America as a Superpower--Unit Plan - Praktikum macht Schule

Didactic Unit:: “America as a Superpower“
Objectives
Students will understand why the USA have become the modern superpower
and have a clear idea of the workings of a modern state.
Students will be able to answer analytical questions referring to non-fictional
texts and to write a comment.
Contents
Vocabulary: mainly with reference to the political world and text analysis
Functions: Review: Giving a presentation (looking for material, organising the
material, extracting the relevant information, preparing the presentation,
taking the addressee into account)
Comment writing—structure of a comment, formulation of arguments,
presentation of one’s own opinion
Analysing a political cartoon
Procedures
Reading texts of medium difficulty from different periods
Listening to original texts
Understanding film sequences which include formal and informal
language
Answering questions of text analysis both orally and in written form
Preparing a presentation
Giving a presentation
Exchanging opinions
Discussing a topic
Evaluating political messages
Reading between the lines
Linking texts from different periods
Writing comments
Unit Plan
1 st class: Quiz on the US, its political system and recent events
Info-Box on the political system in textbook (Context)

Evaluation: Filling in the gaps in a diagram
2 nd class: Text analysis: “The Superman Myth” by Charles Krauthammer
about the American president’s real and supposed power
Comparison of the Spanish and German political systems with the
American one: Common features and differences
3 rd class: The National Rifle Association
NRA Fact Sheet and the NRA’s advertisement in commemoration of
the 200 th Anniversary of the Bill of Rights
Differences USA-EuropeExpressing one’s opinion
4 th class: Group work—isolation of main aspects of a text, presentation
before the class (preparation of transparencies)
Group 1: Mayflower Compact and Excerpt from the Declaration of
Independence
Group 2: Bill of Rights
Group 3: Gettysburg Address
5 th class: Stephen Vincent Benét, Western Wagons
Reading and extracting information about the settlement of the
West
From “going West” to present-day mobility (pictures of U-haul etc.)
6 th class: Texts by American presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Th.
Roosevelt) about America’s role in world politics—Extracting
relevant information, tracing America’s changing role in world
politics
Pupils work in groups, prepare transparencies, present their
results before the class
7 th class: Text “The Conscience of a President” about Woodrow Wilson’s
decision to ask the Congress to declare war on Germany
8 th class: Film sequence from Pearl Harbour (Roosevelt before Congress)
Listening to Roosevelt’s “Annual Message to the Congress,”
January 6, 1941—understanding the text and extracting the
relevant information, reading the text for confirmation
9 th class: Student presentation (10 min.): Germany at the end of World War
II (reference to Marshall Plan)
Use of visual material: cartoons, photos etc.
Listening to the Truman Doctrine, followed by reading, tracing the
development of the US foreign policy
10 th class: Song by Sting, “Russians”—analysis of a song
Cuba Crisis—analysis of cartoon “Kennedy and Krushchev wrestle”
Backward reference to Short Story Snow read in 10th grade
11 th class: Student presentation (10 min): Vietnam up to 1954

Student presentation (10 min): The most important events of the
Vietnam War
Text: Lyndon B. Johnson, Peace without Conquest
12 th class: Class in cooperation with the History teacher (languages English
and German) about the end of the Cold War
13 th class: Text “Must America Lead?”—Discussion
14 th class: Student Presentation (10 min): USA vs. Iraq—What does America
want?
Discussion
Evaluation
Continuous assessment of student participation in class (oral work)
Written homework—comments, analyses
Presentations
Written exam—Comprehension and Analysis of a Text, Comment
(George W. Bush, Inaugural Address [shortened version], questions
referring to his view on America’s internal problems and foreign
policy, task referring to how Bush appeals to the patriotic feelings
of his countrymen, comment [choice between comment on the 2 nd
amendment and the feature of mobility])
Cross-curricular
Cooperation between two subjects (English and History)
Becoming aware of subliminal messages in a text, reading between
the lines developing a critical attitude
Awakening an interest in politics, understanding of the importance of
citizen participation