“Peaches” by Adrienne Su

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3: Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Poem at the Academy of American Poets website: “Peaches”

Background on the poet at the Academy of American Poets website: Adrienne Su

Incredible Bridges: Poets Creating Community, “Peaches” by Adrienne Su version of this lesson is available from the Academy of American Poets

Link to an audio of the poet, Adrienne Su, reading “Peaches” 

Activity 1. Warm-Up: Food in Different Cultures

Objective: Students will begin to think about the symbolic nature of food in different cultures.

• Ask your students to think of a food that is representative of their culture in some way. Quickly go around the room and ask each student to call out their food and where they or their ancestors are from. If a particular student needs more time, they can pass, and you can come back to them after every other student has had a turn.

Activity 2. Food Connections and Significance

Objectives: Students will discuss the significance of food and how it is obtained, prepared, and eaten in their homes.

• Ask your students to quickly write down as many associations they have with the food they mentioned in the warm up (Activity 1.) These associations can include things such as how the food is bought, when it is eaten, with whom it is eaten, any history of the food, etc.
• Have your students get into small groups to share their foods and their lists with one another. Have them ask one another questions about the food, so they can add more detail to what they have written.
• Conduct a whole-class discussion around the question: What is the significance of how food is obtained, prepared, and eaten in different cultures? Make sure your students use details from their small group discussions to support their answers.

Activity 3. Reading Su’s Poem “Peaches”

Objective: Students will identify words, images, and phrases that jump out at them in the poem, as well as the placement of the words on the page.

• Project the poem “Peaches” from Poets.org.
• Ask your students to read the poem silently. As they read, they should write down the words, images, phrases, and word placement that they notice.
• If your class size allows for it, select 9 student volunteers to read the poem aloud, one for each stanza. (See the definition of stanza on Poets.org.) Ask the listening students to close their eyes and listen to the rhythm and the words.
• Again, if your class size allows, select another 9 student volunteers to read the poem aloud, one for each stanza. This time, ask the listening students to listen for new and different things that jump out at them. They should write these down.

Vocabulary: Ask your students to keep a running list on the front board of the words they read and hear, but do not understand. You can either conduct a separate vocabulary lesson about these words during which students try to figure out their meaning from context and connections, or review the vocabulary as you progress through the other activities.

Activity 4. Listening to Adrienne Su Read “Peaches”

Objective: Students will notice the difference between reading a poem on a page and experiencing a poet reading her poem.

• Tell your students that when they listen to the audio, they will record what they notice when Adrienne Su reads her poem. Ask them to pay close attention to the emphasis Su places on different words and phrases. Do they hear anything differently now? Make sure they record their new perceptions with their other notes.
• Play the audio of Adrienne Su reading her poem. 

Activity 5: Questions and Whole-Class Discussion about “Peaches”

Objectives: Students will generate questions about the poem “Peaches” after listening to and reading the poem.

• Ask your students to get back in their small groups. Have them look carefully at the words, phrases, and structural elements in the poem that are on their lists and use them to create questions that will help them understand the poem better. Ask each student to share their questions with the other members of the group. Ask the group to brainstorm answers to each person’s questions.
• Ask the representative from each small group to present the one question they would like to brainstorm with the entire class. Write the questions on the front board with the students’ responses.
• After the questions are written down, ask your students to look at their lists of details from the poem to see how they can help answer the questions they still have.
• Additional Questions for Discussion:
  • Describe the ways peaches relate to being Chinese in Adrienne Su’s home.
  • Can a rhyme scheme be identified within each four-line stanza? (If your students are not familiar with rhyme scheme, introduce or review the definition for slant rhyme under Poetic Devices in Poetry Glossary on Poets.org)
  • The last two stanzas in the poem seem to focus on something other than food and home. What is it?
  • How does Su describe “typical immigrants’ children”? Based on your own life experience, or another’s life experience, do you agree with this description?
  • What does Su mean by “the odd perplexing question?”
• At this time, you can also introduce the idea of a “turn” in poetry: also referred to as a “volta” or a sudden change in thought, direction, or emotion near the conclusion of a poem. Have students consider how Adrienne Su uses a “volta” in this poem.

Ask your students to write a poem focusing on a significant food in their family using a number of four-line stanzas that include slant rhyme. They should follow these guidelines when composing their poems:

• Use appropriate details.
• Use connections they have made from the food to other aspects of their culture (Refer back to work completed in Activity 2).
• Allow their imaginations to take them from a description of the food to another important aspect of their lives.

With your students, develop an evaluation tool for their work using the terms exemplary, proficient, developing, and basic. What, do they (and you) think are the basic characteristics of an exemplary poem (or essay) that starts discussing a food and connects to other important aspects of a family’s life? A proficient one? One that is developing or basic? Remind them to include items such as vivid details, slant rhyme, four line stanzas, and turns.

• Explore the importance of peaches in Chinese history by having your students do research on the subject. One possible source is an article on longevity in Chinese culture available from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History in which the peach is discussed. Research other fruits and vegetables that are indigenous to China.
• What fruits and vegetables are indigenous to the countries from which your students or their ancestors came? Which ones can grow here? Which ones can they get only in the country from which they, or their ancestors, came?
• Have your students write a short story about someone who is the child of immigrants and some of the adjustments this child has to make in her new home.
• Invite the school community, including the students’ parents, to an international feast where your students read their poetry and short stories, as well as bring an important family food for all to share.
• Your class may want to create an anthology of the poems students have developed in this lesson.