The legend of the Poznań billy goats in class C

Saturday's lessons in class C were devoted to the legend of the Poznań goats (koziołki) – one of the best-known tales associated with Poznań.

From the map to the performance

The lesson began with work on a map: pupils found Poznań on it, as well as the River Warta, which flows through the city. The class then went through new, more difficult words from the text of the legend – ‘dostojnik’ (dignitary), ‘uczta’ (feast), ‘pieczeń’ (roast) and ‘stragan’ (market stall) – so that they could follow the plot without difficulty.

In this carefully prepared, almost magical atmosphere, the children watched a staged performance of the legend. While listening actively, they tried to predict what would happen next and how the whole story would end – there was no shortage of excitement. After the performance, the class warmly thanked one of the pupils and her mum, who had prepared all the scenery.

According to the legend, on the day the new town hall clock was set in motion, a feast for dignitaries was held in Poznań. However, the kitchen boy burnt the roast and got hold of two young goats to replace it. The animals escaped up the town hall tower and began butting heads there, to the delight of the townspeople gathered below. To commemorate this event, to this day mechanical goats emerge above the town hall clock on the Old Market Square every day at noon and knock their horns together.

Pyrek, Tyrek and moving pictures

After the break, pupils worked out the order of events: each of them had to arrange six pictures in the correct sequence. The children then retold the legend orally and wrote a short summary of it in their exercise books. Moving from pictures, through speaking, to written text in this way helps to consolidate new vocabulary and practises building a coherent story.

The class also watched a short film showing the goats on Poznań town hall. Pupils learnt that one of them is called Pyrek and the other Tyrek, and noticed that these names rhyme.

To finish the lessons, the pupils made artwork: moving pictures showing the goats on the town hall.