LESSON PLAN     This lesson can be used in the beginning of the year.

Teachers have always been looking for nice things to start the year with!
This is our suggestion.

It is based on an article from the Jerusalem Post , written by Sam Orbaum.
Unfortunately, I don`t have the date , but it was published about two years ago..
I paraphrased it and kept it....

Enjoy!!!

1. Students read the first sentence only and they are requested to guess who might have said it.

2. Reading the sentence that is missing from the passage (on purpose..):

Yeah, I know I`m too old to still get melancholic about this but now that I have kids of my own gearing up for school, it`s all coming back....

3. What does the father mean by "It`s all coming back?"?
    What is coming back?

4. Write the word "surrender" on board. Ask the students to give a definition of this word.
    Then read to them  the definition given in the dictionary: "Giving up to the enemy".

    Discuss: Do students surrender at school?
    Are teachers their enemies?Give examples from your experience for and against this claim.

5. Teachers are part of the system . What does "the system" stand for?

6. Students are now requested to read the article and they are asked to underline all the phrases that
    contain criticism on the side of the writer.

    What does he criticize?

7. Choose two sentences out of the text with which you identify.

8. Give a headline to the text which you consider the most suitable.

9. The real one is :" When Daddy was a school boy ".

10. What , in your opinion, is the message of this passage?

11. follow up: Write a letter to your future children, in which you describe your feelings on
      September1st. Suppose you give it to them when they are your age, what are you going to
      write?.
 

  Good Luck to All of Us!    Press here for reading the passage!