Lesson plan (English)

Title: The power of music

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

The power of music. The Myth about Orpheus and Eurydice.

Target group

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

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary works. Student:

3) recognizes the work read as a fairy tale, legend, anthem, parable, myth, short story, novel, journal, diary, or novel, and indicates its genre features; recognizes different types of novels and short stories, e.g. classical, adventure, detective, science fiction, fantasy;

7) discusses plot events, determines the order of events and understands their interdependence;

9) characterizes the lyrical subject, the narrator and the characters in the works read;

10) distinguishes between the first‑person and third‑person narratives and indicates their functions in the work;

11) indicates the main and supporting characters in the work and determines their traits;

12) defines the theme and topic of the work;

14) names his/her feelings after reading the text;

17) presents his/her own understanding of the work and justifies it;

19) expresses his/her own opinion about characters and events;

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 main thought of the text,

5) distinguishes between important and secondary information in the text;

8) understands the specificity of cultural texts being part of: literature, theater, film, music, visual and audiovisual arts).

II. Language education.

2. Diversity of language Student:

7) adjusts the way of expressing himself/herself to the intended purpose of the utterance.

III. Creation of utterances.

1. Elements of the rhetoric. Student:

1) participates in a conversation on a given topic (...);

3) creates a logical, semantically complete and ordered utterance, using composition and graphic layout appropriate to a given genre form (...);

4) selects the informationł

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

3) creates a reproductive and creative text plan

5) discusses the text he/she has read.

9) uses his/her language knowledge in his/her utterances.

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1) perfects reading quietly and aloud;

2) perfects various forms of recording the information acquired.

The general aim of education

The students develop the ability to analyze and interpret cultural texts: myth, reliefs and paintings.

Key competences

communication in the mother tongue;
communication in foreign languages;
cultural awareness and expression.

Learning outcomes

Student:

deciphers the theme of the myth from the relief of Orpheus and Eurydice;
deciphers the meaning of the myth about Orpheus and Eurydice;
recognizes false and true sentences about the content of the myth;
describes the characters of the myth;
tells about events in the myth from the perspective of Eurydice;
interprets paintings connected with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Methods / techniques

problematic: directed conversation;
programmed: using the computer, using an e‑textbook;
exhibiting: painting works;
practical: working with text, practical classes.

Forms of work

uniform individual activity;
uniform collective activity;
diverse collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

The teacher defines the aim of the lesson which is to familiarize the students with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Gives students the criteria for success.

Realization

1. The teacher starts the lesson “The power of music” and presents a relief of Orpheus looking at Eurydice when Hermes takes her back to the realm of shades. The teacher asks the students to indicate Orpheus, Eurydice and Hermes.

2. The students read the text of the myth from the e‑textbook. The teacher asks them to pay attention to the role of the narrator and to answer the question: Does the narrator know everything about the world it describes? How can this be recognized? This allows the students to recall information about the third‑person omniscient.

3. The teacher presents the students with a painting by Nicolas Poussin - Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice. The teacher asks the students to describe what is presented in it. Then the students choose a paragraph of the text that could be illustrated by the presented painting. The teacher checks if the students are able to justify their choice.

4. The teacher tells the students that the text of the myth indicates that Orpheus was playing the lute or the harp. These discrepancies may result from an inaccurate translation of myths from the Greek language. Both the harp and the lute could have been known to the ancient Greeks. Both are plucked instruments. The teacher presents the students with pictures of the lute and the harp. The teacher asks the students to check what instrument Orpheus is holding in Poussin's painting.

5. In order to make the lesson more interesting, the teacher offers the students a musical puzzle – the teacher plays the sound files one by one. The students listen to the following sounds: guitar, flute, violin, piano, ukulele and saxophone. The students’ task is to name the instruments they hear.

6. The teacher asks the students to get back to the text about Orpheus and Eurydice and to perform the tasks related to it in the abstract (there are more suggested tasks than a lesson unit provides; the teacher can choose among them or divide the class into groups and assign different tasks):

task 5 aims to check students' understanding of the text by indicating true and false sentences;
tasks 6 and 7 are intended to encourage the students to recreate the content of the myth; first, the students tell the myth in their own words and then create the schedule of events;
task 8 is to reconstruct events from the point of view of Eurydice; it is important that the students reject in their stories the passages of which the omniscient narrator is aware and about which Eurydice cannot know.

7. The teacher divides the students into six groups; each group looks for information about one of Orpheus' listeners and writes it down in the appropriate cell. Students save the completed table on their media (e.g. tablets) or the teacher prints it out and the students paste it into their notebooks.

8. The teacher presents the painting by Károly Ferenczy, Orpheus. Students answer the questions: How did the Hungarian painter imagine the Greek musician? What has changed in relation to the content of the myth? What emotions does the face of Orpheus express in the painting?

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students what they have learned today. He/she draws attention to the subject of the lesson “The power of music.” The teacher asks if this subject is appropriate for what has been said in the lesson. The students write down a short lesson note.

Homework

Tasks to choose from:

1. Imagine that you have a magic lute. In what situations would it be worth using? Write down your proposal in the notebook.

2. Write a letter on behalf of Orpheus asking the underground king, Hades, to change his decision to detain Eurydice. Remember to consider all the elements of a letter as well as the arguments in support of your request.

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