1. ‘Dis Poetry’ by Benjamin Zephaniah
Lesson Objective: To explore how a poet uses language to address an audience

2. In this poem, Benjamin Zephaniah uses Non-Standard English
In this poem, Benjamin Zephaniah uses Non-Standard English. This is often used as a technique to say challenging or radical things (as John Agard did in ‘Half-Caste’), or to emphasise that they are not part of the ‘establishment’.
Think about how language is used in different situations:
Teenagers use a different style of language to mark their distance from adults
Language used in different situations
Try and complete this spider diagram with differing types of language that is used in different situations...

3. Your task is to re-write this letter using informal terminology
Your task is to re-write this letter using informal terminology. You could use ‘text’ or ‘Internet’ talk, or simply make the text more suitable for a teenage audience. Try and use some of the techniques that Zephaniah and Agard use in their poetry.
Dear Mr. Smith,
I am writing to inform you of Charlie’s appalling behaviour in my lesson today. He threw a chair across the classroom and shouted some exceedingly rude expletives at me. I feel he should be severely punished for this. It will be dealt with by the headmaster, but I hope you will also speak to him,
Kind regards,
Mr. Attwell

4. Poet
John Agard
Benjamin Zephaniah
Title
‘Half-Caste’
‘Dis Poetry’
Rhyme
Regular rhyme scheme. Example includes ‘Dis poetry is not Party Political, Not designed fe dose who are critical.’
Standard English?
No- the poet often uses words that are created such as ‘ghettology’. Many standard spellings are incorrect and the poet’s dialect is used.
Imagery
Many images are used. Comparisons between being ‘half-caste’ and Picasso painting a picture using red and green colours.
Themes
Formal?
Fill in the gaps in this table based on our knowledge of the two poems