Exploring and performing 'Elephant Beat' and 'Night Soup' by James Carter
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can perform a poem in front of an audience.
Key learning points
- The poem ‘Elephant Beat’ tells a story about the adventure of riding an elephant.
- It has a structured rhythm, which gives it a marching feel.
- ‘Night Soup’ is a poem about creating an imaginary, magical ‘soup’ made from elements of the night.
- When performing a poem, we can vary our volume to create different effects.
- Using expression and gestures can make our performances fun and interesting for the audience to watch.
Keywords
Rhythm - the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that creates the beat or flow of the poem
Volume - the loudness or softness of your voice when speaking or reading a poem
Expression - reading with feelings and emotion to bring the poem to life
Gesture - a movement that helps express an idea or meaning
Common misconception
Pupils may find it hard to identify the rhythm of the poem.
The best way to model this is through clapping or marching out the rhythm and letting them hear the beat.
Teacher tip
You may wish to spend a whole lesson exploring the poems and then another lesson performing them. Pupils would benefit from time to rehearse their performances. It can be beneficial to film pupils' performances and then watch them back, discussing how to improve.
Equipment
You need access to a copy of the poems, 'Elephant Beat' and 'Night Soup', which are available in the additional materials for this lesson.
Licence
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