One of my favourite poems
is First
Day at School mainly because it encapsulates the whole range of emotions
children experience on their very first day at school, strangers in an
unfamiliar environment, where they will -- willy-nilly-- spend half -- if no
more-- of their day.
If your students are
mostly children and teenagers, you could ask them to sketch something, no
matter how rough it may be, to illustrate their own first day at school.
Explain it doesn’t have to be a realistic image – simply a representation of
first impressions and gut reactions.
It is not so important for
them to verbalise their experience as to convey a feel of the situation for the
time being. It could be something like this
Following this
introductory activity you could draw up a list of questions to ask, which will
elicit some of the poem content though possibly in a different light.
§
What was
the first sound that you registered?
§
Did you
mix with other children before going into class?
§
How did
you feel when you realised you couldn’t leave school?
§
Did the
railings look scary? How?
§
What was
your understanding of the word “lesson” before you started school?
§
What did
your classroom look like? Did you find any aspect(s) of the classroom odd/disturbing?
§
What did
your first teacher look like? Was s/he intimidating in any sense? Explain.
The students
could write down their answers and compare notes to see how similar or
divergent their experiences were.
Following
that, you can show them the slide show without the lines the first time and ask
them to tell the story of this First Day at School based on the sequence of
images in the slide show. It would make the task easier for the students if you
provided some key words or if you brainstormed the key words. They should be
free to interpret the images and their relevance themselves; you might find the
result mind-boggling!
Alternatively, you could provide the first
word of each line and ask the students to continue the line or even supply the
last word of the line or both. The possibilities are endless, and you can
improvise depending on the level and the aptitude of your students.
