Teaching English through Poetry
Poetry offers wonderful opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening practice for ELLs. Poetry also gives students a chance to expand vocabulary knowledge, to play with language, and to work work with different rhythms and rhyme patterns. Getting students to think about poems they are familiar with can help make the transition into Englishlanguage poetry smoother. orking orking with poetry from different countries and languages is also an excellent opportunity to encourage students to share their cultural heritage with the class, and to take pride in an art form that is part of their identity and may have been passed down across many generations. Poetry can range from simple and fun to complicated and and abstract. abstract. !epending on the English level of the students, there are a variety of ways to start bringing poetry in the classroom. Talk about the differences between stories and poems. Provide students with a copy of a short story they"ve already read and a short poem. #sk them to work in groups and make a list of the differences between the two pieces, noting characteristics such as length or style. $ave students share those differences with the class. Start with poems that are manageable. %ake sure the poems you present first have simple and familiar language, images, and themes so that they are accessible to ELLs. e can use poetry with predictable language patterns, repeated words, phrases, lines, and identifiable rhymes, so that they are easier for students to read. Give students a chance to illustrate poems. $ave students work in pairs to discuss and illustrate a short poem, or one or two lines of a longer poem. &his will encourage them to think about meaning, and then express their interpretation in their own way. #sk #sk students to share their illustrations with the class so that everyone has a chance to think about the different meanings that their classmates discovered. Read a variety of poems out loud. 'eading a poem out loud brings it to life. (tudents will begin to understand and notice notice different rhythms, rhymes, and feelings represented, as well as understand how the language creates an image or mood. &he poem should be read in a natural voice, and the teacher can highlight the fact that you do not always stop at the end of each line, but instead use the poem"s punctuation as a cue to where the pauses should be. Be sure to include some poems written for kids and young adults. )hildren"s poetry can be so much fun, and it also gives students a chance to talk about important ideas and feelings. Discuss the vocabulary used in different poems. Poems offer a wonderful opportunity to teach new vocabulary related to a topic or idea, as well as a chance to think about language. hy did the poet choose a certain word* $ow does that word make you feel* hat kind of
sound does the word convey* (tudents may want to pick a word or phrase that is meaningful from a poem and write it on a +poetic word+ wall sort of a graffiti wall of sentiments. (tudents can continue to add to the wall as they discover new items, or even as they write their own poems. Give students a chance to read poems out loud together as a class and to each other. 'eading poems out loud will improve students" confidence and oral language skills, as well as their reading fluency. Discuss grammatical/synta patterns found in poems. Poems may have unusual sentence structures that students will not encounter in prose text. #nalying such sentences can help ELLs develop a better understanding of conventional English syntax. !ontinue reading poetry out loud to your students. hen introducing more complex poems with increasingly difficult English vocabulary, read the poem through and ask students for an initial impression regarding the meaning of the poem. # student might say, + think it"s about someone who lost someone they love.+ &his can begin a discussion with /uestions such as, +hy do you think that* s there a certain word or phrase that makes you think that* !oes someone else have a different idea*+ "ncourage students to share their personal interpretations. (tudents will soon see that each reader finds a different meaning in the poem, and that"s ok. (tudents shouldn"t be focused on looking for the right and wrong answers. #ere are some different types of poems to try in the classroom$ %!R&ST'!$ n #crostic poems, the firet letters of each line are aligned vertically to form a word0 E legantly and efficiently shaped G ood to eat G reat fun to find at Easter S mooth shelled %()#%B"T$ Each line begins with the letters of the alphabet in order0 A young girl was busy working on her project for school But suddenly she had a question. C ould this be her lucky day? Deciding to find out, she E ntered her backyard and F ound hundreds of green shamrocks waiting for her. %*T&B'&GR%)#'!%($ rite a poem about yourself using this form or another poetry form. Line 10 22 Your name
Line 30 _, _, _ 3 personal characteristics or physical traits Line 40 rother or sister of__ or son!daughter of Line 50 "ho lo#es__, __, and __ 3 people, things, ideas Line 60 "ho feels__ about__$ emotion about $ thing Line 70 "ho needs__, __, and __ 3 things you need Line 80 ho gives 22, 22, and 224 ob9ects you share Line :0 ho fears22, 22, and 224 items Line ;0 "ho%d like to see, __$ place, or person Line 1<0 "ho dreams of __ $ item or idea Line 110 & student of__ your school or teacher%s name Line 130 __ 'ickname or repeat your first name !&(&R$ # poem about your favorite color. Express your feelings about a single c olor with analogies or similes or list nouns which are =or remind you of> that color. #nother easy form is to use the 6 senses =looks like, sounds like, smells like, tastes like, feels like>. #n example is0
(range (range is the sun after a summer day. (range is the sound of a busy bumblebee. (range is the taste of cold glass of orange juice. . (range is the feeling after a baby smiles. (range is the smell of a late )uly day. (range is the feeling of a puppy%s fur. (range is the color of peach marmalade on a side of toast. &nd orange is a color that is safe and ali#e. #%'+*$ $aiku is ?apanese poetry that reflects on nature and feelings. @ou use your observation skills to write what you see in a new or different way. &here are three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second, and five syllables in the third.
'eading poetry aloud is a great way for ELLs to practice pronunciation and fluency, as well as a chance for students to play with rhymes and language. n order to increase confidence and fluency, have students start by reading some poems together as a class. &hen have students choose a poem that they en9oy and then practice reading their poems aloud in pairs, experimenting with expression, volume, and speed. #fter students have had time to practice, listen in and offer some feedback on expression and pronunciation. Ance students have one more round of practice, ask students to share their poems aloud with the class. Poems can make wonderful class presentations, whether students read different poems from a collection aloud, act out a longer dramatic poem, or take turns reading a rhyming text.
