Who We Are Year 8

24 brilliant texts to enrich your KS3 English curriculum Contributors: Ali Al-Jamri, Joanne Benjamin-Lewis, Payal Bhavsar, Djamila Boothman, Jamila Gavin, Mike Gould, Jo Heathcote and Lindsay Skinner

Contents Foreword

iv

Introduction

v

About the author and contributor team

vi

Lesson overviews

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Lessons Lower Key Stage 3 1. Tracey Baptiste, from The Jumbies

1

2. David Olusoga, from Black and British: A short, essential history

6

3. Jamila Gavin, from Tales from India

11

4. Onjali Q. Raúf, from The Boy at the Back of the Class

16

5. Joshua T. Dickerson, ‘’Cause I Ain’t Got A Pencil’

21

Middle Key Stage 3 6. Sue Cheung, from Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story

25

7. Beverley Naidoo, from The Other Side of Truth

31

8. Varaidzo, from ‘A Guide to Being Black’

37

9. Lemn Sissay, from My Name Is Why

42

10. Greta Thunberg speech

47

11. Sathnam Sanghera, from The Boy with the Topknot

52

12. Imtiaz Dharker, ‘Campsie Fells’

58

13. Valerie Josephs, ‘Talisman’

63

14. Amina Atiq, ‘A letter to my mother’

67

Upper Key Stage 3 15. Simon James Green, from Noah Can’t Even

73

16. Darren Chetty, from ‘You Can’t Say That! Stories Have To Be About White People’

79

17. Hedina Tahirović Sijerčić, ‘A Deceased Good Rom’

84

18. Wisława Szymborska, ‘Teenager’

89

19. Caleb Femi, ‘Thirteen’

94

20. Gulwali Passarlay, from The Lightless Sky

99

21. Nasima Begum, ‘Nasima’

104

22. Raymond Antrobus, ‘Echo’

109

23. Amrou Al-Kadhi, from Life as a Unicorn

115

24. John McCullough, ‘Queer-Cole’

121

Acknowledgements

126

Foreword My first experience of marking student’s workbooks was far more monumental than I had ever imagined it could be. After giving my Year 7 class 30 minutes to write the beginning of a story in which they were the main character, I had expected to get to know a little bit about them: their middle names, hobbies, pets, favourite colours, etc.

Instead, I made a far more poignant discovery – of the awesome power and influence that reading has upon children’s writing style and technique. Within their stories, I immediately recognised angry, articulate, defiant characters who resembled Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker…dark and daunting destinations that were reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Mirkwood forest…skilful time-shifts from past to present in the style of Michael Morpurgo! Each paragraph written provided insight into which students had a penchant for mystery, which of them loved non-fiction and which young people clearly didn’t read at all.

One of the simplest but most effective ways in which to introduce some equality into the classroom is by exposing students to a range of rich and diverse literature as a means of developing their own writing and cultural capital. Access to these texts is often a luxury that many students cannot afford, so it is critical that they are taught and made accessible to them. Any experienced literature teacher knows that a child who claims to hate reading is actually a child who has not yet found the right book or author. We are duty-bound to help them to find them.

The English literature curricula taught in most UK schools do not represent the multitude of perspectives and backgrounds that make up our country’s diverse population.1 Representation in literature matters. In a classroom setting, it promotes empowerment, validation, belonging and critical thinking as students are exposed to a wider world view and invited to share key parts of their own identities.

This project has been a labour of love. It acknowledges, explores and celebrates the lived experiences of the children sitting in classrooms across the UK. It introduces students to a range of writers whom they may not have encountered before, in order to broaden their horizons, invite them into new worlds and promote a deep love of reading. It places value on customs, dialects, and familiar and unfamiliar ways of living, at the same time as sending a message that the world of literature is open: not only for young people to read poems, articles, speeches and stories that reflect them, but also for them to write their own.

Djamila Boothman 1

Teach First, Missing Pages: Increasing Racial Diversity in the Literature We Teach, 2020, available on the Teach First website.

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Foreword

Introduction: How to use this resource This teacher pack contains a selection of texts: poetry, fictional prose and nonfiction to add richness and diversity to the Key Stage 3 curriculum. The texts have been organised into suggested groupings for lower, middle and upper KS3 in a way that takes into account the complexity of themes, language and ideas, and the maturity of content. However, these can be varied depending on the nature of your context and cohort and are therefore advisory. Each accompanying lesson plan also flags any possible sensitive content and highlights where content may be triggering for some students – for example, those texts that deal with racism, migration and lived refugee experiences or personal loss.

The content map also highlights the key themes and topics of each text. While these lessons can be used in isolation – for example, as purposeful cover lessons – the most benefit may be gained from interleaving these lessons within your KS3 mapping as companion lessons to existing class readers and plays. For example, the teaching of a text that deals with difficult family relationships in the past, such as Romeo and Juliet, could be enhanced with the study of Chinglish by Sue Cheung where contemporary family differences are explored.

There are opportunities to develop ideas creatively beyond the parameters of a single lesson, for example via further research, creative writing, speaking and listening and performance opportunities. These are presented in the final ‘Responding’ tasks, which may be creative in nature or based on reader response, and also through the ‘Find out more’ sections of the lesson plans.

Each text is presented with information about the writer, their background and context to aid knowledge and understanding. This is also accompanied with further reading suggestions in ‘If you liked this...’, which may support library lessons or wider reading initiatives in English. Often the lesson plan includes references to websites or articles, and sometimes to short videos. Teachers should review each of the recommendations to determine whether they are appropriate to use with, or pass on to, their students.

We hope you enjoy using the resources to enrich your KS3 curriculum for English.

Jo Heathcote, series editor

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Introduction

About the author and contributor team Ali Al-Jamri is a poet and translator. He is the editor of Between Two Islands (2021), an anthology of diaspora Bahraini poetry, and has been published in magazines and anthologies. Growing up, Ali never saw positive depictions of the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region in his own education, and today that fuels his passion for providing a decolonised curriculum to young people. He was excited to contribute positive texts that better reflect the richness of the region. He teaches English at a secondary school in Salford.

Joanne Benjamin-Lewis is a former school leader, education consultant and Head of English. She is a mother, wife and carer for her elderly mother. A regular speaker on BBC radio current affairs programmes, Joanne cares passionately about giving those who are marginalised a space to tell their stories. Joanne has contributed to the Confidence Confidential anthology, devised a short film and is the co-writer of an art house play. As a public governor for a Birmingham NHS Trust, Joanne keeps disparities around health and race at the top of the agenda. She also supports sickle cell and dementia charities and volunteers at a supplementary Saturday school.

Payal Bhavsar has experience working across the publishing and charity sectors. Her interests in postcolonial writing, migration and literatures from South Asia and its diasporas earned her the King’s College London Global Award with the University of Delhi and fed into her Masters in World Literatures in English at Oxford. With this background, she has worked to engage young people on matters of race and representation as a Teaching Assistant, as a secondary school librarian and as a Senior Judge on the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition for schools. She has also worked at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, contributing to its landmark ‘Reflecting Realities’ research.

Djamila Boothman is an Assistant Headteacher, Teach First Ambassador, mother, documentary-maker (Hush…We Came on Windrush, 2020) and proud BritishCaribbean. She believes that cultural competence and educational disadvantage must be tackled through the curriculum and, as an English teacher, values the power that literature has as a gateway to new worlds and experiences. Practising a ‘you cannot be what you cannot see’ mantra, she is committed to improving cultural representation in the English literature curriculum as a means of increasing student inquiry, attainment, promoting pride and placing equal value and celebration on the lived experiences of all children sitting in Britain’s classrooms.

Jamila Gavin was born in Mussoorie, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Her Indian father and English mother met as teachers in Iran and by the age of 11, she had lived in an Indian palace in the Punjab, a flat in a bombed-out street in Shepherd’s Bush, a bungalow in Poona (now Pune) near Mumbai, and a terraced house in Ealing. She settled into a little town cottage in Stroud, Gloucestershire, 25 years ago but she still loves to travel. She won the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year award with her novel Coram Boy in 2000.

Mike Gould is a former Head of English, lecturer and educational consultant who began his career at a multicultural school in Luton and who has worked supporting schools across the country for organisations, such as the National Literacy Trust. He has written over 150 books for UK and international students and teachers, including dedicated resources for the Caribbean, Singapore and The Gulf.

Jo Heathcote is a highly experienced English teacher in Manchester, a Principal for an examination board and the writer of numerous textbooks, resources and study guides for major educational publishers. She is a firm believer in a rich, varied and challenging English curriculum that is inclusive of the experiences and heritages of all her students.

Lindsay Skinner is the Headteacher of a secondary school in Devon. She is a lesbian and has written for The Guardian about the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in schools. Lindsay has also written books to support English teaching, including Crafting Brilliant Sentences. © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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About the author and contributor team

Lesson overviews Lesson/text

Text type

Learning objectives

Themes/focus

Fiction: novel

•

To explore the characterisation of a mythical creature To create a mythical creature depicted in an annotated illustrated poster To describe the arrival of a mythical creature in a piece of descriptive writing, demonstrating their mythical qualities through their actions

Mythical creatures/ characters, the supernatural, Caribbean culture

To explore the features of non-fiction writing To create a non-fiction text that informs and interests the reader

Black history in the UK, migration, imperialism, origins, race as a construct

Lower Key Stage 3 Lesson 1: Tracey Baptiste, from The Jumbies

• •

Lesson 2: David Olusoga, from Black and British: A short, essential history

Non-fiction: history book for children

Lesson 3: Fiction: short Jamila Gavin, from Tales stories from India

• •

• • •

Lesson 4: Onjali Q. Raúf, from The Boy at the Back of the Class

Fiction: novel

Lesson 5: Joshua T. Dickerson, ‘‘Cause I Ain’t Got A Pencil’

Poetry

• • • •

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

• •

To be able to identify the elements of an Epic stories, Indian culture, Hindu culture, religion, origin epic story stories To examine how language is used to create mood and set the tone of an epic tale To predict and write the ending of an epic tale or to create a surprising or new twist to the ending in the style of the original Migration, refugee To collect writing ideas from a text experiences, fitting in, To understand how to set a scene friendship, school life To understand how to introduce a protagonist To write a diary entry (expressing a character’s point of view and experience) To explore the poem considering the persona and their situation To explore different perspectives and recast the poem as a first-person narrative

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Poverty, empathy, school life, child carers

Lesson overviews

Lesson/text

Text type

Learning objectives

Themes/focus

Middle Key Stage 3 Lesson 6: Sue Cheung, from Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story

Fiction: graphic • novel •

Lesson 7: Beverley Naidoo, from The Other Side of Truth

Fiction: novel

Lesson 8: Varaidzo, from ‘A Guide to Being Black’

Non-fiction: essay

• •

Mixed-race identity, racial To identify the writer’s ideas To understand how a writer’s perspective language, African diaspora, the power of language informs their ideas

Lesson 9: Lemn Sissay, from My Name Is Why

Non-fiction: autobiography

• •

To explore tone and emotive language To use persuasive language features

Family relationships, Afro/textured hair, experience of being a looked after child, English-Ethiopian identity

Lesson 10: Greta Thunberg speech

Non-fiction: persuasive speech

•

To explore the effectiveness of a number of persuasive techniques To write a speech which persuades others to act on an important issue

Climate change, being ‘other’, activism, the generation gap, the power of rhetoric, telling the truth.

To explore the presentation of place and characters in prose fiction To explore the use of exaggeration and humour

Indian-Pubjabi heritage, Sikh identity, clash of cultures

To explore the idea that a poem can move between different tones and themes To create a rehearsed reading of the poem

Family, generations, migration and diaspora, nature, cultural mix/clash food, leisure, childhood memory.

• •

•

To select apt quotations To explore character thoughts and feelings

Family relationships, Chinese heritage, Different perspectives, the experience of being the child of migrants

To explore the way a writer portrays different characters To understand how a writer weaves themes into character portrayal

Bullying, isolation, refugee experience, peer pressure, childhood memory, school life, friendship, racism, conflict

Non-fiction: Lesson 11: Sathnam Sanghera, from autobiography The Boy with the Topknot

•

Lesson 12: Imtiaz Dharker, ‘Campsie Fells’

Poetry

•

Lesson 13: Valerie Josephs, ‘Talisman’

Poetry

• •

To identify nouns and noun phrases To craft noun phrases that are emotive

Bereavement, memory, evocative language

Lesson 14: Amina Atiq, ‘A letter to my mother’

Poetry

•

To explore how metaphor is used to describe relationships in the poem To write and physically mail a letter to a loved one

Family relationships, growing up, Yemeni culture and diaspora experience, migration

•

•

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

•

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Lesson overviews

Lesson/text

Text type

Learning objectives

Lesson 15: Simon James Green, from Noah Can’t Even

Fiction: novel

•

Lesson 16: Darren Chetty, from ‘You Can’t Say That!

Stories Have To Be About White People’

Non-fiction: essay

Themes/focus

Upper Key Stage 3

•

To identify structural choices made by the LGBTQ+ experience, teenage relationships, writer growing up, friendship To explain the effect of those structural choices

• • • • •

To identify effective presentation skills To prepare a presentation To demonstrate presentation skills To listen and respond appropriately To use spoken Standard English

Representation, race, ethnicity, identity, stereotypes

Poetry Lesson 17: Hedina Tahirović Sijerčić, ‘A Deceased Good Rom’

•

To understand and explore the importance of rituals in peoples’ lives To devise a performance and/or piece of creative writing arising from ritual

Roma culture, community, rituals, death and the afterlife.

Lesson 18: Wislawa Szymborska, ‘Teenager’

Poetry

•

To identify metaphors, and literal and symbolic meanings To explore the effects of metaphor

Memory, innocence, the experience of growing up in occupied Poland, the passage of time

Lesson 19: Caleb Femi, ‘Thirteen’

Poetry

• •

Loss of innocence, negative To select judicious quotations To analyse the effect of language choices experiences with the police, racial discrimination

Lesson 20: Gulwali Passarlay, from The Lightless Sky

Non-fiction: autobiography

•

To explore the ideas and language of an autobiographical account To respond to the issues raised by the account through point of view article writing

The experience of being a child refugee, war, trauma, loss of innocence, Afghan experience

To analyse language devices of metaphor, personification and irony To write their own poem about their identity, using their own name as a starting point

Asian or Bangladeshi experience, migration, disaspora, female empowerment, colonialism

To explore the relationship between a word’s sound and its meaning To understand alliteration and sibilance To practise alliteration and perform it to the class (Speaking and Listening)

D/deaf experience, growing up, Black British experience, Jamaican heritage

To learn about gender identity To analyse how the author uses a comparison with marine wildlife to understand their identity To write a creative piece in which students compare their identity to nature

Growing up, Arab or Iraqi culture, LGBTQ+ experience, non-binary identity, migration

To select judicious quotations To explore the connotations of language

LGBTQ+ experience, homophobia, identity, difference

•

•

•

Lesson 21: Poetry Nasima Begum, ‘Nasima’

•

Lesson 22: Raymond Antrobus, ‘Echo’

Poetry

•

Lesson 23: Amrou Al-Kadhi, from Life as a Unicorn

Non-fiction: autobiography

•

• • • • •

Lesson 24: John McCullough, ‘Queer-Cole’

Poetry

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

• •

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Lesson overviews

Extract 12

‘Campsie Fells’ by Imtiaz Dharker

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© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Lesson 12

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Glossary shalwars: loose-fitting trousers tikkas: dishes of meat or vegetables marinated in spices and yoghurt thermos flasks: drink containers with a vacuum to keep the contents hot Tum bhi kho gaye, hum bhi kho gaye: You were lost, and so was I.

About the author, text and context Imtiaz Dharker was born in Pakistan in 1954 but grew up in Glasgow. She has won many awards for her poetry, including the Queen’s Gold Medal (2014). Her work explores themes related to gender, geographical and cultural displacement, and conflict – to name just a few.

This poem is taken from her collection The Terrorist at My Table (2006).

Campsie Fells is a range of volcanic hills just north of Glasgow, popular with walkers.

Photo © Ayesha Dharker

If you liked this...

Check out the rest of The Terrorist at My Table or Dharker’s latest work, Luck is the Hook (2018). You can also read more of her work on her website (search for ‘Imtiaz Dharker website’).

Zulfikar Ghose’s poem ‘The Picnic in Jammau’ also remembers a childhood picnic – but one in the shadow of the Himalayas!

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Lesson 12

Lesson 12

‘Campsie Fells’ by Imtiaz Dharker

Learning objectives: • To explore the idea that a poem can move between different tones and themes • To create a rehearsed reading of the poem

Resources: • Extract 13 • Worksheet 13 • Six large sheets of display paper, felt-tips

Be aware of sensitivities the poem itself alludes to with regard to what some may see as atypical places for Asian communities to spend time (in the UK). Some might find ‘cow-shit’ offensive if taken out of context.

Getting started

•

Write the word ‘picnic’ on the board and ask students to list as many images or ideas that come to mind as possible in one minute. You could prompt them to think about locations, food, games, clothing, items, feelings. Take responses, generating a class list of the most common ideas on the board.

Exploring

•

Now distribute copies of Extract 13, explaining that Campsie Fells is a set of hills located about 20 miles (32 kilometres) north of Glasgow in Scotland. Read the poem aloud to the class and then ask students to work in pairs to discuss these questions: What is happening? Who is there? Who is ‘telling’ the story?

Pairs group together with another pair to share responses. Elicit the idea that this picnic is a large gathering; that one of the children tells the story – perhaps later, looking back. The poet asks, ‘What were we like?’, a phrase that also implies the slight strangeness of the family in that environment (there has been debate about why so few people from a non-White British background visit such locations) and how this is also reflected in the mixed cultures of the snacks – both traditional British and Pakistani. Also, that the poem moves from typical picnic activities to something more serious.

•

Hand out copies of Worksheet 13 and ask students to complete Activity 1, working in small groups of 4–5 to find evidence for the identified themes from the poem, plus one of their own choosing. (If students need prompting, you could ask them to think about the location and its effect, or the power of art/music.)

As some of the themes overlap, you might want to briefly concept-check with students (for example, ‘childhood’ refers to ideas around ‘growing up’ and what that means; being a child as opposed to an adult). Evidence can be in the form of words, phrases, lines from the poem or comments on it; these can be written onto the worksheet, if space allows, or listed separately.

•

While students are working, attach five large sheets of display paper around the class, one for each theme listed, plus a blank sheet. Ask groups to select their most compelling word/phrase/line/comment or evidence for each theme and choose a scribe to write it onto the display sheets, adding the group’s own extra theme and evidence to the blank sheet. Groups then take turns to look at each of the display sheets of compiled evidence. While this is happening, one group member remains at the table as an ‘expert’ on the chosen theme and explains what was found out to groups on a carousel-type rotation.

•

Elicit that the poem explores many themes, and this plurality of meaning makes what could be seen as a simple poem memorable. Highlight the humour in the poem (‘What were we like?’) and the shift from the observational (‘buttercup’ game) to darker (‘Our families are scattered’) to comic (‘cow-shit’) tones.

Responding

•

Draw students’ attention to the fact that the poem is written in a broadly ‘free verse’ style: there is little if any rhyme and very little rhythm, but the deliberate shortening of the lines and the separate stanzas all create a slow, observational feel – as if memories are being placed together carefully. However, some words or phrases are emphasised; for example, why might the name ‘Azaan’ be isolated?

•

Students then work in groups of 3–4 to create a rehearsed reading of the poem, using worksheet Activity 2 for support. They can divide the poem up as they wish, but it might help to have a strong confident reader to be the ‘narrator’, one person to read Uncle Asif’s lines and one to read Azaan’s; a further person could be the ‘Aunties’ and sing or chant the song lines. Once rehearsed, students perform or record their versions, trying to bring out the different themes and changing tones within it.

Find out more To see what Campsie Fells is like, visit the ‘Visit Scotland’ website, by searching for ‘Visit Scotland, Campsie Fells’.

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Lesson 12

Worksheet 12

‘Campsie Fells’ by Imtiaz Dharker

Activity 1 Look at the five themes listed in the squares below.

• Discuss with your group what each of the themes means, so you understand them.

• Talk about any other themes you think the poem explores.

• Then, look for any words, phrases or lines from the poem that seem to match the themes.

Add them to the squares below.

• You can also comment rather than use a direct quotation.

Memory

Childhood

Home & family

Different cultures

Change

[add your own theme/s here]

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Lesson 12

Activity 2 Your group is going to prepare a rehearsed reading of the poem ‘Campsie Fells’.

Use the following template to help structure your reading and decide who will read what. If you need to divide up the poem even more, create your own planning sheet to help you.

Once you know your section(s), highlight and label/annotate them on your copy of the poem.

Verse

Who is reading?

(There can be more than one reader per verse/stanza)

Specific words or phrases to highlight

Pace or tone (for verse or part of it), for example reflective, sad/quicker, louder

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

© HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

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Lesson 12

WHO WE ARE

Introduce more representative and inclusive contemporary texts and writers into KS3 English with this anthology compiled by an expert panel of writers and teachers.

The diverse range of poetry, fiction extracts and non-fiction can be used across Years 7, 8 and 9 to inspire all students to see themselves, find points of connection and develop their writing and analysis skills.

The extracts, supporting lesson plans, context notes and student worksheets can be used flexibly to suit your curriculum. They can be downloaded as PDFs and editable Word files (Google compatible) from the Collins website: www.collins.co.uk/WhoWeAre/download

FREEDOM TO TEACH Find us at www.collins.co.uk and follow our blog – articles and information by teachers for teachers. @FreedomToTeach

24 brilliant texts to enrich your KS3 English curriculum

24 brilliant texts to enrich your KS3 English curriculum

24 brilliant texts to enrich your KS3 English curriculum Contributors: Ali Al-Jamri, Joanne Benjamin-Lewis, Payal Bhavsar, Djamila Boothman, Jamila Gavin, Mike Gould, Jo Heathcote and Lindsay Skinner

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15/06/2021 14:01