Is Anakin similar to Julius Caesar? How do you say “May the force be with you” in Spanish? Teachers refer to the “Star Wars” motives in language, physics and history classes.
Who wouldn’t like to play Star Wars at school?
The fact that someone was able to create such a world is incredible – said Zuza who found out about the saga when she was 11 – This is also the movie which made an impression on my dad when he was very young.
There are many teachers who talk about the “Star Wars” saga during their lectures.
It’s a saga which connects the adults’ world with the teenangers’ world. It opens a discussion about important, universal values – states Marcin Wojtyński from the New Era publishing house.
Right after the “The Force Awakens” premiere, the publishing house is going to prepare some topics for English, Polish and tutoring classes for the teachers. According to experts, characters’ dilemmas from the cult saga are a great starting point to talk about morality, choices, rising after a defeat, tolerance or women’s role in the contemporary world.
It’s a type of a contemporary mythological story. There are a lot of plots which fascinate the audience because of their reference to mythological characters, such as heroes – says dr Marek Gumkowski, the author of the text „Dwie strony Mocy. Gwiezdne wojny jako współczesna opowieść mitologiczna” (Two sides of the force. Star Wars as a modern mythological story”). He thinks that it’s a great starting point to find mythological elements in other pop culture pieces of work.
Teachers may also find inspiration on the Edukacjafilmowa.pl portal (created by Filmoteka Narodowa and Venae Artis Association). Piotr Sitarski encourages to pay attention to the personal plots such as the difficult relation of the director and his father who didn’t approve of the son’s love for art. The future director had to stand up to his father and choose his way of life, just like one of the film characters.
Dorota, the author of the Hiszpanskinaluzie.pl portal wants to enrich her Spanish classes. For example, you can find out that the droid R2D2’s name is not pronounced as “Ar-too-dee-too” but “erre dos deh dos”. Unless we talk about the Latinoamerican accent – then we just say “Arturio”. She also attaches useful vocabulary – from “Hace mucho tiempo, en una galaxia muy, muy lejana…” (“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”) to “Que la Fuerza te acompañe” (“May the force be with you”).
The first saga movie premiered in 1977. Many generations grew up watching these movies – including teachers. That’s why when the students ask Marzena for the fifth time “How do I do this?”, she sometimes replies: “With the power of a Jedi”.
Sometimes it also gets serious. In autumn schools from Lubcza organised a scientific night. There were lasers and plasma volumes shows. Dr Witold Zawadzki from the Jagiellonian University explained the laws of physics, used in the “Star Wars” saga.
Historian Jacek Staniszewski could talk about the saga all the time. Also during classes. – Children once told me that Anakin is similar to Julius Cesear. Knights have a code of honour, Jedi also have one. And the clones and the stormtroopers are devoted to the leader. “Star Wars” are also a great example of the fact that the students don’t need to have everything served in a chronological order to understand the story – he explains.
Staniszewski remembers a high-school student with some violence issues, who used to control his behaviour better when he explained himself that he could not pass to the “dark side of the power”.
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