Hello, welcome to your lesson today on considering the nature of home.

Today we'll be beginning to look at some poetry about home.

I'm Miss Sutherland, I'll be teaching you today.

Fantastic, our learning outcome for today is to explore what home means to different people and interpret hidden meanings in poems about home.

We'll be looking at three poems today and they're all about home.

The first one is by Anne Bronte, the second is by Charles Swain and the third is a longer poem by George The Poet.

I'm really looking forward to delving into poetry about home with you today.

We have three keywords today, they are contrast, realistic, and attitude.

Pause the video and read the definitions for those keywords.

We'll revisit those words throughout the lesson today.

So, we have two learning cycles today.

In the first we're going to consider ideas about home.

So we're going to ask each other what home means to us, and we'll look at what home means to two poets.

In the second learning cycle, we will be reading the poem "My City" by George The Poet.

And we'll be exploring exactly what George The Poet's attitude is towards his home.

So, let's start off with considering ideas about home.

Discuss first, what does home mean to you? I really want to find out what you think of when you hear the word home.

Pause the video and discuss.

Wonderful, wonderful ideas.

Let's go through some of those ideas.

So some of you said that home is somewhere familiar.

I definitely agree.

Home might be somewhere with family.

Home might be described as safe, cosy, and relaxing.

And lastly, home is a place we can be ourselves.

I'm sure we've all had that feeling of wanting to return home after a long day, or even being excited for home comforts after being away for a certain period of time.

Thank you for sharing what home means to you.

Now let's look at Anne Bronte's poem about home.

Anne Bronte was a famous 19th-century writer.

She wrote a little bit about home, so let's read what Anne Bronte thought about home.

Restore me to that little spot, With grey walls compassed round, Where knotted grass neglected lies, And weeds usurp the ground.

Though all around this mansion high Invites the foot to roam, And though its halls are fair within-- Oh, give me back my home! Now we've read the poem, I want you to discuss what Anne Bronte is saying about home.

Pause the video and discuss.

We can see in the first stanza that Anne Bronte is describing her home.

She describes it as a little spot with grey walls where there's knotted grass and there's weeds.

And in the second stanza, Anne Bronte seems to be describing somewhere that isn't home.

She says there's a mansion and its halls are fair, and it invites people to wander round.

But at the end of that second stanza, she says that she would much rather be at home.

She'd much rather be in her humble home.

That isn't as beautiful perhaps.

That isn't perfect.

That isn't big, but she loves it.

So in summary, Anne Bronte could be saying that home is not perfect, but home is somewhere that we love regardless.

And home is far better than a luxurious mansion.

Perhaps that is because it's somewhere that's familiar.

It's somewhere that's cosy and it's somewhere that we can be ourselves.

Great job there.

Here's our second short poem by Charles Swain, again a famous 19th-century poet.

Let's see what he said about home.

Home's not merely four square walls, Though with pictures hung and gilded.

Home is where affection calls, Filled with shrines the heart have builded.

Home! go watch the faithful dove, Sailing neath the heaven above us.

Home is where there's one to love.

Home is where there's one to love us.

Now pause the video and discuss what Charles Swain is saying about home in his poem.

Off you go.

Now you may have said that Charles Swain focused heavily on the feelings that we get when we're at home.

He talks about there being affection at home.

He talks about there being love at home.

So Charles Swain says that home is much more than a building.

It's somewhere that we can love others, where others can love us, and it's filled with symbols of our love and affection for the people in our home.

I've really loved listening to your discussions so far.

Now let's check your understanding of what we've just read.

True or false, both Bronte and Swain value the luxury of their homes.

Pause the video and answer that question.

Is it true or false? Off you go.

Well done if you said the statement both Bronte and Swain value the luxury of their homes is false.

Now I want you to justify your answer.

Pause the video and try and explain why that is false.

Off you go.

We know that Bronte and Swain both do not value the luxury of their homes because Bronte values the character of her home and Swain emphasises the importance of love in a home.

Both writers don't dwell on the luxury of their homes whatsoever.

They value their homes for very different reasons.

Well done.

Now I want you to use the prompts to write metaphors about home which reveal hidden meanings to your reader.

So this is your chance to be creative.

I want to know what home means to you through your metaphors.

So here are the six metaphors you're going to create.

If home was a colour, what would it be? If home was an animal, what would it be? If home was a season, what would it be? If home was a plant, what would it be? If home was a food, what would it be? And if home was an object, what would it be? I'm going to give you an example before you start to make sure you're fully confident with this task.

For example, this is my poem that I've created based on the same prompts.

I've said, Home is an orange glow, Home is a kangaroo providing comfort in its pouch, At home, it is always summer.

Home is a succulent, Home is a cup of tea and a biscuit, And home is the softest of blankets, Through each of those six metaphors, I've tried to reveal the essence of home, the nature of home, and what home means to me.

It's your turn now to write your six metaphors that reveal to your reader what home means to you.

Pause the video and start writing.

Off you go.

Wonderful focus there with that writing task.

I can't wait to read what you've come up with.

Now we're going to try and improve some of those metaphors that we've created.

Can you add adjectives into your metaphors to make them even more vivid and meaningful? And here's an example of how the Oak students did this.

So, Sam started off by saying home is green.

He changes it to make it even more powerful and vivid by saying home is emerald green.

We're getting a much clearer idea about Sam's idea of home by him adding in the adjective emerald.

Let's see how Laura improved her idea.

Laura initially wrote home is a daisy when she was asked what plant would home be.

She changes it to say home is a humble daisy.

It's your turn now to add adjectives into your metaphors to make them even more vivid and meaningful.

Pause the video and have a go at improving your metaphors now.

Great job.

There's one more thing for you to do here.

I want you to annotate one of your lines of poetry to reveal the hidden meaning you were trying to show.

Let's look at an example.

So Sam has annotated emerald because through the use of that word he was trying to show that home is precious, and extremely valuable.

And through the word green Sam was trying to show that home is safe.

Now pause the video and annotate one of your lines to reveal the hidden meaning in your metaphors.

Off you go.

Great job.

I really hope you're proud of the poetry you've just created.

Now, we're going to read "My City" by George The Poet, and we're going to explore George The Poet's attitude towards his hometown.

So first of all, what comes to your mind when you think of London? Pause the video and discuss that with your partner.

Now London is the capital city of England, so you may have talked about how London is potentially very busy, how London is a tourist site for a lot of people.

You may have discussed how central London has a lot of exciting things to do and see.

You may have even talked about the iconic red buses or London taxis.

Now I want you to consider how do you think actually living in London differs from people's perception of the city? So what might someone outside of London think of London, and what might someone living in London think of London and how are those two opinions different? Pause the video and discuss that question.

Potentially the perception someone has of London could be much more positive than someone actually living in London, and this is because the person living in London sees the city every day and sees much more of it than someone living outside of London, which probably exposes them to some negative parts of the city as well.

Whereas someone living outside of London may just see the highlights of London, and therefore, they may have a more positive impression of it.

We're going to see how that plays out in George The Poet's poem "My City." So now read the poem "My City" by George The Poet.

I hope you enjoy this poem.

Off you go.

This poem is very passionate indeed, don't you agree? Now you've read the poem, so I want you to discuss what did you notice about this poem? What do you think the writer's attitude towards his home London is? And how is this poem different or similar to the other poems about home that we have read previously in the lesson? Pause the video and discuss those three questions about "My City" now.

Potentially you notice that George The Poet refers to some famous parts of London in his poem.

He refers to Transport for London and he refers to Big Ben.

So, he refers to parts of London that people living outside would immediately recognise as being associated with London.

You may have noticed that this poem talks about the negatives and positives of living in London.

Let's move on to the second question.

What do you think the writer's attitude towards his home London is? Potentially you may have noticed that George The Poet criticises the inequality of London.

So his attitude towards London isn't completely positive, isn't completely appreciative or prideful.

There's quite a lot about London that George The Poet seems to disapprove of.

And lastly, how is this poem different or similar to the other poems about home that we have read previously in the lesson? You may have said that Anne Bronte and Charles Swain are much more positive about home in their poems. Whereas George The Poet actually focuses on the negatives of home rather than praising home and saying that he loves his home very much.

He chooses to give us a balanced perspective on what it means to live in London.

Now answer this question to check your understanding of what we discussed in this learning cycle so far.

True or false? George The Poet presents London as perfect.

Pause the video and answer that question.

False.

George The Poet does not present London as perfect.

Now I want you to justify your answer.

Is it false because George The Poet presents the good and bad of London, or is it false because George The Poet clearly seems to hate living in London? Pause the video and answer that question now.

Well done if you said we know George The Poet does not present London as perfect because he presents the good and bad of London.

We can't say that George The Poet clearly seems to hate living in London because there's nowhere that he says or implies that.

Instead, George The Poet is just showing what it means to live in London and he's showing us the good and the bad.

He's showing us a balanced view.

We can also understand that George The Poet doesn't hate living in London because he calls the poem "My City" and that word my shows us that George The Poet feels like he belongs in London, feels potentially proud about living in London.

Now for your final task today I want you to complete the following sentence starters to explain how George The Poet presents London.

Here are your sentence starters.

George The Poet seems to value.

George The Poet criticises.

because.

At the end of the poem, George The Poet invites the reader to.

And overall, George The Poet seems to.

Complete those four sentence starters to show how you've explored the poem "My City" by George The Poet.

Off you go.

Great focus and effort there.

You could have mentioned George The Poet values the diversity of London.

George The Poet criticises the inequalities in London because he perceives that it's unfair for the poor to suffer whilst the rich prosper.

George The Poet invites the reader to consider the whole of London, not just the glamourized touristic areas.

So, we see in this poem that George The Poet, having lived in London, has a very different experience of London than a tourist might, and George The Poet wants the tourist to realise the realities of living in London, no matter how harsh they are.

And overall, George The Poet presents a realistic portrayal of his city.

He presents London as full of contrasts.

He considers the good and the bad, opens up about where he was brought up, and talks about the struggles of living there.

Great job on exploring that poem there.

I hope you've enjoyed reading it.

Let's look at what we've learned today then.

We can read between the lines to better understand people's attitudes on home.

Bronte loves home for its imperfections, whilst Swain emphasises that love makes a home.

George The Poet provides a realistic portrayal of London in "My City" and George The Poet values diversity of his home but criticises the widespread inequality.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson, and I hope to see you in another lesson soon.