Check in - Step 1: Known unto God

• Engels
• Secundair onderwijs

Check in: Conflict is inevitable, war is not

Ex. 1

Work in your teams. Your teacher will give a cut-up poem.

Whose voice do you think this is?

a Look up the words you don’t understand.

b Try to match beginnings and endings of each stanza. --> next slide

sought (° to seek)

devoid of: vrij van, zonder

to sway: zwaaien, wiegen

bleak: kil, guur

screech: gekrijs

grim: grimmig, akelig

calamity: ramp

washed ashore: aangespoeld op het strand

pernicious: verderfelijk

flustering: ontsteld, van slag

to bring to the table: opleveren, bijdragen

Ex. 2

Try to re-create the original text by putting the pieces in the correct order. (challenge!)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

c Discuss these questions orally.

− Can you relate to what this voice is saying?

− Can you link your part of the text to the title of the Check in?

− How does the text make you feel?

Ex. 3

Watch the video and correct the order of the pieces of text yourself.

Children of war

Where did it go?

Our endless nights of summer laughter

there’s nowhere for us to grow.

A corrupted ambition sought after.

What is the objective of a bleak, grim war?

To the table it bears calamity and suffering.

The thought of a lifeless enfant washed ashore.

Wouldn’t the hearts of these people be flustering?

We didn’t ask to be

born in a city of chaos.

Born in the wrong place,

at the wrong time.

Six thousand miles west,

they worry about Playoffs.

Glued to a flatscreen TV

devoid of crime.

We are taught to sway in the

wars relentless wind like a reed.

But it isn’t just the wounds on

our bodies that bleed.

The earth beneath my feet

hungers for pain.

As the ground shakes it wakes

and breaks the dreams of all who sleep.

The screech of the ambulance

and the trickle of somber rain.

It’s too late so the bodies

are piled up in a heap.

Playing soccer by the sandy,

sunny seaside.

Those in peaceful

countries can do.

Where we reside it’s a pernicious game

of seek and hide.

One wrong move and that’s it,

you fall through.

I don’t want to grow up and

repeat what I’ve seen.

Forced to drown

in a toxic sea of bitterness.

With corruption at every corner,

how can my mind stay clean?

Those at war better

pray for my forgiveness.

We are all alone and our tears

are forced to be dried.

No one prays for the children of war,

the ones who have silently died.

Step 1: Known unto God

Describing war and conflict 

Ex. 1

World War I, often referred to as The Great War, has moved the world for over a century.

Watch the film trailer of 1917. Then discuss these questions with a partner.

a Have you seen the film? If not, have you seen a similar film?

b Where do you think the film is set?

c Do you think the film is fictional or non-fictional?

d Summarise the plot of the film in your own words, using the

information from the trailer.

Ex. 1

d Summarise the plot of the film in your own words, using the

information from the trailer.

Two British soldiers have to deliver an important

message to call off a doomed offensive attack. If they fail, 

the lives of 1,600 soldiers will be lost.

Ex. 2

Look at the title and the pictures of the text on the next page.

a Answer the topical questions.

b What is the goal of this text?

Who?
What?
When?
Where?

Ex. 2

Who?	Allied troops vs German troops two fictional British lance corporals, Blake and Scofield
What?
When?
Where?

Ex. 2

Who?	Allied troops vs German troops two fictional British lance corporals, Blake and Scofield
What?	they had to prevent their battalion of some 1,600 men from walking into a German ambush
When?
Where?

Ex. 2

Who?	Allied troops vs German troops two fictional British lance corporals, Blake and Scofield
What?	they had to prevent their battalion of some 1,600 men from walking into a German ambush
When?	WW1, 1917 (spring)
Where?

Ex. 2

Who?	Allied troops vs German troops two fictional British lance corporals, Blake and Scofield
What?	they had to prevent their battalion of some 1,600 men from walking into a German ambush
When?	WW1, 1917 (spring)
Where?	the Western front, north of France

Ex. 2

b What is the goal of this text?

Who?	Allied troops vs German troops two fictional British lance corporals, Blake and Scofield
What?	they had to prevent their battalion of some 1,600 men from walking into a German ambush
When?	WW1, 1917 (spring)
Where?	the Western front, north of France

Ex. 2

b What is the goal of this text? to inform the reader (informative text)

Who?	Allied troops vs German troops two fictional British lance corporals, Blake and Scofield
What?	they had to prevent their battalion of some 1,600 men from walking into a German ambush
When?	WW1, 1917 (spring)
Where?	the Western front, north of France

Ex. 3

Now read the text and check whether your assumptions in question 1 were correct. 

- Where do you think the film is set?

- Do you think the film is fictional or non-fictional?

Timing: 10 minutes

Start on ex. 4 when you have finished!

Ex. 4

Combine words from the

text with their meanings.

--> write down answers on the whiteboard.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Ex. 4

Combine words from the text with their meanings. --> write down answers on the whiteboard.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
C	F	E	M	H	G	Q	S	A	N	J	B	0	D	T	I	P	R	K	L

Ex. 5

 Structure the newly learned vocabulary from the text according to its meaning. Use these 3 categories: 

- army ranks and groupings

- strategy and positioning

- types of battles

Use a separate piece of paper.

Ex. 6 p. 80

You will listen to ‘I am a poor wayfaring stranger’, one of the songs of 1917 that was well-received.

 b listen to the song and fill in the gaps. Look up the words you don’t understand.

c Explain in your own words what the song is about.

c Explain in your own words what the song is about.

The song is about a soldier who knows he is going to die. He doesn’t seem afraid of death; it almost seems like he’s looking forward to it.

d What did you think of the song? 

- How did it make you feel? 

- Does it fit the theme of the film?

Ex. 7

Soldiers at the front could write letters home occasionally.

a Read the letter you will get.

b Fill in the worksheet you will get with information from your letter.

c Form groups and tell your group members what is said in your letter.

d Complete the worksheet with the missing information.

4 letters per team

worksheet per student

Ex. 8

Read the biography of John McCrae below and answer the questions.

a Highlight McCrae’s military achievements. What do you conclude?

b How did McCrae die?

c Who did he write his most famous poem to? Why?

Ex. 8

Read the biography of John McCrae below and answer the questions.

a Highlight McCrae’s military achievements. What do you conclude?

He was not only a soldier, but he also worked as a doctor in a field hospital.

b How did McCrae die?

He didn’t die during battle, he died from pneumonia and meningitis.

c Who did he write his most famous poem to? Why?

He wrote it to Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, his friend and former student who died in

Ypres, age 22.

Ex. 9

Match the literary technique to the correct explanation. Also match the Dutch translations.

alliteration

assonance

consonance

enjambement

A the repetition of the same consonant 2 or more times in short succession at the end or in the middle of words

B  the use, especially in poetry, of the same sound or sounds, especially consonants, at the beginning of several words

that are close together, as in ‘flew flocked to the fight’

C the breaking of a syntactic unit or a clause over 2 or more

lines without punctuation

D the repetition of similar vowel sounds that takes place in 2 or more words in proximity to each other

klinkerrijm

beginletterrijm, beginrijm

doorlopende versregel

medeklinkerrijm

1 B (alliteratie = beginletterrijm, beginrijm)

2 D (assonantie = klinkerrijm)

3 A (consonantie = medeklinkerrijm)

4 C (enjambement = doorlopende versregel)

Ex. 10

Now write the correct literary technique under the example.

Ex. 10

Ex. 11

Read or listen to the poem 

‘In Flanders Fields’. 

Then answer the questions.

a Label the rhyme scheme in the poem.

a Label the rhyme scheme in the poem.

b What is the meaning of the following  words 

in the poem?

1 our place (line 3)

2 quarrel (line 10)

3 ye (line 13)

b What is the meaning of the following words in the poem?

1 our place (line 3): the graves of the dead soldiers

2 quarrel (line 10): 

3 ye (line 13): 

b What is the meaning of the following words in the poem?

1 our place (line 3): the graves of the dead soldiers

2 quarrel (line 10): the war

3 ye (line 13): 

b What is the meaning of the following words in the poem?

1 our place (line 3): the graves of the dead soldiers

2 quarrel (line 10): the war

3 ye (line 13): 

you (in plural), considered old-fashioned and informal

c Indicate words that express or suggest the following:

         1 life

         2 death

c The poem is full of contrasting images of life <--> death.

Indicate words that express or suggest the following:

 1 life: singing, fly, lived, felt, saw, loved, grow, poppies

2 death: the crosses, our place, the guns, the Dead, we lie, failing, sleep

(d: niet)

e Indicate a few alliterations and enjambments in the poem. What is the effect of the enjambments?

(d: niet)

e Indicate a few alliterations and enjambments in the poem. What is the effect of the enjambments?

Alliterations: Flanders fields, row on row, from failing hands

Enjambments: blow Between the crosses; short days ago We lived; we throw The

torch

The effect is that it keeps the poem moving forward . At the same time, it can place emphasis on a word or phrase.

f Describe the mood of the poem and feeling of the persona (= speaker in the poem).

f Describe the mood of the poem and feeling of the persona (= speaker in the poem).

The mood is sad and mournful, but at the same time there is a sense of confidence and encouragement.

g (not)

h What is the message of this poem? How do you know? 

(--> last verse)

h What is the message of this poem? How do you know?

The poem encourages the next generation to carry on the fight, so the death of all these soldiers will not be in vain:

‘Take up our quarrel with the foe’; ‘If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep’