Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown and I will be your English teacher for today's lesson.

We are going to be performing today, performing a poem, and the poem is "The Morning Rush" by John Foster.

This is a poem that we looked at in our last lesson, and today we're going to build on that and perform it.

So, let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can perform "The Morning Rush" by John Foster.

The key words we'll use are performance, expression, volume and gesture.

Let's say those words together.

My turn and then your turn, performance.

Expression.

Volume.

Gesture.

Fabulous, let's look at the definitions.

Performance refers to the act of presenting or reciting a poem in front of an audience.

Expression means reading with feeling and emotion to bring the poem to life.

Volume is the loudness or softness of the voice when speaking or reading a poem.

Gesture is a movement that helps express an idea or meaning.

We'll start today's lesson by preparing to perform and then move on to performing a poem.

Today we're going to be performing our poems. Performance in poetry refers to the act of presenting or reciting a poem in front of an audience.

An audience is a group of people gathered together to watch or listen to a performance.

When preparing for a performance, we need to think carefully, about how we will deliver our poem.

We can use our voice, gestures and expression to bring the poem to life and have an effect on the audience.

Let's check your understanding so far.

What is the name for a group of people gathered together to watch a performance? Is it A, a team, B, an audience, or C, a panel? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you found the right answer.

Well done if you said, B, an audience.

That's the name for a group of people gathered together to watch a performance.

We are going to prepare to perform the poem, "The Morning Rush" by John Foster.

This is a humorous poem, which means it is intended to be funny and make the audience laugh and smile.

Have a go at performing "The Morning Rush." Ask a partner to watch you and give feedback on your performance of the poem.

So, it's over to you.

Pause the video and have a go at performing, "The Morning Rush" by John Foster now.

Welcome back.

Okay, I wonder how you got on.

Did you get some feedback from your partner? What did you notice about how your partner performed their poem? Was there anything that you felt they could do differently? For example, Izzy said, "I like listening to my partner perform The Morning Rush, "but it wasn't very funny, "because they stood still while performing." Ah, okay.

So, we know our unit is called Humorous Poetry, and we know that John Foster's poem, "The Morning Rush" is intended to be funny, so we maybe have to deliver it in a funny way, perform it in a funny way.

Now, if we speak too quietly when performing, the audience will not be able to hear what we're saying, so definitely can't be funny.

Speaking at a suitable volume is a very important part of performing.

Now, volume refers to the loudness or softness of the voice when speaking or reading a poem and we can also vary our volume to create different effects.

A loud volume could show excitement or amazement.

Whilst a much softer volume could show calmness or surprise.

However we must always speak at a loud enough volume for the audience to hear every single word that we're saying.

I'd like you to read through the poem and decide if there are any words or phrases that need to be spoken more loudly or more quietly.

Discuss your decisions with the partner and have a go at performing the poem, varying the volume for your chosen lines and phrases.

Okay, it's over to you.

Have a go at performing "The Morning Rush" by John Foster now.

Welcome back.

So you perform the poem and you varied your volume.

Let's move on to expression and gestures, because expression and gestures can make our performances fun and interesting for an audience to watch.

Using expression when performing means reading with feeling to bring the poem to life.

These may include excitement, surprise, amazement, happiness or sadness.

We can also use gestures when performing.

Now, a gesture is a movement that helps express an idea or meaning.

For example, shooting your hand up into the air as you say the word rocket expresses how fast it's travelling or holding your fingers close together when you say the word tiny expresses how small something is.

"The Morning Rush" is a poem about rushing to get ready for school.

We want to have an effect on the audience we're performing and we want to make sure that we clearly express the atmosphere of the poem.

Now, the atmosphere of this poem is stressful, fast-paced, frantic.

Now, gestures for certain words and phrases can help to express how things are done.

For example, comb your hair, comb your hair can be done very calmly, very gently or it can be done very stressfully, in a fast paced and frantic way and that is what we're aiming for for this particular poem.

Which of these gestures, would help to express to the audience that you are rushing down the stairs? Putting your hands up and not moving.

Resting your chin on your chest.

So, looking down or running on the spot.

Which gesture would help to express to the audience that you are rushing down the stairs? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back everyone.

Let's see if you found the right answer.

So, putting your hands up and not moving, well, I don't look like I'm rushing very much do I? Resting my chin on my chest again not moving, just looking down.

So, running on the spot that seems like I'm rushing down the stairs.

That is the correct answer.

Now, you don't have stairs in front of you when you are performing, so you have to act like they're there.

You make a gesture that shows that you are rushing down the stairs and doing that.

Running on the spot would have that impact on the audience.

Okay, time for a task.

I'd like you to read through "The Morning Rush" by John Foster and decide which words would benefit from being read with extra expression or gestures.

Discuss your decisions with a partner and have a go at performing the poem with extra expression and gestures.

So, have a little look through, make your decisions, then discuss with your partner, and then have a go at performing.

Pause the video and have a go at this task now.

Welcome back.

I hope you enjoyed performing.

I hope you enjoyed looking through the text and being able to decide which words would be benefiting from being read with extra expression or gestures.

Here is an example from Sophia.

She says, I will add gestures for turning on a tap, eating breakfast and brushing my teeth quickly.

Ah, nice idea.

So, turning on a tap, you could do a gesture like you are acting, like you're turning on a tap, eating breakfast, perhaps spooning things quickly into your mouth, and then brushing your teeth really quickly.

Frantically brush, brush brushing.

Good idea.

Ah, now we have another idea here.

We've got, "I will use extra expression on the repeated words, "like quickly to show the frantic atmosphere." Very good, pinpointing those words that you're going to use to be able to communicate to the audience.

Let's move on to performing a poem.

Performing a poem to an audience is something that requires time rehearsing.

Rehearsing means practising something for a later performance.

You should rehearse using the things that we've practised to help you feel confident.

So, that will be using your volume, expression and gestures.

Time for a check, rehearse the poem by practising performing it several to a partner.

Ask for feedback so you can improve each time.

Pause the video and have a go at rehearsing your poem now.

Welcome back.

I hope you use that time efficiently.

Rehearsing is so important, so well done.

Let's have a look at an example we've got.

I liked when you increased the volume of your performance as this made it easier to hear.

So, this is an example of feedback and it's really important to be giving feedback.

Now, we have another example from Izzy.

She says, "I think you could use more gestures "to make your performance more interesting." Absolutely, brilliant feedback.

Well done.

I'm going to perform the first two lines of a poem, inspired by "The Morning Rush," about getting ready for school.

It's called "Time for School." Jump out of bed, reach for the sky.

Stretch, yawn.

Stretch, yawn.

Where did I put my tie? Uniform on, button up your shirt.

Rush, rush, rush, rush.

Collar so tight, it hurts.

Okay, so that was me performing the first two verses of a poem inspired by "The Morning Rush," about getting ready for school.

I tried to use lots of gestures and expression to bring the poem to life and to express to the audience that I was feeling stressed.

I was feeling rushed, trying to get ready for school.

I'd like you to discuss with a partner how I did this, how I used volume, expression and gestures, what I did and what impact it had on you as an audience member.

Okay, pause the video and have a discussion with your partner now.

Welcome back.

I am so interested to hear what you thought, let's have a look.

It's an example.

I noticed that you made a gesture for stretching and yawning as you said those words.

This expressed that you had just woken up.

Absolutely.

I stretched and yawned as I was saying those words, so it really expressed to the audience that I had just woken up.

Another example is I noticed that you used expression on the word hurts, which expressed how tight your collar was.

I did, at the end, I had tightened my, buttoned up my shirt and tightened my collar and I said, "Collar so tight, it hurts." And my face was grimacing.

I looked in pain and I was trying to pull my collar away from my neck.

Another way to express to the audience how stressed and how rushed I was that I was uncomfortable and not very happy.

Okay, it is time for you now to perform.

You're going to perform "The Morning Rush" by John Foster to an audience.

Remember to think about the volume at which you speak, using expression to make the poem fun and engaging to watch and using gestures to express the atmosphere of the poem and express how much the speaker is rushing.

Take your time.

You may even want to rehearse one more time before you do and then perform "The Morning Rush" by John Foster to an audience.

Pause the video.

Good luck and have a go now.

Welcome back, congratulations.

You have just performed a poem to an audience.

That's an amazing thing to do.

Let's take a moment to reflect on your own performance.

Did you speak at a loud enough volume? Did you use any gestures or expressions to express things to an audience? Did you enjoy performing so important? I want you to be able to bring poems to life, but most of all, I actually want you to enjoy performing poetry.

Poetry is written to be read and listened to and enjoyed and performed and that is a key part of what we're doing today.

Let's summarise the learning that we've done today.

Performing poetry to an audience is an important part of the process of creating poetry.

When performing poetry, you must speak at a suitable volume.

Using gestures and expression will make your performance fun and engaging for the audience.

We can improve our performances of poetry through practise.

Brilliant work today, performing "The Morning Rush" by the fabulous, John Foster.

I will see you again very soon.