Title: Book over books

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

Book over books. The Bible as a text of culture.

Target group

5th‑grade students of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

12) defines the theme and topic of the work;

20) indicates the values in the work and defines the values that are important for the character.

2. Reception of cultural texts. Student:

2) searches for information that is directly or indirectly expressed in the text;

3) determines the theme and the main thought of the text.

II. Language education.

2. Diversity of language Student:

5) recognizes idiomatic phrases in the utterances, recognizes their richness, understands their meaning and applies them correctly in the utterances.

III. Creation of utterances.

1. Elements of the rhetoric. Student:

1) participates in a conversation on a given topic, separates its parts, constructional signals strengthening the bond between the participants of the dialog, explaining the meaning;

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

5) discusses the text he/she has read.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1) perfects reading quietly and aloud;

8) develops the skill of critical thinking and opinion forming.

The general aim of education

The student discovers the Bible as a cultural text and develops vocabulary with biblical phraseologies.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• provides basic information about the Bible;

• reads with understanding and justifies his/her own opinion;

• lists the various editions of the Bible;

• uses idiomatic expressions from the Bible;

• uses map.

Methods / techniques

• problematic: talk;

• practical: working with text, tasks concerned;

• programmed: using the computer, using an e‑textbook.

Forms of work

• uniform individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Before the lesson

Before the planned lesson, the teacher asks the students to remember one of the biblical parables and prepare a still frame (a still‑life) illustrating the chosen scene. Students can bring outfits or needed props. Each of the protagonists should prepare a one‑sentence statement, answering the questions: who am I? What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Their task will be to start classes with the presentation of their scenes and make other students interested by their presentation.

Introduction

1. The teacher defines the aim of the lesson: the students learn the Bible as a text of culture.

2. The teacher asks students about their knowledge of the Bible. He discusses with class a map showing the location of the Holy Land (in the abstract). He/she asks questions:

• How are the countries located in the Holy Land today called?

• What relationship with the Bible does this part of the world have?

Realization

1. Selected students present a still‑life prepared for classes. They tell who they are, what they do and why they do it. The teacher encourages other students to ask questions to the presenters, e.g.

• Why did you decide on such a scene?

• Why did you bring such props?

• What role does the indicated person play?

2. The students read Anna Kamieńska's text with special attention to the origin of the word “bible”, then they talk in pairs why the Bible is called the greatest of all books (they write the conclusions in a notebook).

3. The students perform interactive task 1 to check their understanding of the text they have read (single‑choice test). The teacher checks the correctness of completed tasks and provides feedback.

4. Students get acquainted with the information in the abstract about Bible translations and watch the illustrations depicting its old editions (ex. 9). The teacher asks students why - in their opinion - Bible editions are so intricate in terms of aesthetics.

5. Students enrich their vocabulary with phraseological phrases from the Bible (ex. 10 and 11). They indicate Polish appropriate expressions. They create sentences using them.

6. The teacher asks students to prepare quiz questions about the current lesson (each person prepares two questions). If necessary, the teacher helps the students arrange questions. Then a quiz takes place: the students are divided into groups of 4 people. Each team chooses two questions from the members' suggestions, which will be asked in the class forum. The group reads one question and waits for other groups to respond. The fastest team has the right to answer first. The teacher or the chosen student counts points. The group that won the competition should be rewarded.

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students questions, e.g.

• How and when was the Bible created?

• Why is it so important for European culture?

2. Then the teacher asks the students to assess their work during the lesson and the level of understanding of the material discussed. He can use the interactive board included in the abstract.

Homework

Choose three of the biblical idiomatic expressions you learned during the lesson and present them in the form of puzzles (picture) or prepare scenes (charades).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Book over books

The Bible is an extraordinary book. It was created for hundreds of years! It consists of two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the history of Israel is shown before the coming of Christ, including the creation of the world, man, banishment from paradise, departure from Egypt, receiving the Ten Commandments. The New Testament describes the life and activities of Jesus and his disciples. The Bible is the most important book for two great religions: Judaism and Christianity.

Do you know in which languages the Bible was written? Do you know what the holy books of other religions are called?

The translation of the Bible into Greek is called the Septuagint. This name comes from the number of people who worked on the translation. The translation into Latin is Vulgate. The Bible had many translations and editions. The best‑known modern edition is the Millenium Bible.

The Bible has influenced and influences our culture. It is a source of many idiomatic expressions and proverbs.