What was life like in the Middle Ages? What do King Arthur and Croatian kings have in common?
The learning scenario Connected by Legends combines themes and activities in the subjects of History and English language. In both subjects the students are first introduced to the topic of the Middle Ages. They learn about the living conditions during that period and the vocabulary connected with the topic. Students describe pictures from Europeana that depict scenes from the Middle Ages. They build up their English vocabulary based on the knowledge from the History class. They practice vocabulary with the help of a Wordwall activity and pictures.
After that, it focuses on the Legend of King Arthur in the English class and on the legends about early Croatian kings in the History class.
Students practice different language skills in English. First, they are introduced to the legend by listening to descriptions of the main characters from the legend. They match the characters with their depictions in the Europeana collection. Then they read the legend and do different comprehension activities. They also put together jumbled stories about the Croatian kings.
Next, students watch a video on the topic of whether King Arthur was actually a historical figure. Afterwards they discuss the difference between history and legends. In this way, they develop their critical thinking skills, give arguments and formulate their opinion.
The Croatian and the English legends are combined in the activity where students make a collaborative comic book about one of these legends. They particularly enjoyed this collaborative activity. They could express their creativity in different fields like art, language and ICT skills. Every student was able to contribute in the field in which he excelled. The students were very proud of their e-books and we made a small exhibition. In the end, students presented their work to other students in the class and evaluated each other’s work.
These medieval legends clearly show that there was a common cultural and social background for these stories. Students became aware that they are part of a big European family with intertwined history and experiences.
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