Poetry in the Language Classroom to Assist in Development of Speaking Skill

By Salma Ainy, Ph.D.

July 29, 2008

Introduction

One foremost reason for introducing and using literature in the language classroom is to encourage
expand students" creativity and the faculty of imagination. However, deciding an appropriate text for
the class is a crucial issue mainly because, when choosing a text, language difficulty has to be
considered, so that access is not restricted and the learners can attain a basic level of comprehension.

McKay (1986) however, cautions against simplification of text, since this may result in diluting
information and reducing cohesion and readability. Students also need to be able to identify with the
experience, the thoughts and situations depicted in the text, in order "to make connection to personal
or social significance outside the text" (Brumfit, 1985: 108).

Therefore, as McRae (1991:126) suggests, a good choice would be any text that encourages or invites
interaction with the world of ideas, a text that "affirms, confirms and expands the indispensable
human capacity to read the world".

Assessing Usefulness

How can one assess the Usefulness of poetry as a text in the classroom enhancing learner"s language
ability, especially speaking?

It is important that texts should provide good potential for a variety of classroom activities, in order to
give students more chance to gain true familiarity with any work as a whole. Most importantly, the
texts should have the capacity to engage the interest of the student. For example, as noted by Collie
and Slater (1987), short stories offer greater variety than longer texts, offering greater chance of
finding something to appeal to each individual"s tastes and interests, whilst poems offer a rich, varied
range and are a source of much enjoyment.

However, a poem may not always be a favoured item in the classroom mainly because of its deviant
and densely metaphorical use of language. Teaching poetry becomes especially difficult when the
emphasis is put on correctness in grammatical form. In the EFL teaching scenario, there was little
place for literature, poetry in particular, with its deviations and deviant image uses, since "it [poetry] is
a misleading as a model [in teaching approach] that insists on the gradual accumulation of correct
forms" (Widdowson, 1984:162).

However, use of poetry in teaching language has been seen as a road to learning making by ESL
practitioners from both philosophical and practical perspectives (Bakhtin 1986; Carter and Long 1990;
Widdowson, 1975). As pointed out by Hess (2003:20):poetry, seems to bring out emotions and
entering a literary text, under the guidance of appropriate teaching, brings about the kind of
participation almost no other text can produce. When we read, understand and interpret a poem we
learn language through the expansion of our experience with a larger human reality.

According to Holten (1997) literature is quintessential language content and Collie and Slater (1989),
in their practical approach to literature in language teaching, promote literature as authentic material
that deals with universal human concerns, and invites personal involvement. They add that the
brilliant concision and strong imagery of poetry enable the learner to experience the power of
language outside the straightjacket of more standard written structure and lexis. Poems often explore
themes of universal concern and embody life experiences, and thus initiate strong response from the
reader. There is also the initial advantage of length as many poems are appropriate to a single
classroom lesson. Provided that learners are given help with the personal and linguistic resources they
will need, they are expected to attain the fuller enjoyment of a poem that comes from a sense of
sharing the poet"s created world and becoming, as reader, a new creator of meaning.

Widdowson (1989) also argues that poetry has characteristics as a use of language which make it
especially well qualified to assist to develop in learners the ability to use language, to put linguistic
forms to the service of meaning. He adds that in the interpretation of poetry, there is a necessary
interdependence between the understanding of formal structure and the recognition of a
communicative effect. Meaning is a function of a focus on form and an increased awareness of the
subtleties of poetic representation inevitably entails an increased awareness of the signifying potential
of grammar. Although, poetry and grammar, linguistic analysis and literary interpretation, have by
tradition been seen as distinct polarities and in opposition, according to Widdowson (1989) however,
they can be combined for mutual benefit, and can initiate practical pedagogy with a broader
educational perspective.

According to Hess (2003) through its drama, intensity, and tightly controlled emotional context, a
good poem is suitable for a close reading, with much language unfolding and, as a result much good
language practice. In dealing with a poem in the classroom, she suggests a nine step technique that
includes, trigger; vocabulary preview; bridge; listen, react, and share; language; picture; more
language; meaning and spin-off and provides a description of each step and demonstrates how they
should work to initiate the best output. Hess claims that she had applied the formula to any number of
poems, and always found it enjoyable, linguistically rich, and communicatively satisfying.

Moreover, Maley and Duff (1989) point out that although, for many years now, literature, in particular
poetry has not been regarded as "proper" material for foreign language learning, the rhythm and
cadence of poetic language that we have had taste of during childhood, continues to flow as a deep
undercurrent through our lives. The whole thrust of the structuralist approach tended to exclude
literature, and the utilitarian favouritism towards the communicative approach deflected attention
away from anything which did not seem to have a practical purpose. When literature is included in
language programmes, the emphasis remains on the use of texts for commentary and analysis or
merely for illustration. In the case of poetry, for teachers, it is simply an optional extra rather than an
integral part of the language programme. However, Maley and Duff (1989:7) suggest:

Poetry offers a rich resource for input to language learning. As such it is at least as relevant as the
more commonly accepted types of input (e.g. contrived dialogues, isolated texts for reading
comprehension, simulations, etc.). So, it should be given at least equal weight.

They claim that the use of a poem as the centrepiece of a unit of material does not prevent the use of
other types of language in relation to it. For example, they illustrate that the language used to agree
and disagree about "meaning" in a poem will not be essentially different from the language of
discussion central to any interactional activity. Therefore, if poetry is integrated with other forms of
language, and thus demystified through a direct approach, students will come to an understanding of
what is special about poetry as a mode of language use. And to the further understanding that it is no
more "special" than any other forms of language (e.g. sports report, advertisements, labels, etc.).

Maley and Duff also consider the many advantages which poetry seems to offer. Poetry as a form of
language use is universal among all human beings. The themes (e.g. love, death, nature, religious
belief, despair, etc.) of poetry are common to all cultures, and the conventions (for example, rhythm,
rhyme, metre, alliteration, repetition, etc.) governing the language of poetry are likewise familiar,
which are readily recognisable to foreign language learners from their mother tongue experience.

Therefore, the only unfamiliarity would be the foreign language which they may not know, but will
know the conventions. Although at first sight, poetry in the foreign language may appear
impenetrable, however, the familiarity with the conventions of poetry in the students" mother tongue
would make it more readily accessible to him or her. Moreover, the realisation that, though they may
be relatively inexpert in the language, they can still appreciate (to a degree) what is thought to be a
"difficult" use of language, would work as an added advantage. The opportunity to play with language
also helps the learner learning it and poetry is per excellence the medium as all poets stretch the
language by coining new words, creating new collocations, experimenting with sound, using old
words in new ways, and so on. The ambiguity of a poem evokes individual interpretations which are
not necessarily shared by all readers, thus opens up opportunity for discussion.

Moreover, poetry deals with important experiences and heightens the readers" perception not only of
such experiences, but also of the seemingly trivial or unimportant ones. Poetry thus provides a content
which will appeal to learners because they are able to respond to it in their own way, adding to the
motivating factor in learning. The possibility of having multifarious interpretation will also let each
individual student feel that he or she has a valid contribution to make while discussing a poem. The
suggestive, colourful and associative quality of poems suggests that each learner"s personal
interpretation has validity and because each person"s perception is different, it initiates an almost
infinite fund of interactive discussion and creates the necessary atmosphere for a genuine exchange of
ideas. The development of a personalised reaction to texts engaging the intellect as well as the feelings
is a very important part of the language learning process.

Moreover, the memorability feature of a poem offers the natural ability to unconsciously absorb
language that enables the learner to retrieve grammatical and lexical information he or she did not
know they had. In language teaching, stress and rhythm are often taught through the imitation of
model sentences. According to Brown (cited in Maley and Duff, 1989:11), rhythm "is not something
extra; it is the guide to the structure of information in the spoken message", and therefore, even though
poetry may not focus expressly on rhythm, it can help develop a sensitivity towards it. Moreover,
some of the essential features of fluent speech, such as clarity of diction, phrasing, stress and rhythm,
control and variation of pace etc. flow naturally from the reading of poetry aloud. Poems also offer a
complete context in compact form and the meanings conveyed in poems are usually expressed very
economically. In order to retrieve these meanings and talk about them, it is necessary to expand and
extend the words on the page, thus, from a small language input a large and varied output can be
generated.

However, there may still remain some doubts about the value and practicability of using poetry as a
major element in language teaching because of the conception that "poetry" is equivalent to a special
register which is characterised by archaisms, peculiar inversions, heightened vocabulary, and so on.
Nevertheless, in the classroom, there is no need to choose poetry with these features, rather choose the
ones which are closer to "normal" language. Moreover, modern poetry does not necessarily use special
language features and choosing this kind of poetry minimises the problem of the language that is "too
special". When the teacher comes to select poems he or she will need to take into account which
poems are suited to the learners" interests, language and maturity levels. Therefore, as far as possible,
the level of difficulty of the poem should approximate the level of competence of the learners.
Learners should be offered access to poems through carefully chosen activities and tasks that are
designed to help them appreciate the lyrical and melodic qualities of poetry as well as its metaphorical
richness in order to facilitate comprehension.

McRae and Vethamani (1999) observe that the growth of strong local literatures in English has
triggered a corresponding interest in incorporating such texts into language teaching materials.
Vethamani (1996) argues that new literatures are unjustly overlooked in many teaching contexts,
whereas their inclusion in the classroom can broaden students" perception of the use of English in
wider cultural contexts, thus will continue to fuel interest in using literary texts for cross-cultural
exploration. As such, literature lends itself well to investigating similarities and differences between
self and others, and to an awareness and understanding of "the other" (Kramsch 1993).

Poetry: Realm of Intuited Truth

According to Kermode (1957: 128) poetry is "concerned with intuited truth, not with what is
discursively explicable by the reason". This section of the article will try to expand the idea of
"intuitive truth" and will demonstrate how a poem can be effectively used in the language classroom.

The imaginative space which poetry allows the reader is exactly in the realm of "intuited truth", and
that is what gives the reader the widest range of intuitive possibilities. Many poems rich in language
and imagery represent aspects of human experience in direct but intuitive and concise but rich terms.
Although poetic diction and the concept of the poet as a kind of seer contribute to the distancing of
poetry from day-to-day reality, in the "average" mind, nevertheless, there are texts that can be
approached as a simple functional message. The poem titled "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos
Williams is a fine example of use of such daily language. The poem can be presented in a message
form and when it is done as presented below, it gives the reader a very simple every day message, may
be written on a piece of scrap paper, left on the tea-table for the host to read.

"This is just to say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving
for breakfast. Forgive me, they were delicious, so sweet and so cold."

A whole range of ideas will emerge if questions are set on the poem such as, where the message could
be found, what its function might be, etc. The text, as presented above, is both a simple message and
an open text: a note of apology, and a description of feelings of enjoyment. The text does not look like
a poem, however, if it is now presented as it was originally written as presented below, the pertinent
question arises whether it does suddenly change from being "not a poem" to being a poem.

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
The plums
That were in
The icebox
And which
You were probably
Saving
For breakfast
Forgive me
They were delicious
So sweet
And so cold

- William Carlos Williams

This original presentation will certainly promote further discussion. In order to keep the discussion
going, the learners have to make use of their "experience" and "knowledge of the world". In this
particular case, the intensity of longing and the after effect of the event when the reality takes the
apologetic turn. Experience can also initiate questions like:

· Have you ever felt tempted before about eating/doing something? What did you do then?
· Do you think it is okay to behave this way?
· Was the person your friend whom you have done something similar before?
· What was his/her reaction to the incident before?
· What might be the reaction of the host after reading the note?
· Do you think you should replace the fruit next time you turn up? Why/why not?
· How would you have felt if someone had done the same to you?

Knowledge of the world may initiate questions such as:

· What is a "plum"? Is there any fruit that grows in your country, which resembles "plum"?
· Why do you have to apologise if you could eat the fruit without permission, when the host is your
friend or someone very close to you?
· What age group do you think the person belongs to? Was it is very mature thing to eat the plums
without permission?

There are also poems written in the form of dramatic monologue. We quite often talk to ourselves
while alone. We talk about tit-bits of life and also sometimes create imaginary situations and build up
imaginary conversations on those. There are many poems written in the form of a dramatic monologue
which form a very rich resource for developing spoken skills, for example by many classic poets such
as John Donne, Robert Browning, Samuel Coleridge, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and many
others, from different times. These poems can be used to compare and contrast human nature and what
goes on inside their mind at a given point of time or situation.

Poems that relate universal personal experiences and focus on memory and the passing of time are all
obvious advantages and show that a theme can be a very good source on which to base a discussion.
Thus a theme-based approach to poetry can help students to relate the situation to their own
experience and talk about it in order to develop their interpretative and conversational skills. They can
also be asked to imagine situations made complicated by chance and then initiate solutions through
negotiation.

Moreover, songs can also be an impetus as resource materials within the category of poetry.
According to McRae, (1991) songs belong to the very best motivational texts to be found. They
contain a basic element of "story", or of a character clash, a point of view or an engagement with a
social or other issue, all of which can be very useful in initiating interpretation and discussion.
Universal subjects such as love, relationships, freedom, political repression, and minority views are of
worldwide interest and can stimulate students" imagination and thoughts. The entertaining element of
a popular song is an added advantage in motivating the learner in the classroom.

To add further, as pointed out by Halliday (1985), the distinction between speaking and writing is that
they give two complementary perspectives - the synoptic and the dynamic. The written language
presents a synoptic view of the world, defining it as "product rather than process", whereas the spoken
language presents a dynamic view, defining "its universe primarily as process". Carter and Long
(1991) add that it can often be useful to relate songs with this dynamic quality to other more static,
more synoptic texts. Songs can also be used as part of a theme-based set of texts or can be related to
visual stimuli, to advertisements or to other songs.

Conclusion

In many EFL contexts there are constraints/restraints on the teacher’s part in terms of
availability of books, or the set curriculum they are to follow. If the texts are imposed and used year
after year, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain one’s originality and enthusiasm,
both on the parts of teachers and students. Goodwyn and Findlay (1999) point out that teachers teach
best when they are enthused about a text/topic they are teaching. Nevertheless, it has already been
observed that the available texts and materials including poems and songs suitable for the target group
can be successfully used to achieve objectives if used properly and systematically.
Bibliography

Bakhtin, N. M. (1986) Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Trans. V. W. McGee, Austin:
University of Texas Press.

Brumfit, C.J. (1985) Language and Literature Teaching: From Practice to Principle. Oxford:
Pergamon.

Carter, R. and Long, M. N. (1991) Teaching Literature. New York: Longman.

Carter, R. and M. N. Long (1990) "Testing Literature in EFL classes: Tradition and innovation". ELT
Journal 44/3:215-21.

Collie, J. and Slater, S. (1987) Literature in the Language Classroom: A Resource Book of Ideas and
Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Goodwyn, A. and Findlay, K. (1999) "The Cox Models Revisited: English Teachers" Views of their
Subjects and of the National Curriculum". English in Education. Vol. 33, No.2, Summer, NATE
Sheffield: 19-31.

Hess, N. (2003) "Real Language Through Poetry: A Formula for Meaning Making". ELT Journal
57/1: 19-25.

Halliday M.A.K., (1985) 2nd ed. 1989. Spoken and Written Language. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

Holten, C. (1997) "Literature: A quintessential content". In M. A. Snow and D. M. Brinton (eds.). The
Content-based Classroom: Perspectives on Integrating Language and Content. White Plains, New
York: Longman: 377-87.

Kermode, F. (1957) Romantic Image. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul

Kramsch, C. (1993) Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Maley, A. and Duff, A. (1989) The Inward Ear: Poetry in the Language Classroom: Cambridge
Handbooks for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: Introduction, 6-12.

McKay, S. (1986) "Literature in the ESL Classroom". In Brumfit, C.J. and Carter, R. A. (eds.).
Literature and Language Teaching. Oxford University Press: 191-198.

McRae, J. (1991) Literature with a Small "l". London: McMillan Publishers Limited.

McRae, J. and Vethamani, E. M. (1999) Now Read On. London: Routledge: xi-xvi.

Vethamani, M. E. (1996) "Common Ground: Incorporating New Literatures in English in Language

and Literature Teaching". In Carter, R. and McRae, J. (eds.). Language, Literature and the Learner:
Creative Classroom Practice. Addison Wesley Longman: New York.

Widdowson, H. G. (1989). "The significance of poetry". In Butler C.S, Cardwell, R. A. and Channell,
J. (eds.). Language and Literature – theory and Practice. University of Nottingham Monographs
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Widdowson, H.G. (1975) Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature. London: Longman.

About the Author

Salma Ainy, PhD (University of Nottingham, UK) is associate professor (English Language and
Literature) in the School of Social Science, Humanities and Language at Bangladesh Open University.

Using poetry
Submitted by TE Editor on 4 September, 2008 - 13:17

The reasons for using poetry are similar to those for using songs and many activities that you do with
songs can be adapted to poetry. Any authentic material exposes students to some ‘real English’ and
can be very motivating for your students, provided they are supported throughout the task. The other
great thing about poems is for students to have the opportunity to see the language work creatively and
freely. Poems can be used in many different ways and the more you use them the more uses you’ll
find for them.

Where can I get the poems from?

Finding poems to use is now incredibly easy with the internet. You can find lots of poems by simply
typing in the author and the first line or title. There’s a site called Poem Hunter which makes this even
easier. So even if you only remember a few lines of a poem that you like you’ll probably be able to
find it. The site is http://www.poemhunter.com/

If you make worksheets using the poem be sure to acknowledge the author’s name and the source.

How do I choose the right one for my class?

The first thing to consider when you’re selecting a poem for your class is the level of language. If you
end up having to explain every single word then the poem may well lose its spark. On the other hand,
students won’t need to understand every word to get the general idea of most poems so don’t be put
off if you think the language level is slightly above what they would normally be able to handle. As
with songs, if the students are supported throughout and are pre-taught some of the vocabulary, or
given some visual aids to help them, they will be able to tackle more challenging texts than they are
used to.

What activities can I do with a poem?

• Introduce a topic
oems can be a really nice way into a topic. A colleague recently recommended using a poem
called The Ghoul by Jack Perlutsky as a way to introduce a Halloween lesson. He had made a
gap fill by taking out the rhyming words. The students loved the poem and later on we took it
in turns reading out the verses with the correct intonation and taking care to make the
rhyming words rhyme. (Thanks to Johnny Lavery for this idea.)

To introduce the topic of old people and talking about grandparents in a class I’ve used Jenny
Joseph’s poem called Warning. The language is simple and the ideas are clear and can easily
be supported with visual aids for very low levels.
 In the Language Assistants Manual you’ll find a poem about smoking called Smoke-Loving
Girl Blues by John Agard. This would be a great introduction to a lesson on smoking or the
Essential UK class on smoking bans.

These are just a few examples of linking a poem to a topic. By using a poem as a spring board
into a topic you will make the class memorable for your students.

• Ordering the poem

When you have chosen a suitable poem for your class, copy it onto a worksheet and cut up
the verses. If the poem tells a story and the order is logical, ask student to read the verses and
put them into the correct order. If the order isn’t obvious, you can read out the poem and they
can listen and put it into order as you read. From here you can go onto to look at the
vocabulary, the rhyming words or to talking about the meaning of the poem.

• Rhyming words
Obviously, some poems lend themselves well to looking at pronunciation. Whether you want
to focus on individual sounds, rhyming pairs, connected speech or intonation patterns, poems
can be a great way into it. Getting students to read out chunks of a poem as they copy the way
you say it can be excellent practise for their pronunciation.

If you have higher levels and really want to get them thinking about English pronunciation try
the Pronunciation Poem which can be found on the Learn English website. Practise saying it
to yourself a few times before the class. It’s harder than it looks! The link is:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-poems-pronunciation-p...

The Pronunciation Poem

Here is some pronunciation.

Ration never rhymes with nation,
Say prefer, but preferable,
Comfortable and vegetable.
B must not be heard in doubt,
Debt and dumb both leave it out.
In the words psychology,
Psychic, and psychiatry,
You must never sound the p.
Psychiatrist you call the man
Who cures the complex, if he can.
In architect, chi is k.
In arch it is the other way.
 • Learn a verse
Once you have chosen the poem and have worked with it with your class, encourage the
students to learn one verse by heart. It can be really motivating for younger students to be
able to say a whole chunk of English perfectly. Ensure that they want to learn it and that it has
some useful language in it which will be helpful in the future. Try not to get students to
memorise chunks of language just for the sake of it or because you want to fill in the last few
minutes and have run out of activities! However it can be really satisfying for students to be
able to be able to say a nice chunk of language and to be sure that their pronunciation is good,
as they will have practised it with you.

• Record the students

Getting students to record themselves saying a poem can be a nice way to help them improve
their pronunciation. You could put students into pairs or small groups and get each student to
read out aloud one of the verses of the poem. Then listen back to it in the class.

• Write a new verse

If you are teaching higher levels you could ask the students to create a new verse for the poem
or to change one of the existing verses. This would be a challenging activity for most students
so make sure you offer ideas and help to support students through the task. Be ready to give
an example verse to show them that it’s do-able!

• Role play – dialogues

If the poem you are using has any dialogue, you could use it as a springboard into a role-play.
Poems with characters can also be used to inspire role-plays. An example of a poem that
would be good for this is A Bad Habit by Michael Rosen and can be found in the Language
Assistants Manual on page 117.

For most teachers poems are an under exploited resource that we have available to us.
Although introducing your students to a poem or two throughout the course will take a lot of
thought and a bit of preparation time on your side, I think it will be worth it. If you do try any
of the suggestions here or have any other ideas of how to use poetry with your students please
send them in to the discussion list to share with the other Language Assistants.

Internet links
http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/truth.html - Information about the poet Benjamin Zephaniah. I
haven’t yet managed to work him into a lesson, but I think there’s lots of potential to use his work in
the classroom. Great for teenagers.
http://www.channel4.com/learning/ This site has some excellent language awareness games and
features Benjamin Zephaniah.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-poems - The British Council’s Learn English website has a
huge archive of poems. You’ll find any topic under the sun.
http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp This is a great site to help you find poems. It’s especially
useful if you can only remember a few lines.
Teaching Poetry to ESL Students

Using Poems to Boost English Language Skills

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May 14, 2009 Sally Bunch

Understanding the figurative language of poems can be a challenge to ESL students. These tips and
activities can help students appreciate poetry while learning English.

Until recently, the responsibility of teaching poetry to middle and high school students had belonged
to English language arts teachers. Many immigrant students studying English as a Second Language
had limited exposure to this form of literature before transitioning to mainstream English classes.
Now, with more English language learners in many states being mainstreamed earlier and required to
participate in mandated testing, ESL teachers need to incorporate more instruction about literature into
their lessons, in addition to their main mission of boosting their students’ reading, writing, listening,
and speaking skills.

Although most ESL students may be years away from understanding a Shakespearean sonnet, there
are many ways to introduce students to poetry and use it to boost their language skills.

Choose Appropriate Poems

Teachers need to consider their students’ language level when choosing poetry material. Langston
Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Nikki Giovanni, and Gary Soto have written poems that are
accessible to intermediate-level students; the vocabulary is simple and the themes, including racism,
poverty, love, and work are relevant to many students’ lives. Some children’s poetry can also be used
as long as it doesn’t seem too juvenile and students can relate to the themes.

Teach Poetic Devices

Comprehension and appreciation of a poem is often dependent on how well students can understand
the use of figurative language. Examples of poetic devices such as simile, metaphor, personification,
and alliteration can be introduced separately or in poems, and students can consider their meanings
and why the poet used them. It is also important to make sure that students understand other
vocabulary such as line and stanza in order to discuss the location of the devices as well a poem in
general.

Students can later apply that knowledge by looking for examples in different poems or using poetic
devices in writing exercises. When preparing for state-mandated literature tests, teachers can expose
students to questions used in previous tests to familiarize their students with how they might have to
demonstrate those concepts.
 Use Poetry for Language Development

Students can practice listening comprehension by filling in the missing words of a poem that is read to
them. A poem can introduce or reinforce target vocabulary around a theme; a pre-reading exercise can
involve defining or using those words. Another strategy for teaching vocabulary is for students to read
the poem and use the context to guess the meanings of unfamiliar words they encounter.

Write Poems

One of the most creative and satisfying ways to get students to apply their poetry knowledge is to have
them write their own poems. Teachers who introduce their own work as models demonstrate to
students that anyone can be a poet.

If students are not comfortable with free verse, different prompts such as using magnetic poetry and
providing a first line can also be used. Two popular strategies with English language learners include
the "I am" poem, which encourages students to explore a subject using senses and characteristics, and
the list poem, which is a list of anything, such as a shopping list or a list of what bothers the student.
Students with more advanced English skills and an understanding of poetic devices should be
encouraged to incorporate those devices into their poems.

Complete Poetry Projects

As a final product for a class unit on poetry, an oral presentation is an opportunity for students to
display both their language skills and their knowledge of the subject matter. Students can choose a
poem, recite it to the class, identify how the poet uses metaphor, repetition, or other poetic devices,
and share what the poem means to them. They can also present their own work in a similar fashion, or
write a detailed response to their poem of choice.

Read more at Suite101: Teaching Poetry to ESL Students: Using Poems to Boost English Language
Skills
http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/teaching_poetry_to_esl_students#ixzz0l7VUXFYw

Using poems to develop productive skills

Submitted by TE Editor on 10 March, 2010 - 16:06

You and your students might already enjoy reading and listening to poetry in your own language and
perhaps in English too. Poems are, after all, authentic texts. This is a great motivator. Poems are often
rich in cultural references, and they present a wide range of learning opportunities. For me, the aim is
to teach English through poetry, not to teach the poetry itself, so you don't need to be a literature
expert.

Most of the tried and tested activities used regularly by language teachers can be adapted easily to
bring poetry into the classroom.

• Communicative speaking activities

• Working on pronunciation

• Writing activities
 • Some pros and cons

• Conclusion

Communicative speaking activities

Before doing any productive work, I like to give my students plenty of pre-reading activities so that
they are adequately prepared.

• As a way in to a poem, I might play some background music to create the atmosphere, show
some pictures to introduce the topic, and then get students to think about their personal
knowledge or experience which relates to this topic.

• They then talk about the poem, first with a partner and then in small groups, perhaps coming
together as a class at the end to share ideas. I monitor and feed in ideas and vocabulary if
necessary, give brief feedback on language used and note any language problems to be dealt
with at a later date.

• I usually prepare worksheets for pre-reading speaking activities which might involve a quiz, a
questionnaire, sentence stems to be completed and discussed, statements to be ranked and
discussed, and so on.

• Students might predict endings to verses, the whole poem, or events occurring after the end of
the poem.

• Afterwards, the students could talk about their personal response to the poem, discuss the
characters and theme, or debate the moral issues.

• Role plays work well, interviewing a partner, or even dramatising the poem and making a
video. Students could compare poems on related topics, with different groups working on
different poems and then regrouping to pool their ideas.

Working on pronunciation
It can be fun to get students to rehearse and perform a poem. I read the poem to them or play a
recording, and they identify the stresses and pauses.

• We take a chunk (usually a line, sometimes two) at a time, and one half of the class claps out
the rhythm while the other half beats time, and then they swap over.

• I recite while they mumble rhythmically, and then as their confidence grows they could chant
in a whisper, a shout, or show a range of emotion. For me, this tends to work best when it is
improvised. I keep it snappy - it's a high energy activity, and you have to know and trust each
other!

• I sometimes do intensive phoneme work centred on the rhyming patterns in the poem: Some
poems are crying out to be exploited in this way. I elicit possible rhymes before revealing the
 poet's choice, and discuss which suggestions have exactly the same sound and which don't,
leading to a minimal pair activity.

Writing activities
A poem can spark off some wonderful creative writing. Students can add more lines or stanzas
individually or in pairs or groups.

• They can write a letter to a character in the poem, write about what happened before the
beginning or after the ending of the poem and so on.

• Students could use the poem as a starting point and model for some parallel writing: Each
group might contribute a verse to a collective poem (or rap).

• Genre transfer presents a lot of opportunities for writing practice; letters, diary entries, radio
plays, newspaper articles, agony aunt columns all based on the original text from a poem.

• My students have found reformulation exercises very stimulating, where they switch between
formal and informal language.

• Longer poems can be summarised in fifty words.

• It is also fun to get students to transform content words to synonyms or antonyms and then
discuss the subtleties of vocabulary.

Some pros and cons

You might need to spend a bit of time finding a poem that links thematically with your scheme of
work, and making sure you respect the copyright rules.

• I have rejected poems that are too long, too archaic or too obscure, or that I can't muster any
enthusiasm for or that the students may not respond to. The wrong poem is worse than no
poem at all.

• I find that I need to explain my pedagogical rationale and the aims of activities very clearly,
and students who have disliked studying literature in their own language may need extra
motivation.

• I sometimes reassure my students that their other needs, e.g. exam preparation, are being met.

• It's worth taking the risk and using poems though, because poems can foster a love of
English, and they are so versatile.

• I have used them as warmers or fillers, and as the catalyst for many different activities with
students ranging from Pre-intermediate to Proficiency, and with multilevel classes.
 • Students find a poem a welcome, and sometimes inspirational, change from a coursebook.
Poems can be involving, motivating and memorable, and they can supplement and enrich just
about any lesson.

Conclusion
One of the things I like most about using poetry in the classroom is that I can usually create lots of
opportunities for personalisation. This means that the students have plenty to say, and the
communication is genuine because they are talking about their own experiences or hypotheses. They
are engaged and motivated, which helps to make the lesson and the language (and sometimes even the
poem) memorable. I am an English language specialist and have no formal training in literature,
unlike some of my students, and I bring my love of poetry into the classroom.

You can't fake enthusiasm, but it can rub off on the most sceptical of students, and without it the
lesson is doomed. My students have always asked for more grammar, but now they're asking for more
poems too, something they didn't even know they wanted! For me, there is no greater reward.

Further reading
These are resource books of ideas and activities for using poems in the English language classroom.
They contain useful bibliographies of poetry anthologies too.

Literature in the Language Classroom Collie & Slater CUP 1987

Literature Duff & Maley OUP 1990
Teaching Literature Carter & Long Longman 1991

Teaching English using song and poem

Using poems and songs when teaching English is a great way to expose your students to ‘real
English’. This is especially the case when using poems.

When using songs and poems to teach English, it can give the students the perfect chance to see
creative and free thinking English.

Poems and songs can be used when teaching English in a variety of different ways. The more you use
songs and poems in the classroom, the more uses you will find for them.

Where To Find Poems And Songs

It’s very easy to find suitable songs and poems for your class by searching on the Internet. There are
websites dedicated to published materials; as well websites that cover unpublished and amateur work.

Choosing The Right Poem Or Song

You will have to consider the level of language and understanding in your class to find the correct
poem or song. The last thing you want is to have to explain every single word in the poem or song; if
you have to do this, the lesson will definitely lose some of its spark.

On the other hand though, most students will be able to understand the poem or song if there are a few
words above their level; so, don’t be afraid to choose something that you may think is above their
understanding.

With both poems and songs, you can use visual aids to help them with their understanding, or you
could teach them certain words before you introduce the poem or song to the classroom.
 Activities To Do When Using Poems And Songs
There are lots of things you can do in a classroom with songs and poems. Take a look at some of the
activity ideas below and see if you can implement them in your own classroom.

Introducing A Topic
Songs and poems usually follow a specific topic. If you are introducing a topic to a classroom for the
first time, a poem or a song can be a great way to make the topic more memorable.

For example, if you are introducing one of the world wars into a history class, you can use one of the
many moving and interesting poems or songs about that period of time. This can be a good way to
make the topic more ‘real’ than just reading about it in history books.

You could also introduce a season or the weather by using poems that illustrate these topics. For low
level or young students, visual aids can also be used to support your introduction.

Putting Poems And Songs Into Order

When you have found a poem or a song that is suitable for the class you are teaching, print it out on to
card and cut up the verses.

For this activity to work, the poem or the song must have some form of logical order. You can
encourage the students to read the verses carefully and write down anything of interest. You can create
talking points such as vocabulary, rhyming words, and you can also look at the meaning of the song or
poem itself.

Looking At Pronunciation
Songs and poems are fantastic tools to learn about pronunciation. You can look at the individual
sounds, rhyming words and pairs, connected speech or speech patterns.

You can ask the students to carefully read then pronounce the words they are looking at.

Looking At Rhyming Words

Poems and songs usually follow some sort of rhyming pattern. You can discuss these patterns with
your class as you read the poem or song and ask them to shout out when they hear a rhyming pattern.

From here, you can also ask them to come up with their own rhyming song, verse or poem. So, not
only do the students learn vocabulary skills, they will also be able to look at patterns and basic
grammar skills.

Turning Them Into Role Play

Songs and poems often tell stories. These stories in the songs and poems can be used as a ladder into
role play.

You can get the students to act out what the story is in the song or the poem. This can be a fun
exercise as well as a good learning one; it encourages the students to read and actually understand the
song or poem, and it allows them to show a creative side.

Poems and songs are an under used resource in many classrooms today. They are easy to find and easy
to implement in any level of learning English.