Citizenship: world religions H3

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

Learning goals

Slide on screen as students walk in. 

Once class is settled, ask the question:

What do you think about when you see this?

What does it say?

What does "coexist" mean?

This logo was designed by Piotr Mlodozeniec, a Polish graphic designer. He used the letters of the word 'coexist' to design a logo incorporating a moon symbolising Islam, the star symbolising Judaism and a cross for Christianity.

Learning goals

The goal of today's lesson is to learn about the 5 major world religions.

By the end of this lesson:

• You can name 5 world religions and their followers.
• You can name the main characteristics of one of these religions.

Explain lesson series: During the coming 4 lessons we are going to learn more about religion. You will work in small groups. You will look into the 5 major religions and do research about them, using a worksheet. During the next class, you will create a poster about what you have found out and present this to the class. Then you will go back to your groups and discuss the pros and cons of the different religions. You will then create your own religion. During the last class, each group will present their religion. As a class, you will come to a consensus about the religion you will join as a class.

Road map

• Bell ringer
• Learning goals
• Warm-up
• Major world religions
• Vocabulary
• Task instruction
• Work on tasks
• Review
• Looking ahead

We will reach the learning goals by following these steps.

Warm-up

Which religions can you name?

What do you already know?

Discuss in groups:

• What is religion?
• What does religion mean to you?
• Why does religion cause conflict in the world?
• Which religions can you name?

Students try to define the term religion and discuss their views on religion.

Causes of conflict: misunderstanding 

Mention the main goal of the lesson: learn about the 5 major religions of the world in order to reduce misunderstanding and increase your knowledge base.

The 5 major world religions

From the word web, extract the 5 major religions

Vocabulary

The followers:

Buddhists

Christians

Jews

Muslims

Hindus

Add to students' vocabulary by discussing the name of the religion and what their followers are called, in English.

Task instruction

• 5 groups
• Research one world religion
• Complete the worksheet
• Use the internet
• Search for factual information
• Use reliable sources (think back to our lesson about fake news)

Divide the class up into 5 groups and assign one of the world religions to each group.

Task instruction

Any questions so far?

Task - worksheet

Answer all the questions

Work as a group

Review:
Name a world religion and name 2 characteristics.

Looking ahead

• Lesson 2: Create a poster of your assigned world religion.
• Lesson 3: Present your poster to the class. In your group, discuss the pros and cons of the presented world religions and create your own religion. Check the rubric to see how you will be graded.
• Lesson 4: Present your own religion. During a class discussion, you will come to an agreement as to which of the proposed religions you will join as a class.