Exploring and engaging with themes in 'Coming To England’
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can identify and reflect on the key themes in 'Coming to England'.
Key learning points
- ‘Coming to England’ highlights Floella’s resilience and advocacy against racism.
- The text has themes of determination, migration, identity and overcoming adversity.
- Floella has a strong support network; she describes positive traits that she has learnt from both her parents.
- A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a story.
Keywords
Theme - A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a story.
Convey - To convey means to communicate a message to the reader directly or indirectly.
Discrimination - Discrimination is treating a person or group of people differently and unfairly because of a certain characteristic.
Adversity - Adversity can be described as challenges, prejudice, and hardships a person had to confront and overcome in their life.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that Floella's experiences were only negative when arriving in England.
Experiences that Floella had in both countries were both positive and negative. Listing and discussing these either with talk partners, in small groups or as a whole class can be beneficial to build up an overall picture of Floella's life.
Teacher tip
It would be useful to have some pre-prepared quotes to support pupils in Task A. Following the lesson, reading the Afterword provides some closure for some questions regarding Floella's family and the Windrush Generation.
Equipment
You need a copy of the 2021 Macmillan Children’s Book edition of ‘Coming to England’ written by Floella Benjamin, illustrated by Joelle Avelino, for this lesson.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the following details from the front cover of the text.
Q2.True or False? Floella Benjamin's experience of England in 1960 was entirely positive.
Q3.What is a suitable definition of a theme within a text?
Q4.True or False? 'Coming to England' is an autobiographical memoir.
Q5.Match the word to its definition.
Q6.Match the word to its definition.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the following keywords to their definition.
Q2.Which of the following is a suitable definition of adversity?
Q3.Floella was a competitive child. Which race did she win for her school house on Sports Day?
Q4.Floella was aware of lessons where she did not feel confident. What creature does Floella compare her art teacher to?
Q5.Order the following events from Chapter 15. Place in chronological order.
Q6.Which of the following could be considered themes of 'Coming to England'?
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Exploring and engaging with themes in 'Coming To England’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Exploring and engaging with themes in 'Coming To England’, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the 'Coming To England': reading unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.