Lesson video

Hello, it's me, Miss Chu.

And in today's lesson, we are going to be learning about a really incredible poet and painter called John Lyons.

So when you are ready, let's learn a bit about him.

In today's lesson outcome, you are going to be recalling key information about the poet John Lyons.

The key words for today are my turn, and then your turn, poet poem, and John Lyons.

What does poet mean? A poet is a writer who uses verse to convey emotions.

A poem is a piece of writing that uses creative and rhythmic language to express thoughts, feelings, or ideas.

And John Lyons is an English poet who has written numerous poems, often exploring themes of nature, love, and the human experience.

In today's lesson, you are going to be learning about who John Lyons is, and then you are going to look at some of John Lyons poetry collections.

So let's learn about John Lyons.

John Lyons is a poet.

A poet is someone who does all of these, creates poems, writes and sometimes performs poetry, expresses ideas, thoughts and feelings, uses language to express themselves in a creative or artistic way, draws inspiration from the world around them.

And a poet is someone who loves using and speaking language.

True or false? All poets write about nature.

Is this true? Or is this false? Pause the video and have a think.

Get ready to point with me in 3, 2, 1.

This is false.

Yeah.

Poets can cover a wide range of topics beyond nature, not just about nature.

Or poets only draw inspiration from nature.

And that's it.

Yes, poets can cover a wide range of topics.

John Lyons is a painter, writer, and a prize-winning poet.

Much of John Lyons' work draws on themes linked with Caribbean folklore and mythology.

As a painter and poet, John Lyons feels an intuitive that means a natural link between painting and poetry together.

Let's see where John Lyons is from originally.

John Lyons was born in 1933 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Let's have a look to see where Trinidad is.

Trinidad and Tobago is a country made up of two islands.

Can you see on the map? I've circled it in purple.

Very close to Venezuela.

He was born in the Port-of-Spain.

If you have a look at the zoomed in map of Trinidad and Tobago.

Port-of-Spain is now circled in purple there.

Here are some facts about John Lyons.

He has three siblings.

He moved to Tobago to live with his grandmother after his mother died when he was nine.

So Tobago is there, circled it on the map, very close to Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago make up that one country.

He became an avid reader, often losing himself in books by Arthur Conan Doyle, and other writers he could get a hold of in the local library.

He was always, always reading when he was young.

He returned to Trinidad to live with his father and stepmother in 1948.

Where was John Lyons born and brought up? Was it in England and Wales, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela or Puerto Rico? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so get ready to point with me in 3, 2, 1.

Get your fingers ready.

3, 2, 1, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Well done.

Now John Lyons came to the UK in 1959.

So if I do my maths correctly, he was born in 1933.

So he was 26 when he came to live in the United Kingdom.

And he came here to study at Goldsmith's College.

And there is a picture of Goldsmith's College, very grand building.

Then after that he thought, "Oh, I want to do a bit more studying." And he then went to Newcastle upon time.

And there it was there that he gained an art teacher's diploma at the University of Newcastle upon time.

And this was in 1965.

True or false, John Lyons studied English literature at Newcastle University.

I wonder if you remember if that's true or false? Pause the video and have a little think.

Okay, so the answer is the false.

Do you remember what he studied at Newcastle University? John Lyons wanted to teach English as a specialist subject.

Did he? Or John Lyons trained to teach art as a specialist subject? Think back to what he is now.

He is a poet and he's also a painter.

Exactly.

So he went to university to learn how to teach art as a specialist subject.

John Lyons has exhibited paintings since the 1960s.

He's published eight poetry collections.

Show me eight with your fingers.

The first one was in 1989.

And the most recent one that was published is called "Dancing in the Rain." And I've got a copy here.

And this was published in 2015.

He has won many prizes and awards including the Windrush Arts Achiever Award.

Now I'm going to do an I do.

And then we do.

Choose your fact subheadings for a fact file.

So for example, if you want to write a fact about him, you need to have his name.

You might want to write about how many siblings he had, where he was born, where he was educated, and how many poetry collections he has.

You can choose your own fact subheading.

So now it's your turn to choose fact subheadings.

Pause the video and have a think about what facts you would like to know and remember about John Lyons.

Okay, so you would've started with his name.

You might wanna include the year he was born.

You might want to state the names of the colleges and universities that he attended.

You might want to tell us about his current job.

He's a poet, painter and writer, and you might want to name one of his poetry collections, "Dancing in the Rain." So now your task is to create a fact file about John Lyons.

I would like you to use these subheadings or use the ones that you have thought of yourself, but definitely start with his name.

You could write the country of origin.

You could have a little bit about his early life because we learned that he moved to Tobago when he was nine after his mother died.

And then he also then moved back to Trinidad to live with his dad and stepmother.

So those are things that you could maybe mention about his early life.

Education, we know he came to the United Kingdom, he went to two different, he went to a college, he went to a university.

And then you could say what he's famous for or you can come up with your own fact file subheadings.

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

Okay, shall we have a look at a fact file I created? So I've got my name of my person, John Lyons.

And I've said that his country of origin is Trinidad and Tobago.

In his early life he grew up with his three siblings.

When he was nine years old, he moved to his grandmother's place in Tobago.

For his education, he went to Goldsmiths College and Newcastle University.

And he's famous for his paintings and poetry.

Now we're onto the second part of this lesson.

John Lyon's poetry collections, how exciting.

These are some of John Lyon's poetry collections.

In 2009, he published a poetry collection called "Cook-up in a Trini Kitchen." And I think the clue is in the title of the collection, cook-up.

The Poems and Caribbean recipes.

And if you look at the front cover, you can see illustrations there about cookery.

In 2015, he wrote a poetry collection called "A Carib Being in Cymru." Can you say Cymru? And Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales.

So I would think that that poetry collection is about him and his experiences in Wales.

In 2015, he published this poetry collection, "Dancing in the Rain," which are poems for younger readers.

Here are some facts about "Dancing in the Rain" by John Lyons.

It's a collection of poems for younger readers.

It's written and illustrated by John Lyons.

It was shortlisted for the 2016 Centre of Illiteracy and Primary Poetry Award.

And it draws inspiration from Lyons childhood in Trinidad and Tobago.

And in particular, if you look through it, you'll see traditions of Carnival and Calypso.

Now Carnival is usually an annual festival involving processions, music, dancing, and sometimes a use of masquerade, which means that they wear masks and they have beautiful headpieces.

Calypso is a kind of West Indian.

Well, originally Trinidadian music with a sort of African rhythm.

And typically the words are improvised on a topical theme at the time.

Now, I would like us to watch and listen to John Lyons read, "Dancing in the Rain," a poem from his poetry collection entitled "Dancing in the Rain." Pay particular attention to his voice, style, and dialect when watching and listening.

"Dancing in the Rain" And that is really true.

We did dance in the rain as kids around five and six.

And even we were younger than that, right? "And there we are again.

We go dancing in warm rain.

When sky set up with clouds, nearly charcoal black.

Yard flap their wings and let out a crowing.

Loud, loud, and the wind vex, vex, blowing strong baring hen fowls' feathered bums. And everybody start grabbing clothes off the clothes line.

We know rain coming, then we hear it getting nearer rattling on galvanised tin roof.

And then the drops storm stinging hard, squealing, we pull off the clothes.

And there we are again.

We love dancing in the rain." <v ->What colour was used to describe the sky</v> and the clouds in the poem, "Dancing in the rain"? Was it fiery red, charcoal black or crystal blue? Pause the video and think back to his video.

Okay, the answer is charcoal black.

Yes.

And we would be able to guess that even if we hadn't read the poem or listened or watched the poem because it's about rain.

So when it rains, the sky turns very dark and greyish.

Now I'm going to read "Dancing in the Rain." And as I read it, I want you to think about this question.

What impression do you get of John Lyons and how he feels about the rain? Are you ready? "Dancing in the Rain." "And there we are again.

We go dancing in warm rain.

When sky set up with clouds nearly charcoal black, the yard cocks their wings and let out a crowing loud, loud, and the wind vex vex blowing strong, baring hen fowls' feathered bums. And everybody start grabbing clothes off the clothes line.

We know rain coming.

Then we hear it getting nearer rattling on galvanised tin roof.

And as it drops down, stinging hard, squealing, we pull off we clothes.

And there we again, we love dancing in the rain." So what impression do you get of John Lyons and how he feels about the rain? I think that John Lyons really like the rain because he uses words like warm, dancing, squealing, even though he describes the rain as being torrential, so quite heavy, and the wind being vexed, so the wind being angry.

But even then he still portrays an element of his enjoyment about the warm rain.

In your task, I would like you to reflect on what you have read so far.

Answer these questions with your partner.

Is there anything you like or dislike about the poem? And why? Are you puzzled or intrigued by anything? Do you want to know anything else? Does it make you think of something you've seen, you've read or you've heard recently, something similar, something different? Pause the video and complete Task B.

Okay, so hopefully you've had a really good discussion with your partner.

Is there anything you like or dislike about the poem? And why? Can you tell me? Great, thank you for sharing that.

Well, I liked how John Lyons describes everyone's response to the rain, the skies, the wind, everybody grabbing clothes off their lines.

I love being able to imagine what that looks like.

And was I puzzled or intrigued by anything? Did it make me think of something else I've seen or read or heard recently? Well, the text makes me think about the rain where I come from and how similar it is for me.

And I'm from Southeast Asia.

And the rain there is also very heavy and it's torrential.

And when it rains it's warm and it's fun to play in the rain.

Part two of Task B is write or create five questions that you would like to ask John Lyons.

Consider and think about what you notice in the poem, "Dancing in the Rain, as well as information we have learned about John Lyons within this lesson, the ways that you could start your questions are who, what, where, when, why, and how.

So five questions.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Okay, so these are the questions that I came up with.

So they'll be different from yours, but that's okay.

What do you miss the most about Trinidad and Tobago? I'd like him to answer that question for me.

How are the UK and Trinidad and Tobago similar? 'Cause there will be similarities or different, maybe there's lots of differences.

Which is your favourite poem from the collection and why? Or that's gonna be a really hard one for him to answer.

What aspect of nature do you love the most? Because he writes about nature and the natural world in his poems all the time.

I would like to know which aspect of nature does he love the most? And what will you write about next? What will be in his next poetry collection? To summarise, a poet uses language to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings in a creative way.

John Lyons is an English painter, writer, and prize-winning poet.

Many of his poems often explore themes of nature, love, and the human experience, and he draws on themes linked with Caribbean folklore and mythology.

John Lyons has won many prizes and awards, including the Windrush Arts Achiever Award.

I hope that you really enjoyed learning about the poet John Lyons today.

Goodbye.