Poetry for Pleas A Teachers’ Guide to Poetry Writing for Junior Stud Sponsored by e Quality Education FundContents Introduction Animal Poems Colour Poems Food Poems Haikus Happiness Poems Hong Kong Poems Place Poems Sky Poems Things I Love Poems Water Poems References Acknowledgements il 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 37Introduction | first started writing poetry with my students after reading one of Mike Murphy’s poems, ‘Bird Street’, with the class, The students responded well to the poem and went on to write their own ‘Poems about Places’ following the pattern of “Bird Street’. I was impressed by both the high standard of these poems and by the students’ positive response towards writing them, so felt encouraged to try poetry writing with the students on a more regular basis. There were several reasons for choosing poetry in addition to other forms of creative writing. Poems are short compared to compositions. e Students have more flexibility with regard to grammar. «* Rhyming schemes can be helpful when students are searching for words. « A set number of syllables (e.g. in Haikus) can also make poetry writing easier. Vocabulary extension. Poetry writing makes a pleasant change from using the English language textbook. Despite initial resistance to writing poetry, perhaps due to Jack of familiarity with the genre, most students were pleasantly surprised when they realised they could do it. And they were also proud when they produced a finished