teaching english through poetry for archive

8/2/2019 Teaching English Through Poetry for Archive

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Teaching English through Poetry

Lecturer:

EF BostonLauren Harrington


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Teaching English

through poetry

Inspiration

Approaches and techniques

Practical ideas

The aim of this lecture is to provide:


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First of all

Teach English through poetry, not toteach the poetry itself

You don't need to be a literature expert

to teach English through poetry

Just have a love for the poem you areintroducing.

Enthusiasm is the key.


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Some pros and cons

Time-consuming

Copyright rules

The wrong poem is worse than none at all.

The right poem can foster a love of English.


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Why?

So why teach poetry?

Poems are versatile

Poetry can be a catalyst

Students find a poem a welcome change

Poems can be involving motivating memorable


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Why teach poetry?

Challenge

Daily interactions with native speakers

Poems are authentic texts

Poems are often rich in cultural references


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Language enrichment

Discover new vocabulary in an authentic text

Search for clues to the meaning of the word

Focus on stress, rhythm and similarities of sound

Improve pronunciation

Promote freer verbal expression.


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What should you teach?

Take into account:

interests language level

maturity level


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How ?

will you use the poem?

can you introduce it?

can you make it more accessible to your

students?

can you make sure they understand it?


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Pre-reading activities

worksheets, quiz, a questionnaire

sentence stems

statements to be ranked and discussed

predict endings to verses

events occurring after the end of thepoem.


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Warm-up activities

background music

show pictures

get students to think


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Reading the poem

rehearse and perform

read the poem

play a recording identify the stresses and pauses.

clap out the rhythm


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Communicative

speaking activities talk with a partner, in small groups and as a class.

share ideas.

monitor and feed in ideas and vocabulary give feedback

personal response

discuss the characters and theme

debate the moral issues.


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Responding in Writing

Add more lines or stanzas

Parallel writing

Write a letter to a character

Write what happened before or afterthe poem

Switch between formal and informal

language Fifty word summary


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Writing activities

Letters

Diary entries

Radio plays Newspaper articles

Newspaper advice columns

Synonyms or antonyms


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Conclusion

Poetry is a search for ways of communication; it mustbe conducted with openness, flexibility, and aconstant readiness to listen.

Fleur Adcock


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One more thing

You can't fake enthusiasm.

If you enjoy the poem you are teaching,your students will most likely enjoy it as

well.


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Further reading

Literature in the Language ClassroomCollie & Slater 1987

Using poems to develop productive skillsby Christina Smart,British Council, Hungary 2002

teaching english through poetry for archive

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