Civil War Slang
Subjects
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Arts & Humanities
Social Sciences
Ed. & Technology
Grades 9-12
Brief Description
Students explore some of the words and phrases used during the Civil War and their
meanings.
Objectives
Students
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identify words and their meanings,
compare and contrast historical contexts and changes in word meanings,
demonstrate research skills using the Internet,
work together in cooperative groups.
Keywords
Civil War, slang, definition, word, phrase, vocabulary
Materials Needed
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computers with Internet access (or printouts of the material from the Web sites referenced below), paper,
pens or pencils
Lesson Plan
Begin by posing the following to students: "Imagine that you are sent back in time to the Civil War. You meet a
soldier after a battle and ask him about the war. Do you think you would have any trouble understanding his
answer? Do you think people of that period used all the same words and phrases we do today? Let's find out."
 Divide the class into small groups to study the following online sources. (If Internet access is not available for
each group, make printouts of the lists from these sources and distribute to the groups.)
--- Soldier Talk & Civil War Slang
--- Gettysburg: The Soldiers' Battle -- Civil War Vocabulary
--- Civil War Slang
 Assign each group a specific number of words (10 to 15) to look up.
 Have students group the words according to ones that are or are not still in use today; or words that have the
same or different meanings today.
 Compile the lists in folders and place them in a classroom learning center or library.
Extension Activity: You might have students work on their own or in their groups to use some of the new
vocabulary to write a brief conversation that might have taken place on or near the Civil War battlefield.
Assessment
Evaluate students on their ability to write sentences or short paragraphs using words from the Civil War slang
and vocabulary lists.
Lesson Plan Source, Submitted By
Lois Lewis
National Standards
Social Sciences:
NSS-USH.5-12.5
Language Arts:
NL-ENG.K-12.8
NL-ENG.K-12.7