Understanding the poem, "Singh Song!".

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Young and I'm so glad that you could join me on this lesson all about the poem "Singh Song!".

So, shall we get started? So, today's lesson has a very clear learning objective.

So, let's take a look at what it is.

So, by the end of today's lesson, everybody will be able to effectively summarise the poem "Singh Song!".

And just as in any lesson, we have some very important words, our keywords.

So let's take a look at what they are.

So I do always encourage you just to pause the video, jot these words down and their definitions, because we are going to be using them quite a bit.

So, let's see what they are.

Dramatic monologue, a poem written in the form of speech from an individual character.

So, today's poem is a dramatic monologue.

A pun, a humorous use of a word or phrase that has several meanings or that sounds like another word.

So, today's poem has lots of puns, so keep your eyes peeled for those.

A first-generation immigrant, a person who is born in a different country to the one they currently live in.

Second-generation immigrant, a person who is born in a country to a parent or parents that were not born in that country.

And finally, Punglish, a colloquial term for language that is a mixture of Punjabi and English.

So, super excited to be teaching you on this lesson today, all about one of my favourite poems in the collection, which is "Singh Song!" by Daljit Nagra.

So, today's lesson really will help us explore and understand that poem.

So our first learning cycle was all about the poem's background, exploring how this very rich and vibrant poem came into being.

And then I'm super excited for learning cycle two, which is all about reading the poem.

So, we're gonna read through this fantastic poem together.

So, let's get started.

So in today's lesson, we are going to be looking at the poem "Singh Song!" written by Daljit Nagra.

So, let's just explore his background a little bit more.

So, he was born in the UK in 1966 to Punjabi Sikh parents who had emigrated to the UK in the 1950s.

And as such, that makes him a second-generation immigrant.

So straightaway using one of our keywords of today's lesson.

And his parents are first-generation immigrants and he explores that within his poetry.

His poems seek to shine a light on the experience of Punjabi immigrants to the UK.

And his poems often imitate the English spoken by Punjabi immigrants, a style that has been termed Punglish.

And finally, his parents owned a convenience store in Sheffield and Nagra spent some time working there.

And that really forms the basis of his poem today.

So, the poem itself, as we've said before, is a dramatic monologue.

So, that means it is written from the perspective of one individual character.

And that character in today's poem is a young Sikh man called Singh, and in the poem, Singh works in his father's shop, but is a poor worker.

He's quite a lazy worker.

He is madly in love with his new wife and often leaves the shop to spend time with her.

And as a result, he attracts the criticism of both his father and his customers.

So, after reading this summary, alongside the contextual information we saw on the previous slide, Alex said the following.

He said, "I think a key theme of this poem "is likely to be romantic love." Really, really nice point there from Alex.

So, I'm gonna throw it straight over to you then please, quick discussion question to start today's lesson.

So, what do you think some of the themes are likely to be in this poem? So, hit that Pause button, have a quick discussion, or jot down some ideas of you working independently and then do push Play when you like to continue.

Okay, my goodness, what a fantastic start to this lesson.

I'm really enjoying all those different ideas, flying across the classroom and I'm really hearing some really fantastic things.

So, really well done if you picked up on any of the following.

I think it's really reasonable to say that the poem could be about generational conflicts.

We know that there is potentially a conflict here, between the character and his parents.

There's also this idea of immigration and assimilation.

I heard some people say that one.

I think that's a really, really key point and I think we'll definitely see that in today's poem.

And finally, love, just echoing what Alex said.

This is from the love and relationships cluster, and it really does seem like love is going to be a key theme here, doesn't it? Particularly between Singh and his wife, it seems to be quite a positive relationship.

They are described as being madly in love.

So, let's explore the poem's title in detail.

So, as we've said before, the poem is called "Singh Song!," but there's a couple of different things going on there.

There's also the exclamation mark at the end, isn't there? So my question for you, it's really important that we improve and we develop our skills of prediction when we encounter a new poem.

So, what do we learn from the poem's title? That is my question for you.

It's only a two word title, but I think we learn an awful lot, don't we? What do we learn from it? So once again, hit that Pause button, have a quick discussion or jot down some ideas if you're working independently.

And then do press Play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, once again, excellent work on that.

Some really lovely discussions taking place and I'm hearing some fantastic things.

A title does a lot of the heavy lifting of a text sometimes, particularly for a poem, which is usually quite short.

I think we can learn a lot, can't we? From just these two words and the exclamation mark.

So, things I think we could say are as follows.

So firstly, the title is a pun.

It is a pun on the phrase sing song, which refers to sound that is rhythmic and pleasing.

So, people sometimes talk about a sing song voice if it's sounds particularly pleasant.

So, we could potentially be led to believe that the poem might be fun or lighthearted in some way as, it uses this pun.

We've also got the idea of Singh here.

Singh is a common Sikh surname.

So, the poem could be about this community.

Again, song, the word song might indicate to us that it is someone's account of their life, potentially the song of Singh, the narrator of this poem.

And finally, we've also got this exclamation mark, which to me kind of really suggests a kind of energy or attention about the poem.

And I think that really comes across in this title.

So, to see if our predictions were correct.

So, quick check for understanding before we do that.

The title of the poem, "Singh Song!" makes reference to the expression sing song, as such, it is a pun metaphor or anecdote.

Hit that Pause button, complete the task, and then do push play when you like to see which is correct.

Okay, fantastic work to everybody who said pun, it's a pun, a play on words, because it is using an existing phrase and it's kind of playing about with it.

We would say that that is a pun.

Great job if you identified that.

Okay, second check for understanding for me then please.

Conflict could be considered a theme of "Singh song!." Is that true or false? Hit that Pause button, complete the task, and then push Play when you'd like to proceed.

Okay, great job if you identified true, I think we would definitely say conflict, could be a theme of "Singh Song!" given what we have discussed up until this point.

But how can we justify that then? Would we justify that by saying it is a romantic conflict, between Singh and his wife? Or is it B? It's a generational conflict between Singh and his father.

Once again, hit that Pause button, complete the task, and then do push Play when you like to proceed.

Okay, great job to everybody who identified it as B, we reference there might be, some kind of generational conflict in the poem as Singh's father seems to be unhappy with him, particularly in how he runs his shop.

We also spoke about the idea that Daljit Nagra himself, often explores the idea of generational conflict in his poems. We wouldn't say it's A, because it is alluded to that the the writter, Singh and his wife are madly in love.

So, we wouldn't say there's any really, romantic conflict between them.

Great job if you picked up on that.

Okay, we have reached our first practise task of today's lesson, so I'm super excited to see how you get on with this one.

So, your task is as follows.

So, I would like you to use the free sentence stars below to write an answer to this question.

And that question is, what do you think the poem "Singh Song!" will be all about? So, we've not read it yet, so it's really just the prediction task.

We looked at the title, didn't we? We looked at some contextual information.

So, there are lots of things we could potentially say, about the poem.

I would like you to make sure you have a clear idea.

You've made links to love and relationships and that you have used some contextual information that we have looked at so far in today's lesson.

You could also use the pupils ideas, the Oak pupils ideas and sentence starters to support you and they are as follows.

So we could say, "I think the poem will be all about," "more specifically" and "ultimately." And you've got some ideas there from the Oak peoples.

They've said romance, generational conflicts or immigration and assimilation.

So, super excited to see how you get with this one and show all of your kind of fantastic learning and fantastic ideas we focused on so far in today's lesson.

So, pause the video, complete the task and then push Play when you'd like to see a little bit of feedback.

Okay, my goodness, what a fantastic effort on this.

What fantastic approach to that practise task.

I'm really, really pleased with the hard work that I'm seeing today.

So, let's keep that going into learning cycle two.

So, let's take a look at how we could have approached that task.

So, what we've got on the board in front of us now is Laura's response.

So, Laura has responded in the following way.

She has said, "I think Singh Song! "will be all about generational conflict.

"More specifically, Nagra may wish "to explore the family dynamics between first "and second generation immigrants, "including the tension within those relationships.

"Ultimately the poem may explore these tensions "through a father and son who work together in some way.

"Something Nagra has firsthand experience of, "having worked in one of his father's shops." It's a really, really nice answer there from Laura, kind of really using key detail that we focused on in this lesson.

So, we would say Laura definitely has a clear idea.

She's identified it as about, being about generational conflict.

She's made a reference to love and relationships.

And finally she has used, some contextual information as well, hasn't she? She's spoken about the contextual experience of Nagra's own life and how that might impact the poem.

So, my last task for learning cycle one, can you self-assess your own response for me then please and see where you have met this criteria.

Where have you shown a clear idea, made a link to love and relationships and used contextual information to support your answer? So pause the video, complete that self-assessment and then do push Play when you like to move on to learning cycle two.

Okay then we have reached learning cycle two and I'm particularly excited for this learning cycle, because we are going to get the opportunity to read this fantastic poem to read Daljit Nagra's fantastic poem, "Singh Song!" So, let's get started.

So we already know that the poem is about Singh and how he neglects the running of his shop to spend time with his new wife.

That kind of came across in the contextual information.

The poem itself is made up of nine stanzas of varying lengths.

And then four call and response couplets, detailing a conversation between Singh and his new bride.

And it is written in Punglish.

So, some really interesting kind of structural and form elements there of the poem.

So, after reading the first stanza, Andeep summarised it with the following sentence.

He said, "Singh works 12 hour shifts in one of his dad's shops "and is not entitled to a break." So, what Andeep has done there is really, really clever is to kind of condense each stanza or the first stanza at least into its kind of core element, this key element of what is going on.

So, that leads me really nicely to our first task of learning cycle two.

So, I would like you to read through the poem and summarise each of the first nine stanzas with a sentence summarising what is going on, what do you think is the main thing going on at that point of the poem.

So, turn to your copy of the poem, it should be in your Love and Relationships Anthology and then complete this task.

So, take some time to pause the video and then push Play when you'd like to move through a little bit of feedback.

Okay, fantastic work on that.

First and foremost, I hope you enjoyed this poem.

Remember, poems are there to be enjoyed, to be appreciated.

So, I really hope that you took something away from the poem today.

So, let's see how we could have approached that task.

Well, stanza one, let's just take what Andeep said.

Singh works 12 hour shifts in one of his dad's shops and is not entitled to a break.

So, it's quite, quite a tough working condition, isn't it? So stanza two, what really sticks out to me is the idea that he regularly closes the shop to go upstairs and spend time with his wife.

That comes across really clearly in stanza two.

And then in stanza three sings customers tried him, which means kind of make fun of him for closing the shop and say his is the worst shop in town.

Of course it is, he keeps closing the shop to go and spend time with his wife.

In stanza four, Singh's wife appears to run a dating site of some kind, highlighting her own independence and we'll explore that detail in a bit more detail in a minute.

Stanza five, Sings bride appears to have a turbulent relationship with his own parents swearing at them and making fun of them.

So, we see that there might be some conflict here, between the younger members of this family and the older ones particularly Singh's parents.

In stanza six Singh described both his wife seemingly gentle but also fierce nature.

I think what really comes across to me, throughout this poll again and again and again is Singh's just absolute devotion and love for his wife.

He kind of really seems to cherish all these different qualities and we see them in stanza six.

Don't we have gentleness but also have fierce nature? Stanza seven, Singh's Wife is described as wearing Western clothes, but also clothes more typical of her Punjabi heritage.

So again, this kind of idea of conflict, a certain level of conflict potentially in the poem.

Stanza eight, Singh's customers criticise the condition of his shop as he once again chooses to spend time with his wife, instead of running things, isn't it in this poem? And Stanza nine, late at night Singh and his wife sit in the shop and have a romantic conversation.

So, a really nice kind of nice part of the poem there at the end that really kind of shows the quality of their relationship.

So, my discussion question for you then is how does this compare to the prediction you wrote in Learning Cycle one? Were you close, were you far away? What kind of predictions did you make and how does the poem conform to those predictions? So, hit that pause button, have a quick go at the task and then do push Play when you like to proceed.

Okay, fantastic Work on those discussions.

I'm hearing some people say, "Yep, absolutely it was really similar to my predictions." And some people say, "Well actually no, "it kind of took me by surprise a little bit." Remember our predictions do not have to be correct, we are just kind of using our critical faculty, our critical thinking to kind of help us prepare for what is ahead of us.

So, don't worry if you weren't exactly right with your predictions.

So, quick check for understanding for me then please.

Which of the following are true of the poem "Singh Song!"? Is it A? Singh and his bride have a turbulent relationship and argue regularly.

Is it B? Singh's wife is presented exclusively as a gentle person.

Is it C? Singh's customers criticise him and accuse him of running the worst shop in town.

Or is it D? Singh appears to be madly in love with his wife.

I'll give you a clue, there are more than one correct answer here.

So, hit that Pause button, complete the task and push Play when you'd like to see the correct answers.

Okay, well on to everybody who identified C and D.

Singh's customers criticise him and he appears to be madly in love with his wife, doesn't he? There is a turbulent relationship, but it is not between Singh and his wife.

It is between the bride and Singh's mother and father.

That is where we are.

There is a hint made at the turbulent relationship and although she is presented as a gentle person, she's also presented as a fierce person as well.

One of the many reasons that Singh appears to love her.

Okay, practise task time.

We have reached our final practise task of today's lesson and below are a series of statements about the poem.

I would like you to try and justify each of these statements with evidence from the poem, so you can justify them as true or false, but as long as you are justifying them with some evidence from the text.

So, let's take a look at what these statements are.

We've got the poem is a dramatic monologue.

The speaker's father does not trust him.

The speaker is deeply in love with his new bride.

The speaker does not follow his father's rules and Singh and his wife have an equal relationship.

So, I would like you to justify these statements for me.

So, let's take a look at an example.

So, how could we justify that first statement? The statement being the poem is a dramatic monologue.

Well, we could say that Nagra has invented the character of the speaker sing and it is written from his perspective, the I and details his life running one of his father's shops.

So, my task for you is to complete this task, making sure every one of these statements has been justified.

So, hit that Pause button, complete the task and then do push Play when you like to continue.

Okay, fantastic work on that practise task.

It is absolutely lovely to see you kind of working so hard and applying all of your fantastic knowledge of this poem to these statements.

So, let's take a look at how we could have approached that task.

So firstly, the speaker's father doesn't trust him.

Well, how could we justify that? Well, we could say despite the speaker's father, having shops plural, he seems to have quite a few shops.

He clearly only trusts the speaker, the narrator, Singh to run one of them.

This perhaps indicates that his dad kind of knows what he's like really.

He doesn't fully trust him.

Secondly, the speaker is deeply in love with his new bride.

Well, how could we justify that? The speaker is clearly besotted with his new wife.

If you're besotted with someone, it means you're just obsessed and you just can't stop thinking about them.

And he speaks very openly about their relationship, including describing their sex life.

The speaker does not follow his father's rules.

How could we justify that? Well, although his father wants him to never take a break from opening until closing, when no one is in the shop, the speaker locks the shop and sneaks upstairs to see his wife.

So, he clearly doesn't follow his rules.

Although his father's rules do seem quite strict, don't they? And finally, Singh and his wife have a equal relationship.

So, we could say the reference to the sharing of food, seems to hint at equality in their relationships.

So, they share chapatti and chutney.

So, it seems to be a very equitable relationship, one that is very, very fair, what you picked up on that.

Okay, we have reached the end of today's lesson, and we have learned an awful lot today, haven't we? So let's recap all the fantastic things that we focused on in today's lesson.

So firstly, the speaker works in his father's shop and lives with his wife and parents above the shop.

The speaker often neglects his work in the shop and receives complaints from customers.

The wife is unconventional and has an acrimonious relationship with her husband's parents.

The speaker and wife have a very, very close loving and intimate relationship.

And finally, although the poem is not autobiographical, it does echo some aspects of Nagra's own life.

So, it's been an absolute pleasure to teach you today and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this poetry sequence.

So, thank you very much and goodbye.