New
New
Year 11
AQA

Understanding the poem 'The Emigree'

I can understand ‘The Emigree’ and map the big ideas within the poem.

New
New
Year 11
AQA

Understanding the poem 'The Emigree'

I can understand ‘The Emigree’ and map the big ideas within the poem.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The title of the poem allows the poem to relate to the general experience of all that emigrate.
  2. There are feelings of nostalgia, regret and fear within the poem.
  3. Rumens explores the displaced feelings of people driven from their home country and the enduring impact of tyranny.
  4. The poem explores the big ideas of identity, memory and power of place.

Keywords

  • Identity - the qualities that make a person different from others.

  • Emigrate - to leave one’s own country to settle in another, usually for political reasons.

  • Idealised - regarded as perfect or better than in reality.

  • Permeate - spread through something.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that the speaker is Rumens herself.

Rumens herself did not experience the emigration that the poem describes. She may have written the poem based on her fascination with people and culture. She may have written the poem to appeal to all that have experienced a story of emigration.

Take time to discuss and share when talking about places shaping identity in LC1 as it may allow the poem to 'stick' with pupils - they may bring up ideas about innocence and nostalgia themselves before reading the poem.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You will need access to a copy of the AQA Power and Conflict Anthology for this lesson.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What's the best definition of conflict?
a war or physical fight
Correct answer: a serious disagreement or argument
a time free from disturbance
Q2.
Identify the sentence which uses the first person pronoun.
Correct answer: I went to the market.
You went to the market.
He went to the market.
Q3.
What does the word 'identity' mean?
Correct answer: the qualities that make a person unique or themself
regarded as perfect or better than in reality
spread through something
Q4.
What is a tyrant?
a kind and compassionate leader
Correct answer: a cruel and oppressive ruler
someone who wants to overthrow a current leader
Q5.
What is 'emigration'?
Correct answer: to leave one’s own country to settle in another
to leave your home town to settle in another in the same country
to live between many places
Q6.
What connotations do we often have of the word 'sunlight'?
Correct answer: happiness
Correct answer: life
Correct answer: warmth
oppression

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the keywords with their definitions.
Correct Answer:identity,the qualities that make a person different from others

the qualities that make a person different from others

Correct Answer:emigrate,to leave one’s own country to settle in another, usually for political

to leave one’s own country to settle in another, usually for political

Correct Answer:idealised , regarded as perfect or better than in reality

regarded as perfect or better than in reality

Correct Answer:permeate,spread through something

spread through something

Q2.
The poem ‘The Emigree’ describes a person that has…
gone on a life adventure to a new country.
Correct answer: left their home country, potentially due to war.
been asked to leave their home country.
Q3.
The tone in the opening line of the poem ‘The Emigree’ is...
excited
Correct answer: nostalgic
scared
Q4.
How is memory shown in ‘The Emigree’?
The speaker has vague memories of her home country.
The speaker has unwanted memories of her home country.
Correct answer: The speaker has vivid memories of her home country.
Q5.
In 'The Emigree', the final stanza of the poem shows that the speaker…
Correct answer: feels conflicted in her identity
feels certain in her identity
feels constricted by her identity
Q6.
Which big ideas does the poem 'The Emigree' explore?
Correct answer: identity
nature
Correct answer: memory
Correct answer: place