POETRY AROUND THE WORLD:

An In-Depth Study of Poetry in Ghana, USA, and Beyond

Teacher Notes:

Hello! I’m so glad you’re here and ready to dive into this resource. I’d like to take a moment to introduce
myself as well as explain more about the materials and ideas in these lessons.

My name is Cynthia Amoah, a Ghanaian-American spoken word poet and educator. My contribution as
an educator comes from my insistent need to empower young people with the tools that helped me
identify my exact voice: creative writing and performance. My hope is that through these topics, students
will gain a breadth of knowledge in poetry and Africa, and will be inspired to investigate their own
identities and voices.

This resource targets students in grades 8-10. Simply put, this work seeks to engage students of color to
learn from writers who look like them, and students of other backgrounds to learn about the traditions and
accomplishments of artists of color, African and American alike.

This lesson is organized into a 60-minute class session. However, it can be easily adapted to any
classroom by modifying activities, incorporating other relevant poems if the unit needs to be extended,
and/or decreasing the times frames in the sections of the lesson. Instructors are welcome to provide a brief
intro/context about all of the authors and writers whose work is used.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please refrain from distributing this resource for profit or otherwise, publishing on
a website or anywhere online in any form for wide use, copying or modifying this resource for sale, & etc.
Violating these rules is strictly forbidden.

Thank you for purchasing this resource. By downloading this product, you are given permission to use
this in your personal classroom only. Please do not share, resell, post or alter without my permission. To
use in multiple classrooms please purchase additional licenses.

I hope that this lesson provides fresh context for the study of poetry, sparks minds to create freely and
boldly, and is most importantly, used for the academic and educatory purposes of young learners.

Happy Learning!
Cynthia Amoah

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LESSON PLAN: MEANING AND POETRY

Quote of the Day:

• “I believe there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives,
through words.” ― Jesmyn Ward

Subject:
• Poetry plays with meaning when it identifies resemblances or makes comparisons between things.
In this way, poetry deals with particular things in concrete language because our emotions
respond best to these things. A poem is most often concrete and/or particular through its message.
• Connotation, simile, metaphor, allegory, and symbol are all aspects of the comparisons. These
expressions are generally called figurative or metaphorical language.

Objective:
• Students will practice close reading and interpret meaning and points of emphasis within a poem.

Supplies:
• Student Journals
• Link for poems
• Audio/Visual Capability

Lesson:

1. Recite Opening Ritual x3: 1 min

a. Start every class with a chant of mutual collaboration and care to establish community.
b. “I-have-a-voice”
c. “My-voice-is-powerful”
d. “My-voice-will-change-the-world”

2. Journaling & Warm-Up Activity: 4 mins

a. Free writing.
b. Instruct students to write about anything they would like to write about, free of form/structure
or prompt.
c. Only rule is they must write for the time dedicated to this warm-up.
d. Ask volunteers to share what they wrote.

3. Deep Breathing exercise: 5 mins

a. While standing or sitting, ask students to draw their elbows back slightly to allow their chest
to expand and follow the rules below.
b. Take a deep inhalation through their nose.
c. Retain their breath for a count of 5.
d. Slowly release their breath by exhaling through their nose.
e. Repeat this deep breathing exercise a few more times.

4. Meaning & Poetry Lesson: 20 mins

a. Metaphors or similes can be used to interpret meaning in poetry.
b. These are comparisons sometimes using the words “like” or “as.”
c. For example, “writing is like swimming” or the “sky is as blue as map water” or “the
keyboard wrinkled with ideas.” These comparisons help the reader find meaning in the
relation of the subject matter to the compared subject.

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 d. When a poet creates a metaphor, they put one idea in terms of another and thereby create a
new vision of the original idea. Sometimes it may be easier to create a metaphor or simile to
help the reader understand a view of an idea.
e. Instruct students to write their own metaphors or similes and then explain to the class why
their metaphor works or what it means to them.

5. Poems & Discussion on Meaning: 15 mins

a. Read “Images of Africa at Century’s End” by Ama Ata Aidoo:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/143816/images-of-africa-at-centurys-end
b. Debrief / Questions:
1. What is the meaning in this poem? What message is this poem trying to convey?
2. What was it like to read a poem with some words in the Ghanaian dialect Akan/twi?
Did it complicate the overall meaning of the poem?
3. How do the word choices in this poem inform you of the writer’s identity? Inform
you of your own identity?
4. How does the form, style and structure of this poem help the audience to understand
its meaning?
5. Diving deeper into the imagery in this poem, what reason(s) does the writer give the
reader as to why Black people have changed their images to be more accepted?
6. Which examples in the poem discuss this idea further?
7. At the beginning of this poem, the writer emphasizes the rarity of Black people
appearing in films or on TV. In your experience, does this disparity exist? Why or
why not?
8. How have Black peoples been portrayed in films, TV, and the overall media?
9. What message is the writer trying to convey by ending the poem with the question,
‘Shall we let him’?

6. Watch & Listen to Nana Asaase Twi Poem: 10 mins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg9UN7ym6g4&t=0m10s
a. Debrief / Questions:
1. What is the meaning in this poem? What message is this poem trying to convey?
2. What was it like to hear a poem with lines in the Ghanaian dialect Akan/twi? Did it
complicate the overall meaning of the poem?
3. Did you feel an urge to understand the meaning of the words and lines in order to
comprehend the poem?
4. Did you feel more invested or distant from the poem as a result of the language
barrier?
5. What does the poet mean when he says, “Only a foolish son points to his father’s
house with his left finger?”
6. What does the poet mean when he says, “You ask me for word, I offer tongue, you
learnt ear?”
7. In many cultures, people use colloquialisms and familiar language that needs no
explanation. In African cultures, this is no different. What are some common
colloquialisms in your culture that you are familiar with?
8. Should poets consider their audience when they choose the language their poems are
presented in?

7. HOMEwork: 5 mins
a. Write a minimum 8-line poem of any form discussing the portrayal of Black people in media
in the United States. (For example: A poem discussing the positive images of Black people in
the movie Black Panther.)

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b. Must use at least two metaphors and/or similes in your poem.
c. Bonus points if you include a word or line in a different language of your choosing (native or
new).
d. Option to make the title a different language as well.