Gangsta Rap by Benjamin Zephaniah
Year 9 Reading Activities
Introduction
The following resources provide a three/four-lesson study of four key elements of the
novel:
 How a writer can influence your feelings for a character (AF6).
 The culture of hip-hop (AF6).
 The use of Jamaican dialect (AF5).
 How ‘inter-texts’ contribute to the narrative (AF4).
Each element is introduced and explored in whole-class work before students work
independently on an Assessment Task.
Resources include detailed lesson plans, marking guidance and student resource sheets.
Timing
It is envisioned that these reading activities will be taught over three or four lessons of
about one hour each, although you may wish to adjust timings to suit the needs of your
class. Lesson 2 could be used as well as or as an alternative to Lesson 1: both cover AF6.
The Assessment Tasks are introduced discretely, one a lesson. It is suggested that each
task is completed before moving on to the next one. This might mean that extra time needs
to be given for task completion, either in the form of extra lessons or homework.
Framework Objectives and Assessment Focuses
Once you have completed the study with your students, they will have engaged with the
following Framework Objectives and Reading Assessment Focuses:
5.2 – Understanding and responding to ideas, viewpoint, themes and purposes in
texts.
6.2 – Analysing how writers’ use of linguistic and literary features shapes and
influences meaning.
6.3 – Analysing writers’ use of organisation, structure, layout and presentation.
AF2 – Understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts
and use quotation and reference to text.
AF3 – Deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts.
AF4 – Identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including
grammatical and presentational features at text level.
AF5 – Explain and comment on writers’ uses of language, including grammatical and
literary features at word and sentence level.
AF6 – Identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect
of the text on the reader.
1
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 1
Learning objectives:
Resources:

To analyse different viewpoints
and ideas in the novel.

To appreciate how Zephaniah
makes us feel about characters.

Copies of Gangsta Rap.

Resource sheet 6: The Assessment
Tasks.
Starter
Share the learning objectives with the class. Divide students into pairs
and give them two minutes to write a list of all the characters in the
novel.
Introduction
As a class, ask students to thoughtflood initial ideas around key words
and phrases in the objectives, e.g. different viewpoints, different
ideas, analyse, feel, characters.
Development
Ask students to work in pairs for five minutes to consider their overall
thoughts about how Ray changes during the novel and how our
feelings about him change. Ask them to choose two points in the
novel where our feelings about Ray are likely to be particularly strong.
Take feedback from the class, then ask what makes us have those
strong feelings?
Now direct students’ attention to one brief extract from the novel in
which Ray features prominently and, with the class, analyse how
Zephaniah writes to shape the reader’s response in particular ways.
Extracts could be used form the following events:

Pages 4–7 when Ray gets sent to Mr Lang.

Page 55 when Ray attends his exclusion meeting.

Pages 195–96 when Ray sees Yinka’s dead body.
Focus students’ attention on the way Ray speaks, the way he is
described and his attitude.
Now introduce the first Assessment Task, which is also set out on
Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks:
‘We feel differently about Ray at different times in the novel. Write
about the impressions we get of Ray at these three points:
Independent
work
2

Pages 153–58 when Ray has his first proper conversation with
Yinka.

Pages 231–34 when Ray meets Dragon in the disused yard.

Pages 248–50 when the Positive Negatives confront Duncan
at their record company offices.’ (AF6)
Ask students to complete the first Assessment Task. More-confident
students can plan and write alone, but you may wish to pair lessconfident students for the planning stages of this task.
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 2
Learning objectives:
Resources:

To analyse different viewpoints and
ideas in the novel.

Copies of Gangsta Rap.


Resource sheet 1: Bookmarks.
To appreciate how Zephaniah
makes us feel about issues.

Resource sheet 6: The Assessment
Tasks.
Starter
Share the learning objectives with the class. If you completed Lesson
1 last time, explain that the learning for this lesson incorporates and
builds on what was studied last lesson.
Introduction
As a class, ask students to thoughtflood initial ideas around key words
and phrases in the objectives, e.g. different viewpoints, different
ideas, analyse, feel, issues.
Development
Ask students for their overall thoughts about how our view of hip-hop
changes during the novel.
Now direct students’ attention to one extract from the novel: pages
118–19 when the Positive Negatives collect their awards. Read
through these pages commenting on how different readers might feel
particular things about hip-hop. For example, when Ray announces
that ‘this is for me’ he might appear to be very big-headed; when the
band receive their best hip-hop act award they ‘casually’ return to the
stage – they might seem to be boastful as they simply expected to
win; ‘with their bodyguards in tow’ also suggests they are showing off.
You may wish to pair less-confident students for this activity. Hand out
Resource sheet 1: Bookmarks and ask students to cut up and use the
bookmarks for pages where the feeling on the card matches the way
hip-hop is being presented. Tell students that they only have to use
three of the cards. If they have time then they should use a blank
bookmark to mark a page where they think another feeling about hiphop is stirred up in the reader. They should write this feeling on the
card and prepare to explain their choice to the class. Take some
feedback.
Continued
3
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 2 (continued)
Development
(continued)
Now introduce the second Assessment Task, which is also set out on
Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks:
‘Re-read these sections of the novel:

Pages 147–48: the Newham Echo's report.

Pages 167–70: Ray’s defence of hip-hop at a press
conference.

Pages 218–19: Marga Man introducing the Positive Negatives
to the audience at a gig.
In each case, explain what view of hip-hop is being suggested to the
reader and how the reader is likely to react.’ (AF6)
Independent
work
4
Ask students to complete the second Assessment Task. Moreconfident students can plan and write alone, but you may wish to pair
less-confident students for the planning stages of this task.
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 3
Learning objective:

Resources:
To appreciate the purpose
and the impact of nonstandard dialect in the
novel.
Starter

Copies of Gangsta Rap.

Resource sheet 2: Different dialects.

Resource sheet 3: Wrong dialects.

Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks.
Share the learning objective with the class. Remind students of the
meaning of standard and non-standard English.
Introduction
Re-establish the class’ understanding of dialect – vocabulary and
grammar related to someone’s background. Show the dialogue
reproduced in Resource sheet 2: Different dialects. Ask the class to
spot and explain the differences in the way Marga Man and Mr Lang
speak. Ask the class to consider the effect on the novel if Marga Man
always spoke in standard English and Mr Lang always spoke in slang.
Use Resource sheet 3: Wrong dialects to help focus students’
thinking.
Development
Introduce the third Assessment Task, which is also set out on
Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks:
‘How effectively does Benjamin Zephaniah use Jamaican dialect in
Marga Man's speeches?’ (AF5)
Suggest that students could write about:
Independent
work
5

Marga Man's words

the way Marga Man puts words together

differences between the way Marga Man speaks and the way
Mr Lang and Tyrone's mother speak (see page 87).
Ask students to complete the third Assessment Task. More-confident
students can plan and write alone, but you may wish to pair lessconfident students for the planning and research stages of this task.
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
LESSON 4
Learning objective:

Resources:
To understand the purpose
of inter-texts in a novel’s
structure.

Copies of Gangsta Rap.

Resource sheet 4: Inter-texts analysis table.

Resource sheet 5: Inter-texts analysis
example.

Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks.

Overhead projector / interactive whiteboard.
Starter
Share the learning objective with the class. Explain the meaning of an
inter-text.
Introduction
Direct students to the examples of inter-texts in Gangsta Rap (pages
48, 108, 133, 147, 190, 214, 251 and 253) and ask them to quickly
familiarise themselves with them.
Development
Introduce the fourth Assessment Task, which is also set out on
Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks:
‘At some points in the novel the narrative is interrupted by ‘inter-texts’.
This happens, for example:

in Chapter 5 (page 48): the Sunday Educational Supplement
report on school exclusion

in Chapter 11 (page 108): The Mix Mag review of ‘Collective
Security’

at the end of the book (page 253): ‘The Guns’ poem.
Explain the purpose each of these three inter-texts and what they
contribute to the novel.’ (AF4)
Distribute Resource sheet 4: Inter-texts analysis table to students and
use Resource sheet 5: Inter-text analysis example on the OHP or IWB
to model for the class how to analyse an inter-text in terms of its
purpose and impact.
Independent
work
6
Ask students to complete the Assessment Task. More-confident
students can work alone, but you may wish to pair less-confident
students for the discussion part of this task.
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Marking guidelines
Level
AF2
4
Some relevant points identified.
Comments supported by some
generally relevant textual
reference or quotation, e.g.
reference is made to appropriate
section of novel but is
unselective and lacks focus.
AF3
AF4
(Task 4)
7
5
The most relevant points clearly
identified, including those selected
from different places in the novel.
Comments generally supported by
relevant textual reference or quotation,
even when points made are not always
accurate.
Comments make inferences
based on evidence from
different points in the text, e.g.
interpreting Ray’s feelings from
his actions at different points.
Comments develop explanation of
inferred meanings drawing on
evidence across the text, e.g. ‘You
know Ray hates the system by how
negative he is to school at the start’.
Inferences often plausible, but
comments are not always rooted
securely in the text or they
simply repeat narrative or
content.
Comments make inferences and
deductions based on textual evidence,
e.g. in drawing conclusions about
Ray’s feelings on the basis of his
speech and actions.
Some basic features of intertexts identified, e.g. ‘The texts
comment on something that has
just become important in the
story’ or ‘They are from different
sorts of text – news reports,
reviews, etc.’
Comments on use of inter-texts show
some general awareness of
Zephaniah’s skill, e.g. ‘They help us
understand hip-hop from different
angles’.
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Various features of inter-texts are
clearly identified, with some
explanation, e.g. ‘Each one shows
what other people would probably think
without having to build in lots of extra
characters’.
6
Relevant points clearly identified.
Evidence compared from different parts of
the novel.
Use of apt textual reference and quotation
to support main ideas or argument.
Comments securely based in textual
evidence.
Different layers of meaning identified, with
some attempt at detailed exploration of
them, e.g. explaining the conflicting
impact of words and phrases or exploring
connotations in how hip-hop is presented.
Comments consider wider implications or
significance of information, events or
ideas in the text, e.g. tracing how details
contribute to overall meaning.
Some detailed exploration of how intertexts support Zephaniah’s theme or
purpose.
Comment on how different inter-texts
contribute to the novel’s impact and make
complex issues more understandable.
7
Evidence precisely chosen and
applied to the point being made, e.g.
close analysis of impact of a single
word, or, deft selection across a longer
textual stretch to evaluate a writer’s
viewpoint.
Ability to see the significance of a
reference within novel as a whole.
Comments begin to develop an
interpretation of characters and/or
themes, making connections between
insights, teasing out meanings or
weighing up evidence, e.g.
considering the relative importance of
different pieces of evidence when
evaluating our reactions to Ray;
considering more than one
interpretation of Ray; developing a
critique of Zephaniah’s viewpoint by
adducing evidence from a range of
insights.
Some evaluation of the extent to
which use of inter-texts supports
Zephaniah’s theme or purpose, e.g.
exploration of how inter-texts develop
the novel’s themes, or analysis of how
inter-texts provide an extra dimension
to Zephaniah’s purposes.
Some appreciation of the skill with
which inter-texts are used, e.g.
evaluating or comparing the
effectiveness of different sorts of intertext.
Level
AF5
(Task 3)
4
Some basic features of writer’s
use of language identified, e.g.
‘Marga Man uses “d” instead of
“th”’.
Simple comments on effects of
dialect use, e.g. ‘Mr Lang
sounds posh and respectable’.
AF6
(Tasks
1 and 2)
Main purpose identified, e.g. ‘It’s
about how people can change’.
Simple comments show some
awareness of writer’s viewpoint,
e.g. ‘He makes hip-hop sound
exciting’.
Simple comment on overall
effect on reader, e.g. ‘Ray is
described as “determined” and
that makes you think that he’s
not going to change his mind’.
8
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
5
Various features of Zephaniah’s use of
dialect identified, with some
explanation, e.g. ‘Zephaniah often
spells words to show how Marga Man
speaks them, so that we can almost
hear his voice’.
Comments show some awareness of
the effect of dialect, e.g. ‘“sharplooking brothers” is a very vivid way of
describing rap stars in videos’.
Zephaniah’s main purpose clearly
identified, often through general
overview, e.g. ‘Zephaniah doesn’t think
hip-hop has to be violent and he wants
to persuade the reader to agree’.
Viewpoint clearly identified, with some,
often limited, explanation, e.g. ‘At the
end he has learnt that violence and
revenge are wrong because …’.
General awareness of effect on the
reader, with some, often limited,
explanation, e.g. ‘You’d probably stop
thinking hip-hop was about mindless
violence’.
6
Some detailed explanation, with
appropriate terminology, of how dialect is
used, e.g. tracing use of one feature such
as verb tense; identifying and commenting
on patterns or structure in a dialect; or
recognising changes in dialect at different
points in a text.
Some drawing together of comments on
how Zephaniah’s use of dialect
contributes to the overall effect on the
reader, e.g. ‘The different dialects create
clear differences between the characters
and help us to imagine those differences’.
Evidence for identifying Zephaniah’s
purposes precisely located at
word/sentence level or traced through the
novel.
Viewpoint clearly identified and
explanation of it developed through close
reference to the text, e.g. ‘We feel much
less sympathetic towards Ray at this point
because …’.
The effect on the reader clearly identified,
with some explicit explanation as to how
the effect has been created.
7
Comments begin to develop precise,
perceptive analysis of how dialect is
used, e.g. showing how dialect reflects
Marga Man’s personality or attitudes.
Some appreciation of how
Zephaniah’s use of dialects affects the
reader, e.g. demonstrating the
differing effects of different dialects in
the novel.
Responses begin to develop some
analytic or evaluative comment on
how Zephaniah presents characters or
themes, e.g. showing how Ray’s
behaviour affects Zephaniah’s
purposes.
Responses begin to develop some
analytic or evaluative comment on
how viewpoint is established or
managed across the novel, e.g.
tracing how our attitudes towards Ray
or hip-hop develop during the novel.
Responses begin to develop an
appreciation of how particular
techniques and devices achieve the
effects they do, e.g. how the words
‘mad’ and ‘possessed’ make Ray
sound as though he has lost selfcontrol.
Resource sheet 1: Bookmarks
Violent
Proud
Defensive
Exciting
Entertaining
Arrogant
Divisive
9
Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 2: Different dialects
Mr Lang stretched his arm out over his desk to shake
Marga Man’s hand. ‘Pleased to meet you. I have heard
about you. I heard that you helped the boys to record a CD
and that you’re being a great inspiration to them.’
‘Not really,’ Marga Man replied modestly. ‘They get on and
do their thing and I just hold it all together. They create de
beats, they write de raps, and it was they who decided to
form de cooperative, so they are de creative force, I is just
like a spectator throwing in comments from de side line.’
‘I’m sure you’re much more than just a spectator,’ said Mr
Lang. ‘Tell me about this track that you have recorded.’
Marga Man looked around the room for a CD player. ‘You
want hear dis bad beat?’
Page 85
10 Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 3: Wrong dialects
Mr Lang stretched his arm out over his desk to shake
Marga Man’s hand. ‘Yo Marga Man! I so know about you. I
know you’ve been like helping the boys cut a disc and that
they really dig you.’
‘Not really,’ Marga Man replied modestly. ‘They get on and
do what they are good at and I just provide the
organisational framework. They create the rhythms, they
write the lyrics, and it was they who decided to form the
cooperative, so they are the creative force. I am just like a
spectator offering comments from the side line.’
‘Jeez man. I so know you are much more than just a
spectator,’ said Mr Lang. ‘Give me the low-down on this
track you’ve cut.’
Marga Man looked around the room for a CD player. ‘Would
you like to hear this wonderful track?’
11 Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 4: Inter-text analysis table
Inter-text
Purpose
Chapter 5,
page 48: the
Sunday
Educational
Supplement
report on
school
exclusion
Chapter 11,
page 108:
The Mix
Mag review
of
‘Collective
Security’
Page 253:
‘The Guns’
poem
12 Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
What the inter-text contributes to the
novel
Resource sheet 5: Inter-text analysis example
Inter-text
Purpose
What the inter-text contributes
to the novel
Chapter
14, page
133:
Newstalk
South East
report on
the murder
of Alton
Benn
To summarise
important events
in the story, and to
show what the
general public
might feel about
these events.
It gives the reader a break from the
way the rest of the novel is written –
dramatic narrative and rap dialect.
The reader might get swept along
by the narrative and be completely
on the side of the Positive
Negatives, but the Newstalk text
reminds the reader than there would
be many much less supportive
views out there. This less positive
view is suggested by describing the
band as ‘controversial’ and by
reporting that the band’s record
company only ‘claimed’ that they
were innocent. The word ‘claimed’
might imply that the report doesn’t
really believe them.
13 Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks
For all of the following tasks you will need to:
 use evidence to support your ideas (AF2)
 interpret evidence (AF3)
 explore examples of the language Zephaniah uses (AF5).
Assessment Task 1
We feel differently about Ray at different times in the novel. Write about the impressions
we get of Ray at these three points:



Pages 153–58 when Ray has his first proper conversation with Yinka.
Pages 231–34 when Ray meets Dragon in the disused yard.
Pages 248–50 when the Positive Negatives confront Duncan at their record
company offices. (AF6)
Tip: Carefully explore:
 what Ray does
 what Ray says and thinks
 the way Ray speaks
 the way that Benjamin Zephaniah writes about Ray.
The question is not just about what Ray is like as a person; it is about how we feel about
Ray at different times in the novel and how Benjamin Zepahaniah makes us feel. It
would also be useful for you to consider how our feelings towards Ray change during
the novel.
Assessment Task 2
Different attitudes towards hip-hop are suggested at different points in the novel.
Re-read these sections of the novel:
 Pages 147–48: the Newham Echo's report.
 Pages 167–70: Ray’s defence of hip-hop at a press conference.
 Pages 218–19: Marga Man introducing the Positive Negatives to the audience at a
gig.
In each case, explain what view of hip-hop is being suggested to the reader and how the
reader is likely to react. (AF6)
14 Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 6: The Assessment Tasks (continued)
Assessment Task 3
Look at how Marga Man explains the band's business arrangements to the boys'
mothers and their Headteacher on pages 87–89.
How effectively does Benjamin Zephaniah use Jamaican dialect in Marga Man's speeches?
(AF5)
You might like to write about:
 Marga Man's words
 the way Marga Man puts words together
 differences between the way Marga Man speaks and the way Mr Lang and
Tyrone's mother speak (see page 87).
Assessment Task 4
At some points in the novel the narrative is interrupted by ‘inter-texts’. This happens, for
example:
 in Chapter 5 (page 48): the Sunday Educational Supplement report on school
exclusion
 in Chapter 11 (page 108): The Mix Mag review of ‘Collective Security’
 at the end of the book (page 253): ‘The Guns’ poem.
Explain the purpose each of these three inter-texts and what they contribute to the novel.
(AF4)
Use a table like the one below to give your explanations. An example has been done for
you.
Inter-text
Purpose
What the inter-text contributes to the novel
Chapter 14 (page
133): Newstalk South
East report on the
murder of Alton Benn
To summarise
important events in
the story, and to
show what the
general public might
feel about these
events.
It gives the reader a break from the way the
rest of the novel is written – dramatic narrative
and rap dialect. The reader might get swept
along by the narrative and be completely on
the side of the Positive Negatives, but the
Newstalk text reminds the reader than there
would be many much less supportive views out
there. This less positive view is suggested by
describing the band as ‘controversial’ and by
reporting that the band’s record company only
‘claimed’ that they were innocent. The word
‘claimed’ might imply that the report doesn’t
really believe them.
15 Gangsta Rap Year 9 Reading Activities