‘Checking Out Me History’
Core
To identify and explain language choices
Challenge
Challenge
To identify and analyse writer’s methods and
how they link to the overall message.
Super
Challenge
To identify and explain structural features
Engage Task:
Why is it important for students to learn History at school?
CHALLENGE:
Why is it important for young people to learn about the history of
other cultures as well as British history?
Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Key Word
• Identity
• Identity (noun) - the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance,
and/or expressions that characterise a person or group
Understanding the history of her people gave her a better
understanding of her own identity.
Key Word
• Creole
• Creole (noun) - natural language that develops from the
simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one
She spoke creole with her family and English with her friends.
Time for a history lesson…
You have a been given a list of historical and cultural
references.
Circle any that you have heard of before.
Put a cross by any that are unfamiliar to you.
Challenge:
Look down your list. Do the names/events you recognise have anything in common?
Why do you not recognise the other names and events?
Reading the poem…
• What is this poem about?
• What do you notice about the spellings of specific words? Why are
they written in this way?
• What is the message of this poem?
JOHN AGARD
THE PERFORMANCE POET
John Agard is an award-winning poet,
performer, playwright, editor and shortstory writer who has written prolifically for
both children and adults.
He was born in Guyana – when it was still
British Guiana – in 1949; his mother was
Portuguese and his father was Black.
• John Agard started writing poems when he was about
16.
• He worked as a teacher and journalist before moving
to Britain in 1977.
• In Britain, he initially worked for the Commonwealth
Institute as a touring lecturer, giving talks and
readings promoting greater understanding of
Caribbean culture.
• Agard now lives in Sussex with his partner, the poet
Grace Nichols, and spends much of his time visiting
schools to promote poetry.
‘Checking Out Me History’
Engage Task:
1. What is creole?
2. What is a metaphor?
3. Touissant L’Ouverture was viewed a ‘t____’ by the
French.
4. This suggests they saw him as…
5. However, John Agard possibly views him as…
because…
Tuesday, 05 April 2022
Who is ‘dem’?
Dem tell me
What does
bandages have
connotations of?
Dem tell me
Developing ideas:
Why does Agard use
creole in this poem?
Wha dem want to tell me
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to me own identity
Why use the
verb ‘blind’?
Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat
dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat
But Toussaint L’Ouverture
no dem never tell me bout dat
Why do they not
want him to learn
about this man?
Why does he
choose Toussaint
to remember?
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick back
Napoleon
battalion
and first Black
Republic born
Toussaint de thorn
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution
Why do the French think of
him as a ‘thorn’? What are
the connotations?
What is a beacon? When else
might you hear this word used?
What might it symbolise?
Why is the idea of
revolution important
to Agard?
How do these three pieces
of white history contrast to
Nanny Maroon?
Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon
and de cow who jump over de moon
Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon
but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon
Why are rhyming couplets used in this
stanza?
Why is she a ‘firewoman’?
Nanny
see-far woman
of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river
Why is it a ‘mountain
dream’? What are the
connotations of these
word?
Why is she a ‘hopeful
stream to freedom
river’?
Why are Nelson and Shaka put
in the same stanza?
What is Agard trying to show?
Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo
but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu
Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492
but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too
Why is Columbus
paired with these
ancient civilisations?
Why are Mary Seacole and Florence
Nightingale in the same stanza?
Why does this highlight?
What do lamps connote?
Why is this significant given the context
and message of the poem?
Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp
and how Robin Hood used to camp
Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul
but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole
How are the
British presented
here?
What are the
connotations of star?
From Jamaica
she travel far
to the Crimean War
she volunteer to go
and even when de British said no
she still brave the Russian snow
a healing star
among the wounded
a yellow sunrise
to the dying
Why does the write
use enjambment
here?
Why are these
sections of black
history in italics?
What are the
connotations of
sunrise?
Why is this imagery
significant?
Why is this repetition
used?
Dem tell me
Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me
But now I checking out me own history
I carving out me identity
What is the tone of
this declaration?
Why has the word
‘carving’ been used?
CHALLENGE:
Why is their no end stop line to finish
the poem?
Mini Plenary
• Write a list of key themes in your book.
• What poem would you compare it with and why?
WAR
CONFLICT
IDENTITY
NATURE PLACE POWER MEMORY
WAR
CONFLICT
IDENTITY
Remains
Checking Out
Remains
Checking Out
Remains
NATURE
PLACE
POWER
MEMORY
Checking Out
Remains
What are the six poems that cover the most
themes?
How does the poet present ideas about identity in
‘Checking Out Me History’ and ‘The Emigree’?
How does Agard present ideas about identity
in this poem?
Write an essay answering this question.
Think about:
Language
Imagery
Structure
Form
Context