Guru Nanak

The only place to begin an examination of Sikhism is with the life of Guru Nanak himself. In this unit, which may be your students’ first encounter with Sikhism, you will need to help them understand his story and the direct impact it had on the beginnings of his new religion. It will help the students if you can relate Nanak’s life back to their existing knowledge of the spiritual aspects of life in India. You will also need to emphasise that Sikhism is a relatively new religion, and that you can cross-reference it chronologically to events that they may be familiar with in Western history, such as the Renaissance and the discoveries of new and exciting places in the world by European explorers such as Vasco Da Gama.

By the end of this unit:

• most of your students will know and understand the importance of Guru Nanak in the history and development of Sikhism
• some students will be able to explain the reasons why Guru Nanak became the founder of a new religion
• a few students will be able to explain the most important factors in the development of Sikhism as a religion.

Prepare by reading the support material below. (You may also wish to provide this material for your more able learners.)

Guru Nanak

Supplementary material can be found at:

Guru Nanak Dev

Starter

Ask students to recall a time in their life when they felt that there were things that needed to be done to improve a situation that was causing them unhappiness.

Activity

Walk the story of Guru Nanak, provided in the information sheet above, recalling the main events and showing the reactions of Nanak. Then ask students to complete the activity sheet below.

Guru Nanak activity sheet

Plenary

Check that the students have understood the correct sequence and order of the events in Guru Nanak’s life.

Homework activity

Ask students to write a paragraph that starts with this sentence: “Guru Nanak helped to start the Sikh religion by...”. You will need to allow the students to take home the materials for the lesson and their exercise books or files to refer to.