'Checking Out Me History'



‘Checking Out Me History’ by John Agard

Learning Objectives:

- AO1: Respond to the using details from the poem to support your opinion

- AO2: Analyse the writers’ methods (language, structure and form) and the purposes of these methods

Pre-reading activity

1. Why do you think it might it be a good idea to teach young people history at school? Note three reasons.

← ______________________________________

← ______________________________________

← ______________________________________

2. Why do you think that British history is widely taught across the world?

← ______________________________________

← ______________________________________

← ______________________________________

3. What reasons might there be to teach young people about the history of other cultures as well as British history?

← ______________________________________

← ______________________________________

← ______________________________________

( Take 3 minutes to discuss your opinions with a partner. Justify your ideas.

( Add any further issues you have uncovered.

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First impressions

( Read the poem.

( What are your first impressions of the tone and meaning? What, do you think, is the speaker’s opinion?

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What type of poem is this?

( This poem is a dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue is a piece of verse that gives the speaker a voice to EXPRESS his / her feelings to a silent audience.

In the case of ‘Checking Out Me History’, Agard’s speaker expresses a desire to learn more about his / her own country of origin, not just the British history s/he has been taught in school. Agard himself was born in Guyana in South America in 1949 and moved to England in 1977.

Poetry detective

*Find table on next page (page 4).

What is the narrator of the poem taught at school? What does the narrator wish he or she was taught?

Instructions for teacher:

1. Enlarge, cut out and hide the statements around the classroom.

2. Put pupils into groups of three. One student within the group takes on the role of scribe; s/he will need the empty table on page 5 and a pen. The other two students are ‘runners’. (Teacher to differentiate accordingly.)

3. The task for the ‘runners’ is to find a statement, memorise it and then return to the scribe who has to write down the information provided by her / his runners. Runners are NOT allowed to pick up the statements or to shout the facts across the classroom. Neither are they allowed to memorise more than one fact before returning to the scribe.

4. The team must arrange the statements in the table under the relevant heading.

5. This is a frantic activity but one that students enjoy and it often turns into a race without the teacher even mentioning the word. Advice on movement around the classroom might be necessary.

|TAUGHT |NOT TAUGHT |

|1066 |Toussaint L’Ouverture |

|Dick Whittington |Nanny of the Maroons |

|The man who discovered the balloon. |Shaka, Zulu King |

|‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ by Mother Goose |The Caribs |

|Lord Nelson |The Arawaks |

|The Battle of Waterloo |Mary Seacole |

|Robin Hood | |

|Florence Nightingale | |

|Old King Cole | |

|Christopher Columbus | |

|TAUGHT |NOT TAUGHT |

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Webquest

( Use the Internet to find 3 - 4 details about the historical figures that Agard feels have been ignored or underrepresented.

|Toussaint L’Ouverture [pic] | |

| | |

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |_________________________________________________________ |

|Nanny de Maroon | |

|[pic] | |

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |_________________________________________________________ |

| | |

|Shaka | |

|[pic] | |

| | |

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |______________________________________________________ |

|The Caribs [pic] | |

| | |

| |____________________________________ |

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |_____________________ |

| | |

|The Arawaks | |

|[pic] | |

| | |

| |____________________________________ |

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |_________________________________________________________ |

|Mary Seacole | |

|[pic] | |

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |___________________________________________________________________________|

| |______________________________________________________ |

Poetry detective

Spot the following poetic techniques and devices at work in the poem. What is their PURPOSE and EFFECT?

|techniques |examples and analysis |

|short lines | |

|italics | |

|non-standard english | |

|repetition | |

|lack of punctuation | |

|a range of historical events / figures | |

|rhyme | |

Let’s take a closer look

( Answer the following questions by providing quotes and analysis. Think PEA - point, example, analysis.

Stanzas 1 – 3

|Dem tell me |

|Dem tell me |

|Wha dem want to tell me |

| |

|Bandage up me eye with me own history |

|Blind me to me own identity |

| |

|Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat |

|dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat |

|But Toussaint L’Ouverture |

|no dem never tell me bout dat |

← What can we infer about the speaker?

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← Who do you think ‘dem’ refers to?

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← Why do you think the poet has included a mixture of real events, characters from children’s stories and nursery rhymes?

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Stanzas 4, 6 and 9

|4 |6 |9 |

|Toussaint |Nanny |From Jamaica |

|a slave |see-far woman |she travel far |

|with vision |of mountain dream |to the Crimean War |

|lick back |fire-woman struggle |she volunteer to go |

|Napoleon |hopeful stream |and even when de British said no |

|battalion |to freedom river |she still brave the Russian snow |

|and first Black | |a healing star |

|Republic born | |among the wounded |

|Toussaint de thorn | |a yellow sunrise |

|to de French | |to the dying |

|Toussaint de beacon | | |

|of de Haitian Revolution | | |

← Select an effective noun phrase used to describe each historical figure. Discuss the effect of each noun phrase and how the speaker’s praise for them is made clear.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

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Nanny de Maroon

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Mary Seacole

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Below is stanza four of the poem, rewritten in standard English.

|From Jamaica, she travelled far to the Crimean War. She volunteered to go and even when the British said no, she still braved|

|the Russian snow. She was a healing star among the wounded, a yellow sunrise to the dying. |

( Give examples of / make a note of (up to you which; delete below as necessary) the non-standard dialect and grammar forms that this has revealed. Explore their effect.

|techniques |examples and analysis |

|ellipsis | |

|lack of punctuation | |

|enjambment | |

|phonetic spelling | |

|colloquialism | |

← Why might the poet have used such short lines in these stanzas?

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← Why might the poet have used italics for these stanzas?

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Stanza 10

|Dem tell me |

|Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me |

|But now I checking out me own history |

|I carving out me identity |

← What might the metaphor ‘I carving out me identity’ mean? Think about the connotations of the verb ‘to carve’.

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← What could you infer about the way the speaker feels about his or her identity from this stanza?

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| |My Itchy Toes Smell Loads |

| |( Complete the table below with what you consider to be the most important quotes and poetic devices |

| |within each category. |

| | |

|meaning | |

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|imagery | |

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|tone | |

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|Structure and Form | |

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|language | |

Comparing poems

- AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects

( Use the Venn diagram to find the differences and similarities between the two poems.

Sample exam question

← Compare the theme of history in ‘Checking Out Me History’ and ‘The Horse Whisperer’.

Planning an essay

( Using MITSL as a guide, create an essay plan or spider diagram for your essay question. You must include 3 - 5 points of comparison. Number each point in the order you would write about them in your exam. When you write your essay, remember to analyse structural and poetic devices for their effect and meaning. Don’t just list.

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| |Checking Out Me History |

| | |

| |Dem tell me |

| |Dem tell me |

| |Wha dem want to tell me |

| | |

| |Bandage up me eye with me own history |

|5 |Blind me to me own identity |

| | |

| |Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat |

| |dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat |

| |But Toussaint L’Ouverture |

| |no dem never tell me bout dat |

| | |

|10 |Toussaint |

| |a slave |

| |with vision |

| |lick back |

| |Napoleon |

|15 |battalion |

| |and first Black |

| |Republic born |

| |Toussaint de thorn |

| |to de French |

|20 |Toussaint de beacon |

| |of de Haitian Revolution |

| | |

| |Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon |

| |and de cow who jump over de moon |

| |Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon |

|25 |but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon |

| | |

| | |

| |Nanny |

| |see-far woman |

| |of mountain dream |

| |fire-woman struggle |

|30 |hopeful stream |

| |to freedom river |

| | |

| |Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo |

| |but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu |

| |Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492 |

|35 |but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too |

| | |

| |Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp |

| |and how Robin Hood used to camp |

| |Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul |

| |but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole |

| | |

|40 |From Jamaica |

| |she travel far |

| |to the Crimean War |

| |she volunteer to go |

| |and even when de British said no |

|45 |she still brave the Russian snow |

| |a healing star |

| |among the wounded |

| |a yellow sunrise |

| |to the dying |

| | |

|50 |Dem tell me |

| |Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me |

| |But now I checking out me own history |

| |I carving out me identity. |

| |John Agard |

Acknowledgments and thanks

Written by Chantel Mathias and Amanda Fiegel

Introduction and copy by Karen Bishop

Audio file scripts and recordings by Barrie McDermid - podcastrevision.co.uk

Interactive resources and design by David Riley - triptico.co.uk

Images:

• napoleonstark.

•

• mwhcp-per6.

•

• flmnh.ufl.edu

• famous.y2u.co.uk

Agard, John

‘Checking Out Me History’ Copyright © 1996 by John Agard reproduced by kind permission of John Agard c/o Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency Limited.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this collection.  If notified, we will be pleased to rectify any errors / omissions.

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‘The Horse Whisperer’

‘Checking Out Me History’

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In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

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