Hello and welcome to your lesson today on reading poetry about pride for a region.

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

Our learning outcome is to explore poetry which expresses pride for a region.

We are going to be doing this through the poem "Anthem of the North" by Lemn Sissay, and I'm really excited to read this wonderful poem with you today.

Let's go through our three key words for today's lesson.

The first is region.

A region is an area of a country or the world, usually with a set of defining features.

There are many different regions in England, and we're going to look at one particular region in today's lesson.

Anthem.

An anthem is an uplifting song that has importance for a group of people.

Many countries have a national anthem, and that national anthem represents love for that country and has an uplifting spirit when it's sung together.

And finally, direct address.

Direct address is a communication that is communicated to a particular listener, usually via the pronoun you.

So when a poet uses direct address, they are talking directly to someone, and that is shown by their use of "you." And that word "you" shows the reader that they are the ones who need to respond to this particular message, or they are the ones that this message was intended for.

I'll give you a moment to reflect upon those three key terms now.

Brilliant.

In today's lesson, we have two learning cycles.

We'll begin by reading "Anthem of the North" by Lemn Sissay and we'll then explore our own personal connections to place.

So let's begin with reading "Anthem of the North." Firstly though, let's talk a little bit about region, because that may be a term that you're not familiar with.

So here's a map of the United Kingdom.

Can you recognise which region you live in? Pause the video and have a little think.

We usually think of England being made up of a northern region, an eastern region, a southern region, and a western region.

London is in the southeast region of England.

Today we're going to read a poem that is about the North of England, and I've put an arrow on the map to show you roughly where that is.

Areas in the North include Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, and others.

So I'm just contextualising a little bit about the North of England, so that you can understand where the inspiration for this poem comes from.

So now let's read the poem.

Let's read it aloud.

It's called "Anthem of the North." And it's by Lemn Sissay.

The North Star leads the way To the mountain top in awe That, my friend, is why they say Up up up.

North And so we build year after year And we rise tide after time We bring light to darkness And we shine Welcome to our future And all she endows This is our dream, our vision This is our power, our house This is the backbone of Britain And they say it is cold But there is nothing warmer Than a Northern Soul Even the tides of oceans speak of you Upon their chosen course "Bring as many waves as you can" they say "for we are heading North" And they come in waves to kiss our coast, Urged on by the North Wind The surge of river greets the Sea "Come in" it says "come in" The A's the E's the I's the O's the U's Flocks of vowels fill the night with song Great they are and migrate they do The North is where they belong Daughters of suffragettes sons of mines The digital revolution - the creation True North you North You heart of our nation And our children grow wings And soar across this earth But home they are assured Is the greatest place on earth Oh North North I love you You made me the best I could be You waited with open arms And took in a stranger like me We are the beautiful North The darkness of night bows We are a waterfall of light This is our power, our house.

That is a really remarkable poem expressing just how much the North means to Lemn Sissay.

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did.

I want you to discuss two questions now.

How do you think Sissay feels towards the North and why do you think he feels this way? Pause the video and discuss those two questions now.

Perhaps you said that Sissay feels very connected to the North, he has a lot of love and appreciation towards the North, and he definitely feels a sense of belonging in the North.

Question number two, why do you think he feels this way? Well, he does mention that the North's helped him grow, that the North loved him and took him in.

So potentially he feels so in love with the North because of how much it's cared for him throughout his life.

We also see that he talks of the wonderful, beautiful nature in the North.

So potentially that's another reason he likes the North.

Yet another reason he gives is for the impressive history that the North has.

So he talks about how the North has the daughters of suffragette and the sons of mines, and maybe having that and maybe knowing about the heritage and the history of the North helps him connect to it even more.

There are just some ideas.

Let's check your understanding now of what we've discussed.

"Anthem of the North" is.

Pause the video and complete that sentence.

(indistinct) of you said, "Anthem of the North" is an upbeat poem about Sissay's pride in his region.

There's a huge clue in the title of the poem.

The title of the poem is "Anthem of the North." And of course we know an anthem is an upbeat song.

And a lot of the time anthems show a sense of community and a sense of pride.

And indeed, that's exactly what Sissay shows in his poem.

Now we've got six important questions to answer about "Anthem of the North." When you answer these six questions, I want you to make sure you use textual evidence to support your answers.

Here are your questions.

Number one, how does Lemn Sissay feel about the people in the North? Number two, how does Lemn Sissay portray the nature of the North? Number three, what does Lemn Sissay tell us about the North's role in history? Number four, why does Lemn Sissay say "I love you" to the North? Number five, why do you think Sissay uses words such as "we" and "our" throughout the poem? And number six, why do you think Sissay chose the poem's title? Pause the video and answer those six questions about "Anthem of the North" now.

Let's go through some answers.

Number one, how does Lemn Sissay feel about the people in the North? Lemn Sissay values the people in the North for their kindness, generosity, and welcoming spirit, it seems, as he says, "There is nothing warmer than a northern soul." And of course, the word warm suggests kindness and generosity and being very welcoming.

Number two, how does Lemn Sissay portray the nature of the North? Lemn Sissay portrays the nature of the North as mighty, as he says, "the surge of the river" that makes the river seem very impressive and majestic.

He also presents the nature as something worthy of adoration, as he claims the tourists come to the North "to kiss our coast." What does Lemn Sissay tell us about the North's role in history? Lemn Sissay reveals that the North boasts the impressive history of the suffragette movement.

If you didn't already know, Emmeline Pankhurst, who is often considered the first suffragette, she hosted her first suffragette meeting in her Manchester home.

And of course we know Manchester is part of the North.

It seems, Lemn Sissay feels very proud of the North's heritage.

Number four, why does Lemn Sissay say "I love you" to the North? Lemn Sissay says "I love you" to the North, presumably because the North made him feel welcome and loved.

And he says, it "took him in" with "open arms." Number five, why do you think Lemn Sissay uses words such as "we" and "our" throughout the poem? Sissay may have used the first person, plural, "we" and "our," throughout the poem, to reflect the strong sense of community he feels in the North.

Sissay could have used the word "I" and talked about himself in relation to the North, but he chose to talk about northern people in general, showing he feels connected to others that live in the North.

Number six, why do you think Lemn Sissay chose the poem's title? Sissay may have named the poem "Anthem of the North," because it is a celebration of the North and something that all of the North can be proud of.

So just like every country might have a national anthem, this poem is essentially the North's own version of that.

And he's saying that the North deserves a celebration of its own.

Well done in answering all those questions there.

Let's move on now to explore our very own personal connections to a place.

Before we talk about our own personal connection to a place, we're going to learn a little bit more about Lemn Sissay as a person.

Lemn Sissay was born in Wigan, which is part of the North.

He was placed into a foster home in Lancashire when he was two months old.

From the age of 12 years old, he was then placed in different children's care homes throughout his childhood.

At 18 years old, he moved to Manchester to pursue his poetry career.

And Sissay did not meet his birth mother until he was 21 years old.

Based on those five facts about Lemn Sissay, I want you to think about the question, how does this information help you to better understand "Anthem of the North"? Pause the video and discuss that question.

It seems that Sissay's childhood was potentially one where he may have felt struggle, where he may have felt loneliness, where he may have felt a sense of not fitting in or being disconnected with his identity.

So potentially going through some of those hardships that Lemn Sissay did, made him appreciate the North so much more and made him realise just what the North had done for him in terms of comfort, in terms of community, in terms of solace.

Let's zoom in to one of my favourite stanzas now, stanza 10, I find this stanza incredibly powerful.

Let's zoom in to what makes it particularly powerful.

It says, Oh North North I love you You made me the best I could be You waited with open arms And took in a stranger like me.

I really like this stanza as well, because I think it does represent some of the aspects of Lemn Sissay's life that we just read about.

So this stanza becomes so much more emotional and so much more powerful knowing about Lemn Sissay's childhood.

I want you to reflect on how it's written now.

What is interesting about the way Sissay has written this stanza in particular? Pause the video and discuss.

You may have talked about how this stanza contains direct address, and Sissay has dedicated or written this stanza to the North.

The "you" used is the North.

He's talking to the North in this stanza.

I want you to think now, if you had to directly address a place in the world and show appreciation, where would your place be and why? Pause the video and discuss.

I can't wait to hit all about the places that mean so much to you.

If we pay attention to the stylistic choices of Sissay's stanza, we can use it to inspire us to write poetry about our own region or place.

So stanza goes as follows, Oh North North I love you You made me the best I could be You waited with open arms And took in a stranger like me.

Let's look at the stylistic choices.

Firstly, the poem used direct address, and we've highlighted that with the word "you." Also, this stanza uses an ABCB rhyme scheme.

That means the second and the fourth line rhyme with each other.

Now we know that Sissay has constructed this stanza using direct address and an ABCB rhyme scheme, we can use those elements in our own work to create something similar.

Let's take a look.

Thank you London For teaching me the pace I failed, I learned, I rose, I fell I grew in your embrace.

Again, this stanza uses direct address.

We can see that through the word "you" and "your." And this stanza uses an ABCB rhyme scheme.

A, B, C, B.

Pace and embrace rhyme.

So the second and the fourth line of this stanza rhyme, much like in Lemn Sissay's stanza above.

So you've seen there how someone can take the place they're fond of and use Sissay's style to write their own creation.

And that's exactly what this person has done.

They've shown their pride for London.

Let's reflect now upon what we've talked about so far.

What is one interesting thing about stanza 10 of "Anthem of the North"? Pause the video and answer that question.

Stanza 10 is interesting, because it directly addresses the North and that makes the stanza stand out.

It makes the stanza particularly powerful, because Lemn Sissay wants to give gratitude back to the place he grew up.

I now want you to write a short poem address to a region or place that you want to show gratitude to.

You could use words such as "you" to directly address your region, express exactly what you are grateful to the place for, and use a conscious rhyme scheme.

For example, ABCB like Lemn Sissay, or even ABAB if you would like to change the rhyme scheme a little bit.

Here are some sentence starters too.

Thank you, for teaching me.

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

Have fun writing your poem.

Off you go.

Let's take a look at Izzy's first draught.

The West of England raised me To become daring and kind Peace and solace I found In her endless fields.

So Izzy here talks about her region quite clearly.

It's the West of England.

She talks about what it's done for her and she talks about what she likes about it.

But Izzy really wants to try and use some of those stylistic features, such as direct address and a rhyme scheme.

So here's her second draught.

She persevered and she was able to use direct address and an ABCB rhyme scheme.

She wrote, Kindness and nerve Is what you gave to me Peace and solace I found In your endless greenery.

Well done, Izzy.

That shows the importance of writing multiple draughts because whilst you might have a really good idea initially, you may learn how to express it in an even better way the second time round.

So here's what exactly what Izzy did.

She added an ABCB rhyme scheme and she directly addressed her region using the word "you" and "your." I now want you to reread your short poem and see if you can edit it in the same way to potentially make it more engaging.

What can you add that adds something unique to your stanza? Or what can you add to make it even more powerful? Pause the video and reflect upon your own work now.

Great job.

I hope you are proud of what you've created.

I really love when we can write poems that express who we are.

Great job, everyone.

Here's what we've learned in today's lesson.

And anthem is an upbeat song that has importance for a particular group of people.

"Anthem of the North" is a celebration of Northern England.

Lemn Sissay shows his pride in his region through "Anthem of the North." Sissay may have been particularly grateful to the North because it supported him through his hardships.

And lastly, Sissay crafts a powerful stanza through use of direct address and conscious rhyme scheme.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope you'll join me again very soon.