Year 5 and 6 were lucky enough to join a webinar with Michael Rosen to celebrate A Day of Welcome. This was a celebration of solidarity and learning, which aims to build a culture and understanding for refugees and asylum seekers.
Michael shared various poems from his book ‘On the Move’, where he outlined what the word ‘migrate’, ‘migrant’ and ‘migration’ meant. He spoke about his personal experience of being Jewish and briefly referred to the children about the Holocaust. Michael explained that his poems are written from first-hand experiences or those of family members, which were powerful to listen too. The children enjoyed listening to Michael’s poetry and although the poems were educating children about refugees and asylum seekers, he presented this in a child-friendly way. At the end of the webinar, Rosen answered some questions. He explained that one of his favourite poems from his book is called ‘Ship’, which the children enjoyed listening too.
At the end of the webinar, Michael gave some advice to children when writing poetry. He explained that the starting point is to explore your five senses, followed by reading other people’s poetry.