A poem: The Beaches of Mexico (CAROLYN GRAHAM)

(Orly Kassiff)

Class: 9th grade 5 points (2 lessons)

Objectives:Sts will be able to express opinions about the poem

to identify and relate to the main features of a poem

Time / Activity / Skill / Materials Needed / Notes
Prediction- writing the poem's title on the whiteboard and asking- What do you think the poem is about?
Showing some pictures of the beaches of Mexico. Asking students to write down how they feel when they see these pictures and why.
Checking answers. / Speaking
Writing / whiteboard
Reading the poem aloud. / Reading speaking / poem
Oral discussion through guided questions:
A. Structure:
1. How many stanzas are in the poem?
2. What is special about the structure? (questions and answers-dialogue; repetition )
3. How many stanzas of questions and how many of answers?
4. Why are there two stanzas of questions? What is the difference between them? (physical/mental)
5. Which type of questions do we have more? Why?
6. Which word is added in the answers? ("Sure"). Why?
7. Who is the poet asking the questions? (himself-he asks and answers, these are rhetorical questions) / Reading speaking / poem
B. Meaning:
1.  Why do you think the poet chose to ask questions and answer them?
2.  The poem introduces contrasts in the poem. What contrasts can you identify?
3.  What does the poet mean when he says: " I'd do it all again?" Why?
(The poet says that he would experience love, pain, trouble again because he learned from these experiences, they built his personality, and developed him).
4.  How does the structure used reinforce this idea? (The Present Perfect Simple is used to describe actions that happened in the past but affect the present)
5.  What do you think about this answer? Would you have given the same answer?
6.  What is the message of the poem?
Ask: How should we begin the answer? Elicit from the students and then add:
Begin your answer with one of the following: I feel/ I think/ In my opinion, the poet is trying to say….
People have different experiences in life, some are external such as visiting places and some are internal like love and pain. (the beaches etc symbolize the external while pain etc the internal)
The external surrounding can change however, the internal cannot.
The external experiences differs between people but the internal don't since we all experience love (not just to a lover-it can be to a pet…) pain, and trouble.
7.  Go back to the title of the poem. What can you say about it now? Why do you think the poet chose this title?
The name of the poem hides the feelings the poet conveys in the poem. The title makes us think we are talking about a fantasy, a dream whereas we are actually discussing life and reality. There is a contrast between fantasy and reality. / Reading (inferring)
speaking / poem
1.  In your notebooks fill in the chart. Give an example for each of the features we spoke about:
Feature / Expression in the poem
1. Stanza scheme
2. Dialogue
3. Repetition
4. Contrasts
5. Symbols
2.  What is the message of the poem? / Writing / poem
H.W:
Choose ONE task.
a. Write your own poem using the same structure (or use a shorter version).
b. Write a letter to the poet. Share your thought and feelings after reading the poem. You can also ask questions, give suggestions etc.
Say one thing you took from the poem. It can be an idea, a feeling, a word, a sentence etc. / Writing