Level: pupils of the 6th form.
Aim: pupils will be able to understand adapted texts about the Great Patriotic War and speak on the topic “Young heroes of the war 1941-1945” using the verbs in the past tenses.
Objectives :
- to teach the pupils to understand texts about history,
- to teach the pupils to speak on war topics using past tenses,
- to teach the pupils to express their opinion about the character of people,
- to encourage the pupils to use vocabulary on the topic,
- to develop language anticipation,
- to develop the pupils' knowledge in history of their country,
- to teach the pupils to love their Motherland and to be proud of its heroes.
Equipment: a multimedia whiteboard, a disc with a presentation, handouts (two texts about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, a tape recorder and a cassette with a song “Rise up, Great Country”.
Lesson plan
1. Warming -up. Dear children, listen to the song “Rise up, Great Country” and answer the question: What are you thinking about when you hear it ( Slide 1)?
2. Introduction of the theme of the lesson. Today we're going to read and to speak about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
3. Pre- reading activity. Look at the screen and do the tasks:
- complete the sentences (work in pairs);
- answer the question: Which of the young heroes do you know (Slides 2, 3, 4, 5. 6)?
- introducing new words. Look at the blackboard and try to guess the meaning of the new words. Write the words down into your vocabularies.
4. Reading activity. Reading for full understanding. Read the text and choose the best heading from the list and fill in the gaps.
5. Post-reading activities.
a). Let's see what you've chosen for the headings. First discuss your answers in groups of three.
b). Answer the questions to your texts. Work in pairs.
6. Speaking on the text using key phrases.
a). Brushing up grammar (Past Tenses). Find the verbs in the past in you texts they'll help you retell it (Slide 7).
b). Retelling the text (with the elements of text analyses). Say what you've learnt about the hero. Retell the text the phrases on the screen will help you. First work in groups and help your partner if he needs (Slide 8).
7. Speech presentation. Let's listen to the group representatives ( Slide 9).
8. Giving homework. Your homework is (Slide10):
- to ask your great-grandparents about the war (10 sentences in a written form);
- to retell the story you read at the lesson;
- to draw a picture on the war topic.
9. Feedback. What have you learnt today? Which of the young heroes do you want to be like?
Texts for reading
Text 1
Reading activity:
Сhoose the write heading for the parts of the text. One heading is extra.
A. The boy's Heroic Deeds.
B. Young Partisans.
C. Happy Childhood.
D. The War Began.
E. The Games the Children Played.
Lyonya Golikov
1. ____________________________________
Lyonya Golikov lived in a village that stood near the river Pola. His father was a craftsman and used to be away from home for many weeks at a time. His mother worked on a collective farm and was busy for most of the day. Besides, she had a large family to look after. Lyonya and his two sisters were a great help to their mother. When she came back home tired after work, she usually found her children doing their household chores. They also went to school did their homework and read books. The Golikovs were a united family.
Lyonya was a short but well-built boy. He could do a lot of things better than his friends could do. He could jump over wide wide streams climb the tallest trees or swim across the river. His life was quiet and happy and he was very fond of the place where he lived. One day his father fell ill and he could no longer work. The boy had to start working to help his family.
2. ____________________________________
One warm Sunday Lyonya went to the river with his friends and they heard a group of people talking about something. Everybody looked worried and sad. Some women were crying. They all kept saying the same word: “War, War!” The boys knew the word from the textbooks. At home the boys found an old book containing a map of Europe. Nazi Germany was far away from their house. This made them feel come and safe.
Soon nearly all the men went to the front and the boys couldn't play their favourite games because they had to start working in the fields.
Little by little the Nazi troops came closer to the village where Lyonya lived. The villagers decided to go into a forest which was quite a safe hiding-place. In the forest there was a lot of work to do. The people started a new and unusual life. To begin with, they made dug outs. Lyonya and his father were busy making new homes for the villagers.
3. ____________________________________
The day that everyone had been afraid of arrived. The Nazi occupied the village. People tried to hide and escape from the fascists in some way or another, but enemy soldiers found them and forced them to return to their houses.
Winter came. There was talk of partisans. People whispered that they had appeared in the nearby forest. One day Lyonya's father told him that he had spoken to one of the partisans. Lyonya wanted to join the partisans and he was very happy when he was asked to stick up leaflets on the walls of the houses or hand them out to anyone he might meet. The leaflets called on the local people to fight against the Nazis and made them feel unsafe. It was a very dangerous task. So Lyonya became a partisan.
Several months passed and everyone in the partisan detachment that Lyonya and his friend Mitya were very useful. The commander thought that they could be given more difficult tasks. Lyonya took part in some risky operations- the partisans went to the railway to blow up enemy troop trains.
4.____________________________________
One day Lyonya and a group of partisans blew up a train and ran to the fores when they were attacked by the enemy. The group leader was badly wounded. It was very hard for Lyonya to carry him but Lyonya wouldn't leave his comrade. Lyonya was very tired but he brought his leader to the camp and saved his life. The boy was awarded the Medal for Valour in Battle.
Lyonya was also given the highest award the Hero of the Soviet Union for obtaining very important documents.
Post-reading activity
Answer the question: What kind of character was the boy?
Prove it with the examples from the text.
Text 2
Reading activity:
Choose the right heading for the parts of the text one heading is extra.
A. The Boy Joined an Underground Group.
B. We Shall Always Remember The Hero.
C. Life before the War.
D. People's Hard Life at War.
E. The Boy Learnt about the War.
Valya Kotik
1.____________________________________
Valya Kotik was born in a small village. He had a brother Vitya who was a bit older. His parents worked on a collective farm and were busy from morning till night. The boys looked after their house themselves. Valya liked reading books very much. He was a kind and friendly boy always ready to help others. At school he was one of the best pupils. The family moved to Shepetovka where a famous hero used to live. Valya was very proud to live in that town. All the schoolchildren did their best to look like their role model. Valya made a lot of friends. The family lived a happy life.
2. ____________________________________
One day Valya and his friend rode bicycles around the town and came home frighted as they had learnt about the war. A few days later their fathers went off to the front. The news from the front was sad. Nazi troops moved towards the center of the country. People passed through the town all the time and many local people were leaving too. They didn't want to stay in a place which could be soon occupied by the fascists. The Kotiks could not leave as the enemy had occupied it.
3. ____________________________________
One day a strange man came to live in their house. The man's name was Didenko. Valya didn't like him as he thought he was working for the Nazis. Valya and his friends learnt about an underground group which united people to fight against the Nazis. Didenko was the leader of the group. He thought that Valya was too young to join. When he found some leaflets in his pockets the man understood that the boy really wished to fight against the enemy. From that day onwards Valya was given tasks by the underground group. The boy counted enemy tanks and soldiers. That information was very important for the Soviet Army.
Valya and his friends did a lot of risky tasks and Didenko worried about the boys' lives and sent them to a partisan detachment. The man thought it was safe for them in the forest. In the detachment the boys found out how to be useful for the partisans.
They helped to blow up enemy troop trains. Once Valya informed the detachment that danger was coming. It saved the lives of many people and the partisan commander. The boy was awarded a medal for his courage.
4. ____________________________________
It was his 14th birthday when Valya learnt that the Red Army had freed his native Shepetovka. The commander said that he should go home but the boy did not listen. He wanted to stay with the partisans and help to free a small town near Shepetovka and then he would go home. He fought like a real soldier. The partisans ran into the town and drove the Nazis away from it. Valya and some other partisans were ordered to stand guard over an ammunition dump. Shots could be heard all around. Just then something hit Valya in the stomach. Valya fell against the wall...
Valya Kotik was buried in Shepetovka in the garden of his school. After the war he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War and in 1958 the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. In Shepetovka and in Moscow monuments were set up in the memory of this young hero.
Post-reading activity
Answer the question: What kind of character did the boy have?
Prove it with the examples from the text.