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Education
» Resources › Poems
United › Asia / Crops
Learning objectives
In this lesson plan, the poem 'I am glad to be up
and about' is used as a basis for pupils to
- discuss city and country life in Pakistan and other countries
- investigate a common vegetable crop: the potato
- write about crops and agriculture.
Keywords
World, commonwealth, Pakistan, India, sociology, culture,
literature, language, poetry, agriculture, crops, potatoes, food
Theme: Asia / Crops | Download PDF
I am glad to be up and about
by Taufiq Rafat (Pakistan)
Reading and discussion
Here are some questions for pupils about this poem.
- The 'narrator' is the character who is saying the poem – the
'I'. What do we learn about the narrator?
- Do you think the narrator is a man or a woman? Why? Think about where
s/he is, what s/he is doing, and also what s/he is not doing.
- There are four groups of people in the poem: boys, men, girls, and
city families. Describe some of the things each group does.
- Choose an adjective for each group that describes how they are feeling.
- Where is Karachi? What can you find out about it?
- Assuming the potato field is in Pakistan, if it is 'a thousand miles'
from Karachi, where might it be?
- In the poem the people in the country seem to be happier than the
people in the city. Are you happier in the city or the country?
- Discuss the good and bad points of living in the city, and the good
and bad points of living in the country.
Research
Find out what you can about potatoes, for example
- the names of some different kinds of potatoes
- different ways of cooking potatoes
- different kinds of prepared food that contain potatoes, eg crisps,
potato scones, frozen chips, etc
- what a potato plant looks like, and how it grows
- where the potatoes in the shops have come from
- when people in Europe first started eating potatoes.
Writing
Pupils can write their own poem about potatoes. Here are some prompt
questions to start pupils thinking and making notes.
- Imagine you are eating potatoes.
- Where are you?
- Who are you with?
- Who has cooked the potatoes?
- How have the potatoes been cooked?
- What other food are you eating with them?
- Who might you thank for the fact that you are eating potatoes?
Think about some of the people who have been involved: the potato has
been planted, harvested, sold, transported, displayed in a shop, bought,
transported again, prepared and cooked.
Write a poem about potatoes
- In the first verse, describe yourself eating potatoes.
- In the second verse, tell us some interesting facts about potatoes
that you have discovered from your research.
- In the third verse, thank some of the people who have produced it.
Other activities
- Ask pupils to find out crops that are grown locally – they could
look at what people grow in gardens and allotments, as well as in fields.
- Ask pupils to share stories about any kind of food-plants they have
grown or harvested, or helped their family and friends to grow or harvest.
- Ask pupils to look at the labels on food packets, and find out where
the food they eat comes from.
- Ask pupils to choose a poem in the book, and find out what sort of
crops are grown in the country it comes from.
Other poems about crops in Poems United
'Night illusion' by Tejani, Uganda
'A twist of hair…' by Anonymous, Brunei Darussalam
'Children, children' by Anonymous, Antigua and Barbuda
'The harvest of the sea' by W.H. Gill, Isle of Man
Download PDF
 5.
I am glad to be up and about (Asia / Crops)
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