in support of your thesis. Students necessarily use any biography of both politicians.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles

The Versailles Peace Conference began on 18 January 1919 in Paris. 27 countries took part. The Versailles Treaty signed on 28 June 1919 had introduced a new world order. By virtue of that Treaty, Germany lost its colonies as well as Alsace, Lorraine, Greater Poland and Pomerania. The Rhineland was demilitarized and cities of Gdańsk and Klaipėda were converted into free cities. Germany was charged with high war reparations. Separate peace treaties were signed with Austria, Hungary as well as Bulgaria and Turkey. New countries like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Finland, State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, Ireland, Iceland, Austria and Hungary emerged on the map. The last treaty regulating the contentious and controversial issues was the meeting in Washington. It was devoted primarily to the regulation of navy armaments and Far East issues.