Classical Myths IESMolí de la Vila de Capellades
Norma Jorba

UNIT 3 - LESSON 4

Divine meddling in human affairs

1 hour

Aims

  1. To understand the divine intereraction between deities and humans as a characteristic of ancient epics
  2. To understand that classical myths have been used throughout history

Objectives

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Content

  • To summarise the role of the deities in the Trojan War
  • To present ‘human’ behaviour as a characteristic of Greek deities

Cognition

  • To recall previous knowledge
  • To promote skills to relate events to their causes
  • To encourage comparison of an ancient myth with a modern interpretation

Communication

  • To promote listening skills
  • To introduce the language for making and justifying hypotheses
  • To introduce the language for comparison

Culture

  • To show the interaction between humans and deities in epics
  • To present a modern film version of the myth of Troy

Content

Learners will be able to:

  • list the deities who sided with each side during the war
  • know the reasons of the deities to support one side or the other one

Cognition

Learners will be able to:

  • apply previous knowledge
  • understand and relate events with their causes
  • make hypotheses about cause and effect
  • relate a myth to today’s issues

Communication

Learners will be able to:

  • understand predictable oral input
  • express and justify hypotheses (speaking and writing)
  • express comparison

Culture

Learners will be able to:

  • show greater awareness of the divinal intervention in human matters in Greek mythology
  • show greater awareness of the survival and different uses of a classical myth

Activities (Teacher's notes)

1. Using the knowledge achieved in the previous lessons, write two lists of deities according to their role in the Trojan War and make a guess at their reasons.

Step 1: Do the task in pairs.

Step 2: Each pair gives their suppositions to the class.

2. Step 1: listen to the information provided by the DVD and complete the chart.

Step 2: Read and compare the sentences in pairs.

Step 3: Try to fill in the grey boxes according with previous learning about the Trojan War.

Step 4: Comment the sentences in plenary.

3. Put the images of the previous exercice in order, according to the plot of the Iliad. One of them is an odd one. Students must say which one is the odd one and justify the answer.

4. Watch two scenes of the film Troy directed by Wolfgang Petersen and comparethem with the events explained in the myth.

Step 1: Multiple choice.

Step 2: Write complete sentences using a writing frame.

Materials

  • Handouts for the students
  • Scenes 19-21 & 42 of Troy (2004). Directed by W. Petersen. Warner Home Video[DVD]
  • Gallery of Gods (extra content of the DVD edition of the film Troy)

Assessment

The teacher assesses the use of previous knowledge in the activities and the work done during the session.