The Flag of Childhood

"The Flag of Childhood: poems from the Middle East,” compiled by anthologist Naomi Shihab Nye in 2002, is an anthology of about sixty poems written by authors from the Middle East. The poems are written by poets from varying Middle Eastern regions such as Jerusalem, Palestine, and Israel. Each poem varies in length from just a few lines to maybe about two pages, which can accommodate a variety of activities in the classroom. As a whole, there are a few themes that arise often are 

nature, longing for a home, and family ties. While each of these themes is somehow made significant to the region, these themes are not only specific to the Middle Eastern region, but also can be applied to students from other cultures. Therefore, there are quite a few teaching moments to be had in terms of connecting students to cultures other than their own. The wide variety of poems allows teachers to pick and choose which topics they think would be most relatable to their students needs. The only aspect of the anthology that I did not find appealing was some of the translations of the poems. It seemed that there were a few poems that it was noticeable that some sort of meaning was lost in the translation to English. I also found that some supplementary materials might also be useful to explain the context for which the poems were written. The poems give an interesting insight into life in the Middle East that could certainly be expanded with supplementary material. That said, I do not think an entire study on all of the poems would be effective in a classroom, but certainly excerpting the most relevant poems would be useful. This anthology certainly has teachable poems and could definitely be used in a classroom to introduce middle school students to the Middle Eastern culture in an interesting way.