Topic: Mesopotamia – the land between the Euphrates and Tigris

Author of the script: Katarzyna Kuczyńska

Target group

5th grade student of elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Ancient civilizations:

1. compares nomadic lifestyle with sedentary lifestyle and explains the effects of the neolithic revolution;

2. localizes civilizations of the Ancient East (Mesopotamia) in time and space

3. places in time and knows the various systems of governance and organization of the society

4. characterizes the most important achievements of material and spiritual culture of the ancient world in various fields: philosophy, science, law, architecture, art, literature;

The general aim of education

Student gets to know the history of Mesopotamia.

Key competences

• communicating in a foreign language;

• communicating in the mother tongue;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• characterizes the land of Mesopotamia and tells about the three peoples that lived there in antiquity: the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians;

• talks about the inventions of the Sumerians and understands their importance for the development of civilization;

• knows one of the first written legal codes – Code of Hammurabi;

• distinguishes 'history', i.e., a sequence of certain events in the past, from 'histories', i.e., attempts to recreate these events and understand them.

Methods / techniques

• programmed methods: using e‑textbook;

• problematic methods: activating methods: discussion, preparation and presentation of roleplays; written assignment;

• practical methods: exercises concerned, working with text;

• exposing methods: elements of a lecture, a talk.

Forms of work

• collective activity;

• activity in groups;

• individual activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/ felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard;

• colored paper/tissue paper, scraps of cloth or yarn, scissors;

• tablets/computers;

• several small chalkboards, equipment from the classroom (e.g. chairs, tables);

• list of inventions of the Sumerians.

Before classes

The teacher asks students to read material from the e‑textbook on conditions in Mesopotamia in the oldest times (extract “Settlement on large rivers”) and on the method of using large rivers (extract “Artificial irrigation”).

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject, explains the aim of the lesson and determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher starts a discussion with the students on their knowledge on Mesopotamia and why it was there that the first permanent human settlements were established.

Realization

1. In the middle of the classroom, students use paper/tissue paper or scraps of cloth/yarn to create a symbolic scenery of Mesopotamia.

2. The teacher divides the class into three groups. Each group is given the task of impersonating individual peoples living in Mesopotamia in the past – Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians – Instruction 1. Then, each group must prepare a roleplay presenting particular people of Mesopotamia.

3. The teacher emphasizes that the students will become history teachers to each other during the lesson, so the presentations should be well prepared. The mini‑roleplay should present information concerning:
   a) the period in which particular peoples lived in Mesopotamia; b) characteristic achievements and lifestyle;
   c) important monuments from that period (with presentation of their function at that time).
   To create the scenery, students can use small chalkboards, tablets, sheets of paper and equipment from the classroom.

4. Students present their roleplays. After presenting a roleplay about the Sumerians, the students read together the extract from e‑textbook about the Standard of Ur and fulfill the associated instructions – Instruction 2 and Instruction 3. After presenting a roleplay about the Babylonians, the students fulfill together Instruction 4 concerning the sculpture of Hammurabi. After presenting a roleplay about the Assyrians, the students perform together Exercise 1 concerning the royal palace. After finishing the exercises, the students (individually, in pairs or in a whole class) perform Task 5 – analyze the information on the map of Mesopotamia concerning the following cities: Babylon, Ur, Niva, Uruk. When performing their tasks, the students should be able to ask for help. The teacher gives students feedback on their work during the lesson.

5. After presenting the roleplays and performing the exercises, the teacher briefly comments that the presented roleplays were only pictures of the life of the three peoples of Mesopotamia. This is what history is all about: trying to know, reconstruct and understand what happened in the past. In this case, the students used e‑textbook (i.e. what other people – historians recreated), but in the roleplays they expressed how they themselves understood the historical picture of the life of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Therefore, everyone who examines the past to some extent bases on what he/she finds (facts) and on his/her interpretation (i.e. how he/she understands these facts). To illustrate such recreation of history, the teacher presents the students Task 6, pointing out that the authors of the illustrations based not only on facts (excavations, records, etc.), but also on their ideas. The teacher can start the task as follows: You already know how the Ziggurat of Ur looked like, you can see a photograph of it in the section “Sumerians”. Now take a close look at another equally well‑known one. Unfortunately, it has not survived to our times, but with the help of researchers and archaeologists it has been possible to create (reconstruct) its image.

Summary

At the end of the lesson, the teacher gives the students a list of inventions of the Sumerians as a homework task. The teacher asks that each student selects one of the inventions, collects information about it from the encyclopedia and other sources, and then answers the questions in writing: Is the selected invention being used today? If yes – has its purpose changed? If no – why has it been resigned from, what has replaced it?

Summary of the most important contents of the lesson

1. Learning about Mesopotamia and the three peoples that lived there in antiquity: the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians (points 1–4 of the lesson plan).

2. Learning about the inventions of the Sumerians and a common reflection on their importance for the development of civilization (points 3, 4, 6 of the lesson plan).

3. Student distinguishes 'history', i.e., a sequence of certain events in the past, from 'histories', i.e., attempts to recreate these events and understand them (point 5 of the lesson plan).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Mesopotamia – the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris

In the fourth millennium BC, the Sumerians appeared in Mesopotamia – the land between the great rivers of Euphrates and Tigris (in the territory of today's Iraq). They came up with many inventions, the most important of which was a cuneiform script. They also developed a system of canals that brought water from rivers to the fields, thus developing agriculture. Sumerians lived in many city‑states where they built huge ziggurats – buildings resembling pyramids, on the top of which there were temples dedicated to various gods. Next, Mesopotamia came under the rule of the kings of Babylon city. The most famous of them was Hammurabi, who ordered that one of the now oldest surviving code of laws be written down. Later, Mesopotamia was conquered by the Assyrians, who created the first great empire of antiquity thanks to a well‑trained army.