Lesson 1

Have a look at the document below and figure out the title of the unit (DIVIDED IRELAND, SHARED IDENTITY)

A 1914 cartoon of Unionist leader Sir Edward Carson ‘kidnapping’ Ulster

Do the activities below.

Read the Unit Goals and memorise the vocabulary. 

Lesson 2

Have a look at the map and the different information given and compare the two countries. What are the differences? What are the similarities?

=> Both countries are part of the same island. They share the same language. However, the RoI is bigger and has more inhabitants than NI. They also use different currencies. 

Look at the pronunciation rules and do the exercices. 

Now, highlight all the occurrences of 'the' and its different pronunciations to read the text below out loud following the rules.

Ireland and Northern Ireland are often confused, but they do not have the same political status. The Republic of Ireland is an independent nation with its own government and international recognition. It has a population of about five million people and is a member of the European Union. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has around 1.9 million inhabitants and forms part of the United Kingdom.

In the early twentieth century, most of Ireland separated from British rule and became an independent country in 1922. However, the six northern counties chose to remain within the United Kingdom. As a result, the island is divided into two political entities today: the Republic of Ireland, which governs itself independently, and Northern Ireland, which is governed as part of the UK. 

Article didactisé, Easy as Pie, 2026, p.212

To finish, watch the video The Making of the Irish Border (BBC IPlayer, Let's Meet Up, Hatier, 2026, p.42) and answer the questions on the worksheet

• Focus on the dates and create a timeline of the major historical events
• Find information about the Unionists and the Nationalists. Explain the geographical and political consequences of their opposition
• Say how the Irish border affected the nationalist population of Northern Ireland

HW: prepare a 1-minute explanation on how the Irish border created a two-nation Ireland. Use the grammar point below to help you.

Lesson 3

Watch the video below and make notes about the following key elements:

Then, in groups of 3, reorder the timeline given to you. Check the answer with your teacher.

Why do you think has the Brexit referendum revived old conflicts? 

=> Because the question of the border has always been problematic. With the Good Friday Agreement, the borders were dismantled between the two countries. They still existed but people were free to go as they wished. The RoI being part of the EU and NI being part of the UK which was leaving the EU led to the question of the borders being brought back again to separate the EU members from the non-EU members. As the tensions were still fresh in everyone's mind, they worried that the situation between the two countries would escalate once more. 

On the document given to you, check that all the elements from all the documents appear. 

Lesson 4

Read the text below and answer the questions on the worksheet. 

Brexit and the Irish border

The Brexit referendum reintroduced the possibility of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Attitudes hardened as competing political aspirations for Northern Ireland's future returned to the forefront. [...]

But new polling from the Irish Times and Arins project suggests these attitudes may now be changing. Across Ireland - north and south - there is a growing consensus that planning for a potential united Ireland is important, even among those who oppose it. 

Perhaps most notably, even Unionists in Northern Ireland have reported a slight but meaningful move towards accepting a possible future reunification. 

The latest polling shows that acceptance of potential Irish unity has risen from 21% in 2022 to 29% in 2025 among voters in Northern Ireland from a Protestant background. [...]

For Unionists in Northern Ireland, who are often culturally Protestant, the border affirms their British identity, retaining their connection to the UK and entitlement to claim Britishness. 

For Nationalists, most of whom are actually culturally Catholic, the border was a divide imposed illegitimately by the British. The border undermined their claim to Irishness. [...]

Given its long and troubled past, planning will need to be careful and diligent to ensure Ireland remains at peace. But the recent polling suggests that, despite its many flaws, Brexit may actually have paved the way for a more constructive and less antagonistic conversation about Northern Ireland's future. 

Catriona Shelly and Orla Muldoon, The Conversation, 2025, New Fireworks, 2026, p.46

• Introduce both documents.
• Identify two reasons why the Irish border became a problem after Brexit.
• Using both documents, in what ways have opinions changed after Brexit?

=> This document is a cartoon drawn by Jeff Danziger and published on Aug. 4th 2019 in The Rutland Herald. It depicts 3 men installing barbed wire to act as a border under the surveillance of an armed masked man and two sheep. 

Lesson 5 - Final Task

Create a poster to challenge old divisions and promote shared identity in Ireland. 

• use symbols
• numbers
• dates