Episode 1: Teaching the Plot of ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come!’
I have a confession to make: I have never taught, or even read, a Brian Friel play in full. As a Northern Irish teacher of English Literature, that’s not a great position to be in! I have read selected scenes from Dancing at Lughnasa but not the whole thing and I have taught in the classroom next to someone who has taught Translations, but not me. As a Friel newbie, I thought it would be great to create my resources from scratch and invite you along for the ride!
In this mini-series, I am going to work through the text, creating resources as I go and would love for you to join in. Please give me a few comments below to guide me if there are any great resources out there that I should take a look at. From my initial research, there are some excellent study guides, for example this free resource from BBC Bitesize, this one from GradeSaver and this part free/part hidden unless you subscribe resource from LitCharts but when it comes to downloadable teaching resources and lesson activities, I can’t see too many. Please let me know in the comments or by contacting me if I’ve missed them.
Teach along with me
As might be expected, let’s start with the plot. Gathering ideas together is also a priority, to ensure that students not only have great knowledge and understanding of the text, but also great notes to revise from. My class are preparing this play for their CCEA GCSE English Literature Unit 2 Study of Drama and Poetry exam so I need to ensure they have everything they need.
What is the plot of 'Philadelphia, Here I Come!'?
Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg in County Donegal, Ireland in the early 1960s, the story centres around Gar (Gareth) O’Donnell, a young man who has decided to leave Ireland and emigrate to Philadelphia, USA. The play takes place on the night before Gar’s flight out and explores the relationships that have been significant to him throughout his life. His father, S.B. O’Donnell, and their housekeeper, Madge, feature heavily, and the character of Kate, Gar’s former sweetheart, is also significant. But most interesting about the play is Friel’s decision to have Gar’s character split into two parts: Public Gar and Private Gar. This unique approach allows the audience to see and hear the tension within the protagonist, and takes a new approach to soliloquy or aside. In the dialogue between Public and Private, we see the complexity of the character and the humour of the externalisation of internal conflict.
Lesson ideas with a focus on the plot
- Do a full reading of the play without stopping for analysis. This may take a week of lessons but will be enjoyable and well worth the time spent. You can buy a copy of the text from Amazon here.
- Sequencing the plot activities. Check out the free resources page in the menu above, or through from the descriptions here. I think these are great introductory lessons which help to clarify issues for students. This one uses a collage of images to encourage students to sequence the plot from memory using picture prompts. You can also get creative with this worksheet. Perhaps you could get student to cut the 12 images out and sequence them in order of importance to the story, or choose the single most significant factor in Gar’s decision to emigrate. Here, I have also included the same task but using 9 key moments from the story which students can put into chronological order. This is a great way to differentiate. Some students will find the text more supportive. Some students may enjoy having both plot and picture together. (Side note: to read more about embedding differentiation into your lessons, click here).
- This resource uses the pictures again to push students on past the basic plot summary to considering the different themes explored in the play. It is a great springboard into analysis, which I will explore more over the next few articles in this series.
- Quizzes to recap important plot features (these will largely make use of closed questions for retrieval practice). This BBC Bitesize quiz is a great starting point and you can post the link to your Google Classroom or use iPads in class.
- Open ended activities exploring the ending. This resources contains a series of writing prompts to use in class or for homework activities. These activities link nicely into exploration of Public and Private, which follows on from this first stage of understanding the plot.
I have a growing collection of resources to support teachers of Philadelphia, Here I Come! Check out some of them using the buttons below:
When you’re ready, click below for Episode 2 in the ‘Teach Along With Me’ series which focuses on the context of ‘Philadelphia, Here I Come!’
Other 'Philadelpha, Here I Come!' articles:
