Topic: Polish soldiers on UN missions

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th‑grade primary school student.

Core curriculum:

XII. International affairs.

The student:

4) presents the activities of Poland in the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization of the North Atlantic Pact.

The general aim of education:

The student has basic knowledge on selected international organizations.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• analyzes the history of Polish engagement in UN missions.

• explains the importance of UN involvement in creating and maintaining international peace and order.

• presents a few current UN missions.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods:

• teaching conversation using movies, interactive exercises,

• BINGO game,

• trash and suitcase method.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook – chapter: Czy z ONZ świat jest lepszy?, Polish soldiers on UN missions,

• BINGO game sheet for each student (attachment),

• sheets of paper in two colours (e.g. green and yellow) for each student,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will learn about the importance of UN involvement in building and maintaining world order and peace, as well as analyze the Polish participation in UN missions.

2. The teacher asks the students to watch a film „UN Peacekeeping animation – Security and rule of law in the field” about the United Nations peacekeeping missions available in online resources and write down the actions that United Nations envoys take to restore lasting peace in war‑torn areas. He asks that the students try to answer the questions written on the board:

• Why is the presence of UN forces needed in war‑torn areas?

• What actions do the UN forces take?

• What is the main purpose of these activities?

Willing/selected students summarize the information.

Implementation:

1. The teacher informs the students that in a moment they will play the BINGO game. He distributes the BINGO game sheets and explains the rules:

• You must collect the correct answers to your questions as quickly as possible in any row, column or full diagonal (consisting of five fields).

• Collecting five correct answers in the required layout is announced by the student with the exclamation: „BINGO”.

• Correct rows/ columns / diagonals cannot be repeated, and the students are not allowed to cooperate.

• The students are allowed to search for information on the website of the UN Information Center in Warsaw (UNIC Warsaw), the tab „Poles on UN peacekeeping missions”, use the infographics from the abstract „Polish soldiers on UN missions” and other Internet sources.

• The game continues until all the correct answers on the board have been collected. The students who quickly collect all the correct answers in a given line will be rewarded with a positive assessment of their activeness.

2. After the end of the game, the teacher discusses the correct answers to all questions with the whole class.

Summary:

1. The teacher informs the students that in order to summarize the knowledge and skills acquired during the lesson, they will solve the exercise from the abstract: they will review their own knowledge by arranging an interactive crossword about the UN mission and then the knowledge of colleagues, asking for its solution.

2. The teacher carries out a summary part of the lesson using the trash and suitcase method. The teacher hands out small pieces of paper in two different colours (e.g. green and yellow). On the green pieces of paper the students write down the useful knowledge and skills they acquired during the class – these go into “the suitcase” (students stick it to a board under that category). The yellow pieces of paper are used to write down things the students did not find useful or interesting – these go into “the trash” (under the sign that reads “trash” on the board). The teacher explains, that their reflection can concern both the acquired knowledge, and the new skills they have learned. The teacher reads students’ reflections on the experience – first the “trash” contents, then the “suitcase”.

3. Homework proposal:

a. Describe a UN mission of your choice in which Polish soldiers took part. Take into account the reasons for creating a mission, its course, current or final effects, and the scale and nature of Polish engagement.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

Notes for the teacher:

Table BINGO

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Polish soldiers on UN missions

The first mission, in which Poles took part, was a mission to oversee the demilitarization of the Korean Peninsula in 1953. The international commission was responsible at that time to make sure the terms of the truce between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (supported by the USSR and other communist states) and South Korea (supported by the US) are observed. Polish officers were also involved in international commissions in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia (1954–1975), and Nigeria (1968–1970). During the cold war the interest of antagonistic blocs of states clashed in the UN as well. The communist states backed North Korea for example. It was not until 1973, the time of détente (relaxation) in international relations, that Poland was invited to send its troops for a peace mission to the Middle East (UNEF II).

Polish soldiers were the first ones to wear the blue helmets of all Warsaw Pact member states. Another significant mission Polish troops took part in was a mission to Golan Heights – a disputed territory between Syria and Israel, strategically important because of access to drinking water and convenient shooting position. You can see in a reportage on Cambodia in 1993 by Waldemar Milewicz, a TVP war correspondent, just how dangerous UN missions can be. The reportage presents the end of a long civil war, and a bloody dictatorship of Pol Pot in that country.