Europe in the Classroom this is volume 2 of the Europe in the classroom

Poetry Watch the clip of John Agard reading his poem Windrush Child at https://vimeo.com/34658318. John Agard was born in Guyana and awarded the prestigious Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry for excellence in poetry in 2012. Ask your pupils to look again at the photographs of images of post-war Britain and write four additional short verses describing the experiences of the Windrush child in his first days in Britain using the same prepositions: His poem was dedicated to Vince Reid who at 13 was one of the youngest passengers aboard the Windrush. Ask your pupils to discuss their thoughts about the poem. Was there anything that they particularly liked? What images stood out for them that give a sense of the home that the boy is leaving behind? Behind you… In the poem John Agard uses the following prepositional phrases to start each new stanza: Behind you… Above you… Around you … Beside you… The poem also contains a line reminding the child to think of his Grandmother back in Jamaica and to write a letter about his Windrush adventure. Ask your pupils to discuss what they think he would write in that letter and draft it. Above you… Around you … Beside you… Carribean migrants en route to from London to Liverpool ©Imperial War Museum Migration education pack 10

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