51����

A fully-resourced and engaging lesson on Poem at Thirty-Nine by Alice Walker, designed for the Edexcel IGCSE English Literature (4ET1) Poetry Anthology. This lesson helps students explore themes of memory, inheritance, family, and identity through Walker’s personal, reflective style. Includes contextual introduction, close reading activities, poetic technique tasks, and scaffolded analytical writing support. Ideal for first teaching or revision — ready to use with no extra prep.

Lesson Features and Content:

• Reflective Starter Activity: Students consider the personal and emotional significance of being on the edge of 40, prompting thoughtful engagement with the poem’s title and themes.
• Context on Alice Walker: A clear, accessible introduction to the poet’s life and influences, helping students understand the poem’s autobiographical and cultural context.
• Guided First Reading & Discussion: Students reflect on their first impressions of the poem, identifying who the speaker is addressing and how key emotions and values are conveyed.
• ‘Technique Detectives’ Task: Students identify and annotate poetic techniques (e.g., metaphor, enjambment, imagery, tone) and discuss how they reveal the speaker’s relationship with her father.
• Analytical Writing Practice: Includes a clear PETAL paragraph scaffold to support students in writing about how Walker presents her relationship with her father, with prompts for quotation use, technique identification, and thoughtful analysis.
• Form and Structure Quiz: Students complete a multiple-choice and short-answer quiz on the poem’s structure, exploring the effects of free verse and varied stanza length.
• Creative Plenary – “Three Words”: Students distil their understanding of the poem into three words that sum up the speaker’s relationship with her father, encouraging reflection and synthesis of learning.