YOUNG AND DYSLEXIC?
EDEXCEL IGCSE
ANTHOLOGY A
THURSDAY, 06 JANUARY 2022
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
BENJAMIN
ZEPHANIAH
Contexts:
Use your devices: 5 minutes to find all you can about
Zephaniah! You might want to start here:
http://benjaminzephaniah.com/
Then answer these questions:
How old was he when he was thrown out of school?
In what year did this happen?
What infamous speech was made in 1968 in Wolverhampton?
How may this have impacted his early life and how is it
reflected in the attitudes shown in the article?
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
THE ARTICLE
From The Guardian Online – internet site of major broadsheet
paper. Generally perceived as Left Wing. Highly inclusive
and supportive of minority voices
Adapted from a book in which famous people share their
experiences of Dyslexia
Who might wish to read
This book, and why?
What would be the purpose
Of publishing this book?
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
THE WRITING
As a child I suffered, but learned to turn dyslexia to my
advantage, to see the world more creatively. We are the
architects, we are the designers.
I’m of the generation where teachers didn’t know what dyslexia
was. The big problem with the education system then was that
there was no compassion, no understanding and no humanity. I
don’t look back and feel angry with the teachers. The ones who
wanted to have an individual approach weren’t allowed to. The
idea of being kind and thoughtful and listening to problems just
wasn’t done: the past is a different kind of country.
Let’s discuss the ideas I have underlined.
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
idea
Comment
effect
“I suffered”
Uses emotive verb at opening
– possibly suggests physical
abuse
Engages sympathy – no child
should suffer. Honesty and
frankness estabished
I
Immediate and repetitive use
of 1st person – will pluralise
and use 2nd sparingly
Honest, vivid, engages with
reader as a “team” when
needed – sharing experience
“but turned… to my advantage
Introduces negative idea and
then looks ot the poisitive
Establishes the idea that
however bad things look, it is
possible to make them into
benefits
No compassion, no
understanding, no humanity /
being kind, thoughtful and
listening to…
Triplet idea. Used sparingly so
important to note when it does
appear.
Triplets draw attention to an
idea and emphasise the
importance. The negative first
triplet is very powerful for the
repeated sense of frustration
created.
The past is a different kind of
country
Intertextuality: The Go
Between by LP Hartley. Full
quotation drops “kind of” and
adds: They do things differently
there.
If we know the whole quotation
we know that things have
changed for the better. Also
establishes Zephaniah’s
intellectual credibility
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
PULLING STRANDS
TOGETHER
Zephaniah writes in the first person and suggests honesty and
frankness
He mixes INFORMATION text such as Paragraph 1 with
EXPLANATION such as found in Paragraph 2.
He also DESCRIBES his school days vividly. He offers ADVICE a
the end of the passage
Looking at Paragraphs 3-6, what feature of the writing makes
this description especially vivid.
How likely is it that this is accurately recalled after nearly 50
years?
How does Zephaniah make the teacher’s response in paragraph
4 particularly upsetting?
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
A LONG PASSAGE
You will not have time to write in detail about the whole
passage, citing every paragraph.
So far we have looked at the opening and how it creates
mood.
We have also looked at Zephaniah’s use of Direct Speech to
create emotional impact for the reader – think about the
purpose of the passage: will readers generally recognise his
experience?
The next focus will be structure:
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
STRUCTURE
What do we call this kind of temporal structure? It moves
through the story in the logical order of events.
List the major events in Zephaniah’s life which he recounts
here: school, borstal….
How do you respond to someone who is being this open
about their past – when it contains much which is not seen
as “good”?
How does the structure relate to the idea we discussed in the
opening sentence? (“but…”)
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
“A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF THE PRISON
POPULATION ARE DYSLEXIC, AND A HIGH
PERCENTAGE OF THE ARCHITECT
POPULATION.”
What surprises you about this statement that is made in
paragraph 9?
Why do you think Zephaniah chooses to open the paragraph
with this statement?
What sort of discussion does it prepare the readers for?
Where else in the passage does Zephaniah make a direct link
between Dyslexia and creativity as well as Dyslexia and
negativity? Which pairing is the dominant feature of the
writing?
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
TENSE
The chronology reaches the present day.
What happens to the tense in paragraph 13 which reflects this?
In what way would you support the idea that from this point the
writing is much more positive?
How does Zephaniah ensure tha this readers fell that he is
talking directly to them?
What elements of the content would allow the readers to feel
that they share the experience with Zephaniah?
What is the intended effect in the short paragraph 15? How is it
achieved?
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
COLLOQUIAL
LANGUAGE
Zephaniah is famed for poetry which used natural speech
rhythms and patterns – writing in the Vernacular.
Occasionally this passage is allowed to reflect the natural
speech patterns of many of his readers – he uses
colloquialisms – “don’t be heavy on yourself”, “kids”. What
is the effect of this?
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
DEFIANCE
Can you find evidence to suggest that Zephaniah is being
defiant and trying to engage his fellow dyslexics and
standing up to the rest of society?
Look at the last 5 paragraphs if you are stuck.
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
Offers advice to
sufferers and to
parents. Short
sentences
CLOSING COMMENTS
2p
addresses
parents and
builds
positivity
So don’t be heavy on yourself. And if you are a parent of someone with dyslexia don’t
think of it as a defect. Dyslexia is not a measure of intelligence: you may have a genius
on your hands. Having dyslexia can make you creative. If you want to construct a
sentence and can’t find the word you are searching for, you have to think of a way to
Collo
write round it. This requires being creative and so your ‘creativity muscle’ gets bigger.
q.
lang
Kids come up to me and say, ‘I’m dyslexic too,’ and I say to them, ‘Use it to your
Info:
short
sentence
and
explain longer
advantage, see the world differently. Us dyslexic people, we’ve got it going on – we are
the architects. We are the designers.’ It’s like these kids are proud to be like me and if
that helps them, that is great. I didn’t have that as a child. I say to them, ‘Bloody nondyslexics
… who do they think they are?’
Sentence is
informal – like a
conversation colloquial
Jonathan Peel JLS 2016
1st plural to
establish
unity
Humour in
defiance –
positive tone.