Kate Bohdanowicz

I’m teaching English GCSE in September and I’ve been given free rein over which texts to teach. Within reason. The drama has to be Shakespeare and out of the novel and poetry, one must be ‘of European heritage’ and the other, ‘from different cultures’.  I knew I wanted at least one woman writer in the mix. In the end I chose two.

For Shakespeare, I’m going with Romeo and Juliet. I chose Othello initially as I studied it at A Level and my brilliant teacher (we all have one right?) cast me as Iago which meant I never got bored. Thing is, I’ll be honest here, while I’ve been to see a few of the Bard’s productions over the years, I’ve not actually read a play since, well, since I had to, which was at university many moons ago. Is this terrible? I don’t know but it does mean I don’t feel as at ease with his work as maybe I should  be. To be fair, I have discussed a lot of books with a lot of people over the years and while many of them (and I) read a classic every now and again, no-one ever says:  “I’m just thumbing through Troilus and Cressida. Can’t put it down.” No-one.

I opted for Romeo and Juliet for two reasons. When you’re teaching GCSE to adults, in one year as opposed to two, it’s best to give them a helping hand as much as possible. Most people know the story and there are some great film versions to watch. Plus, my two fellow GCSE teachers are working with it and as I’m new to all this malarkey, I’m not stupid enough to suggest I go my own way.

So, on to the novel. I saw The Color Purple The Musical last week which I loved (shoot me purists – it was great). It got me thinking about teaching that. As Alice Walker’s book is from other cultures, the poetry would be of European Heritage. I thought of all the usual suspects - Keats, Yeats, Wordsworth, Shelley.

Then I thought of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Great book, great film and I saw a production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre recently that blew me away. I get excited when I think about re-reading it. That has to be a good sign, right? Right – it’s on. That text is of European Heritage, which means the poetry must be from different cultures.

I was stuck. Then it hit me. Jackie Kay. Jackie is a Scots-born poet and author born to a Nigerian father and adopted by a white Glaswegian couple. She was guest-speaker at an event I went to with my students last year. She’s funny, accessible, tells a great tale, is bang up-to-date and entranced us all, teachers and students. Best of all, and to the delight of all the 16-18 year-olds present, she reprimanded a middle-aged male teacher for falling asleep during her talk. For that alone, she gets on to my list.