Warming up activity: From Mediaeval Ages to Modern Society , by M. Vanessa González

 

This is intended to be a warming up activity that works as an introduction for a didactic unit that deals with the Late Middle Ages in Europe, specifically from the 12th century onwards. The subject of History and its contents are taught in English and the methodology used is the CLIL approach.  

Students will be given a selection of visual pictures depicting different scenes, objects, maps and so on, related to the Middle Ages and the actual way of life in any average European country. It must be a meaningful, authentic and challenging input, something powerful and with great contrast that can draw their attention like: pictures showing mediaeval markets vs modern malls, carts pulled by donkeys and people travelling on horses vs. a plane landing on an airport, scenes of trading vs. a nowadays customs office, even pictures of the beaked masks doctors wore after the Plague broke out and pics of the surgical mask that were made mandatory for a time a couple of years ago.

The objective is to make them reflect upon the changes in order to spot the great contrasts at the same time they can find connections. After the pics are handed out, (they can also be displayed on an interactive board), students will be asked, in groups of four, to separate pictures belonging to a period from the other. After this easy task, some questions will emerge on the board for them to look for answers along with their group peers: How did cities change from mediaeval times to modern society? What factors triggered the main changes? What do you think are the historical events, developments and elements that contributed to the growth of the cities and the expansion of trade? 

These questions will work as a means to scan their knowledge on Mediaeval times events, and also to check how they build up conclusions from the information they possess. They’ll be interacting orally, they’ll be asked to gather their thoughts and opinions and discuss about a specific aspect, a different aspect each group: trade, transport, health, culture, etc. 

This warming up activity will end with one member of each group offering a brief spoken exposition of the group conclusions on a subject related to the pics to the rest of the classroom.