Winston Churchill: Wit and Wisdom
The curriculum, developed for middle school students,
takes the students from Churchill’s earliest years to
today. The curriculum can be readily modified to fit the needs of
individual classes and students. Students must start with an
adequate knowledge that the first half of the 20th century was a time
of war and should be able to list major nations and alliances. An
option is to ask students to do an internet search on World War I and
II as homework prior to starting the curriculum.
On the first day, students will be introduced to the Churchill and his “wit and wisdom” – from his speeches and his written word. Based on Missouri language arts standards, they will identify the literary term used and place it on a timeline based on Churchill’s life.
On the second day, students use newspapers, magazines, books, and the Internet to look for similar writing styles today. The students will also try their hand at writing and/or speaking like Churchill on a current topic. This curriculum, based on the language
Examples of the literary terms students will be using to identify Churchill’s language:
On the first day, students will be introduced to the Churchill and his “wit and wisdom” – from his speeches and his written word. Based on Missouri language arts standards, they will identify the literary term used and place it on a timeline based on Churchill’s life.
On the second day, students use newspapers, magazines, books, and the Internet to look for similar writing styles today. The students will also try their hand at writing and/or speaking like Churchill on a current topic. This curriculum, based on the language
Examples of the literary terms students will be using to identify Churchill’s language:
- An aphorism is a brief statement which expresses an observation on life, usually intended as a wise observation.
“What we need now is cool heads without cold hearts or cold feet.”
- Chiasmus is a type of
rhetoric in which the second part is syntactically balanced against the
first. The order of words is reversed in parallel expressions.
"Our defeats are but stepping-stones to victory, and his victories are but stepping-stones to ruin."
- Imagery refers to word pictures or visual details involving the senses (sight, touch, sound, taste, smell.
“In war, the clouds never blow over; they gather unceasingly and fall in thunderbolts”.
- Irony is an implied
discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. It also can mean an
incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs.
Upon arriving at Normandy shortly after the D-Day invasion Churchill sent President Roosevelt a postcard, “Wish you were here.”
- A motif is a repeated image or words used to add impact to an idea.
“Let there be sunshine on both sides of the Iron Curtain; and if ever the sunshine should be equal on both sides, the Curtain will be no more.”
- Personification is giving human qualities to things or ideas.
“Odd things animals. All dogs look up to you. All cats look down on you. Only a pig looks at you as an equal.”
- A pun is a figure of
speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or
phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious.
On U.S. Diplomat John Foster Dulles, “Dull, Duller, Dulles.”