BG GIBS Graz International Bilingual School Georgigasse 85

Year 1 – (2 periods / week)

Intensive Phase (September – December)

During the intensive phase students should

- acquire both the vocabulary and simple grammatical structures that will enable them to successfully participate in basic

bilingual Religious Education (Roman Catholic) classes later on;

- communicate their own thoughts, needs and worries;

- know the meaning of their and their family’s names;

- retell the story of Noah; know that it is a very old story which is found in the Bible;

- know some of the key features of a church and begin to understand their significance for many Christians in worship;

- understand how religious buildings exemplify the beliefs and values of religious communities;

- understand how the atmosphere in the church contributes to Christian worship;

- retell the main events of the visit of the wise men to Jesus;

- understand the concept of a precious gift and relate the ideas of giving and receiving gifts to their own.

Year 1: January – July

- acquire basic knowledge of main events and major festival throughout the Christian church year;

- retell the stories linked to the major festivals;

- know in detail the story of Palm Sunday, the events of the Last Supper and the symbolism of bread and wine story of

Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection;

- understand that there are different types and ways of praying;

- reflect on things in their own lives and choose words to express their own thoughts, needs or worries in an appropriate form

(prayer);

- know the “Our Father” by heart;

- understand that Jesus offered friendship to all;

- know that Jesus chose special friends – disciples – to help him;

- retell the stories of Jesus calling the disciples, Jesus and the children, and Zacchaeus the tax collector.

Assessment: The assessment of the students’ performance is based on their participation in class, on oral exams, and on knowing the “Our Father” by heart. The students’ folders are checked regularly and are also part of the assessment.

Year 2 – (2 periods / week)

During Year 2 students should
- appreciate that the world is a special place which one needs to treat properly;
- recognize that we are all unique creation
– different yet valuable; – prepare a poster which expresses ideas about how one can care for the world;
- acquire basic knowledge of the Bible’s origin and development;
- be able to identify some of the types of writing, e.g. history, law, poetry, parable, letters;
- begin to recognize the difference between the Old and New Testaments;
- be able to find biblical references; – understand the basic chronology of the Bible;
- retell the story of the patriarchs and matriarchs in detail and be able to find them in the Old Testament;
- have some understanding of Abraham’s, Sarah’s, Hagar’s, Isaac’s, Rebekah’s, Jacob’s, Esau’s, Rachel’s, Leah’s,
Joseph’s… relationship with God and God’s promise to humanity;
- understand something of the motivating potential of faith;
- be able to do internet research on the lives and impact of men and women who have been motivated by faith in greater
depth;
- be able to explain what worship is, using some technical terms accurately; – begin to make comparisons with how people
worship in other religions;
- explore the meaning of being a girl or boy;
- understand the importance of role models;
- gain insight into the characteristics of gender stereotypes.

Assessment: The assessment of the students’ performance is based on participation in class, presentation of three workshop results and oral exams. The students’ folders as well as the written parts of their workshops are being checked regularly and are also part of the assessment.

Year 3 – (2 periods / week)

During Year 3 students should

- explore their own personality (by means of personality tests etc.)

- be able to name manipulating forces and strategies to analyse them (for the sake of personal freedom)

- understand advertisement strategies with religious contents

- gain a basic knowledge about signs and symbols around them

- be able to explain the symbolic meaning of the seven sacraments

- understand the basic symbol of the cross, the various types of crosses and their meaning

- acquire a basic knowledge about the teaching of Jesus, the various parables and the main items of the New Testament

- gain insight into the social condition of our earth and have a closer look on Christian engagement in social projects and

institutions

- get to know “social saints” and their commitment

- understand the various attitudes towards suffering and poverty

- know how to organise a fund raising project in a cross curricular project (Religion / Biology)

- gain insight into the meaning of terms like friendship, love and sexuality

- know, how the sexuality topic is treated in the Bible

Assessment: The assessment of the students’ performance is based on participation in class, presentation of workshop results and reviews. The students’ folders are being checked regularly and are also part of the assessment.

Year 4 – (2 periods / week)

During Year 4 students should

- get to know the various afterlife concepts of the World Religions (workshop)

- be able to name the difference between the resurrection and the reincarnation concept

- gain a basic knowledge about NDE (near death experience)

- acquire a basic understanding of religious art in culture

- become aware of the various religious contents in modem rock + pop music

- have a closer look on God / Jesus in literature – be able to name the difference between the historical Jesus and the Christ

of the churches

- gain insight into the way the New Testament portraits Jesus

- get to know non biblical sources about the existence of Jesus – discover the meaning of Jesus in today’s world

- acquire knowledge about the meaning of religious celebrations during the year

- be informed about various presentation techniques

Assessment: The assessment of the students’ performance is based on participation in class, reviews and presentation of workshop results. The students’ folders are also part of the assessment.

Year 5

Talking About the Search for God

• to provoke the search for and questions about God
• to understand the Bible as a human work and God’s word
• to bring up topics concerning the search for and questions concerning God and to pursue religious aspects in music
• to understand the religious interpretation of human and world as an inhumane phenomenon
• to see the different manifestations and functions of religion and philosophy and to take a position on them
• to describe the phenomenon of the search for God in the largest world religions
• to communicate experiences of joy and sorrow and to gain new perspectives on interpretation and action
• to research the life concepts and motives of members of alternative religious groups and sects
• to see the importance of stars and idols for students’ own identities
• to contemplate society’s diverse offerings for the senses and values and the message of Jesus of God’s kingdom in its true
  meaning for a successful life

• to discuss experiences with nature, highlight the positive and negative aspects of progress from ecological, economical and
  social points of view and develop a responsible stance

• to become aware of the influence information and communication technologies has on our lives and to scrutinize the

consequences

Year 6

Talking About the Search for God

• to identify the ways to shape and cope with existence and learn about redemption though Jesus Christ

• to become aware of the chances and risks music offers as a way to deal with existence

• to grapple with current ethical questions in light of different ethical positions and to identify possible ways to orient oneself

and act in the biblical-Christian world and view of humankind

• to deal with the essential ethical aspects in competitive sports on the basis of selected examples

• to be introduced to the development of central statements of belief in the first ecumenical council

• to explore holidays as practiced and celebrated theology

• to open one’s eyes to the uniqueness and dignity of human life and to base this on the representativeness of God’s image

• to see and accept one’s self as man/woman and to develop sensitivity in dealing with physicality and sexuality

Year 7 – (2 periods / week)

During Year 7 students should

- focus on confession of Jesus Christ against the background of Judaism’s messianic expectances.

- view Mary as woman and mother of God and investigate her significance in biblical sources and catholic’s devoutness to her. – relate views of the world and mankind to Christian beliefs. – delve further into the interconnection between personal and

structural guilt and sin, as well as identify individual, societal and religious coping attempts (liberation theology, religious

orders).

- critically examine structures, legitimacies and correlations in economy, politics and culture and create awareness for a

successful coexistence through personal responsibility.

- become aware of the requirements of prophetic ethos and Catholic social teachings as a fundamental challenge in shaping

one’s life in a Christian way.

- analyze personal development of beliefs in the context of social science theses and positions.

- discover the power of music in mystic and spiritual tradition and confront personal religiousness.

- acknowledge the challenge of a diversity of personal ways of life and establish approaches to marriage and holy orders as

church sacraments.

- become familiar with the living God’s good news of forgiveness and reconciliation, in particular through the sacrament of

reconciliation.

- become aware of the imprint that information- and communication technology has on our lives and question the

consequences that it has on day-to-day life.

Assessment: The assessment of the students’ performance is based on participation in class, presentation of four workshop results and/or presentations.

Year 8 – (2 periods / week)

During Year 8 students should

- establish approaches to the Church’s creed and condensed expression of faith and confront personal beliefs with these.

- examine Jesus of Nazareth as the word of God made flesh (Bible and film).

- discuss personal and societal ways of handling disaster, suffering and death and relate them to the message of the life,

death, resurrection and return of Jesus Christ.

- recognize the misuse of God and religion in society, politics and the church and become sensitive to the liberating acts of

God.

- be confronted by the claims to truth of world views and religions.

- reflect on prevailing world and life analyses, learn to understand religion and criticism of religion, and illuminate the

meaning-giving and liberating aspects of the Christian relationship to God.

- become aquatinted with the diversity of Christian churches and the possibilities and limitations of practiced ecumenism.

- learn to understand the relationship between church and state in Austria from the historical perspective.

- examine the past and future direction of mankind and the world and become familiar with the images of Christian creation

doctrine and Eschatology.

- relate philosophical, psychological and sociological concepts of humankind to the Christian one.

Assessment: The assessment of the students’ performance is based on participation in class, presentation of four workshop results and/or presentations.