Understanding ideas of community and resilience in Dharker's 'Living Space'
I can understand how Dharker presents the community’s resilience in ‘Living Space’.
Understanding ideas of community and resilience in Dharker's 'Living Space'
I can understand how Dharker presents the community’s resilience in ‘Living Space’.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The poem describes the unsafe living conditions of the slums in Mumbai.
- Dharker illustrates the adversity these slum communities face, but celebrates their resourcefulness and resilience.
- She illustrates how faith unites this community.
- Dharker celebrates human beings’ incredible capacity for innovation and invention in the face of adversity.
Keywords
Resilience - the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity
Resourcefulness - the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties
Social inequality - the unequal distribution of wealth and/or opportunities within society
Slum - an overcrowded street or district inhabited by people in poverty
Miraculous - extremely surprising or difficult to believe
Common misconception
Students think that Dharker is critical of the structures in the slums.
Though Dharker portrays how dangerous these buildings are, she also shows great admiration of the slum community's resourcefulness in building theses structures - she celebrates their fortitude and resilience in the face of adversity.
Equipment
You will need access to a copy of the Eduqas poetry anthology for this lesson.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
the continuation of a sentence beyond the end of a line
comparing two things using the verb "to be"
the use of words or figurative language to create vivid pictures
a pause or a break in a line of verse, often marked by punctuation