DO NOW:

Where I come from Find your poem in your

book
Where I come from, people carry
If your poem is not in
Frosty forests in their minds, your book - copy it in
The soft rustle of autumn leaves. now!
Swings creaking, cold metal,
Annotate your poem for
Children’s joy written in winter’s breath, techniques:

Sound / smell / sight /

touch / taste imagery
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Alliteration
Think / Speak Now:

How does each image make you feel?

Island Man

This is the title of the poem we will read

today...
What do you think it will be about?
Grace Nichols

Born 1950 in Guyana

Guyana - mainland South America -

caribbean region and culture

Nichols moved to the UK in 1977

She has won many literary awards for her

poetry, including one in 2021

Any more predictions about the topic of

the poem?
L.O. To explore the power of place and identity; To understand how writers use language for effect

Island Man
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

Stay sitting -

morning stretch your arms

above your head
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

Stand up

wakes up
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

Put one hand to

sound your ear

 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

Wiggle your arm

blue surf like a wave

 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

wild Flap your hands

around like a bird

seabirds
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

sun Circle your arms wide

 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

comes Stamp your feet

together, arms by your
sides, stand straight -
back like a soldier standing to
attention
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

grey head down

 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

dull Keep head down

Walk slowly in place
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

muffling Continue walking in

place…with slightly bent
knees
muffling Bend your knees more
 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

pillow Sit down, head down

 Actions to go with words from the poem… practise!

heave Sit up straight, but

slowly, like you don’t
want to
 Put the actions together with a reading of the whole poem
Island Man

Morning Comes back to sands

And Island man wakes up Of a grey metallic soar
To the sound of blue surf To surge of wheels
In his head To dull North Circular roar
The steady breaking and wombing
Muffling muffling
Wild seabirds His crumpled pillow waves
And fishermen pulling out to sea Island man heaves himself
The sun surfacing defiantly
Another London day
From the east
Of his small emerald island
He always comes back groggily groggily
 What is the poem about? Were our predictions correct?
Island Man
Morning
And Island man wakes up
To the sound of blue surf
In his head
The steady breaking and wombing
Wild seabirds
And fishermen pulling out to sea
The sun surfacing defiantly
From the east
Of his small emerald island
He always comes back groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
Of a grey metallic soar
To surge of wheels
To dull North Circular roar
Muffling muffling
His crumpled pillow waves
Island man heaves himself
Another London day
Vocabulary
Wombing - a made up word! What could it mean?
Womb = uterus
Defiantly - proudly refusing to obey and / or be
criticised
North Circular - name of a busy highway in London
L.O. To explore the power of place and identity; To understand how writers use language for effect
Island Man
Morning
And Island man wakes up
To the sound of blue surf
In his head
The steady breaking and wombing
Wild seabirds
And fishermen pulling out to sea
The sun surfacing defiantly
From the east
Of his small emerald island
He always comes back groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
Of a grey metallic soar
To surge of wheels
To dull North Circular roar
Muffling muffling
His crumpled pillow waves
Island man heaves himself
Another London day
DO NOW: 1. Highlight all the verbs in the poem
2. What do (most) of these words have in common?
Re-read the 3. Where don’t they ‘fit’? What could this suggest
poem and finish about the speaker of the poem?
annotating 4. Underline all the ‘s’ sounds in the poem (you
might need to say the words aloud - the letter s
EXT: Write a doesn’t always sound like ssss
paragraph 5. What is the name of this technique?
explaining a 6. What could it represent?
quotation from 7. Find examples of
the poem Personification
Metaphor
Onomatopoeia
8. What is the effect of these? What do they make
the reader think / feel / imagine?
9. Why do you think there is no punctuation in the
poem?
10. Look at the last line - why do you think it is a
separate stanza? Why end the poem this way?
L.O. To explore the power of place and identity; To understand how writers use language for effect

Island Man
1. Highlight all the verbs in the poem
Morning 2. What do (most) of these words have in common?
And Island man wakes up
3. Where don’t they ‘fit’? What could this suggest
To the sound of blue surf
In his head about the speaker of the poem?
The steady breaking and wombing 4. Underline all the ‘s’ sounds in the poem (you
might need to say the words aloud - the letter s
Wild seabirds
And fishermen pulling out to sea
doesn’t always sound like ssss
The sun surfacing defiantly 5. What is the name of this technique?
6. What could it represent?
From the east 7. Find examples of
Of his small emerald island
He always comes back groggily groggily Personification
Metaphor
Comes back to sands
Of a grey metallic soar Onomatopoeia
To surge of wheels 8. What is the effect of these? What do they make
To dull North Circular roar the reader think / feel / imagine?
9. Why do you think there is no punctuation in the
Muffling muffling
His crumpled pillow waves poem?
Island man heaves himself 10. Look at the last line - why do you think it is a
separate stanza? Why end the poem this way?
Another London day
Think about a time when you have
felt strange in a place that doesn’t
feel like ‘home’

Tell a partner about it

Make two lists of words / phrases

1. A place that feels like ‘home’

2. A ‘different’ place
EXT: Write some metaphors /
similes / onomatopoeia related to
the places
Write a short poem about what it
feels like to wake up or start the
day in a ‘different’ place

HELP:
Use some words / MUST
structure from Contrast two
‘Island Man’ places

SHOULD
Use imagery

COULD
Use:
Simile
Metaphor
personification
 Plenary
Read your poem to a partner
Identify any techniques in their poem