The Cold War – A TV show – Besançon Portail Langues

Thème de la séquence: The Cold War

Classe: Terminale section européenne

Niveau CECRL: B2 avancé/C1

Activités Langagières: Expression Orale en continu et en interaction

Nombre de séances: 12

Type de Support ressource: Extraits vidéo.

Matériel requis: Projection vidéo.

Descriptif rapide du projet: Les élèves analysent des extraits de témoignages puis produisent une émission de télévision ayant pour thème la Guerre froide.

Tâche finale: Role-play: Students prepare a TV show about the Cold War. For this project about the Cold War, you will have to play out a TV show on the BBC, acting as witnesses of the main events of this period.
2 journalists will interview different people who went through the Cold War, thus presenting the main issues of this period ( Militine Julie).

Step 1: Preparatory work – Duration: 2 lessons

– lesson on historical data (vocabulary, dates…)

– lesson on a video extract (oral comprehension)

Step 2: Activities – Duration: 4 lessons

Group work: divide the class into 5 groups.
Each group will get some specific information, researching on the following topics.
Then each group will present its subject to the class. :

1- The ideologies of the two blocs

Two American artists subjected to “the witch hunt” Arthur Miller, Charlie Chaplin, … (McCarthyism)

http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-113.htm

http://hazelwolf.tripod.com/Hazel_Witchhunt.html

A Russian dissident who endured the absence of freedom of speech. A. Soljenitsyne, …

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/865

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-bio.html

2- The Communist and the capitalist models

A family from East Germany (their life, positive aspects of the communist system (free school, …) and negative aspects.

http://berlin-germany.ca/ddr/index.html

http://www.thelocal.de/20091104/23035

An African American couple lived through segregation but also its end and the beginning of a new era for black people.

3- The different crises

Cuba: a Russian soldier describes what he witnessed during the missile crisis.

http://www.cubacrisis.net/angl/pages/premset_01.html

Berlin: A VOPO (VolksPolizei) explains his role at the Berlin Wall and a student explains how he managed to escape.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/berlinwall/

4- The detente

An astronaut explains how he had to cooperate with an American team in 1975 for the first Apollo-Soyuz mission.

http://history.nasa.gov/apollo/apsoyhist.html

5- The end of the Cold War

A Polish couple explains what happened in 1989 in their country (the end of the Eastern bloc) :

http://www.fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/History_of_Poland_(1989-present)

Michael Gorbatchev explains why and how he launched great reforms in his country during the 80s.

http://www.onthisday.com/russia/perestroika.php

Step 3: Presentations – Duration: 4 lessons

– Rehearsal during 2 lessons.

– 2 lessons to see the exposes.

Step 4: Assessment – Duration: 2 lessons

Each group writes a text on their subject (100 words).

Oral assessment in English.