Starter quiz
- What is cultural identity?
- a person's belief in their cultural superiority
- the beliefs and values of a group that shape a person's sense of belonging ✓
- the legal documentation relating to a person's nationality
- a person's preference for certain cultural practices over others
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- What does it mean to 'emigrate'?
- visit another country for a short period
- hold citizenship in multiple countries
- work temporarily in a foreign country
- leave your own country to settle permanently in another ✓
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- Where is Zambia?
- Europe
- South America
- Africa ✓
- Asia
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- Which of these are examples of a poem's structure?
- writer's biography and historical context
- themes and symbolism
- use similes and metaphors
- order of ideas and connections between stanzas ✓
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- Why do poets use stanzas?
- to indicate changes in mood or tone within the poem ✓
- to enable them to use more literary methods
- to develop poetic voice and advance the ideas ✓
- to list key themes and motifs
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- What is a metaphor?
- a literary method that directly compares two unlike things ✓
- a type of poem with a specific rhyme scheme and meter
- a detailed description of a person's physical appearance
- a traditional story explaining a natural or social phenomenon
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Exit quiz
- What is enjambment?
- a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things
- a type of stanza structure in classical poetry
- a poetic method where a sentence continues onto the next line without a pause ✓
- a form of traditional storytelling in cultural narratives
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- What is symbolism?
- objects or actions used to represent deeper meanings or abstract ideas ✓
- use of descriptive language to evoke sensory experiences in poetry
- intentional repetition of sounds at the beginning of words in poetry
- intentional repetition of sounds at the end of words in poetry
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- Match each of these words to the correct definition.
- emphasise⇔highlight or stress the importance of something ✓
- significant⇔having great importance or meaning ✓
- convincing⇔the ability to persuade someone to believe or agree with something ✓
- Arguably, the river in Chingonyi's 'Kumukanda' could symbolise ...
- the speaker's pride in his Zambian identity.
- the sadness he feels being separated from his cultural identity.
- the separation between childhood and adulthood. ✓
- the grief he feels about the loss of his mother.
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- In stanza 2 and 3 of 'Kumukanda', Chingonyi repeats an adjective to consider how different cultures view each other as 'alien'. Which word does he repeat?
- "river"
- "father"
- "strange" ✓
- "yellow"
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- What is the connection between the father figures in the last two stanzas of Chingonyi's 'Kumukanda'?
- he feels more connected to his ancestors than the father-figure in the UK ✓
- he wishes his father in Zambia could be more like the father-figure in the UK
- both 'fathers' in the poem show how little fatherly support our speaker has
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The river in the poem could symbolise rebirth and the loss of childhood innocence.
- The story of looking after his ill mother becomes the coming of age initiation he missed out on by moving to the UK.
- In the final stanza, Chingonyi reflects on what his life would have been like if he had not left Zambia.
- In the final stanza, the idea of language is used to underline his lack of belonging.
- Enjambment is used in the poem which could also link to the river, arguably symbolising separation and distance.
Common misconception
The speaker feels as though he doesn't belong in either 'home' (Zambia or the UK).
The speaker seems to identify more with his African culture, reflecting on how his identity is "unfinished" which implies it isn't lost completely.
Keywords
Emphasise - highlight or stress the importance of something
Enjambment - continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line of poetry
Significant - having great importance or meaning
Symbolism - using concrete objects or actions to represent deeper meanings or abstract ideas
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