Lesson plan 4

School:
Teacher:
Class – 8th grade
Number of students – 28
Level : B1, intermediate
Date:
Topic: The legend of Icarus
Module: Unit 10. Myths and Legends.
Textbook: High Flyer Upper Intermediate, autori: Ana Acevedo, Mary Stephens, Editura
Longman, 1996
Type of lesson: mixed - systematization and skill development
Skills: Reading
Methods and techniques: worksheet, pitching, problem solving, questionnaire, suppositions
game, observation, dialogue, exercise, brainstorming;
Resources: notebooks, worksheet, blackboard, flip-chart sheets, markers,
Interaction- T-S, S-S, group work.
Time: 50 min
General competence: 3. Understanding written messages
Specific competences:
3.2 Selection, from several read texts, of relevant information, necessary for carrying out a task
3.4 Deduction, based on the context, of the meaning of unknown phrases / words from a read text
By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
C1: extract information from a narrative;
C2: use information from a narrative to speak about past events;
C3: use Past Tense Simple in the affirmative;
C4: retell the events in a text, following the logical succession of events;
C5: write about inventions;
C6: speak about known myths and mythological figures;
Values and attitudes
Facilitating understanding of the world and finding ways to help improve it;
Forming attitudes and concepts to develop self-esteem;
 Stages of the lesson

Stages Comp Activities Types Skills/m Evaluatio Time

etenc of ethods n
es organis
ation
1. Lead-in T. greets class and checks frontal Convers observati 2’
attendance ation on
brainstor
ming
2. Homework C6 Ss present their projects frontal Convers Observat 5’
Check about Greek mythology and ation ion
Acquired T grades their projects. Exercise Workshe
vocabulary Explanat et
check ion
3. C6 T Announces the topic of frontal Convers - 1’
Presentation the lesson and the ation
objectives
Ss will read about a Greek
myth  and solve the tasks in
order to develop their
reading comprehension
skills;
Ss are grouped into 4
groups.
4. Pre-reading C6 1. Brainstorming: names of Frontal Convers Observat 10
activities C1 gods and heroes in world ation ion
mythology; powers and Brainstor Matching
abilities. Ss create a word ming item
cloud on the blackboard. Game:
2. Ss look at the images puzzle
representing the Daedalus
and Icarus myth and they
try to imagine what
happened.
3. Ss identify key words
related to the story and T
writes them on the
whiteboard.
5. Reading C1 1. Ss read the text out loud. Frontal Text Observat 25’
C2 2. Ss identify the characters Group Workshe ion
C3 in the story. work et
C4 3. In groups, Ss make lists
of the key words in the
myth. Then, they compare
lists.
 4. Ss solve the worksheet in
group. Each exercise is
checked with the whole
class.
5. Problem solving. T
writes on flipchart sheets
the following headings:
What rights were not
respected? Who could have
intervened? How could
they have intervened? The
groups write one idea on
each of the sheets.
Discussion
6. Peer C5 Pitching. Each group Whole Presentat Oral 10
evaluation chooses a word that would class ion expressio
Reviewing describe Icarus and appoint n
a speaker to argument their
choice in front of the
classroom in 1 minute. The
words of choice are: brave,
arrogant, foolish, unlucky,
stupid.
The others rank the
presentations;
7. C6 Ss will have to write a Individ Convers Written 2’
Homework paragraph explaining what ual ation expressio
assignment they would do if they were n
and transfer citizens of Crete to help
Daedalus and Icarus..
Annex 1

Look at the images representing the Daedalus and Icarus myth and try to imagine what
happened. What emotions and significance do you observe?

Merry-Joseph Blondel (1781-1853), The Sun or the Fall of Icarus (1819), mural, 271 x 210 cm,
Denon, first floor, Rotonde d’Apollon, Musée du Louvre, Paris. By Jastrow (2008), via
Wikimedia Commons.
 https://northmantrader.com/2018/11/20/the-
icarus-effect/
The Flight of Icarus by InfiniteCreations on
https://www.deviantart.com/infinitecreations/art/T
he-Flight-of-Icarus-740214241

Annex 2
The Story of Icarus
©  written and illustrated by Leanne Guenther
On the island of Crete during the age of King Minos, there lived a man named Daedalus
and his young son Icarus.  Daedalus was just an ordinary man, except for one special talent – he
was an inventor of strange and wonderful mechanical creations.
King Minos approached Daedalus to ask him to build a giant
labyrinth to hold the half-man and half-bull monster, known as
the Minotaur, prisoner.
Unfortunately, King Minos was also very greedy.  He
wanted Daedalus to work only for him and so he locked Daedalus
and his son Icarus and lock them away in a cave high above the
sea. The only entrances to the cave were through the labyrinth
and an entrance on a cliff.
Daedalus did not mind his
imprisonment at first. Whatever
Daedalus needed King Minos provided without question -- food, drink,
tools of all shapes, rare metals, leather, parchment and even candles so
he could work late into the night.  Daedalus lived happily for many
years working away on an endless variety of wondrous inventions.  It
wasn’t until Icarus became a teenager that he began to complain about
his imprisonment. He said he wanted to see the world and to have a family of his own.
However, the King didn’t want to let either Daedalus or Icarus go. But what to do …
Daedalus watching the seagulls fly over the cliffs came up with the idea of making wings and
flying out of the labyrinth.  He made two wooden frames to which he attached feathers with wax.
The day they were to leave, Daedalus lectured Icarus one last time, “Now son, remember, you
must be cautious when we fly.  Fly too close to the ocean and your wings will become too heavy
with the water that sprays off the waves.  Fly too close to the sun and the wax will melt and you
will lose feathers.  Follow my path closely and you’ll be fine.”
They spread their wings as wide as they would go and leaped, one after the other, out
over the ocean. Oh, what freedom!  Icarus threw his head back and laughed as the startled
seagulls dodged away from him. Daedalus shouted to his son to be careful, stop playing with the
birds and follow him toward the shore of an island in the distance.  But Icarus was having too
much fun.
“No Icarus!  Stop!” shouted Daedalus, “The wax will melt if it
gets too warm.  Not so high.  Not so high!”
But Icarus was too far away and the wax started to melt and he
fell into the ocean.
Daedalus landed as quickly as he could on the beach near where
Icarus had fallen but the only sign of his poor child was a few
feathers floating in the waves. Daedalus crumpled to the sand,
his face in his hands for he knew his son was dead. After many
months, when Daedalus began to recover from his grief, he
named the island Icaria in memory of his son. On the beach
where he landed, he built a temple to the sun god Apollo and
inside it hung the wings he had created, vowing never to fly again.

Annex 3 Worksheet

I. Match the words that are connected in the text

Labyrinth Icarus
Daedalus Apollo
Wax Minotaur
King Minos feathers
Temple greedy

II.True or false
o Deadalus was an architect.
o Icarus was King Minos’ son.
o The minotaur was half-human half-bull.
o The wings were made of feathers and iron.
o Icarus didn’t listen to his father.

III. Answer the questions:

a) Where was Icarus’ family from?
b) Why was the Labyrinth built?
c) Who imprisoned Minos? Why?
d) What did Daedalus warn his son about?
e) Did Icarus obey his father? Why?
f) What happened in the end?
g) What’s the moral that comes up from this legend?

III. Fill in the sentences with information from the text

Daedalus was an inventor of……………………………………………………………

King Minos asked him to build .......................................................................................
King Minos locked them away in ....................................................................................
Icarus said he wanted to ..................................................................................................
Fly close to the sun and the ..............................................................................................

IV. Select materials from the text . Add several of your own. What would you have used to make
the wings more durable?

V. If Icarus could go in time, what should he do? Write a paragraph (at least 5 sentences). As if
you were Icarus, explaining what he should have done differently. Begin with “If I could turn
back time, I would.....”
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