Hello everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're doing really, really well.

My name is Ms. Afzal and I'm doing great today.

That's because we're going to be exploring some poetry, and I really love poetry, and I especially love this poet.

We're looking at the poetry of William Blake.

In particular, we are looking at one poem, which is called ""London"." So I am going to pause here.

I'd like you to pause the video while you go off, and find your copy of the poem, "London." I'll wait here for you.

Okay, you're back.

You've got a poem.

What else have you got? Have you got curiosity, enthusiasm, ideas, openness to explore? I really hope so.

Let's begin by exploring the poem, "London" by William Blake.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can perform the poem "London" by William Blake, learning some sections by heart.

We have some keywords in our lesson today.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

By heart, atmosphere, pace.

Great stuff.

I enjoyed hearing those.

Let's find out what these words mean.

By heart is to learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory.

Atmosphere.

Is the mood created in a section, or whole of a text? Pace is the speed or rhythm at which a poem is read or performed.

These are our key words.

Let's look out for them.

Let's listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about these words.

Our lesson today is performing the poem "London" by William Blake.

It has two parts to it.

First of all, learning a poem by heart, and next performing "London." Let's begin learning a poem by heart.

What do we know about the poet William Blake? Well, we can see him on our screen now.

We can see an image of him looking thoughtful, looking like he's considering this world that he lives in, and the city "London." William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker who was born in 1757 and died in 1827.

Blake published his poetry collection, "Songs of Experience" in 1794.

This collection contains the poem, "London." Blake's poetry often explores themes of innocence, and experience, human nature and spirituality.

He believed in social and racial equality.

Oh yes, William Blake was a romantic poet.

Romantic poets were often critical of industrialization, and valued the simplicity and purity of rural life.

Ooh, sounds nice, life in the countryside.

After we've taken time to understand a poem's meaning, imagery and structure, we can learn a poem off by heart.

By heart, one of our keywords means to learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory.

Learning poetry by heart is beneficial because it can strengthen your personal expression.

Knowing poetry by heart can improve your ability to express yourself.

It can improve your language skills.

You can expand your vocabulary, and develop your understanding of language.

Help you enhance your public speaking, and presentation skills.

Reciting poetry from memory can improve your diction, intonation, and confidence, and it can nurture a deeper appreciation for literature.

Memorising poetry allows you to engage with the text on a deeper level.

There are so many great reasons for us to learn poetry off by heart.

There are many ways to learn a poem off by heart.

These can include the following strategies.

Strategy 1, speak it.

Practising saying the poem aloud.

Strategy 2, hear it.

Listening to recordings of the poem.

Strategy 3, visualise it.

Linking illustrations or associated images with the poem.

Strategy 4, move with the poem using movement to support remembering the metre and flow of the poem.

Today we're going to be focusing on one of the strategies, moving with the poem, to support us in learning to perform the poem "London" by heart.

Check for understanding.

Match each strategy to its description.

Move with the poem, visualise it, speak it, hear it, and strategies and the descriptions of the strategies.

Linking illustrations or associated images with the poem.

Practising saying the poem aloud.

Listening to recordings of the poem.

Using our body to support remembering the metre, and flow of the poem.

Pause the video while you match each strategy to its description.

Did you link up move the poem with using our body to support remembering the metre and flow of the poem? Visualise it, is linking illustrations or associated images with the poem.

Speak it, is practising saying the poem aloud.

And hear it, listening to recordings of the poem.

Well done if you made these connections.

Physical movement alongside reading the poem can help us remember the metre and flow.

This method engages different areas of the brain.

We can walk out the poem by moving around an open space, turning each time you encounter punctuation that pauses or ends a sentence or line.

I'd like you now to refer to verse 1 of the poem.

What punctuation can you identify that pauses, or ends a sentence or line? So pause the video while you refer to verse 1 of the poem, and identify the punctuation that pauses or ends a sentence or line.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, so what did you come up with? Which punctuation did you identify? Did you spot the comma at the end of the first line inviting us to pause there? The full stop at the end of the second line.

And then finally the full stop at the end of the fourth line.

Each time you encounter punctuation that pauses or ends a sentence or line, you would change direction while walking if you are trying the walking out method.

And now I would like you to practise taking a poem for a walk with the following verses.

Remember to take care when walking and reading, and make sure you practise in a clear open space so that you're not bumping into anyone or anything.

So pause the video here while you read through each of these two verses while you walk.

And then you'll take a turn each time you encounter some punctuation that encourages you to pause.

Enjoy taking your poem for a walk.

I'll see you when you're finished.

So how did you get on with that? I hope you enjoyed your walk, taking your poem for a walk.

Let's find out how Sam got on.

"I really enjoyed walking to the beat of the poem.

It helped me recognise individual lines, and where I might pause in my final performance." Yeah, it could be really helpful when we explore the poem in a slightly different way.

Bringing movement into it can really help us recognise where to stop, where to pause, where to flow, and so on.

Hiding certain words in a poem engages readers in active retrieval practise, strengthening our memory recall.

We're now going to practise our memory recall skills focusing on the first two verses of "London." You may wish to reread the poem first to support you.

So pause the video here while you reread the poem, and then we'll get together and practise some memory recall.

Okay, you're back.

You've read the poem.

Now we're going to practise your recall of the poem by saying the missing words from the following verses.

And a little hint from Jacob.

"You might like to use the rhyme scheme to help you remember the missing words at the end of lines." "I wander thro' each charter'd street.

Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

And mark, in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe." Well done.

"In every cry of every man, in every infant's cry of fear.

In every voice, in every ban.

The mind-forg'd manacles I hear." Well done for identifying all of those missing words.

And maybe you used Jacob's tip of remembering that these are words that rhyme part of the ABAB rhyme scheme.

Okay, let's take it a step further.

This time Andeep is inviting us to this challenge.

Can you remember all of the rhyming words? Okay, so let's go for it.

We're gonna practise our recall of the poem by saying the missing words from the following two verses.

"I wander thro' each charter'd street.

Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

And mark, in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man, in every infant's cry of fear.

In every voice, in every ban, the mind forg'd manacles I hear." Well done.

That was a lot that you remembered there.

Eight words.

Fantastic job.

Okay, we are taking it further.

We have got even more missing words in these two verses.

What's Jin got to say? "You might like to use the repetition in the verses to support you in remembering longer parts of the poem." Okay, thank you, Jin.

Okay, are you ready? Let's do this.

Okay, limbering up.

Let's go for it.

"I wander thro' each charter'd street, near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man, in every infant's cry of fear, in every voice, in every ban, the mind-forg'd manacles I hear." All right.

How did you get on? Did you remember all those words? Well done whatever you remembered.

You're doing a great job.

Okay, we are really going for it here.

We have got four whole lines missing, and I'm gonna invite you to join in, and practise your recall of these words.

"I wander thro' each charter'd street, near where the charter'd Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet, marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man, in every infant's cry of fear.

In every voice, in every ban, the mind-forg'd manacles I hear." Very well done everyone for remembering those four lines of the poem.

And now it's time for your task.

It's time to recite the first two verses of the poem, "London." You could recite the poem to a partner or a small group, and you may wish to reread the poem first to support you.

So pause the video here, and have a go at reciting the first two verses of the poem, "London." Enjoy your poetry recital.

Great to be back with you.

Let's pause and reflect.

How did you get on? Did you recite the first two verses of the poem off by heart successfully? Did you enjoy the process? I really hope so.

Here's Izzy.

"I now feel much more confident, and will try performing the first two verses off by heart in my final performance." Wow.

Good for you, Izzy.

I'm so pleased.

And now we are onto performing "London." We're going to prepare to perform the poem "London." We've already explored some of the language, and imagery used in the poem, and thought about the impression, and atmosphere it creates.

This will help us to convey the meaning better as we perform.

Our use of voice can really affect the performance of the poem.

We must enunciate clearly.

So we're making all of the sounds in our words very clear so that the audience can understand us.

We can also vary our tone, and our volume to create different effects.

A loud volume could show excitement or intensity whilst a softer volume could show mystery.

I'd like you to reread the poem, and look out for sections that you think could be louder or quieter.

So pause the video here while you reread the poem, and really think carefully about which section could be louder or quieter.

Okay, well done really reading the poem one more time.

And I'm wondering why did you make the choices that you made in terms of being louder or quieter at certain points? So pause the video and share with someone nearby why you made those choices.

Okay, thank you for sharing.

And now I will read aloud using the following tones of voice.

With sadness and sympathy, and then with anger.

First of all, sadness and sympathy.

"I wander thro' each charter'd street near where the charter'd Thames does flow, and mark in every face I meet marks of weakness, marks of woe." Let me try it with anger.

"I wander thro' each charter'd street, near where the charter'd Thames does flow, and mark in every face I meet marks of weakness, marks of woe." Oh, that was quite affecting.

And now it's over to you.

I would like you to try reading a verse from "London" in the following ways.

So maybe you could take the first verse as I did, and first of all, have a go at reading it with sadness and sympathy.

Pause the video while you do this.

Okay, and now I'd like you to have a go at reading that same verse with anger.

Pause the video while you have a go at this.

Okay, so I'm wondering which tone of voice do you think best suited the poem? Pause the video to share with someone nearby.

Which tone of voice do you think best suited the poem? And you might want to use different tones for different verses depending on their content.

Performing with expression and emotion means showing the feelings and atmosphere of the poem through your performance.

It's about bringing the poem to life, and connecting with the audience on an emotional level.

You can use all the techniques we know to help you.

Rhythm and flow, pace, tone and volume, facial expressions, and body language.

You have got a lot in your toolkit.

Check for understanding.

Which phrases best describe the atmosphere of the poem, "London"? Happy and joyful, optimistic and hopeful, depressing, and despairing, sympathetic and sad.

Pause the video while you decide which phrases best describe the atmosphere of the poem, "London." Well done if you selected the the last two there.

Depressing and despairing and sympathetic and sad.

Here's Laura.

"You might like to vary the atmosphere in each verse.

Some may reflect different aspects of the city." Yeah, a really good point there.

Reread the poem looking for particular words, or phrases that convey this atmosphere.

Are there any specific words or phrases which help to create this depressing, and despairing atmosphere? Pause the video while you select these specific words or phrases.

And next, which words or phrases help create a sense of sadness or sympathy? Pause the video while you look for these words or phrases.

And now I would like you to read "London" with expression, and emotion.

Pause the video while you share with someone nearby your reading of "London" with expression and emotion.

Okay, how did you get on with that? Let's hear from Lucas.

"I emphasised the repetition of 'every' in the second verse to draw attention to the fact that it seems that everyone the speaker sees in "London" is suffering." Really great choice of where to place your emphasis there, Lucas.

And that really chimes with what Blake was trying to express.

And now it's time for your task.

I would like you to practise and then present your final performance of the poem.

You can perform the poem individually, in a pair, or in a group.

Think about rhythm and flow, use of your voice, showing expression and emotion.

So pause the video here while you practise, and then present your final performance of the poem "London" by William Blake.

I'll see you after your performance.

Okay.

How did it go? I am so curious.

How did you get on with your final performance? I'd like you to pause and reflect.

Did you vary the rhythm and flow of the poem? Did you speak clearly and vary your volume and pace? Did you use facial expressions or body movements? Did you enjoy performing? That is the main thing always, and every time.

I really hope so.

In our lesson today, performing the poem "London" by William Blake, we have covered the following.

After we've taken time to understand a poem's meaning, themes, and structure, we can learn a poem off by heart.

Learning poetry by heart offers a range of benefits both emotionally and academically.

Hiding certain words in a poem engages readers in active retrieval practise, strengthening our memory recall.

Understanding a poem, its language, and the impression it creates will help us to create an impactful performance.

We can improve our performances of poetry through practise.

We can improve our performances by considering the pace of the poem, the atmosphere it creates, and our own use of voice and movement.

Well done everyone for your incredible performances, and by learning some of this poem off by heart, what an incredible achievement.

I hope you're feeling proud of yourselves.

I'm certainly proud of you, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Bye for now.