Poems United

4. Americas / Family

Scottish Poetry Library Resources For

 

 

 

About this resource............................................................................................. 3

 

Wha me mudder do ............................................................................................ 4

 

Reading .............................................................................................................. 4

 

Using non-standard spelling ............................................................................... 5

 

Change spelling, change sound.......................................................................... 6

 

Writing ................................................................................................................ 6

 

Research ............................................................................................................ 7

 

Other poems about family in Poems United........................................................ 8

 

In this

   

Poems from one area of the

 

The ten day visitor (Africa /

 

Wha my mudder do (Americas /

 

I am glad to be up and about (Asia / Crops

 

Doodle durdle (Caribbean / Sounds and

 

Canedolia (Europe /

 

 

Joker as told (Oceania /

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About this

 

 

This resource is a lesson plan for the poem “Wha me mudder do”, by Grace Nichols (Guyana). LEARNING O

 

The poem is used as a basis for pupils explore use of the “spoken voice” in    

experiment with non-standard spellings to indicate practise rhythm and

K

 

World, commonwealth, Americas, sociology, culture, literature, language, family, mother, vernacular, pronounciation, sounds, spoken

Poems United: A Commonwealth

 

edited by Diana Hendry and Hamish Whyte Illustrated by Iain McIntosh

 

Edinburgh: Scottish Poetry Library / Black & White Publishing 2007

 

Lesson plan by Ken Cockburn, with Illustrations by Iain Designed, edited and typeset by Mary Published by the Scottish Poetry Library Poems United 4. Americas /

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Wha me mudder do

 

 

by Grace Nichols (Guyana)

 

Literacy & English, Reading: ENG 2-17a, 3-17a; ENG 2-19a, 3-19a

This poem uses non-standard spelling to indicate a particular speaking voice. Go through the refrain with the pupils, and make sure they understand all the words.

 

Then ask the pupils to read the poem aloud. Different parts could be read by different pupils – for instance one pupil or group of pupils could read the refrain, while each verse is read by a separate pupil or group of pupils.

Here are some questions for pupils about this poem. Can you read the poem in your own voice, or does it lead you to speak in a different voice? If so, in what way is it different from your usual voice?

 

Are there words in the poem you don’t recognise? If so, find out what they mean. Who is speaking the poem?

 

What does ‘mudder’ do in the different verses of the poem? Read about it in the Poems United ‘Factfinder’ section

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Using non-standard The following experiences and outcomes apply to both this and the next activity. Literacy & English Experiences: • I have opportunities to extend and enrich my vocabulary through listening, talking, watching and reading • I enjoy exploring and discussing word patterns and text structures Literacy & English, Writing: LIT 2-21a, 3-21a

Grace Nicols’ spelling looks unusual, but ordinary English spelling is unusual too. Can you think why the poet chooses to spell some words differently from normal? Look at the rhymes the poet uses, and make a list of the rhymewords. Q What is unusual about the way they are spelt?

 

A Although they all rhyme, the ‘oo’ sound is written differently in each. Look at these words:  

Q Why do you think there are so many different ways of writing the same sound?

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Change spelling, change

 

 

Choose one of the words above, and change the spelling of all the others so that the letters as well as the sound are the same, eg  

dou fufou stou blou shou canou

Swap with someone who has chosen a different spelling, and read out the words. Q Do they still all rhyme, or do the letters make you want to say them differently?

 

Literacy & English, Writing: LIT 2-25a, 3-25a; LIT 2-26a, 3-26a; ENG 2-27a, 3-27a; LIT 2-28a, 3-28a; ENG 2-31a, 3-31a

Pupils can write their own poem about their mother – or aunt, or grandmother – based on this poem. Here are some prompt questions to start pupils thinking and making notes. Think about the way your mother speaks, and write down some words and phrases that she would say. Try spelling these so that someone reading the poem who doesn’t know how she speaks will get a sense of her voice.

 

Pick one phrase that she says a lot, and use this as a refrain. List some kinds of food that she likes to cook or to eat (and maybe some she doesn’t like to). List some things that she likes to do at home (and maybe some she doesn’t like to). List some places she likes to go to (and maybe some she doesn’t like to go to).

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Write a poem about this

 

For the refrain, you could perhaps use a phrase that she says a lot. Try and use only one rhyme, but if this is too difficult you could use other rhymes. Try to use the same structure as Grace Nichols’ poem, that is

     

 

Re a

Verse 1 Food

Re a

Verse 2 Practical things, not too difficult, in the home

Re a

Verse 3 Practical things, quite difficult, outwith the home

Refrain (variation)

Closing phrase (same as the opening phrase)

 

 

Other writers use non-standard spelling to indicate how a character speaks. There are examples of poems in Glaswegian, by poets such as Tom Leonard, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Margaret Hamilton in the following anthologies: Noise And Smoky Breath: An Illustrated Anthology Of Glasgow Poems 1900-1983, edited by Hamish Whyte (Glasgow: Third Eye Centre & Glasgow District Libraries, 1983) Mungo's Tongues: Glasgow Poems 1630-1990, edited by Hamish Whyte (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1993). Pupils could be encouraged to choose and recite a poem from these anthologies.

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Other poems about family in Poems

 

 

‘First anniversary’ by Madeleine Lee, Singapore

 

‘Children, children’ by Anonymous, Antigua and Barbuda

 

‘The rock’ by Neil McCrindle, Gibraltar

 

‘Arere, Eiroworowin and Eomakan’ by Anonymous, Nauru

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