My Mother at Six-six (Lesson Plan)

Text of the poem:

My Mother at Sixty-Six :  
By Kamala Das

Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother, 
beside me, 
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear, 
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma, 
all I did was smile and smile and
smile...... 

Objectives:

1. To help the students appreciate poetry and enjoy reading it

2. To help them understand the effective of the images used by the poet to convey her ideas

3. To enable them to understand the thought and imagination contained in the poem

4. To promote empathy

5. To develop aesthetic sense

6. To create love for English poetry

 Teaching Aids: PPT

Pre-Reading Activity:

The teacher asks the students what they think of ageing and death, and if they are ever worried about them. Recalling the poem  'A Photograph', which they have already read in Class XII will make an effective introduction poem. Kushwant Singh's beautiful narration of his grandmother also helps the teacher to have a lively discussion on ageing and death.

Presentation of the poem:

    The teacher reads aloud with proper intonation and rhythm.  He explains the meanings of the difficult words, phrases, symbols, etc. This helps the students understand the poem better and appreciate and share the emotions expressed by the poet. 

Comprehension Questions used in the classroom interaction:

1. Where was the poet going? Who was with her?

2. How did the mother look like? Why did the poet feel sad seeing the mother’s appearance?

3. Why does the poet relate the mother’s appearance to that of a corpse?

4. What did the poet realise with pain?

5. Why was the realisation painful?

6. Why did the poet put that thought away?

7. What did the poet see outside of the car?

8. How does the poet strike a contrast between what travelled with her and what moved outside?

9. How did the mother look like at the airport?

10. How do ‘wan’ and ‘pale’ describe the mother?

11. What is a late winter’s moon?

12. Why does the poet compare her mother to a late winter’s moon?

13. What is the poet’s old, familiar ache? How did that ache return at the airport?

14. The poet had the fear of separation from her mother in her childhood. How was that fear different at the   airport?

15. Why did the poet promise her mother of a meeting in the near future?

16. The poet’s repeated smile seems out of place in a way. In which way is that appropriate?

(Courtesy:  kidddingtown.com)

Blackboard Work:

- The salient points in the life of the poet

- meanings of difficult words and phrases

- figures of speech used by the poet

- the main aspects of the poem

- comprehension questions 

Assignment:

- writing a summary of the poem

- answering the comprehension questions

- Making a list of figures of speech used in the poem

Learning outcomes:

1. The students understand and appreciate the theme of the poem

2. They read the poem with proper pronunciation and rhythm.

3. They learn the effectiveness of the figures of speech used by the poet.

4. They develop concern for the old.