Lesson 15: “Search for My Tongue”

Read “Search for My Tongue” aloud in full once, including the Gujarati stanza, with no pre-teaching or explanation. Allow a brief silence. Record student observations in a class list under noticed, confused, and stayed with me, without evaluating or interpreting them.

• Say: In the last lesson, we saw how structure can shape theme. Today, structure matters again, but now the poem focuses on language and identity. As you listen, don’t worry about not understanding everything you hear. Focus instead on what stands out, what confuses you, and what stays with you.

Think-Pair-Share

• Say these Directions: Take a moment to think about the following prompt and to write a short response. Then, turn to your partner and take turns sharing your ideas.

• Ask: Prompt: What in “Search for My Tongue” did you notice, what confused you, and what stayed with you?

  • I noticed that the speaker keeps asking what would happen if she lost her tongue, so language already feels important and fragile. I was confused by the Gujarati section because I could not understand the words, but that confusion felt like part of the poem. What stayed with me was the image of a tongue growing back like a plant, because it sounded strange and powerful at the same time.

Connection to Today's Learning:

• Say: You just experienced what it feels like to read something you don’t fully understand. Next, we’ll use clues from the poem to start making meaning, even without translating every word.

Using Context Clues

• Say these Directions: Practice using context clues to understand the meaning of stump by focusing on the following text from “Search for My Tongue”:

Target Line Block:

"It grows back, a stump of a shoot / grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins"

• Say: We are not going to stop reading the poem when we encounter a hard word, image, or even a whole section we cannot fully translate. Instead, we are going to use context clues, which means we read the words and images around the unknown part to build meaning. In this poem, the lines before and after the confusing part are part of the clue.

Contextualize vocabulary from the poem:

Stump, from the third section: "It grows back, a stump of a shoot"

Teach: Using context clues across a whole poem

• Say: When I read "It grows back, a stump of a shoot," I may not know the exact meaning of stump, but I do notice that something is growing back after being damaged. The clue phrase "grows back" tells me the speaker is describing return, not permanent loss. Then the word shoot gives me another clue, because a shoot is a new plant stem, so now I can infer that stump means the small base left behind before new growth begins.

• Say these Directions: In your Personal Dictionary, add stump. Copy the line where the word appears, underline the clue words around it, and write your best definition. Replace the word stump with your inferred meaning. Does the sentence still make sense? Revise your definition if needed.

Verify Meaning: Prompt students to use a dictionary or other reference material to confirm their inferred meaning of the word.

• Say: Check your definition using a dictionary or other reference material. Does the definition match what we figured out? Revise as needed.

• Say: Now I am going to hide the word. Write stump from memory in your Personal Dictionary.

• Say: Check your spelling against the displayed word and correct it if needed.

• Ask: Which clue word or phrase helped you most in figuring out the meaning?

  • The phrase “grows longer” helped me most because it showed that something was cut or shortened and is now growing.

Connection to Today's Learning:

• Say: You just used context clues to figure out the meaning of one word. Now you will use this same strategy with larger sections of the poem, especially the untranslated middle stanza, to build meaning even when you cannot understand every word.

Students reread the poem and practice using context clues to decipher meaning. In Part B, Students move from inferring the purpose of each section to explaining how the poem’s three-part structure develops its central metaphor and emotional shift.

Part A: Reading Through the Unknown, “Search for My Tongue” (L.7.4a) (15 minutes)

Think-Pair-Share

• Say these Directions: With your partner, reread the poem in three parts: the opening questions, the untranslated middle section, and the final regrowth section. As you read, fill in the 3-column chart with the clue you notice, what it suggests, and how it connects to the speaker’s struggle with her “mother tongue.” Be ready to explain which clue words helped you and how you know your inference makes sense.

Copy this chart into your journal:

Teach: Using the whole poem as a context clue

• Say: Sometimes a poem gives us meaning in pieces, not in one clear explanation. In this poem, the untranslated Gujarati stanza may feel like a wall at first, but I can use its placement to infer meaning. It comes after the speaker worries about losing her mother tongue, so I already know language is the poem’s problem. Then it comes before the section where the tongue grows back, so the middle part starts to feel like the living presence of the language the speaker thought was gone. Even if I cannot translate every word, I can infer that the stanza matters because it lets the mother tongue appear on the page in its own form. That means the poem is not only telling me about language loss; it is making me experience distance, return, and persistence as I read.

SAMPLE RESPONSE

• Ask: In the opening section, what clues show that the speaker’s language conflict has already begun?

  • In the opening section, the speaker keeps asking what would happen if she lost her mother tongue, so the conflict has already started in her mind. The repeated questioning shows fear before anything is fully lost.

• Ask: In the middle Gujarati section, even if you cannot translate the words, what can you infer from its placement and sound?

  • I can infer that the mother tongue is still alive in the speaker, because the stanza suddenly appears in the middle of the poem and changes the sound of the reading. It makes the language feel present and powerful, not erased.

• Ask: Why might Bhatt place the untranslated section in the middle, and how does that affect the reader’s experience?

  • Bhatt places it in the middle because it acts like the center of the struggle, where the language suddenly becomes real but not fully accessible. This makes readers feel the same confusion and distance the speaker feels, which helps us understand her connection to her mother tongue.

• Ask: What does it feel like to read the Gujarati section, and how does that experience connect to the speaker’s struggle with her mother tongue?

  • Reading the Gujarati section feels confusing and distant because I cannot understand the words. This connects to the speaker’s struggle because she also feels separated from her mother tongue, even though it is still part of her identity.

Part B: Tracking the Tongue Metaphor (RL.7.5) (15 minutes)

Group Accountability Share

• Say these Directions: Reread the third section of the poem and annotate with your group, looking out for two key elements: where the tone begins to shift, and how the tongue-as-plant metaphor changes from decay to regrowth. Then agree on one explanation of how the poem’s three-part structure mirrors the speaker’s experience. Use at least one of these words in your explanation: stump, metaphor, or mother tongue. Be ready to share your response.

Teach: Tracking a metaphor across structure

• Say: In this poem, structure is not just organization; it acts out the speaker’s experience. The opening section is full of questions and worry, so the tone feels anxious and uncertain. The middle section interrupts that uncertainty with the mother tongue itself, which changes the reading experience and creates distance for some readers. In the final section, the tongue becomes a plant that had seemed dead but starts growing again, so the tone shifts toward life and return. When I put those three parts together, I see a pattern: fear, encounter, regrowth. That means the structure mirrors what the speaker experiences with language and identity, because the poem moves through loss toward renewed connection.

• Ask: Where do you notice the tone start to change, and what words or images mark that shift?

  • The tone starts to change in the final section when the poem moves from language about loss and dying to language about growth. Words and images like grows back, shoot, and strong veins mark that shift.

• Ask: How does the tongue-as-plant metaphor develop across the third section?

  • The metaphor starts with something that seemed rotten or dead, but then it turns into a new shoot that keeps growing stronger. By the end, the tongue blossoms, so the metaphor shows recovery and return.

• Ask: How does the poem’s three-part structure mirror what the speaker experiences with language and identity? Use the words structure and metaphor in your explanation.

  • The structure shows the speaker’s experience because the first part shows fear of losing her language, the middle part presents the language itself, and the final part shows it growing back. The tongue-as-plant metaphor develops across this structure, showing that identity can feel damaged but still return and grow.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Students use their notes to write a clear claim explaining the poem’s argument about language and identity.

Quick Write

• Say these Directions: Today we practiced explaining how structure and unfamiliar language work together to build meaning. That is a move you will need for your Performance Task. Strong literary analysis explains not just what a poem says, but how the poet builds that meaning. The notes you made today can help you write stronger commentary. Answer this question in 2–3 sentences.

• Ask: What does “Search for My Tongue” argue about language and identity, and how do two different parts of the poem support that idea? Use at least one of these words: structure, metaphor, blossoms, or regrowth.

  • “Search for My Tongue” argues that language is a living part of identity that can feel buried but not erased. The poem’s structure places the Gujarati stanza in the center to show the language is still present, and the final section shows the tongue growing back and blossoming again.

Instruct students to reread “Search for My Tongue” and choose one poem from Red, White, and Whole that connects to it thematically.

Students should respond to the following questions in their Journal:

• What do these two poems have in common?

• What does each one do that the other does not?