Dragon Tales in Europe (LS-GR-251)

My Learning Scenario aims to get students familiarized with the topic of dragons in Europe. Not only are they famous creatures from folk traditions and their tales, but they are also known all over the world.

Dragons: a timeless topic

Many students identify themselves with this topic even from an early age. This lesson intends to strengthen students’ abilities to work with pictures in various ways. From describing to discussing, drawing, commenting, writing stories, working in teams, students also work with the help of simple ICT tools, such as Popplet, Storyboard That and Glogster.

The lesson contains a warm-up activity to brainstorm about dragons, using Popplet. After what, students pick up picture descriptions and discuss them. The discussion is based on the details they found in the Europeana Dragons in Myth and Science Gallery. As a further activity of promoting language skills, they make a Top 3 of the images from the gallery and debate to explain their choices. Based on given information about dragons in Europe, they write short dragon stories using Storyboard That. As an alternative, they create glogs about dragon pictures of their choice from the Gallery. Finally, they engage themselves in the Picture Dictation Activity, using 3 different roles: describer, artist and scribe. The activity ends by making a picture gallery on their classroom walls.

This lesson is interdisciplinary as it can be taught in History, Language, ICT, English and Arts classes. It has been inspired by stories found on the Europeana blog:

Would you like to know more about this learning scenario? You can download it below:

Europeana-DSI-4-Learning-Scenario-Kyriakaki-docx Download

Europeana-DSI-4-Learning-Scenario-Kyriakaki-pdf Download

Did you find this learning scenario interesting? You might also like:

Don’t be afraid to be afraid created by Rafal Mazur
Monstrous creatures created by Natalia Targa
The beauty and the beast: animals in paintings and pictures from the Italian Renaissance to the present days created by D’Aloisio Elisabetta, Franceschetti Donata

The featured image used to illustrate this article belongs to the public domain.

16 Responses to "Dragon Tales in Europe (LS-GR-251)"

brendanbuttigieg says:

February 13, 2020 at 7:54 pm

This is a very interesting Learning Scenario. I liked the fact that you chose this topic of dragons. The students should have enjoyed this for sure! Well done for making use of ICT tools technology to help in the brainstorming about the topic. I think that I should try this lesson with my students too! They will enjoy it for sure especially the boys! Thanks for this idea! Well done!

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1. Despoina Kyriakaki says:
  
  February 27, 2020 at 12:52 pm
  
  Thank you very much for your kind remarks. Let me know if you try it with your students.
  
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  1. brendanbuttigieg says:
    
    March 7, 2020 at 2:15 pm
    
    You are very welcome! I will certainly do so if I will find the time to try it out!
    
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annamariagauci says:

February 13, 2020 at 9:14 pm

In my opinion, your choice of theme and the different activities you presented make this LS very interesting and engaging for the students. Folktales, mystical creatures and dragons, in particular, are a great resource to promote students’ imagination, creative thinking and language proficiency. I also like the Describer, Artist, Scribe Activity as it promotes receptive and expressive communication skills. Furthermore, this LS promotes cultural heritage in an active way. Thanks for sharing this LS. It is useful for me as it can easily be adapted for younger students. Well done!

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1. Despoina Kyriakaki says:
  
  February 27, 2020 at 12:54 pm
  
  Thank you for your words. The topic is very interesting and engaging. I tried it with 15 year old students but you can also adjust it to younger ones.
  
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Anita Lasic says:

February 14, 2020 at 12:23 pm

I appreciate this Learning Scenario. Great idea to choose the topic of dragons. This way, our students can get in touch with the old, traditional folk stories that were full of supernatural creatures and scarry beings. The topic can be exploited in many different and creative ways. Despoina showed us some of the ideas to use in the classroom.
Despoina, thanks for sharing this LS with us.

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1. Despoina Kyriakaki says:
  
  February 27, 2020 at 12:55 pm
  
  Thank you for the comments. Online tools bring a new perspective to old folktales, this is what I tried to show.
  
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ivanabusuttil says:

February 16, 2020 at 11:51 am

Children are fascinated by mysterious topics, and the topic you’ve chosen makes it interesting for all children to participate in. I really like the way you tackled important 21st-century skills in your LS, skills which are important for the children’s future. Well done and thank you for sharing.

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1. Despoina Kyriakaki says:
  
  February 27, 2020 at 12:58 pm
  
  Thank you very much. It is indeed a fascinating topic to work with and many cultures can identify themselves with it.
  
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ayrtoncurmi says:

February 16, 2020 at 10:20 pm

Wow! What an amazing learning scenario! Mystical creatures always inspire our pupils’ curiosities and help them ask questions. I really like the fact that you used various digital resources such as s Popplet, Storyboard, That and Glogster. In your learning scenario, you promoted various 21st-century skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving and communication. Thank you for sharing this amazing learning scenario. Well done!!

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1. Despoina Kyriakaki says:
  
  February 27, 2020 at 1:00 pm
  
  Thank you very much. It was also a great challenge for me to work on a very popular topic by bringing fresh air to it with technology.
  
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gratielavisan says:

February 18, 2020 at 8:48 pm

Congratulations! This Learning Scenario proposes a creative approach to tales. Students have roles to play and must use simple ICT tools.
Tales are representations of life in fantastic forms, where good overcomes evil. Each child draws different meanings from them, depending on their needs, interests, desires, expectations at that time. A story or a fairy tale is like a travel ticket in a world full of new experiences.
Thank you for sharing this LS!

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Despoina Kyriakaki says:

February 27, 2020 at 1:02 pm

Thank you for your comments. Students had the opportunity to get out of their ordinary lessons and roles and try something different. And that was great.

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Michaela Lišková says:

February 27, 2020 at 3:45 pm

Dear Despoina, thank you very much for sharing your project! I already implemented it with my pupils aged 9/10 years at European School of Varese in Italy. Children were incredibly exciting to work on topic of dragons, they were very enthusiastic and collaborative. I really appreciate your learning scenario, I found a lot of inspiration for my work. Great topic!

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1. Despoina Kyriakaki says:
  
  March 21, 2020 at 11:32 pm
  
  Dear Michaela,
  I am so glad to hear that you have already implemented my scenario and it went so well with your students! It is indeed a very interesting topic for all ages. Thank you for your kind words.
  
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Vassiliki Yiannou says:

April 17, 2022 at 1:09 pm

Dear Despiona,
I found your Learning Scenario very interesting because of its theme. Athough the activities proposed were mostly linguistic, I thought to give it a try in a History class of mine and implement it from that point of view.
My students (16 years old) responded positively and with great enthousiasm.
Your Scenario gave me the chance to get my students involved with the Europeana world and work with each other on a topic that is Medivial and at the same time so close to their interests!
Congratulations for the great job!

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Dragons: a timeless topic

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