Nuovo News n. 174 gennaio 2016 3

CLIL

The Romans in the Mediterranean

Traguardi per lo sviluppo delle compeTenzeL’alunno:

comprende messaggi verbali orali e semplici testi descrittivi, chiede spiegazioni ( � Lingua Inglese);usa la linea del tempo per collocare un fatto ( � Storia).

obieTTivi di apprendimenToConoscere gli aspetti fondamentali degli antichi Romani. �

obieTTivi disciplinari conTenT ouTcomings (sToria) Elaborare in forma orale e scritta gli argomenti studiati. �

obieTTivi linguisTici / language ouTcomingsLeggere, comprendere un semplice testo scritto e ricavarne informazioni. �

Teachers’aimsAccrescere la motivazione all’apprendimento di altre discipline attraverso la L2. �

learning ouTcomes Students will be able to:

rebuild with pictures and information the Roman timeline; �learning about the spread of the Roman Empire. �

di Marzia LuzziniFormatrice

Approfondimentiteorico-pratici sullametodologia CLILdisponibili suwww.mygulliver.it !

We speak english

www.gulliverscuola.eu, area riservata scarica i file audio dei testi in L2

Nuovo News n. 174 gennaio 20164

warm up

where is it?Where is the Mediterranean Sea on the map? 4

Rivolgiamo tale domanda agli alunni mostrando una carta geografica con il bacino del Mediterraneo o, avendone la pos-

sibilità, attraverso un’immagine Google Earth.

Anton Balazh © Fotolia

Ancient civilizationsRicorrendo a una carta geo-storica, agli alunni chiediamo di nominare le civiltà che si sono sviluppate intorno al bacino

del Mediterraneo, accettando risposte anche in italiano che poi riformuliamo oralmente in inglese: the Romans, the Egyp-

tians, the Greeks…

main activities

Roman historyAi ragazzi consegniamo, uno alla volta, la copia di alcuni brani con i quali ricostruire alcune tappe della storia di Roma,

dalle origini allo sviluppo espansionistico.

Dopo una nostra prima lettura, a turno invitiamo gli alunni a leggerli a voce alta, per poi far individuare e sottolineare le

parole chiave utili per la comprensione.

Nuovo News n. 174 gennaio 2016 5

The Roman origin

It is supposed that Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, two foundlings who had been reared by a she-

wolf.

Javarman © Fotolia

The Italic peninsula at the time, was populated in the north by the wild Celtic tribes and in the middle by the Etruscans.

From a village to a big Empire

Slowly and tenaciously, the Romans extended their authority from city to city along the Italian peninsular, forming a strong

federation, with an ever powerful army to keep law and order.

The Phoenicians

By that time, the Greeks had lost control of their colonies in southern Italy to the Phoenicians, who had gained control of

most of the Mediterranean. But Rome was growing to be a force to be contended with and soon a great rivalry developed

between Rome and Carthage.

The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. Carthage was a large City located on

the coast of North Africa.

Three major parts of the Punic wars

There were three major parts of the Punic wars and they were fought over the course of more than 100 years:

– The First Punic War (264 – 241 BC) was fought largely over the island of Sicily. Carthage had much stronger navy than

Rome. However, Rome quickly built up a large navy of over 100 ships and soon dominated Carthage and won the

war.

– In the Second Punic War (218 – 201 BC) Carthage had more success fighting against the Roman legions. The Carthage

leader and general, Hannibal, made a daring crossing of the Alps with a large number of elephants to attack Rome and

northern Italy. Hannibal was a brilliant general but wasn’t able to conquer the city of Rome. When Rome counterattacked

Carthage, Hannibal was forced to retreat. The final battle in this war was the Battle of Zama where the Roman general

Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal.

– In the Third Punic War (149 - 146 BC) Rome attacked the city of Carthage. After three years the Roman army broke

through the walls and burned it to the ground.

The Romans became sailors

The Romans, not at all a maritime nation, copied the Phoenician ships and built many to contrast the enemies’ navy. They

conquered Sicily in 241 BC and then Carthage itself in 146 BC, becoming the new dominators of the Mediterranean Sea.

They called the Mediterranean Sea “Mare Nostrum”, which means “our sea”.

Nuovo News n. 174 gennaio 20166

The roman navyRicorrendo all’osservazione di illustrazioni – mandate possibilmente in videoproiezione – sollecitiamo gli alunni a descri-

vere le navi da guerra dell’esercito romano e, di volta in volta, riformuliamo in inglese i loro interventi.

© Wikipedia

storiaromana.blogspot.com

Mentre leggiamo a voce alta i due testi storiografici, sulle immagini mostriamo gli elementi che via via nominiamo.

The Triremes

The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar. These war-ships (naves

longae) rarely had more than a single sail.

The speed of the warship was dependent on how fast were the rowers.

They rowed according to the speed of the beat of a drum. The triremes, used by the early Roman navy, were made of

softwoods such as pine.The triremes required 170 rowers and 10-15 sailors.

Rome also invented the corvus, a type of assault bridge that allowed Rome’s superior soldiers to board enemy navy

vessels.

The Quinqueremes

The Roman Navy with its small fleet of Triremes were totally ineffective when the First Punic.

The Senate determined to build a fleet of larger vessels. A Carthaginian quinquereme, which had been wrecked upon the

coast of Italy, served as a model.

In the short space of sixty days from the time 130 ships were launched.

Nuovo News n. 174 gennaio 2016 7

Boarding Techniques

Every ship was provided with a boarding-bridge which was pulled up by a rope and fastened in the fore part of the ship.

The enimies’ ships were rapidly seized by the boarding-bridges.

La scheda n. 1 permette di verificare l’acquisizione del lessico e la comprensione globale degli argomenti.

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire controlled all the shores of the Mediterranean, to north to England (Britannia) and up to the Rhine river

in Germany and east to Hungary, including Rumania, Turkey and all the Near East.

The present Turkish Aegean coast was an important Roman province.

The end of the Empire

The splendour of the Roman Empire lasted several centuries, until around 400 AD, when hoards of invaders descended

from the north, the Goths and the Vandals and the Huns from Asia, lead by Attic, wreaking terror and devastation. The

Empire was finished, with the destitution of the last emperor in 476 AD.

extension activities

The roman navy rules the Mediterranean seaAgli alunni forniamo alcune informazioni sull’espansione navale romana nel Mediterraneo e anche qualche curiosità sulle

diverse tipologie di imbarcazioni.

The wealth of Rome enabled the growth of the Roman Navy. With their big fleet of quinquiremes they ruled the Mediterranean.

By the time of Julius Caesar the Roman Navy had added other types of ships:

– the naves actuariae were small, fast and light, ideal for quick missions;

– the onerariae naves were broader and used to transport troops.

The Ancient Romans fought many battles and wars in order to expand and protect their empire.

Utilizzando la scheda n. 2, ai ragazzi proponiamo gruppi di ricerca su una pluralità di ulteriori argomenti inerenti alla

civiltà romana.

Nuovo News n. 174 gennaio 20168

SCHEDA n. 1

LEGEND AND HISTORY

• Look at the pictures and match with the proper description.

Roman legend says that Romulus had a twin brother called Re-mus. As babies they were abandoned in the area which later be-came Rome. A she-wolf found and raised them, but when they grew up, Ro-mulus fought and killed Remus and became the first ruler of Rome.

During battle, a Roman soldier or legionary first hurled his spear at the enemy, then he fought him with his sword. To protect him-self, he carried a wooden shield and wore a metal helmet and armour.

The Roman Empire controlled all the shores of the Mediterrane-an, stretched north to England and up to the Rhine river in Ger-many and east to Hungary, including Rumania, Turkey and all the Near East.

The Romans believed in gods and goddesses who ruled over dif-ferent areas of life. For example, Neptune was the god of the oce-an, and they prayed to him to protect them at sea.

Abilità: comprende in modo globale un argomento noto.

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SCHEDA n. 2

FACTS ABOUT THE ROMANS

• Look at the picture, read the information and fill the gaps with the missing word.

The senate

The word senate was derived from Latin ………”Senex” which means old man. Senate means a …………… of old men. Roman senate was an executive assembly or a governing body.

The gladiators

Gladiators were …….. .They fought against each other, condemned criminals and wild during the time of Roman Republic and Roman Empire.

The Empire

The Romans built such a huge ……….. and conquered new lands, thanks to their strong ……..They became great sailors too, to defend the Mediterranean

Roman clothing

Romans paid special attention to their clothing and wealthy Romans followed …….. trends. The clothes depicted the ………… status of the man wearing them.

Roman women

Women were accorded an important place in ………… Roman society. They enjoyed and shared almost equal ………….with Roman men.

Roman food

Romans normally used the traditional Mediterranean food with olive …….. , barley and wine. The Romans liked to enjoy their food, often lying down on a couch while eating with their ………...

Abilità: utilizza correttamente vocaboli conosciuti in un contesto nuovo.

emperor – republic – word – group – fighters – animals – empire – army – fashion – social – ancient – rights – oil – hands

• With a couple of your classmates choose a topic and search more information for a class discussion.