"Contemporary Asian Australian Poets" teachers' review for NSW HSC 2027-2028

Brief description and distinctive features

Seven poems from this anthology are set for study in English Standard: Language, identity and culture for the new Stage 6 English syllabus for 2027 and 2028. 

Four of the collection are on the current 2019-2026 HSC:

• Advanced Module C: ‘Stamp Collecting’
• Standard Module A: ‘New Accents’, ‘Circular Breathing” and ‘Translucent Jade’
• EAL/D: Module B: Language, Culture and Identity: ‘Circular Breathing” and ‘Translucent Jade’

Teaching the remaining poems cannot commence until Term 4 2026 and will be first examined in 2027.

Background knowledge on Asian Australian content and perspectives

Where are your own students in terms of their knowledge and understanding of Asian-Australian content and perspectives?

Depending on the demographics of your own students, this background knowledge will vary greatly.

In preparing your students consider how:

• To re-visit Australia’s changing demographics and different waves of migration
• To raise awareness and understanding of different Asian cultural beliefs, values and behaviours 
• To choose a range of textual material to explore the impact texts have in shaping individuals’ and communities’ sense of identity. 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics have released some interesting information from the last census:

The use of languages at home reflects our changing communities:

• Mandarin continues to be the most common language other than English with 685,274 people using Mandarin at home.
• This is followed by Arabic (367,159 people), Vietnamese (320,758 people), and Cantonese (295,281 people).
• Punjabi had the largest increase, with the 2021 Census showing 239,033 people using Punjabi at home.

Ways to use Contemporary Asian Australian Poets in the classroom

Teaching these poems cannot commence until Term 4 2026 and will be first examined in 2027.

Omar Musa's ‘Airforce Ones’

Explore a poem like Omar Musa’s ‘Airforce Ones’ to both engage students in the concepts of the Module and consider “the ways in which meaning about individual and community identity and cultural perspectives is shaped in and through” the language of poetry.

It is important to emphasise that this is not a Close Study but a very specific focus on how language shapes and reflects culture and identity.

Revisit poetry as form

“Poetry has the potential to pierce through the intellectual and aim straight for the heart. It can move people in ways other crafts can’t.” 

• A literary art form that uses language in distinctive ways to elicit an emotional, imaginative or cognitive response in the reader
• Language is selected and shaped to distil an experience, idea or perspective in a single, concentrated form
• Figurative, symbolic and metaphorical language is the currency of poetry
• Heightened intensity of emotion, dignity of expression, subtle, meditative, shorter, intense, personal
• Creates tone, mood and point-of-view through language and metre

Ask the group who researched Oma Musa to share with the class what they know about him. 

Reading a poem out aloud can be one of the most effective strategies for engagement and interpretation.

Read ‘Airforce Ones’ to the class twice.

Ask students to share what they noticed about this poem in this early exploration.

For example, the meaning and relevance of the title, “Airforce Ones?”

Did you notice:

• The speaker shares a story
• The point of view is the first person
• The style is free verse
• The tone is contemporary - a mood of rap

In what ways does the language of ‘Airforce Ones’ deepen your understanding of how language can affirm, ignore, challenge and disrupt prevailing assumptions and beliefs about themselves, individuals and culturally connected groups? 

The poet includes the advertising language of Nike to establish the poem’s premise.

How does the first half of the poem affirm the adolescent’s addiction to commercial products like Nike running shoes? For example, how does the first-person point of view reflect the speaker’s delight and passion?

List the most engaging examples of Musa’s language choices.

In the second half the mood changes. Where do you think this change starts?

How does the repetition of “Before that…” build the poet’s purpose?

How does the closing line challenge both the speaker and readers’ assumptions about  commercial exploitation?

What are the assumptions and beliefs we have about the subject matter of this poem?

Kim Cheng Boey's ‘Stamp Collecting’

Move to Kim Cheng Boey’s ‘Stamp Collecting.’ Ask the group who researched Kim Cheng Boey to share their information. I am constantly impressed by the academic achievements and success of these poets. Kim Cheng Boey was born in Singapore in 1965; he has a PHD from Macquarie University and lectures in creative writing at University of Newcastle. He is one of the most well-known ‘Asian-Australian’ poets.

It would be valuable to share with your students some actual examples of stamp collections in bound albums. If you do not have access, ask members of your staff as someone will have a stamp album. For many students their knowledge about stamps and stamp collecting will be minimal. Stamp collections are often part of a family’s culling of possessions and ‘treasures’ and invariably they are offered to younger members of the family who do not have the same interest or connection. They become symbolic of ageing artefacts and a representation of an irretrievable past- as Boey says: 

“The missing ranks lost, 
like many other things, 
in transit, between homes, countries and lives.”

The stamps in this poem become symbols of both a past and past cultures. For example, why is the British Queen's face on the stamps of so many nations? 

Stamps and stamp collecting symbolise: 

• A once common and regular individual and collective human activity
• Representations of past countries and national boundaries
• Changing national identities
• These vanished countries are mentioned in the poem: CCCP, Yugoslavia, East Germany, Rhodesia? What are they now called?

Consider reading the text’s Introduction by Boey himself: 

“first generation migrant writers carry with them a heavy freight of ideas and memories ... Home is never a given ... in their work there is an ongoing traffic between the here and the there ... their poetic transactions changing the ways in which Asia looks at Australia and enriching Australian imaginings of Asia, offering new insights into what it means to be Asian Australian.“

In ‘Stamp Collecting’ the gift to a five-year-old daughter of the father’s now battered stamp album elicits a stream of intelligent, heartfelt questions which remain unanswered.

Read the poem aloud twice and ask students to share their initial observations about the language’s exploration of culture and identity.

Did your students notice:

• Title is in the active present tense, what does that imply?
• The narrative captures the simplicity of an observation and the re-creation of a specific scene
• Present tense evokes present action
• Innocence and wonder of the young girl at these stamps and what they represent
• The power of images to evoke and create different experiences
• In what ways do the stamps represent identity, both individual and collective?
• In what ways does Boey’s language capture different ideas about place and home? For example, consider how the poem opens: “starting with Australia”
• What 2-3 lines best captures Boey’s key ideas about how stamps represent “individuals and communities’ identity?”

Ouyang Yu’s ‘New Accents’  

Ask the group who researched Ouyang Yu to share their information about him.

‘New Accents’ captures the challenges that language creates when in a new country and culture. Language can be a major impediment to belonging to a new country as newcomers try to embrace the specific words and the nuances of word choice, pronunciation, meaning and fluency. Indeed, language above all other cultural features has the power to alienate. 

Distinctive features of the poem

• The first-person narrative adds immediacy, intimacy and a personal tone which emphases the individual’s experience and the wider cultural collective; it reinforces the tensions involved in meeting two different cultural expectations. 
• The time era is established in the opening lines: 1990s which is quite contemporary and covers the more recent waves of migration. 
• Specific references to Melbourne and Australia ground this experience in Australia.
• The structure is in 8 short (three-line stanzas) each focusing on a specific experience of speaking. They are in free verse with some enjambment which forces the speaker to move to the next line for meaning; there are in fact no full stops but other punctuation such as colons and commas add structure
• The tone is generally light, humorous and personal 
• The accent of one character is imitated which adds humour in a gentle self- deprecating way but also highlights the challenge of learning the correct pronunciation where the spelling is not logical Neechosen for Nicholson
• The speaker includes specific examples of teaching students who had a range of language competence and their pronunciation, and the phonetic spelling, adds to the experience eg “vegee-table”, and the challenges of complex words like “subtlety” which highlights that even for English speakers, English spelling can be challenging! 
• The speaker relates a personal anecdote of pronouncing English as “anguish” and this is an added layer of meaning to the challenges of speaking a new language: anguish is associated with pain, torment, distress, anxiety so it is a very accurate word to describe their challenges of speaking English. His personal anecdote continues and includes being rejected for his Master of Arts university course because his accent was not correct.
• He concludes the poem in a humorous way suggesting that it was the university who lost most in not having “their English” and “my Anguish.”

After the third poem it would be valuable to workshop an HSC style question with students.

Consider “workshopping” these two different questions and invite students to choose one to write a complete response which explores the question and the three poems: “Airforce Ones”, “Stamp Collecting” and “New Accents.”

Possible questions

1. Explain how imagery contributes to the representation of identity and culture in the poems.
2. Explain how a text’s form contributes to the way that it captures unique cultural perspectives. In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text

Poem #4: ‘Translucent Jade’

I have a ring of red jade which my grandmother was given by her Chinese father. At times I considered having it remodelled to make it more modern but something prevents me as if this ring is more than a piece of jewellery but rather a tangible connection to people from my own past. 

The title ‘Translucent Jade’ evokes the symbolism and cultural value of jade. 

Jade is intrinsic to Asian and Chinese culture and is valued as a symbol for a range of positive and precious connections: virtue, kindness, wisdom, justice, civility, music, sincerity, truth, Heaven and Earth. “Translucent” suggests it cannot be seen through but will hold the light and depth: light can pass through but it is not transparent.

So, the title alone captures and reveals powerful cultural connections, values and identity.

The poem 

• A woman reconsiders a gift of jade given originally by her grandfather and overlooked when her mother gave her another more sparkling piece.
• Reveals our complacency and even rejection of important cultural connections especially if they are objects.
• Questions the role of material items but affirms that they can be meaningful and significant. 
• Affirms the connection of symbols of culture to our own identity. 
• Challenges and even disrupts the assumption that stone and jewellery is not significant.
• Affirms the generational connection over time, place and objects.

Distinguishing features:

• The title both captures the object and the symbolism of jade in the Chinese culture
• Narrative voice is the first person: ‘My grandfather, I was born’: the personal pronouns shape a mood which is intimate, immediate, personal, informal, warm and authentic
• The poem opens with single sentence- a concrete introduction to the facts: 
          “My grandfather made me a gift when I was born”. 
• The poem closes with a powerful series of questions which challenge and affirm the significance of symbolism, culture and identity. The mood is more complex and reflective: 
          “What vibrations are these? 
          Does this begin to become me,
          Do I to it belong? 
          This translucent slowly-yielding music 
          Chinese name” 
• Structure is three separate and different stanzas in free verse and the enjambment forces the reader to follow the punctuation to gain the meaning and this adds to the narrative mood of the poem
• Storytelling is important across many cultures and in this case the gift creates one story, the grandmother’s gift creates another and the final reflection is a re-valuing of the jade but there is still some tension and ambiguity in this connection: 
          “It was a little strange and… Sometimes I felt an imposter.”

Possible question

In what ways does Maureen Ten’s language in “Translucent Jade” affirm specific assumptions we have about culture and identity?

There are three more poems which can be explored in a similar way to the above: 

• “The Onyx Ring” Misbah Khokhar
• “Bumboat Cruise on the Singapore River” Miriam Wei Wei Lo
• “Circular Breathing” Jaya Savige

The focus should always be how the language choices by the poet are used to: 

• Reflect and shape individual and collective identity. 
• Shape self-perception. 
• Consider the impact texts have in shaping individuals’ and communities’ sense of identity. 
• Deepen their understanding of how language can affirm, ignore, challenge and disrupt prevailing assumptions and beliefs about themselves, individuals and culturally connected groups.

Small group work

• Each group complete the table below on the poem which they initially researched the poet.
• Prepare and rehearse a group reading of their poem to present to the class. Sound effects may enhance the presentation.
• Preface the group presentation with a short statement and include why we love this poem for this Focus Area, in what ways does this poem suit the Focus Area statement and the line from our poem which best captures the key ideas of the poet is …

• As a group write a response to one of these HSC-style questions:

  “Poetry has the potential to pierce through the intellectual and aim straight for the heart. It can move people in ways other crafts can’t.” To what extent is this true of 2-3 poems in the Asian-Australian suite?

  OR

  How does your study of Contemporary Asian Australian Poets inform your understanding of family and its connection to culture? In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

  OR

  By telling each other stories, we recreate ourselves over and over again. Where do we come from? Where are we going? . . . These stories pass [on] our values as a society . . . It’s how we understand each other.
  Explain how ideas in this statement highlight the way cultural values and identity are represented in your prescribed text. In your response, make close reference to your prescribed text.

  OR

  “First generation migrant writers carry with them a heavy freight of ideas and memories ... Home is never a given ... in their work there is an ongoing traffic between the here and the there ... their poetic transactions changing the ways in which Asia looks at Australia and enriching Australian imaginings of Asia, offering new insights into what it means to be Asian Australian.“
  Kim Cheng Boey
  
  In what ways are these ideas explored in “Stamp Collecting” and two other poems in the Asian Australian collection of poems?

Crafting an analytical response

• For the introduction compose an engaging opening sentence which highlights the power of poetry and language to explore important ideas about identity and culture. In this introduction be sure to address the key terms from the chosen question and reference the 2-3 poems and writers you will explore.
• Write 3-4 body paragraphs each to open with a topic sentence that links to the key ideas of the specific question.
• Include 3-4 examples of well-chosen, relevant textual evidence in each paragraph.
• Write a short conclusion of about 30-40 words which makes a strong, bold and convincing statement about language and culture and identity. There is no need to summarise your essay and repeat yourself.
• Once your group is happy with their response consider these reflective processes:
  • Highlight in yellow where the question has been specifically addressed and if there is insufficient yellow, be sure to rectify this and make more references to the question.
  • Highlight in green where the response uses relevant, detailed textual evidence. Add more textual detail if needed.
  • Seek feedback on the revised responses from two other groups as to the response’s strengths and weaknesses. Incorporate edits that address the weaknesses.
• Make a class set of each group’s response so that all students have a bank of well-written analytical responses on a range of poems. Include the names of all student writers on each response.

Table for poems

Possible writing task

Teaching these poems cannot commence until Term 4 2026 and will be first examined in 2027.

Language, identity and Culture and Module C question in two parts

Part (a): Choose one of the following lines from one of the poems as the starting point for a 500-word imaginative, discursive or persuasive piece that explores significant aspects of your own identity and culture.

Opening lines:

• “Is Australia our home?” (‘Stamp Collecting’ Kim Cheng Boey)
• “When I was fifteen I asked my father…” (‘The Onyx Ring’ Misbah Khokhar)
• “How did I ever live in this place?” (‘Bumboat Cruise on the Singapore River’ Miriam Wei Wei Lo)
• “I got choices to make” (‘Airforce Ones’ Omar Musa)
• “…in the late 1990s” (‘New Accents’ Ouyang Yu)
• “I want to claim that sound as the sound of my home” (‘Circular Breathing’ Jaya Savige)
• “My grandfather made me a gift when I was born” (‘Translucent Jade’ Maureen Ten)

Part (b): In a 300-word reflection explain in what ways the poet of your opening line and mentor poem influences the language choices you made in your Part (a) response?

Planning

• Decide which style of writing would best suit your subject matter and intention.
  For example, you may want to write in a discursive style similar to an opinion feature article which explores a range of perspectives on the notion of home and identity. 
  Or you might want to write an imaginative piece which draws on your own experiences but reimagines it in a creative way. 
  Or you might want to compose a speech to persuade your audience about the importance of acceptance, understanding and compassion for Australia’s newer arrivals.
• Identify 3-4 language choices of the mentor poem you have chosen which you would like to imitate or borrow. 
• In your crafting be conscious that you are deliberately incorporating stylistic choices from your mentor poem so you can effectively and authentically respond to Part (b).

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English Stage 6 HSC syllabus

Teaching these poems cannot commence until Term 4 2026 and will be first examined in 2027.

There are requirements for particular types of texts to be selected from the prescribed texts list for different courses. Great care must be taken in selecting a pathway of texts that meets all the requirements.

In the Standard English course students are required to closely study 3 prescribed texts, with ONE drawn from each of the following categories:

• prose fiction
• poetry
• drama OR film OR media OR nonfiction.

The suite of poems from Contemporary Asian Australian Poets includes a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives.

Possible pathways for HSC Standard English course