A WORKSHOP ABOUT

How to help our students to write

poetry

By: Lawrence Sail

WHO IS MR. LAWRENCE SAIL?

He is a visiting poet who judged the finals at

the 1st English Poetry Festival for schools and

gave a workshop to teachers and pupils alike.

He was born in London and was educated at

Sherburne School and St. John’s College,

Oxford.

WRITING POETRY

To write a poem take into consideration

the following points:

1. There should be a reason.

2. Keep it inside your mind until it hatches.

3. Criticize yourself.

Teacher should guide his students to write about what they

feel to give time for their attitude and to be more specific

(to get details of things)

Example: instead of saying “Nature is

beautiful”

I want the reader to feel it, so we can just say:

• The land is filled with fresh air.

• Fish are swimming happily.

Next, we can train our students to get their ideas into images using similar or metaphor.

Exercise 1: Teachers can give pupils words and ask pupils to put them into sentences and to be stressed.

e.g. The cár is párked in a bíg fíeld Try to get 4 stressed words in each sentence 1- history – nations 2- river – fields 3- handsome – dream 4- please – silly 5- what – tonight

Exercise 2: Teachers give pupils 4 words asking them to produce 4 lines and try to get 4 stressed words in each line.

Winter Summer autumn Spring White Red Yellow Colorful

Old Burning Pale Valleys

Pavement

Beach Branches Breeze

Exercise 3: Teachers gives each pupil a card (picture)

asking pupils to write some lines in (10 min) about their

pictures.

1. Pay their attention that it’s not important using

the rhyme but what they’re really interested in.

2. Teachers aloud their poems.

3. Teachers helps his students to write what isn’t

clear or straight in the picture.

I’d like to end this ( ) by a definition to what is a poem as Archibald Macheish describes it.

A poem should be motionless in time. As the moon climbs, A poem should equal to Not true A poem should not mean But be

WHAT IS HALA GOING TO DO TONIGHT?

I went to the beach

But everything was red

The sand was burning

The water was boiling

But what can we do

It’s summer

By Hala Omar

2nd Prep.