Pre Reading Activities My grandmother A DESCRIBE YOUR

Pre- Reading Activities

My grandmother

A. DESCRIBE YOUR GRANDMOTHER: 1. She is_____________________. 2. She wears. ____________________. 3. She likes to____________________. 4. She doesn’t like to _________________. What do grandchildren usually feel about their grandmother? ______________________________

Distinguishing Different Perspectives הבחנת נקודות מבט שונות Different people view things differently. The ability to identify different points of view is called “Distinguishing Different Perspectives”. Why is it useful for communication? Try to think of the group decision or an argument with a friend. Think of other situations when ‘Distinguishing Different Perspectives’ is important’?

Is she old or young?

A Group Discussion How is your perspective similar to or different from your classmates’ one? 1. Why would it be useful to distinguish different perspectives in the following situations? * When trying to get a group decision___________________ * In an argument with a friend______________________ * When reading a book or watching a movie________________ 2. When else might this thinking skill be useful in everyday life? __________________________________________________________________

What feelings are evoked?

Vocabulary Practice 1. Copy the following words and phrases. 2. Which of them relate to the grandmother and which to the granddaughter? Fill in the table. Grandmother Granddaughter

washed the sheets- towel- sunned the mattresses-tired bones- filled with tearstrapped- pass by

Analysis of the form • • Free verse-no rhyme 1 stanza Punctuated with four lines 3 sentences: each sentence contains different part of the content line: 1 -7 -grandmother is talking about her day line: 8 -14 -we see how the granddaughter feels about it line: 15 -18 -we see what would happen if the granddaughter had not shown the grandmother respect

Literary Terms • Setting-where and when the story takes place • A stanza-a group of lines which form a unit in the poem. • Theme-the theme is the central idea or message in a story or poem. We can usually find theme by asking, “What is this story/poem about? ’

Basic Understanding 1. Who is the speaker in the poem? A girl/a young woman/ the granddaughter who is visiting her grandmother 2. Who is the speaker talking about? She is talking about her grandmother. 3. What does the old woman do during the day? Name two things. She washes the sheets and suns the mattresses. She would not say so many words. 4. What do we learn about the old woman’s life? We learn that she spends her day doing housework, which is very tiring; she is very lonely; she wants to share her thoughts and feeling with others and was waiting for the opportunity to do so when the speaker passed by.

A 1. The poem describes a meeting between a young woman and her grandmother. Which of the following words express the speaker's attitude toward her grandmother in the beginning of the poem and at the end of the poem ? Use thinking skill of DISTINGUISHING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES to help you. Circle the granddaughter’s attitude in the beginning of the poem in blue and at the end of the poem in red. Playful *angry *loving *caring *indifferent *humorous *sorrowful *sarcastic

2. 3. Has this poem changed your perspective of family relationships? Explain

HOT Skill-Inferring To ‘infer’ means to make a que or come to a conclusion about something based on information you have. Infer=read between the lines

• What would you infer if a woman in a story hides behind a wall when she sees another woman? • If a man who has little money wears a very expensive watch? • In the poem “Grandmother’ what can you infer from the line ‘my eyes filled with tears’? How does the speaker feel?

• What can you tell about the relationship between the grandmother and her granddaughter from the poem? Use the HOT Skill of Inferring to answer the question. Reading between the lines, I suppose that the grandmother is neglected by her granddaughter as she has nothing to say to her but ‘hello’. On the other hand, the attitude of grandmother towards her granddaughter is also not so warm and friendly. I realize this from the fact that the grandmother is not trying to hug or kiss her granddaughter.

5. Answer the questions: 1. The setting is the time and place in which the events of a story or a poem occur. What is the setting of the poem? Where: don’t know-possibly in the grandmother’s house /room/yard When: later in the day when the grandmother has finished all her chores. 2. Did the speaker intend to stop and have a real conversation with her grandmother? Why or why not? Which words in the poem helped you decide? No , the speaker did not intend to stop and have a real conversation with her grandmother. She was going to say “Salaam” and walk away.

3. Why did the speaker’s eyes fill with tears? What does she realize? Her eyes filled with tears because she felt guilty that she: • did not intend to give up any of her time to have a real conversation with her grandmother and/or • has never taken the time to find out how her grandmother spends her days. 4. Shirazie’s main message in the poem is_____

Bridging Text and Context Sameeneh Shirazie (1967 -) was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in a close-knit family. Her own grandmother, who lived with the family, was an important figure in her childhood. The poem Grandmother was written out of love and admiration for her. Shirazie has also lived in Australia and in the Middle East, and the subject of much of her poetry is about change, love and family. Today she works at the Royal University for Women in Bahrain. What does the information above add to your understanding of the poem Grandmother? The information adds to my understanding of the poem because Shirazie loved her own grandmother, and this feeling is expressed in the poem. Her grandmother lived with her family, and we can understand from the poem that she also did the chores in the house. Shirazie chose to write the poem about her grandmother because she was a central figure in the poet’s own life.

The poem describes a visit that a granddaughter pays to her grandmother. Speaker-granddaughter. We can see this in the last lines of the poem (l. 18 - my grandmother) Setting -where? don’t know the visit takes place (room? house? ) When-(infer) end of the day as grandmother describes all the chores she has done through the day. Theme of the poem-relationship we have with the elder members of our family. First two lines- the granddaughter doesn't really care about her grandmother-had not asked her much just how she felt Grandmother tells her granddaughter what she has done during the day-she washed the sheets , she’d also sunned matrasses. Grandmother asks a questions why a wet towel is heavy-childish. Describes her bones as tired. All this changes granddaughter’s perspectives of her grandmother. Her eyes are full with tears when she thought that she would say only Salaam. The last lines-what instead of who-emphasizes the neglected condition of the grandmother-not a person, but only a thing that was left lying between bedclothes.

Who is the speaker? • Grandmother The meaning of Salaam is peace It is used for greetings. Two activities that grandmother does: • Washed the sheets • Sunned the matrasses The granddaughter’s attitude towards her grandmother: • Doesn’t change through the poem • Stays the same through the poem • Changes but only slightly • Changes significantly towards the end of the poem. The grandmother is • alone during the most of the day • surrounded by people who visit her • is visited by her family regularly • is not a friendly person

Copy the words that tell us that the grandmother works hard during the day? Grandmother describes her bones’ such tired bones’ and also says that’ she has so much to do. ’ The main message in the poem is. . • We should visit our grandmothers more often • We should be kind to one another • We should respect old people • We should have closer relationships with the elder members of our families

What can we learn about grandmother’s mood? • She feels very tired(her bones are tired) • She also feels confused-she doesn’t understand why the wet towel is so heavy We can assume that the poem takes place • At the end of the day • In the middle of the day • While the grandmother has finished doingher daily chores

Post-Reading • Draw a picture that reflects one day of the grandmother’s life(based on the information from the poem).