Look closely at this image of a mother and daughter, among others.
The following activities and questions are designed to help your students use their noticing skills to move through the poem and develop their thinking skills so they understand its meaning with confidence, using what they’ve noticed as evidence for their interpretations. Read more about the framework upon which these activities are based.
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Warm-up: What comes to mind when you hear the title “Foreign Body”? What is a foreign body? Draw or write about your thoughts, and share your writing/drawing with a partner or small group.
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Before Reading the Poem: (Teachers, we suggest creating a gallery walk of the following images, by either printing them out or creating a way for students to view them digitally.) Look closely at images of a mother and daughter here, here, and here. What do you see? Which image in particular stands out to you? Why? What do these images have in common? Why?
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Reading the Poem: Silently read the poem “Foreign Body” by Kimiko Hahn. What do you notice about the poem? Note any words or phrases that stand out to you or any questions you might have.
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Listening to the Poem: Enlist two volunteers and listen as the poem is read aloud twice, or watch a video of the poet reading the poem. Write down any additional words and phrases that stand out to you.
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Small Group Discussion: Share what you noticed about the poem with a small group. How might this poem relate to the resources from the beginning of class? What is the relationship between the speaker and the mother? What do you make of the last line and the daughter? How does one’s lineage live inside their body? How might your own lineage live inside your body?
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Whole Class Discussion: (Teachers, divide your class into groups, giving each group a section from the poem.) Work with your group to reread your assigned section of the poem. What is this section about? How does it contribute to your understanding of the poem? Then, participate in a mini debate in which you and your group argue why this particular section is the most important section of the poem.
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Extension for Grades 7-8: How might you finish this line: “This is a poem on my …”? Write as many endings as possible. Share your lines with your class. (Teachers, you might want to spend two days on this lesson so that you have time to prepare copies of student writing.) Then, work in small groups to incorporate everyone’s lines/sections into a poem. Share your group’s version of the poem. Review the other poems. What decisions did you make about ordering and the sections? How was this similar to or different from the original poem?
- Extension for Grades 9-12: In Hahn’s reading of the poem, she discusses an interest in exploring words with multiple meanings. What words can you think of that have multiple, interesting meanings? Make a list of words. Swap words with a partner and try writing a piece that incorporates your partner’s words. Share your writing with the class.
Dear Poet 2025 is a multimedia education project that invites students in grades five through twelve to write letters in response to celebrated poets reading their work in a series of recorded videos. Poets will reply to a set of student letters and a selection of these correspondences will be published by the Academy in a special booklet this summer. Dear Poet 2025 is now accepting submissions through April 24. Learn more.
Consonance: the repetition of similar consonant sounds.