WORLDLIT World Englishes

• Engels
• Middelbare school

World Literature - World Englishes

The poem: 'The Minority'

Jaimy J, Jaimy C, Tom K, Lana N, Eva D

learning objectives 

- The student can write down what World Englishes mean. 

- The student can analyse the text to find out the deeper meaning of the text. 

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pre-reading

- what are World Englishes?

- scim the text 

- do the exercise

What comes to mind when you think of World Englishes? Write down 3 words.

World Englishes

World Englishes is a term for emerging localized or indigenized varieties of English, especially varieties that have developed in territories influenced by the United Kingdom. 

Scan the text & write down your prediction for the poem:

While reading

Read the poem 'the Minority' and answer the questions on the following slides. 

1. While reading the poem, were you able to make connections between the text and the title ‘Minority’?

2. What stanza do you find most interesting and why?

3. What literary devices can you spot? Name at least 2 of them.

4. What perspective is the poem in? Is there anything that stands out about it?

Post reading

Answer the following questions to analyse the poem!

1. Read the third and fourth stanza, you notice different similes here, write down the two similes and compare them. How are they different from each other? How could you connect this to foreignness?

2. Speaking a language and ‘English as a world language’ should unify people, still in the poem it is said that the speaker is a ‘foreigner everywhere’. How could that be?

3. In the sixth and seventh stanza, we come across different assonances like ‘scratch’ and ‘clatter’. This is a turning point in the poem, what do you think the speaker feels? (hint: fighting or acceptance?)

4. Name a few examples of how Imtiaz uses symbolism of foreign things in his poem.

5. Imtiaz uses the first person’s view in the beginning of the poem and ends with a switch where she speaks to the reader, why could this be?

6. What do you think is meant with the last stanza? It is spoken to you as a person, how could a reader imply this?

Ok, you have made it to the end of this lesson (almost). Now, we would like to know your opinion on this poem!!!!!!

What do you think is the importance of World Englishes? Give two reasons.

The end!!!!

Thanks for participating!

If you have any questions regarding the poem or the topic, please bring them to class for our Q&A session.