Hello, everybody, and a really warm welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Halliday and I will be teaching you today.

In today's lesson, we are going to be reading and discussing Imtiaz Dharker's fantastic poem "Living Space," and I can't wait to see what you make of it.

For today's lesson, you will require a copy of your Eduqas Poetry Anthology, which looks like this.

So if you haven't got it in front of you, please can you pause the video and run to get it.

Fantastic, you've got it, so let's get started.

So today's poem is called "Living Space," and by the end of today you will be able to understand how Dharker presents the community's resilience in the poem "Living Space." But first, here are some keywords that you will need to unlock today's learning, starting with that word resilience.

Now, resilience means the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, and this might require a person to be really resourceful or demonstrate their resourcefulness.

And resourcefulness means the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties.

Some of these difficulties may be things like social inequality, and social inequality is the unequal distribution of wealth and/or opportunities within society.

Now, we're going to be talking a lot about slums in today's lesson, and a slum is an overcrowded street or district inhabited by people in poverty.

And the communities that live in these slums have found really miraculous solutions to many of the issues that they face in living in these slums, and miraculous means extremely surprising or difficult to believe.

If you'd like to take a moment to pause the video and jot any of these keyword definitions down, then please feel free to do that now.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're gonna to start by reading the poem and then we're going to move on in the second half of the lesson to discussing Dharker's message.

But first of all, let's look at reading the poem to begin with.

So we're gonna begin today's lesson, as always, with a quick discussion, and I'd like you to consider the following: are a house and a home the same thing? Why or why not? Now, this discussion can be done either with the people around you, or if you don't have access to a discussion partner in today's lesson, that's absolutely fine because you can just consider this question independently by either thinking about it in your head or jotting some ideas down if you have paper in front of you.

But I'd like you now to pause the video while you have a go at discussing those questions.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and it was fantastic to see many of you offering your own interpretations of how you would distinguish between the word house and the word home.

So brilliant discussions and thank you so much for those.

I'd like you to think now, if we're saying that a house and a home are two different things, then what is it that makes a house a home? What can you do to transform one into the other? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you either consider that question with the people around you or think about it independently if that's how you've chosen to work today.

Pause the video before we share some ideas together.

Off you go.

Fantastic work, and really well done for those discussions, because you raised some really perceptive and insightful ideas there.

So Jun would like to offer his suggestions in terms of this discussion.

So Jun wanted to offer his perspective on this discussion, and he said, "For me, a house is just a kind of building; it's where some people live.

A home is a feeling or an atmosphere of comfort, safety, and security." And I think that this is a really fantastic way to distinguish between that word house and that word home.

So thank you to Jun there for distinguishing between the two.

And I think it's really important to recognise that actually a house and a home aren't necessarily the same thing and that people find their homes in many different kinds of structures, not just a physical house.

You know, we have flats, we have apartments, and we'll see a very different kind of home in the poem in just a moment.

So I think it's really important for us to distinguish that a house does not necessarily mean a home, and equally a home does not necessarily mean a house.

So thank you very much and well done if that came out in your discussions.

So the poem today that we're going to be reading is called "Living Space," and I'd like to just think about that title in a little bit more detail and look at making some predictions about what the poem could be about based on its title, as that's a really good thing to do when approaching reading a poem for the first time.

So I'd like you to discuss now, well, what actually is a living space? And if you're struggling, you can split that phrase up into two words.

So what does living mean and what is a space? And finally, why might people's living spaces look slightly different? What kind of factors would influence the way in which a person's living space would look? Again, this can be done as a discussion with people around you or you can consider those questions independently if that's how you're working today.

But again, I'd like you to pause the video while you go and discuss those now.

Fantastic discussions and really well done, and many of you were agreeing with what Jun says, which is that a living space could be the space where a person lives, so in other words, their home.

And Same adds, "Well, I think that a living space is a place that is alive with people." It's a sort of community or a hub of some kind.

And these are both really valid suggestions.

So thank you very much to our Oak pupils for putting those forward.

So in terms of why people's living spaces might look different, well, I heard many of you talking about the differences in cultural living and the way that different cultures choose to live their lives.

But also some of you were kind of alluding to this idea that wealth would play a role in how different people's living spaces would look.

So thank you very much for considering those factors.

They will all be really useful in today's lesson and to your understanding of the poem.

So here are two very different living spaces.

We've got a and b, and what I'd like you to think now is, well, which living space do you think would be safest and why? And what might it be like to live in both of these spaces, and again, why? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while again you discuss this with the people around you or consider it independently if that's how you've chosen to work today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions and really well done! Thank you very much for your suggestions.

And in terms of feedback, I think the general consensus was that actually, both of these living spaces would provide a very different way of life and that neither one is necessarily better than the other, it's just two very different ways of living.

So thank you very much for those suggestions.

I really appreciate your contributions there.

So what we're going to do now is read the poem through in full.

So I'd like you to open up your Eduqas Anthology to the page that has "Living Space" on it and get ready to follow along with me.

We're going to read the poem and then we're going to discuss some of the key ideas and moments in the poem in more detail.

Now, please remember that poetry is designed to be read aloud.

So if at all possible, it would be brilliant if you were able to read this poem aloud.

Now, clearly, if you are in a really busy room, that might not be as possible for you.

However, if you are working alone or you're working in a quiet environment, then please do take the opportunity to read the poem out loud, as this will really enhance your understanding of it, because a good reading of the poem equals a good understanding of the poem.

So it is really important that you read this poem to the absolute best of your ability.

Now, in order to do that, I'm going to give you some tips as to how to read this poem, starting with paying really close attention to the writer's use of punctuation or lack thereof.

Okay, as you're reading, you need to be looking at what punctuation is coming up and making sure that you adjust the pace that you're reading at, but also the tone of voice that you're using to read the poem to match the punctuation.

As I said, pace and tone are so important in reading poetry, and in fact, and aiding your understanding of what that poem is about.

So it is super important that you pay really close attention to the poet's use of punctuation.

So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video while you go and read this poem.

If you have time to read it more than once, then please do that.

If you don't, then make sure that your first reading is fantastic by paying really close attention to the writer's use of punctuation.

Pause the video and off you go to read the poem.

I hope you enjoy it.

Fantastic reading, and it was great to see so many of you thinking so carefully about the tone of voice you were using when you were reading this poem.

So really well done there.

Now, reading a poem for the first time can be really challenging and it can be really difficult to try and establish exactly what the poem is about from the very first reading.

So here are some questions that you can ask yourself to help you gauge a basic understanding of your own personal response to the poem, but start to think about what that poem might actually be about.

So I'd like you to ask yourselves the following questions.

What are your first impressions of the poem? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Why, why not? How did the poem make you feel, and again, why did it make you feel that way? And finally, what do you think that the poem might be about? So as I said, these are really useful questions to ask yourself whenever you're reading any poem for the first time.

So we're going to answer those questions now, and you can either do that in groups through discussion or you can consider them independently if you are working alone.

So I'd like you to pause the video while you have a go at answering those questions now.

Fantastic work, and it was so lovely to see so many of you saying how much you enjoyed reading this poem and how much you like it.

I'm really glad you like it because I also think it's brilliant.

So thank you for those contributions and let's move on on.

So I just wanted to check your understanding of the poem before we move on to looking at some key moments and ideas.

Which living space do you think best reflects the one that has been described in the poem? Is it a or is it b? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

And a massive congratulations if you correctly selected b.

I think we all got that right, which is brilliant 'cause it shows that we all have a really good understanding of what the poem is about then.

Well done.

So let's move on to having some more discussions and conversations about this poem.

So I'd like you to look again at stanza one, and I'd like you to think, well, what do you think is being described in stanza one? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you re-read that stanza and discuss with the people around you or consider it independently what exactly it is that you think is being described in stanza one.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic and really well done if you manage to, like Sam, identify that it sounds as if the speaker is describing some unsafe buildings within a community of some kind.

So really well done if you got that and an extra well done if you managed to establish that this environment doesn't seem particularly safe.

So I'm going to invite you now to consider why you think Sam has this impression that the structures are in some way unsafe.

And I would like you to go through the poem and highlight any words that are suggestive of the fact that these structures are not quite safe.

So again, you can do this on your anthology, or if you don't want to annotate your anthology just yet, you can just bullet point some of those words and phrases that you think contribute to this idea of the buildings being unsafe.

I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at doing that and before we share some ideas together.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic work, really well done, and great to see so many of you diving straight into your anthology and starting to annotate and highlight.

That's really conscientious of you, so well done.

So here are some of the words that you might have selected.

Now, this is not an exhaustive list.

You may in fact have got more words than this.

These are just some suggestions of some of the words you might have selected.

The word problem, balance, thrust, leans, crookedly, clutch, dangerously, and miraculous, our keyword of the lesson.

So I'd like you to look at these words again and I'd like you to think, well, what issues might living in a home that could be described as any of these words might create? And I'd like you to think about the different times of year and what challenges those different times of year might bring to somebody who is living in a structure like this.

So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video.

Feel free to discuss this with other people or consider it independently, whichever works best for you.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and really well done as I heard many of you discussing this idea that actually a structure like this really wouldn't provide safety, security, or comfort.

Rain and damp might be a real problem if there are any open or exposed seams, as we're told there are in the poem in the structures of these buildings.

Now, in terms of the supports that underpin the structures, if these are just balanced, then high winds or any kind of natural disasters would destroy these buildings very, very quickly.

So that shows how kind of dangerous these structures might be.

And finally, the buildings are very likely to be dangerous if nothing in them is built securely.

So this is not the kind of environment that would be safe for children to play in, okay? There's lots of hazards in this environment.

You know that might cause harm, so therefore there would be quite a lot of challenges living in a building or a structure like this that has these issues.

So really well done if that came through in your discussions.

So I'd like you now to re-read lines 11 to 22, and I'd like you to discuss, well, how do you think the speaker feels about the people in this community who live in these structures? So again, you can do this as a discussion or you can think about it independently, but what I'm really looking for here is for you to be able to identify the writer's attitude and perspective on these communities.

So that's what I'm looking for here.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a think about how the writer feels towards these people living in these structures.

Pause the video and off you go.

Again, some fantastic discussions.

Really, really well done.

And what I'd like to do is share a response from our Oak pupil Sam, and Sam says, "I get the sense that the speaker admires the resilience of the people living in these conditions." And remember that that word resilience means ability to withstand and overcome difficult or challenging circumstances.

So what I'd like you to think now is, well, which word on line 14 might indicate the speaker's admiration for these people? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you re-read line 14 and identify one word that shows the speaker's admiration for these communities.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic work, and well done as many of you correctly selected the word dared.

And as Sam points out, it was that word dared that gave them that impression.

Okay, we know that if someone dares to do something, it suggests that they're taking some kind of risk, which again shows the way in which these people have overcome the challenges that they might face living in this community and have been able to thrive in this community.

So really well done if you got that word dared.

It definitely conveys the speaker's admiration for these communities.

So what I'd like to do now is check your understanding, which of the following words shows the community's resourcefulness? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you read the different answer options and select the one that you think really exemplifies the community's resourcefulness.

And remember that resourcefulness means ability to find solutions to problems or challenges.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic, and well done if you selected b, squeezed.

The fact that people have squeezed homes into these tiny, tiny spaces shows us their resourcefulness, because it shows us that they are finding ways to overcome the challenges that they have been faced with.

So really well done if you identified it was that verb squeezed.

Which brings us onto the first task of the lesson where I'd like to consider one of the key themes of the poem in more detail, and that's faith.

So on the last line, the speaker references this idea of faith, and I'd like you to discuss and make notes on the following questions using evidence from the text to support your opinions.

So you will still need to have your anthology open as you're completing this task.

First of all, I'd like you to define the word faith.

So what is faith? What does it look like? I'd then like you to think, well, in this poem specifically, who or what is it that has faith? I'd then like you to think, well, why might faith be so, so important to this community specifically? So as I said, you are discussing and making notes on these questions.

Those notes can be made in your anthology as annotations or they can be made on lined paper or in your book, whatever you've got in front of you.

Pause the video and off you go to discuss and make notes on those questions now.

Fantastic discussions, really well done, and here are some ideas that you might have raised.

And in fact, I did hear many of you raise these ideas, so a huge well done.

So first of all, many of you said that having faith means having hope, and you're absolutely right.

Faith is this belief that things will turn out okay or well.

Now, in the poem, the eggs are described as holding light and faith, and perhaps these are representative of the hope and faith of new beginnings or opportunities for the people who are living in these really challenging conditions.

Now, Dharker, the poet, illustrates that despite the challenges that these communities face, they still have an abundance of hope and faith, which is really important, because that hope and faith is arguably what human beings need in their lives in order to continue surviving and thriving, just like these communities do.

And finally, faith is shown to unite the community and keep them really strong and resilient.

So really well done if you got this idea that faith is really important in this poem to this community because it gives them hope and it unites them together.

So well done.

So we're onto the second part of the lesson now where we're going to learn a little bit more about Dharker and we're going to consider her message in the poem.

So Imtiaz Dharker was born in Pakistan in 1954.

She was brought up in Scotland though.

So what I'd like you to consider now is what kind of socio-political topics might Dharker be really interested in based on the small amount of information that I've given you about her? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you try to predict what kinds of things Dharker might be really interested in.

Again, this can be done as a discussion or you can consider it independently, whatever works best for you today.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and it was great to hear many of you speculating that Dharker's multicultural existence might have provided her both opportunities, but also challenges.

Dharker has spoken openly about her experience of belonging to more than one cultural identity, but she says that this isn't something that she struggles with, but rather it's something that she believes has really enriched her life.

And also, Dharker, having spent lots of her adult life between London and Mumbai, has, fortunately for her, experienced lots of different cultures, which is a real advantage and a real opportunity to her.

And finally, in her text, Dharker often writes about identity, but also human strength over adversity, as perhaps this is something that she has witnessed throughout her life.

So really, really well done if you got those ideas.

Brilliant predictions.

So this poem is inspired by the slums in Mumbai, the Dharavi slums. And I'd like you to discuss now, well, what is a slum? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you discuss anything you might already know about the slums, or if you don't know anything, try and recall what you learned at the beginning of the lesson about what a slum is.

So again, this can be done as a discussion or you can consider it independently.

Pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and well done to those of you like Jun who remembered that a slum is an overcrowded and overpopulated street or district that is inhabited by people in poverty.

Now, what I'd like you to do is find a line or a word from the poem that illustrates that the slum is overcrowded.

So I'd like you to go back to your poem and have a look at where we can see the influence of the context in the poem.

So pause the video and off you go to find a word or phrase that shows us how overcrowded these slums are.

Off you go.

And really well done, as you might have selected that word squeezed.

Again, that verb squeezed illustrates that there might not be very much room within which people can build these structures and homes.

So really well done if you selected that verb.

So let's check for understanding before we move on.

True or false, Dharker has an intimate knowledge of Mumbai because she was born there.

I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you decide whether you think that is true or whether you think it's false.

Off you go.

Fantastic, and well done if you correctly selected false.

You're absolutely right.

What I'd like you to do now is justify your answer.

So I'd like you to read both justifications and decide which you think is the correct one for the statement being false.

Pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant work, and really well done if you correctly selected b.

Dharker, remember, was born in Pakistan, but she has an intimate knowledge of Mumbai because she actually lives there part-time as an adult.

Remember that she spends her time between Mumbai and London.

So really well done if you recalled that.

So here are some facts about the slums of Mumbai.

First of all, the slums are actually some of the most densely populated areas of India.

Many people migrate to the slums in hope of finding a better life in the city of Mumbai.

So they migrate from all over India into the slums of Mumbai so that they can thrive there and perhaps find new opportunities, new jobs, and make some income.

Now, slums are actually used as a waste dumping ground for various companies across Mumbai.

The slum areas are living spaces created out of all kinds of found materials, like corrugated sheets, wooden beams, and tarpaulin.

So what I'd like you to consider now is, well, how does the last fact, the fact that they're created out of all kinds of materials, show the community's resourcefulness? Again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you or consider it independently.

Off you go.

Fantastic work, and well done if you were able to identify that the buildings in the slum are constructed from any available materials.

So the community use the resources available to them innovatively and creatively to make their homes, which shows how resourceful they are, as they're able to find solutions to problems like not having a home by using what's around them and creating really impressive and architecturally interesting structures out of whatever they can find.

So really, really well done.

Now, in Mumbai, there are very, very rigid social infrastructures.

Okay, so there's very rigid social hierarchies, and there's a massive disparity between the rich and the poor in Mumbai.

In India, the richest 5% of people actually own over 60% of the country's wealth, which is quite crazy when you think about it.

And in Mumbai, the social inequality is very, very visible.

The city's corporate tower blocks overlook the slum, and if you look at pictures of Mumbai, you can actually see the slums in the foreground and the corporate tower blocks in the background looming over them.

So that social inequality is really evident.

So what I'd like you to discuss now is the fact that in the poem, the poet refers to a problem.

And I'd like you to think, well, what might the real problem in the poem be? So based on what you've just learned.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while again you consider that independently or consider it with people around you, however you're working today.

Pause the video and off you go.

And some people have interpreted this poem as a bit of a criticism of social inequality, as some people may argue that the real problem that's being presented to us in this poem is arguably the social inequality that has left millions of people living in unsanitary and unsafe conditions whilst the wealthy continue to live in safe luxury.

Now, that is one reading of the poem that some people have.

Now, of course, there are other interpretations of what this poem is about.

This is just one of them, and I thought it'd be interesting to share that interpretation with you today so that you can make up your own mind.

Now, Jun points out, "Well, I think that this poem is about hope." So Jun perhaps doesn't think it's about social inequality.

He thinks it's about hope.

And I'd like you to consider, well, to what extent do you agree with Jun? What or who has hope in this poem? So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you consider whether or not you agree with Jun, and then start to consider how you might evidence that by thinking about who or what has hope in the poem or doesn't have hope in the poem perhaps.

So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you or consider it independently.

Off you go.

Fantastic discussions, and it's brilliant to see so many of you with so many different ideas.

Now, here are two of our Oak students who wanted to contribute their ideas to this discussion.

So we'll start with Sam.

Sam says, "The community who inhabit the slums are united by their hope and faith in new opportunities and new prospects.

We know that lots of people migrate to Mumbai in hope of a better life." And Jacob adds, "Well, I think that Dharker celebrates the hope of these communities, as they have managed to find hope in really challenging circumstances and build not only structures, but prosperous lives too." And I think it's really important to note here that actually the people that live in these slums, they've created full lives, they've created their own economies, they've created their own ways of living and industries.

So they are thriving in these slums. And I think there is this misconception that the slums are kind of wasteland, that, you know, people don't want to live there.

And that's not true, because we've heard how people migrate to the slums from all over India.

And actually, those people who live in the slums are actually really proud of the slums and the industries and the organisations that they've kind of built from the slums. So the slum itself has become its own thriving community.

And that's really impressive, especially as these people, many of them arrive at the slums with absolutely nothing or very, very little, and they've really used whatever resources they have, even though they might be very little, to build themselves prosperous lives.

So that is kind of some of the ideas that we've had around hope.

And thank you to you for your suggestions, and again, thank you to our Oak pupils for their suggestions.

Brilliant work.

Which brings us nicely onto the last task of the lesson, and I'd like you to write a response to the question below.

What is Dharker celebrating in the poem? You can, when you're answering this question, use this sentence starter to help you if you want, but if you want to create your own sentence starter, you are absolutely more than welcome, and in fact, encouraged to do so.

So you could use this sentence starter.

Dharker's poem "Living Space" celebrates and champions what? Think about everything that we've learned this lesson, what we've learned about the slums, what we've learned about Mumbai, what we've learned about Dharker herself, and think about what it is that she's really trying to celebrate, showcase, and champion in this poem.

Now, when you're writing your response, please make sure that you draw on the context that we have explored and use a quotation from the poem to justify your responses.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at this task.

I am so looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I'm really excited to share some ideas.

So pause the video and off you go to respond to this question, what is Dharker celebrating in this poem? Fantastic work, and it was great to see so many of you writing so furiously, as that shows me that you have such a good understanding of this poem and what Dharker was trying to show us when she wrote it.

So here's an idea of something you might have written.

Dharker's poem "Living Space" celebrates and champions the resilience and resourcefulness of the communities that inhabit these slums. These communities use the resources available to them to create homes for themselves and for their families.

This is something that Dharker seems to greatly admire, as she describes the structures as "miraculous." Through the poem, Dharker celebrates human beings' incredible capacity for innovation and invention in the face of adversity, marvelling at the lives these communities have created for themselves.

So a really solid and very succinct response there that uses many of the keywords.

And what I'd like you to consider now is using this response and looking at how it's used keywords, I'd like you to think, well, how many of the keywords did you use your response? And equally, is there anything that you'd like to take from my answer to improve your own? So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video while you carry out some reflection on your own response and use mine ideally to improve your own.

So pause the video and off you go to do that now.

Fantastic reflections, really well done.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, first of all, the poem describes the unsafe living conditions of the slums in Mumbai.

Secondly, Dharker illustrates the adversity that these slum communities face, but celebrates their resourcefulness and their resilience.

She illustrates how faith unites these communities.

And furthermore, Dharker has witnessed the social inequality in India first-hand, because she lives part-time in Mumbai.

And through the poem, she celebrates human beings' incredible capacity for innovation and invention in the face of adversity.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson.

It's been absolutely brilliant to read and discuss this poem with you and hear all of your really interesting and perceptive ideas and contributions.

So thank you so much for those.

I really look forward to seeing you next time, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.

See you later!.