Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students dive deep into George Orwell’s 1984 and examine the novel’s themes, action, and characters through the lens of language as a form of control. How do the Party leaders use Newspeak to influence how people think and feel? Is their manipulation effective? What are the dangers when it comes to controlling people through the words they use?

Materials

Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following resources to use in an engagement activity. Have students read, watch, or listen and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Now pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

How does language provide freedom?

How do the words we use shape our thoughts?

Engagement Activity

Have students write quick initial responses to the questions. Then discuss the questions either as a class or in small groups. Prompt students to consider the relationship between language and thoughts. Encourage students to think about how the words they use allow them to have a range of beliefs about certain subjects. Following discussion, give students time to revise their initial responses, and ask volunteers to share what they wrote with the class.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about language as a form of control and what they’re interested in exploring further.

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions both before and as they read 1984. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities, classroom discussion, and the completion of the text. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence.

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions.

1. How is Newspeak different from Oldspeak?

2. What changes with each new edition of the Newspeak dictionary?

3. What is the purpose for developing Newspeak?

4. How does Newspeak limit people’s freedom?

5. What is the significance of calling Oceania’s ruler “Big Brother”?

6. What contradictions exist in Newspeak?

7. Why can’t citizens of Oceania learn other languages?

8. How does the Party use Newspeak to control people’s feelings and emotions?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: Personal Experience with Language

In this activity, students will write about how learning a new language can benefit people.

Ask students to write a paragraph about how learning new languages can benefit people. In their paragraphs, students may describe the freedoms that come with learning new languages, such as being able to communicate with others in foreign countries, understanding the origins of words or phrases in their own language, and learning words with specific meanings that do not exist in their own language.

Pair students and have partners share their paragraphs. Encourage pairs to return to the Big Idea Questions and consider how their background knowledge informed their initial answers.

Invite three or four students to share their paragraphs with the class. Prompt whole-class discussion with questions such as the following: Have you ever visited a foreign country and been unable to communicate with others? If you have learned a second language, does it teach you more about your native language? Have you ever learned a word in a foreign language that expresses something that your native language does not express as succinctly? Do members of your family speak different languages or dialects than you?

Before moving on, explain that students will explore Orwell’s treatment of language as a form of control and how he suggests that having access to an expansive language can provide freedom as they read 1984.
 

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Suggest ideas for the paragraph, such as being able to ask for directions in a foreign country. Proceed with discussion as outlined above.

Increase difficulty

Have students write short personal essays about their own experiences with how learning a new language has benefited them or how not knowing a certain language has been prohibitive. Ask two or three students to read their essays to the class and proceed with discussion as outlined above.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the text. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Theme: Control

Students will make inferences about how language can be changed to control people’s thoughts. Students will work in pairs to identify words that are used in the book that inner Party members might eliminate from Newspeak to prevent people from committing thought crimes. Have each pair make a list and write notes about each term they choose.

Have students share the words they chose and discuss as a class how the mere existence of certain words and phrases can provide people with freedom and individual thought.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Provide students with examples of words that the author explicitly says do not exist in Newspeak, such as science or individualism. Ask students how not having a word to express these concepts controls not only what people say but also how they think.

Increase difficulty

Have students write essays explaining how the elimination of certain words and concepts is a key method for the Party to retain control of how people think and therefore act. Be sure students support their arguments with textual evidence.

Activity 2: Shades of Meaning

Students will use the Shades of Meaning Worksheet to explore why having several words that are similar in meaning but have very slight differences is important. Students will work in pairs or groups to:

-List synonyms and antonyms for specific words from 1984. They can use dictionaries or online resources to help however you would prefer.

-Explain how having a variety of words with shades of meaning allows people the freedom to express themselves.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Scaffold the activity by providing examples of synonyms and antonyms of the words provided. Discuss with them when and why they might use these different words to express specific thoughts.

Increase difficulty

Have students invent five new Newspeak words. Ask students to define each new word and then use each in a sentence or paragraph.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading the complete text of 1984. Project 1 can be completed by students working in groups, while Project 2 can be done individually.

Final Project 1: Propaganda

Students will create multimedia pieces of propaganda to promote a cause. Students will:

-Choose a cause to promote, such as an event or issue in the school or community.

-Work in small groups to create a multimedia piece of propaganda, such as a video, a poster accompanied by a recorded speech, or a slideshow with audio. Tell students to think very carefully about the words they use and which will best persuade people to agree with them.

-Present their piece of propaganda to the class and explain as a group why they chose specific words and the effect they intended their language to have on the audience.

-Discuss as a class whether or not the language used in the propaganda produced its intended effect.

-Write a short follow-up essay describing how the ideas and examples of language as a form of control in 1984 influenced their propaganda project.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Scaffold the project by first providing students with examples of propaganda-based advertisements. Have them discuss how the words used in the advertisements effectively persuade people (or don’t).

Increase difficulty

Inform groups that their propaganda must include visual, audio, and written elements to ensure a wider coverage of the viewer’s senses. For an additional challenge, require students to complete this project independently.

Final Project 2: Translate

Students will translate a passage from the Declaration of Independence into Newspeak to explore how Newspeak can eliminate the concept of freedom. Students will:

-Read the excerpt from the Declaration of Independence beginning with “We hold these truths to be self-evident” through “and to institute the new Government.”

-Translate each word in the excerpt into Newspeak based on what they learned about Newspeak while reading 1984.

-Write a short essay explaining how the meaning of the excerpt changes once translated into Newspeak.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

In pairs, have students translate the passage before writing their essays individually.

Increase difficulty

Have students write an original passage based on the structure of the Declaration of Independence but using as much Newspeak as possible. Invite students to share their work with a partner and consider how they each utilized individual words from Newspeak.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments.

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

Contents Downloads
Introduction Materials Introduce the Lens Introduce the Driving Questions Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity Introduce the Final Project Assign the Midpoint Activities Final Projects Assess the Assignments