Hello, everyone.

My name is Ms. Keller, and I'm so glad that you could join me in today's lesson.

In this session, we are going to be reading and understanding Imtiaz Dharker's poem, "In Wales, Wanting to be Italian." So grab your copy of the text and let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, we will be able to explain how Dharker presents ideas of cultural identity and belonging associated with youth.

So let's have a look at today's keywords.

We have yearn, belonging, Calvinist, cultural identity, and intercultural identity.

So take a moment to pause the video here and make sure that you are really, really familiar with these terms because we're going to be using them quite frequently today in the lesson.

But before we move on, I would just like to draw your attention to the last two words on that list.

Cultural identity first of all, then.

So a feeling of belonging to a particular culture or group.

And as you can see, we've already got that link there to the word belonging above.

So we are thinking about how people's identity, their personal identity, links to their culture, to the place they were born, perhaps to the religion that they follow, the community that they're part of.

And then if we look at that intercultural identity underneath, we've more or less got the same word, except for that prefix, inter.

So the difference in meaning here means feeling like you belong to more than one culture.

So mixing different traditions and experiences.

You don't necessarily just identify it with one culture.

So do remember that distinction as we go along because we are going to be discussing both types of cultural identity.

So the plan for today's lesson, then.

In the first half we are going to get down to exploring the poem and the big ideas, and the meanings, and messages that Dharker conveys.

And then, in the second half of the lesson, we're going to explore the wider context.

So we're going to have a little bit of a look at Dharker's life, and experiences, and influences, and have a think about how that might have contributed to some of the creative choices that she makes in this poem.

So I would like to start off then by thinking about this idea of yearning.

So this desire to want something.

So my first question to you is this.

Have you ever wished that you could have been born in a different place? I know I have.

And if you haven't, perhaps just try to think about it more generally.

So why do you think that people might yearn to live elsewhere? So pause the video or have a think, and take some time to discuss it with the people around you.

Or if you're working on your own, that's okay.

Just make some notes in your exercise book or on your paper.

So pause the video here, and click play when you are ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Lots of interesting discussions that I could overhear there, and it does sound like quite a few of us could identify with this yearning to want to have grown up somewhere else.

So let's see what our Oak students said in response to this question, then.

So Jun said that he always wanted to live in the US because of their amazing food and all the fun things that they have to do.

Jacob said that he wished he could grow up in Spain, living by the beach and enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

And I think all of us living in the dreary UK might identify with wanting some sunshine.

And finally, Sofia said that she wanted to live in France or Italy because the city seemed so exciting, and glamorous, and fashionable.

So lots of different reasons there why people might want to have grown up in a different place.

And I wonder if any of those reasons were perhaps similar to your reasons or if you chose similar places to join Jacob or Sofia.

So my next question is this.

Where may people find out about these places, or what do you think it is that might inspire them to want to live there? So even if you, yourself didn't yearn to live anywhere else when you were little, perhaps put yourself into the shoes of somebody that did, one of our Oak students or somebody in your earlier discussions.

So pause the video here while you have a think, and take some time to make some notes or discuss it.

And when you're ready for us to discuss it together, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

And again, some really interesting responses that I overheard there and actually quite a few that linked to some of our Oak students' responses when they answered this question.

So let's see what they said.

So Jun, if you remember, wanted to live in the US, and he said, "All my favourite films and TV shows were set in the US.

It would be like living on a film set!" And Jacob, who wanted to live in Spain, said they had great memories of going there on holiday.

So visiting the beach and swimming in the sea.

So he has actually visited this place before.

And finally Sofia said, "Paris and Milan are the heart of high-fashion.

They have a reputation as classy, glamorous cities." So we've got this idea that perhaps Sofia is quite interested in fashion, and these two cities are really important in the fashion world.

So why was I asking you these questions? Well, because I wanted us to think about this idea that when we are younger, our impressions of places are often shaped by what we see, hear, read, or experience of them because, obviously, when we are younger and when we are small, we haven't really had as many life experiences as we might have done now.

So we can't always necessarily go on our firsthand experience of everything because we haven't really experienced that much in only a short time on the earth.

So here are just a few places that people might feel inspired by a certain place, or they might fall in love with a certain place.

And this might be because it's featured in some music or a song that they like, or books and stories, films and TV shows, fashions or trends, and holidays, or particularly events.

If they're maybe in interested in sports, it might be where the World Cup has been held or the Olympics.

Or, as with Sofia, it might be where fashion week is held if you're interested in fashion, or a particular musical event, or a festival.

And lastly, meeting people from there.

So perhaps when we are younger we might meet people from these different countries.

So thinking about where we might get our impressions of these places from and looking at that list, my question to you is this.

Do you think we have an accurate impression of what it's like to live in these places? So pause the video while you have a think and discuss it.

And when you're ready for us to feedback together, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

I could overhear lots of groups suggesting that perhaps we might not have so much of an accurate impression of these places.

So well done if your discussions are picking up on that idea, as well.

So why might that be? Well, it's likely that we could end up romanticising these places.

So perhaps remembering them or imagining them to be a bit more perfect necessarily than they are because we might get this false impression from the media, or from other people, or just from going there when we are small and having this adventurous and exciting holiday there, and perhaps we just remember all the good things.

In reality, living there wouldn't be as glamorous or exciting, but actually would probably be more like everyday life is for us here in the UK.

That's not to say that these places aren't glamorous or exciting, but perhaps they're probably not every day because it's likely to assume that no place on earth is exciting and glamorous every single day, and particularly if you happen to live in one of these exciting or glamorous destinations.

For example, if you live next door to Disneyland, many people think Disneyland is glamorous and exciting, but you wouldn't necessarily be able to visit every day.

So your life might not be as glamorous and exciting as perhaps people have romanticised it to be.

So why do you think we fantasise a lot when a young then? What is it about childhood and growing up that perhaps means that we are always fantasising about another life? So pause the video again while you have a think and discuss it.

And click play when you're ready for us to discuss it together.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's see what our Oak students said in response to this question, then.

So Jun suggested that perhaps young people have very active imaginations, and I imagine if any of you have got little sisters and brothers that you'll know that firsthand.

Very active imaginations, especially when we are very small.

And also, the energy for lots of adventure and lots of exploration.

Jacob suggested that there's quite a lot of rules when you're younger, rules from parents, rules from teachers.

So maybe that people often fantasise about paradise where there aren't any rules.

Maybe they want to escape this life of rules when they're younger.

And finally, Sofia suggests that when we are young, perhaps we might not always feel like we fit in.

There's lots of different groups that we might wanna be part of, and we might not always feel like we're properly accepted.

So, therefore, people might fantasise about belonging somewhere else where they do fit in.

So there's lots of different reasons why we might fantasise.

So well done if you were picking up on any of these key ideas in your discussions as well.

So now we've begun to discuss some of these key ideas that link to the big themes and messages of this poem, let's have a look at the text itself.

So just a quick summary of the poem, then.

So in this poem, the teenage speaker yearns for another life in a foreign country.

So there's that link there to what we've just been discussing.

So as you are reading, I'd like to consider why you think this is.

Why does the speaker want another life? And most importantly, what does she feel is missing from her current life? So pause the video here and grab your copy of the text so that you can perhaps make some notes or annotate.

But I am going to display the poem on the screen as well.

"Is there a name for that thing you do when you are young? There must be a word for it in some language, probably German, or if not just asking to be made up, something like Fremdlandischgehorenlust or perhaps Einzumandererslandgehorenwunsch.

What is it called, living in Glasgow, dying to be French, dying to shrug and pout and make understood without saying a word? Have you ever felt like that, being in Bombay, wanting to declare, like Freddie Mercury, that you are from somewhere like Zanzibar? What is it called? Being 16 in Wales, longing to be Italian, to be able to say aloud without embarrassment, Bella, Bella, lounge by Vespa with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth, and wear impossibly pointed shoes?" Okay, so now we've had a chance to read through the text then, I'd like to take a moment to have a think about, or make some notes and discuss with the people around you, what your first impressions of this poem are.

And I'd like you to focus your discussions or your thinking around these three questions.

So first of all, what impression do we get of the speaker? What sort of person are they? What do they want in life, perhaps? The second question, where do they fantasise about wanting to belong? And third, why do you think they yearn to belong somewhere else? This links to that bit at the beginning.

Why do you think they want to be from somewhere else? What's wrong or what do they not like about their current life? So pause the video here while you take some time to think and discuss this.

And when you're ready for us to discuss it together, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at how you could have responded to these questions, then.

So what impression do we get of the speaker? Well, they're older now.

They're looking back on their younger self And we can get that impression because the feelings that they describe all relate to when you are younger or being 16.

So we can almost infer that the speaker is an adult looking back on this point in their life.

So some of the places, then, that they fantasise about wanting to belong, France, Zanzibar and Italy.

And this last question, then.

Why do we think they yearn to belong somewhere else? So there are quite a few reasons I would argue.

So we definitely get this impression that these places are perhaps exciting places to live, that they're full of glamorous and cool people, perhaps influenced by trends and the media.

So perhaps film and TV or celebrity culture.

So we have lots of different reasons there why our teenage speaker perhaps wanted to be from somewhere else.

So now we have begun to form our initial impressions.

Let's see if we can find any evidence from the text to support these ideas.

So these three responses that we've come up with here, can we find supporting evidence in the poem? So pause the video while you take some time to have another look over the text and perhaps discuss it with the around you, finding that all-important supporting evidence.

And click play when you're ready for us to feedback together.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look at some of the evidence that you might have identified.

So for this first question, then, we needed something that gave us the impression that the speaker is older now and looking back on their younger self.

So we could have chosen these two quotations.

We could have said "that thing you do when you are young," and also that description of being 16 in Wales, because they're both from the perspective of somebody that is older looking back on their younger life.

The second question, then.

Where do they fantasise about wanting to belong? So with each of these words, yes, we could have just chosen the names of the places, but particularly I wanted to try and convey that sense that that's where they're fantasising about.

And actually, we can see a pattern because with each of these different places, we get one of these phrases and these verbs that help us to see this idea of yearning.

So with France, it's "dying to" be French, with Zanzibar "wanting to" be from, wanting to declare you are from, and with Italy "longing to" be.

So we've got this idea of yearning, and wanting, and longing that's really, really coming out in the poem.

And then this last question, then.

Why? Why do we think they yearn to be long somewhere elsewhere? So first of all, then we get this idea that the speaker contrasts busy cities, such as Glasgow or Bombay, with these glamorous destinations.

For example, living in Glasgow, dying to be French.

So we're starting to get this contrast, perhaps, of a busy grey city versus something that the speaker sees as a more glamorous city, let's put it, or a glamorous country.

We could have also identified this idea that the speaker views the people who live there as cool.

So particularly when it comes to the descriptions of French people, they "shrug and pout," and make their point "without saying a word." So this idea that they're very cool.

They don't need to try perhaps too hard to be respected and admired by other people.

And finally, we've got this idea that glamorous people, so for example, celebrity icons who are worshipped by many, like Freddie Mercury, who is referenced in the poem, and he was a famous pops singer with the famous band Queen, hail from exotic locations like Zanzibar.

So the idea that perhaps these amazing people come from these amazing places.

And these cool people like these celebrity icons or like the the description of the French people earlier on, they're confident, and express themselves without embarrassment, and they're fashionable.

They have these fashionable and trendy items, such as a Vespa scooter and pointed shoes, which were quite trendy during the 1960s and '70s.

So let's pause here and check our understanding, then.

So why does the speaker fantasise about living elsewhere? So pause the video while you have a think, and click play when you're ready for me to reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back.

So there are actually two correct answers here.

So well done, if you got A and D.

They have been influenced to romanticise these places by the media, and they wish they could be more confident and less embarrassed like the people who come from these places.

So now it's time for our first practise task of today's lesson.

And what I would like you to do is to complete this grid to show how Dharker depicts the longed for places in the poem.

So thinking about France, and Zanzibar, and Italy, these places that we identified.

So I would like some evidence from the poem that shows how the speaker depicts them.

So what impression does the speaker have of them? And then in that middle column is where we're gonna make some notes, perhaps exploring what we've learned from that evidence, what effects are created, what meanings are created.

And then in that right hand column, why does the speaker yearn to belong there? So what particular aspects of that place or the people does the speaker yearn for in their own life? So pause the video here while you take some time to complete this table.

And when you're finished and ready to feedback, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

And a massive, massive well done for all your hard work with this task.

We're working with three different depictions here, so quite a lot of material for us to analyse.

So well done for working through all of that so well.

So let's just go through some examples, then, of what we could have written in each box of this table.

So we'll start with France.

So the evidence from the poem that the speaker uses to describe France, or the French people, is this idea that they "shrug and pout" and that they make themselves understood "without saying a word." So we can argue that this gives the impression that they're very confident and self-assured, and that people listen to them, and they look up to them.

And finally, why does the speaker yearn to belong there? So perhaps the speaker yearns to be more confident, and listened to, and taken seriously.

So perhaps the speaker imagines if they were French, if they just shrugged and pouted, and were able to make themselves understood in this way, that they might be taken seriously, and they might be more confident.

So onto Zanzibar then.

So the descriptions we've got of this place, we've got that the speaker wants to "declare, like Freddie Mercury," so like this iconic musician from when they were growing up, that they're from "somewhere like" Zanzibar.

So actually perhaps it's less about Zanzibar itself and more about a type of place.

So we could argue that this gives the impression, perhaps, that the speaker feels that iconic people come from these exotic picturesque places like Zanzibar.

And from that we could argue that the speaker, perhaps, yearns to live in an exciting place, as opposed to the UK.

And what I mean by that is I think everybody maybe views where they live as a bit less exciting than other places because, obviously, we're not romanticising that view of the place that we see every day.

So maybe the speaker views life in the UK as perhaps dull or mundane, and they yearn to have this exciting life in somewhere like Zanzibar.

And then finally, Italy.

So we've got this idea that the people are "lounging." We've got this idea of the "shoes" and the "Vespa," and that they are "without embarrassment." So altogether these words and phrases give the impression that the Italians are fashionable, effortlessly cool, and extremely confident, according to our speaker.

This is how they perceive Italians.

So perhaps here the speaker yearns to also be seen as confident and cool and be admired by others.

So we've got a similar depiction here to the one above with the French people.

We're really getting this idea coming through that the speaker really yearns to be more confident and perhaps be admired by their peers, which I actually think is probably quite a common thing that we all probably experience at times when we're growing up.

So perhaps that idea is quite relatable to many of us readers.

It certainly is for me when I think about my teenage years.

So we've made it to the halfway point of today's lesson, then.

And a massive well done for really engaging with the text.

I hope you are enjoying it so far.

I really, really like this poem.

So now it's time for us to have a look at the wider context.

So starting, then, with some information about Dharker's life and experiences.

So she was born in Lahore in Pakistan, and she moved to Glasgow in Scotland before her first birthday.

So how might this information link to ideas of belonging? So pause the video here while you have a think, and make some notes, and maybe discuss it with the people around you, thinking really carefully about how this is important to a sense of belonging.

So pause the video here, and click play when you're ready for us to feedback together.

Okay, welcome back.

So how could this link to ideas of belonging? Well, you might have said that, arguably, Dharker will have little memory of living in Pakistan and of moving to the UK because, obviously, she was a baby when she moved.

So perhaps this could contribute to her view of cultural identity and belonging, as something a person can choose and not simply something that's dictated by where they were born or grew up because very early in Dharker's life, she already had these two different identities.

So Dharker describes herself as a Scottish Muslim Calvinist.

I remember Calvinist was one of those key words at the beginning of the lesson, which is a branch of Christianity.

So almost a Scottish Muslim Christian is how she's describing herself, which implies that her cultural identity is a blend of the different places that she's lived.

So this is where we're stepping into that word we were talking about earlier, into cultural identity.

So for Dharker, her cultural identity is intercultural.

It involves mixing different traditions from the places that she has lived.

So we've got this idea then of Dharker's global living, the different places around the world that she's lived and perhaps this intercultural identity.

And we can begin to see how this might link to the poem and the meanings that we've managed to draw out.

But how else could this poem also link to ideas of belonging? So we're thinking really carefully about different types of belonging.

So less about cultural belonging because we've already discussed that.

What are the types of belonging might we be able to identify in this poem? So pause the video here while you have a think, and when you're ready for us to feedback together, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Can I just say a really big well done for the way that you approached that discussion? I've heard some really, really fantastic responses there.

Really creative ways of thinking about this idea of belonging.

So I just want to draw your attention to two really, really good responses that I overheard.

So first of all, on the left here, then, this idea of belonging could link to growing up because in the poem we've got this idea that the speaker is in that middle bit.

They're a teenager.

They're not a child, but they're not yet an adult.

And we could argue that the transition from child to adult is wrapped up with ideas of identity, and belonging, and fitting in.

This is the point in our lives where we start to establish this identity that we're going to carry through to adulthood.

So it's really, really, really important to think about these ideas of belonging in relation to our speaker's age, and not just, perhaps, in relation to cultural identity.

And then also we could link ideas of belonging to wishes, and ambitions, and belonging.

So people often fantasise about belonging elsewhere to escape their mundane lives.

So whether we have an intercultural identity or not, even if we perhaps were born and lived in the same country all our lives it's quite a common thing that we do is perhaps fantasise about ways we can escape the mundanity of everyday life.

So this might not be moving to another country.

This might be a mad ambition.

I want to become a pop star.

I want to become a fashion designer.

There's all different reasons or things that people fantasise about, but definitely it's about this idea of belonging to a different community, belonging to a different way of life.

So well done if your discussions covered any of these ideas as well.

So much of Dharker's poetry actually reflects on themes of longing and identity, and it's a quite common thread that we can trace throughout her work.

So let's pause here and check her understanding again then.

So arguably, the speaker in the poem views her identity as something she feels that she can choose, and this could link to Dharker's own view on cultural identity.

So pause video here, and click play when you're ready for me to reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said true.

So why is this true? Because Dharker move to the UK before her first birthday, and she describes herself as a Scottish Muslim Calvinist.

Remember that word is a type of Christianity, which implies that she identifies with this intercultural identity, this mix of different cultures and not just with the cultural identity from where she was born.

So she doesn't just identify as somebody from Pakistan, but however, the Muslim aspect of her cultural identity is definitely got that connection with her roots in Pakistan.

So now it's time for the final practise task of today's lesson.

I would like you to write a paragraph answering the following question.

How does Dharker present "Belonging in Wales Wanting to be Italian?" So we're thinking about the poem as a whole now, and we are really thinking about that key idea of belonging.

And then below we have got a nice list of success criteria here for some really effective analysis writing, the things that we need to include.

So that clear topic sentence linked to the question focus, evidence from the text explaining Dharker's use of methods, zooming on those quotations, thinking carefully about why Dharker made the choices that she did, and all important relevant links to the wider context.

So really thinking about what we've been discussing in this last part of the lesson with those last two bullet points there.

So pause the video here, and take as much time as you need to give this a really good go.

And when you've completed your paragraph, and you are ready to feedback together, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Lots of fantastic hard work there again.

So well done if you are now sitting with an analysis paragraph in front of you.

Analysis writing is not an easy thing to do, but it is really, really, really useful.

So well done for giving it such a good go.

So here is just one way you could have responded to this question.

And it's really important to remember that the beauty of studying literature is that there is never just one correct way to interpret a text.

So don't worry if this paragraph isn't exactly what you've written.

It's just really important to think about whether or not you've included all of those things on that list because if you have, it's likely that your interpretation is valid, even if it's completely different to this one.

"Dharker presents belonging as something the speaker feels they can control to some extent.

The speaker belongs to belong to other cultures who are more confident like the French, who are understood 'without saying a word' or the Italians who speak 'without embarrassment.

' In this sense, the speaker's sense of cultural identity isn't something the speaker associates with a place they were born or grew up, and therefore isn't dictated to them by this.

In fact, the speaker's yearning to belong to another culture is rooted in her insecurities about her personality and confidence.

She wishes to be Italian or French so she can be more confident, admired, and perceived as 'cool.

' Interestingly, the speaker links this to the sense of belonging teenagers experience while trying to establish their adult identity.

The entire poem is directed to the reader as a series of questions using the second person pronoun 'you' which suggests Dharker believes this sense of dislocation is a common part of growing up and transitioning to adulthood.

Many of her poems reflect on this period of transition as well as themes of belonging, perhaps reflecting on how she views her own intercultural identity as a 'Scottish Muslim Calvinist' after she immigrated from Pakistan to the UK before her first birthday." So this last bit here is an example of how we might have included these last two bullet points from that success criteria list.

So this consideration of why Dharker made certain choices and these relevant links to context.

So just take a moment to review your own work, and see if you can identify where you included these two things.

And if you didn't, perhaps you could magpie some of these ideas or you could have a go at seeing if you can add in these two things yourself.

So pause the video here while you review your work, and reflect on what you've managed to include.

And when you're ready to move on, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, so we've made it to the end of today's lesson, and I hope that you are really, really pleased with everything that you have achieved in this session.

And I also hope that you're feeling a lot more confident when it comes to reading and understanding this poem.

So let's just summarise what we've covered in today's lesson.

Dharker was born in Lahore, Pakistan before moving to Glasgow, Scotland before her first birthday.

Dharker's poems are testaments to her experience into cultural identities and global living.

Dharker's poetry explores their longing of youth when you desire to be anyone more exciting than who you currently are.

And finally, Dharker's poetry reminds the reader that people often look elsewhere to create a sense of belonging.

So thanks again for joining me.

I hope that you enjoyed today's lesson, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Have a fantastic day.