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Immigrant
chronicle by Peter Skrzynecki a rap
Teacher
support material: Suggested
approach to preparing a response: Standard and Advanced
| Step 1. |
Focus on
ONE poem |
| |
Allocate
ONE poem to each student pair or group.
Task: Identify and explain the perspective(s) as revealed in the poem.
- What is
the perspective?
- What has
influenced the perspective? eg. personal, social/cultural, historical
contexts
- Whose perspective
are you referring to?
- perspectives of the subjects;
- perspective of the composer;
- your perspective as responder
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| Step
2. |
Note
making on all poems |
|
Task:
Student pairs or groups make notes on each of the poems set for
study.
Identify perspectives in specific poems. Look at the differences
between Peter the boy and Peter the man and how he handled these
changes. Remember it is a mature adult looking back on a child’s
memories and trying to make sense of them. |
| Step
3. |
Linking
between poems |
| |
Task: Student pairs or groups identify language structures and features.
Language
features are the techniques that the composer uses to create
the text.
What does the particular language reveal about perspective?
Look specifically at the devices he has used. Consider similes
and metaphors and the consistent imagery used The birds and
the barriers are good starting points. Remember that this is
an adult reminiscing about his childhood, and the perspective
does change.
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| Step
4. |
Writing paragraphs |
| |
Task: As a class, brainstorm or put together the images discovered,
for example, the bird imagery andthe barrier imagery. Pairs
or groups then organise notes into proper paragraphs. Give a
topic sentence for each paragraph. Ensure that there is a LINKING
sentence from paragraph to paragraph, as in the following model: Peter Skrzynecki
conveys a sense of being embarrassed by his father at times when
he was a child, as shown in “His Polish friends/ Always shook
hands too violently” .The use of the words “violently” and “formal”
suggest that Peter as a child was embarrassed by his father as
being too European when Peter himself was already an Australian
of the 1950s. This view is also in “I thought..Feliks Skrzynecki,/ That formal address/ I never got used to.” The use of “I thought”
shows a change in perspective from the adult to the child. |
| Step
5. |
Linking
between texts |
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Task:Student pairs or groups look at the poems together. For example,
look at the barriers, the responses from the people who feel alien
to our culture. Look at the migrants’ response to our culture,
as shown in “bordered by golden cypress/ Lawns- geraniums younger/
Than both parents,” Is there a concern here about age? The “golden
cypress“are part of the European culture, yet Skrzynecki talks
about it as if he knows about it. |
| Step
6. |
Modelling
a draft response |
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Task:Teacher provides a model for introduction of essay, as follows:Peter
Skrzynecki’s poetry is sensitive and outlines the problems that
migrants faced in Australia of the 1950s. Skrzynecki outlines
discrimination, alienation from his parents and his culture and
humiliation in his efforts to assimilate into the Australian culture.
In my essay, I will outline the discrimination he felt as shown
in Migrant hostel, the alienation from his parents and
his culture as conveyed in Feliks S and 10 Mary Street.
Humiliation comes in Crossing the Red Sea and Kornelia
Woloszczuk. The humiliation is of differing types, one by
his mother and the other by nameless authorities. Chronic ward shows the similarity between the migrants who felt alienated and
mentally ill patients. In Post card the poet presents the
problem between two cultures, when you are on the outside of one
culture and feel you belong to another culture. |
Credits
Thank you to Maya
Puiu, ESL teacher at Willoughby Girls High School, Pat Adams, Head
Teacher English at Girraween High School, and Lesley Fitzpatrick,
Senior Project Officer, Multicultural Programs Unit, for developing
the support material.
This rap is a joint
project of the Library and Information Literacy and English units,
Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate, and the Multicultural
Programs Unit, NSW Department of Education and Training.
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