Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's lesson with me, Ms. Chu.

In today's poetry lesson, we are going to be reading and responding to one of John Lyons' poems called, "Granny's Sugarcake".

Do you think you can take a big guess as to what the poem is about? Hmm.

It's in the title.

Shall we have a look? Let's get going.

Today's lesson outcome is I can read and respond to poems written by John Lyons, including the poem "Granny's Sugarcake".

The key words are here.

My turn and your turn.

Poem, structure, and language.

Well Done.

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

Structure in poetry refers to the way a poem is organised or put together, including elements such as stanzas, lines, rhyme scheme, and overall form.

Language includes the words, phrases, and techniques used by the poet to convey meaning, evoke emotions, and create imagery within the poem.

Today's lesson is split into two parts.

The first part is reading and responding to "Granny's Sugarcake".

And then in the second half of our lesson, we're going to be looking at structure and language in "Granny's Sugarcake".

So when you are ready, let's start reading and responding.

"Dancing in the Rain" by John Lyons is a collection of poems for younger readers.

It was written and illustrated by John Lyons and was shortlisted for the "2016 Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award".

It draws inspiration from John Lyons' childhood in Trinidad and Tobago.

Here is a quote from John Lyons' publisher, Peepal Tree Press.

"A breath of Caribbean fresh air, these poems are humorous, beautifully crafted, and perfectly pitched to their audience, though readers of any age will enjoy his painterly use of language.

Lyons conjures up vivid images, situations, and emotions which appeal both for their universality and their newness as he examines and comments upon the world around him with wit and empathy." I hope that quote has inspired you to read his poems. Let's learn a little bit about John Lyons.

Well, John Lyons is from Trinidad and Tobago.

Can you say Trinidad? Tobago? And if you have a look at the map, where do you think it might be? Well, I can see the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and a little bit of Venezuela.

So, they are two islands.

They are made up of two islands off the country of Venezuela, off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea.

In Trinidad and Tobago, people there speak lots of different languages, but their local dialect is Patois or Creole.

Their dialect is influenced by English, French, and African languages.

So why is this important to know? Because in some of John Lee Lyons poems, the words may be unfamiliar to you, but some of them sound like English, and this is just what makes poetry so exciting.

Learning about other people's languages, dialects and traditions of where they come from.

I'm going to have a go at reading "Granny's Sugarcake".

Are you ready? "Sugarcake! Sugarcake! Ah chile sweetie ting, a Trini granny could mek.

She grate de coconut, put sugar in ah hot pot.

When it bubble-up like crazy, she stir in de coconut; den she drop in some clove, ah piece of cinnamon, an few drops ah vanilla.

She screwin up she face, keepin she yeye pon it.

She stirrin it, she stirrin it an she whole body shakin-up; ah tellin yuh, meh Granny got riddum.

Wen de sugarcake ready, she spoon it out on greaseproof paper, an is den meh mout begin to water but de look meh Granny gimmeh tell meh ah got to wait fuh it to cool down good.

Sugarcake! Sugarcake! How ah love de sugarcake meh Granny does mek." Did you enjoy that? I really enjoyed reading that poem.

You can see here that the illustration is by John Lyons, and that must be him when he was young.

And then that's a picture or an illustration of his granny.

Now I would like you to watch John Lyons read, "Granny's Sugarcake".

Enjoy <v ->"Granny's Sugarcake".

</v> Oh, sugarcake is something I loved when I was a child and I was always there when she was making the sugarcake because when you grated the coconut, you have to grate the coconut to make sugarcake, it got to the tiny bits where you can't grate anymore, and that was the bit I was waiting for.

I used to eat those little bits and it brings it all back to me.

I mean to say this is what poetry's all about because it's about memory, it's also about observation, it's fun.

"Granny's Sugarcake".

"Sugarcake! Sugarcake! Ah chile sweetie ting a Trini granny could mek: She grate de coconut, put sugar in ah hot pot.

When it bubble-up like crazy she stir in de coconut; den she drop in some clove, ah piece of cinnamon, an few drops ah vanilla.

She screwin up she face, keepin she yeye pon it.

She stirrin it, she stirrin it an she whole body shakin-up; ah tellin yuh, meh Granny got riddum.

Wen de sugarcake ready, she spoon it out on greaseproof paper, an is den meh mout begin to water but de look meh Granny gimmeh tell meh ah got to wait fuh it to cool down good.

Sugarcake! Sugarcake! How ah love de sugarcake meh Granny does mek." <v ->True or false.

</v> "Granny's Sugarcake" is based on real life events in his childhood.

Think back to John Lyons talking about the poem, "Granny's Sugarcake".

Was it based on a real life event or events? Pause the video and just have a really good think.

So the answer is true.

John Lyons watched his granny make sugarcake when he was a boy or John Lyons has never seen his granny make sugarcake.

Well, I know the answer is A, he always loved watching his granny make sugarcake when he was a boy because he would like to eat the little scraps of coconut that were left over after she grated most of it in.

He said that there was always a small little piece of coconut left and he would pounce upon it and have that as his little treat.

I would like you to rewatch John Lyons reading "Granny's Sugarcake".

This time, refer to the poem in front of you as he is reading it.

You can use your finger and just follow the words as he is reading.

<v ->"Granny's Sugarcake".

</v> Now, sugarcake is something I loved when I was a child and I was always there when she was making the sugarcake because when you grated the coconut, you have to grate the coconut to make sugarcake, it got to the tiny bits where you can't grate anymore, and that was the bit I was waiting for.

I used to eat those little bits and it brings it all back to me.

I mean to say this is what poetry's all about because it's about memory, it's also about observation, it's fun.

"Granny's Sugarcake".

"Sugarcake! Sugarcake! Ah chile sweetie ting a Trini granny could mek: She grate de coconut, put sugar in ah hot pot.

When it bubble-up like crazy she stir in de coconut; den she drop in some clove, ah piece of cinnamon, an few drops ah vanilla.

She screwin up she face, keepin she yeye pon it.

She stirrin it, she stirrin it an she whole body shakin-up; ah tellin yuh, meh Granny got riddum.

Wen de sugarcake ready, she spoon it out on greaseproof paper, an is den meh mout begin to water but de look meh Granny gimmeh tell meh ah got to wait fuh it to cool down good.

Sugarcake! Sugarcake! How ah love de sugarcake meh Granny does mek." <v ->Now we're gonna do an I do, we do.

</v> And I'm going to start, first, I'm going to respond to the poem by thinking about these questions.

What do you like about the poem? What did you dislike about the poem? Do you have any questions? And what did it remind you of? Okay, so I'm going to refer to the poem as I'm doing this just so I can think about those questions.

What did I like about the poem? There's loads of things I like about the poem.

I love how he repeats sugarcake, sugarcake.

And he says again at the end, and it just shows me that he really loved eating his granny's sugarcake.

There's an element of excitement there.

Did I dislike anything about the poem? No, I actually, I don't dislike anything about the poem.

If anything, I like loads of things about the poem.

I also love how he wrote the poem in a way that meant that the reader could follow the way he would say the poem, or say the words in the poem.

Do I have any questions? Maybe a question about how often his granny would make sugarcake.

Would it be every weekend, every day? What did it remind me of? Well, it reminded me of when my mom used to make us Kuih, which is a sweet treat that we would have in Malaysia.

Now it's your turn to respond to the poem.

You are going to think about the answers to these questions.

What did you like about the poem? What did you dislike about the poem? Do you have any questions? And what did it remind you of? So pause the video and have a go at doing this.

Okay, so would you like to share some of your responses to me? And what did you dislike? Is there anything you disliked or do you have any questions? Well, brilliant.

Here are some other answers you could have said.

I liked that there were unfamiliar words in the poem.

It made me wonder what they meant and it reminded me of another poem I know about food.

Now it's your turn to read "Granny's Sugarcake".

You can read it on your own or you can read it with your partner.

Take turns.

Remember to read with expression.

This will help bring the poem to life.

There are some key things to remember about reading aloud.

You've got to use an expressive voice.

Think back to how John Lyons read his poem.

Think about using volume.

You don't want it to be too soft and low, quiet.

You want might want to emphasise some key words.

So for example, you might wanna say, "Sugarcake! Sugarcake!" And remember to use facial expressions to show excitement, happiness, joy.

So pause the video now and have a go at reading "Granny's Sugarcake".

True or false? A reader should use a quiet and flat voice when they are reading aloud.

Pause the video and think about whether this is true or false.

Well, the answer is obviously false.

The reader should use an expressive voice in reading aloud, or the reader does not need to use an expressive voice in reading aloud.

Well, of course, the reader should use an expressive voice.

Shouldn't be quiet so we can't hear them and it can't be flat and boring.

Needs to engage the audience.

Task A.

Reread the poem, "Granny's Sugarcake" with expression.

Remember to use the reading aloud tips that I gave you.

Use an expressive voice, think about volume, place emphasis on keywords, and remember your facial expressions.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Okay, so remember when we are reading with expression, we need to check that we are using these reading aloud tips.

Did you use an expressive voice? Did you? Hope so.

Did you vary your volume? Hmm.

Did you emphasise any keywords? Yes, I saw some of you doing that actually.

Well done.

And did you use facial expressions? Yes, I saw lots of wonderful happy faces.

Now we are onto the second part of our lesson, structure and language in "Granny's Sugarcake".

Verses refer to a group of lines in a poem.

They can also be referred to as stanzas.

Let's have a look at what the lines are in this poem, "Granny's Sugarcake".

So each one of those that's underlined is a line in a poem.

And each group of line is a verse.

So you can see here, there's verse one, verse two.

What are verses in a poem? Are they the singular words in the poem, groups of lines, or is it the punctuation in the poem? Pause the video and have a think about what the answer is.

Okay, so verses in a poem are groups of lines.

Well done.

How many verses? I'm gonna check that.

You know this.

How many verses are there in this poem? Can you count? Pause the video, count them, and then let's check.

Okay, you ready to check? There are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Did you get six? There are six verses of varying lengths.

Can you see? They're not all the same lengths of lines.

The first one has 1, 2, 3, 4.

And then the last one also has 1, 2, 3, 4.

So those two have the same number of lines, and then the rest are varied.

Rhyme is the use of similar or the same sounds in words, usually at the end of lines.

Rhyming words create a musical quality within the poem enhancing flow.

Repetition involves repeating the same words for emphasis and rhythm.

Let's look at "Granny's Sugarcake" and see if there's any rhyme in this poem.

Let's start off by looking at the first two verses.

So we are looking at the last word at the end of each line.

So we've got cake, cake, ting, mek.

Yes, I guess you could say cake and mek do rhyme.

Coconut, pot, crazy, nut, clove, cinnamon, vanilla.

No rhyme there.

So I guess you would say that there's no particular rhyming pattern or structure in "Granny's Sugarcake".

What about repetition? So I need to look for the poet repeating the same words where he's got sugarcake, sugarcake.

There, he's repeating sugarcake almost as if he's so excited and he can't wait for his granny to make sugarcake.

And then in the other verses, "she's stirrin it, she's stirrin it" is repeated, and meh Granny meh Granny.

Meh Granny's repeated, 1, 2, 3 times.

Sugarcake, 1, 2, 3, 4 more times.

True or false? Rhyme is the same as repetition.

Pause the video and have a think.

The answer is false.

Rhyme involves repeating the same words for emphasis and rhythm or rhyme is the use of similar or the same sounds in words usually at the end of lines? Yes.

It's to do with similar or the same sounds.

Rhyme is to do with sounds.

Repetition means repeating.

Punctuation like commas, full stops, dashes or ellipses can affect the rhythm, pace and interpretation of the poem.

Let's have a look at the punctuation in this poem, "Granny's Sugarcake".

So straight away I can see that he's used an exclamation mark after sugarcake and then sugarcake again, which shows me that he's what? What emotion is it? Yeah, I would say it's excitement.

"Sugarcake! Sugarcake!" I can hear, it's almost like he's shouting it.

It's like he can't wait for his granny to make it.

And then if I look through the other verse, I can see that he's used a comma, full stop, a semicolon and then commas again.

There's no particular format, there's no particular structure as to how he uses the punctuation in this poem.

Let's look at the other verses.

Yeah, so again, he has commas, full stops, semicolons, and then at the end, he's got an exclamation mark again for sugarcake, after sugarcake, sugarcake.

What is the purpose of punctuation in a poem? Is it to accompany that means go with the illustrations? Is it to affect the rhythm, flow and meaning of a poem? Or is it to tell the reader what the words mean if you don't know what the words mean? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, yeah.

So you are right.

It is to affect the rhythm, flow and meaning of a poem.

A word that is often referred to in poetry is theme.

Can you say theme? Theme.

Great.

Theme is a noun and theme is the subject topic or main idea of a piece of art or literature.

Themes can be diverse and they can encompass a wide range of subjects from love, nature, and family to emotions or your own personal experiences.

This is how the word theme is used in a sentence.

"Nature was the main theme of the poetry collection." We're going to do a quick check for understanding what is the poem "Granny's Sugarcake" about? I think you know by now.

Can you summarise the poem? You just tell me in one sentence, what it's about and what are the main themes or theme in this poem? Pause the video and have a think.

Make sure you refer to the text.

This is what I think.

I think it's about how much he loves his granny's sugarcake.

I thought that was quite obvious in the way he talks about sugarcake.

And I would say the main themes of this poem are family, because he's with his granny and he really shows that he really enjoys being in her company.

It's about his relationship with his granny and how close he is and how they work together to make sugarcake and a sense of belonging.

I think he's really proud of where he comes from.

And so he likes to talk about his childhood and what his granny used to do and he likes to remember those things.

Let's now look at the language in "Granny's Sugarcake".

I have circled a few of the words that I thought what looked and sounded unfamiliar to me.

In the third line, if you count 1, 2, 3, "Ah chile sweetie ting," is a child's sweetie thing.

"A Trini granny could mek:" is a Trinidad granny could make.

And why do you think he's written the poem using those words? Well, that's to do with his dialect, isn't it? He's trying to write it the way he would say it.

Some of the other words that he's written in his dialect I've circled as well are de, ah, and den.

Then there are other words that you might not know.

So for example, clove, cinnamon, and vanilla are all, what do you think you know? Could you say it to me? Yeah, that's right.

They're spices and they look like this.

And those are cloves and cinnamon looks like this, and that is vanilla.

And usually we use these spices when we're cooking or baking.

It could be in sweet things or also in savoury food.

Let's look at the other verses.

"She screwin up she face, keepin she yeye pon it." "yeye pon it," keeping her eyes on it.

"Keeping she yeye pon it." "An she whole body shakin-up." So shaken up.

Her whole body is moving.

So that shows me that she's shaking vigorously.

"Ah tellin yuh," is I am telling you.

"Meh Granny got riddum." So riddum is the same as rhythm "An is den meh mout," so that means then my mouth begins to water.

"But de look meh Granny gimmeh." Gimmeh, gives me.

"Fuh it to cool down good." So fuh is for, for it to cool down.

So he's not allowed to eat any of it until it's fully cooled down.

And the last verse, "Sugarcake! Sugarcake! How ah love de sugarcake." I love the sugarcake.

I would like you now to re-watch John Lyons reading "Granny's Sugarcake".

He does it in such a brilliant way.

This time, focus on his style and his dialect.

<v ->"Granny's Sugarcake".

</v> Now, sugarcake is something I loved when I was a child and I was always there when she was making the sugarcake because when you grated the coconut, you have to grate the coconut to make sugarcake, it got to the tiny bits where you can't grate anymore, and that was the bits I was waiting for.

I used to eat those little bits and it brings it all back to me.

I mean to say this is what poetry's all about because it's about memory, it's also about observation, it's fun.

"Granny's Sugarcake." "Sugarcake! Sugarcake! Ah chile sweetie ting a Trini granny could mek: She grate de coconut, put sugar in ah hot pot.

When it bubble-up like crazy she stir in de coconut; den she drop in some clove, ah piece of cinnamon, an few drops ah vanilla.

She screwin up she face, keepin she yeye pon it.

She stirrin it, she stirrin it an she whole body shakin-up; ah tellin yuh, meh Granny got riddum.

Wen de sugarcake ready, she spoon it out on greaseproof paper, an is den meh mout begin to water but de look meh Granny gimmeh tell meh ah got to wait fuh it to cool down good.

Sugarcake! Sugarcake! How ah love de sugarcake meh Granny does mek." <v Ms. Chu>Which theme stands out to you</v> as the reader as being most important throughout the poem and why? You may also identify your own theme and discuss that.

This is task B.

Here are some scaffolds that you can use in your discussion.

I think the theme of family is most important because, (hums).

I think the theme of relationships is most important because (hums).

And I think the theme of food is most important because, (hums).

Make sure you have the poem in front of you as you are discussing this with your partner.

Pause the video and complete task B.

Some really excellent discussions I could hear going on.

Let's have a look at what I thought.

I think the theme of family is most important because it shows how close John Lyons and his granny are.

I think the theme of relationships is most important because in the poem, John Lyons and his granny bond over making sugarcake.

And also I could say, I think the theme of food is most important because it showcases the traditional food from Trinidad and Tobago.

Remember, a personal response will often be influenced by your own experiences and what you can relate to emotionally and also what inspires you.

In summary, reading poems can bring about joy, pleasure, and appreciation for many kinds of poets.

Reading and rereading poems lead to a richer response and a greater understanding of a language within them.

A theme is a big idea, topic, or message that recurs in a poem.

Engaging in conversations about poems allows us to make connections with our own lives and the world around us.

Readers can interpret a poem, its themes and its meaning in different ways.

I loved reading and responding to John Lyons' poem, "Granny's Sugarcake".

I really hope that you enjoyed this lesson too.

Goodbye.