QUESTION: I have heard about poetry writing activities in the EFL classroom. I would like to use some with my learners. Could you suggest activities for young learners as well as for adolescents/teenagers? And, if I use them, would I be taking time from more "important" language practice activities?
ANSWER:Poetry writing is one of the most effective teaching techniques which can be used in the foreign language classroom. Poetry writing activities "sensitize" learners (children and adults) to the universal spirit of language, its healing effect, and, at the same time, build their confidence as users of the foreign language, and develop their emotional intelligence.
In EFL teaching, poetry can be used to give further practice and to consolidate all four language Skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, as well as grammar and vocabulary. Poetry needs to be shared in order to be appreciated. Thus, learners practice the skill of reading, more precisely of recitation, which helps them with pronunciation, word stress and intonation. Only after they have recited their own poems can learners acquire a "feel" for the language and thus comprehend the importance of pausing, changing the tone of their voice and stressing a specific word or phrase, when they communicate in real life or, even, when they try out role plays in the classroom.
On the other hand, poetry writing can be one of the most effective ways to develop the skill of writing in the EFL classroom. Poetry writing activities help learners practise and furhter consolidate the use of punctuation. They learn to understand the importance of the main elements of the English sentence (the subject, the verb and the complement), as well as the flexibility of the English language as they become aware of the literal and of the figurative meanings of words.
The question is: How do we prepare ESL/EFL learners in order to write poetry? To begin with, as simply as possible, without making elaborate introductions and, most certainly, without referring to meters and stanzas, cadences and rhyme schemes. This information can be introduced much later and mainly to adult and advanced learners. The poetry activities we recommend are part of writing practice and consolidation and are conducted during the Production Stage of the lesson.
We start by "sensitizing" learners to the power and impact of words and to their metaphorical potential. One of the easiest ways, especially with adult beginners and/or young learners, is to use the names of colors and to ask them to say yellow words. This is actually a vocabulary revision activity, and what learners produce, at the beginning, is the literal meaning of yellow, e.g., banana, lemon, canary, etc. Then, we ask them to say words they think of, when they say, yellow. Soon learners produce words like the sun, sunshine, warm, light, happy or happiness, etc. In other words, they produce words that they associate with the way the specific color affects them, without necessarily being aware of this, with the exception of adult learners. Thus, they begin to understand the concept of figurative meanings of words.
We can continue the "sensitizing" activities with other colors as well.
The next step is to ask learners which English words they think are beautiful, and which words are their favorite ones. As a notion, it is one that has probably never occured to many of them. This is where the mother tongue can be of help, as learners can be asked to think of beautiful words or of their favorite words in their own language. Sometimes, even this question demands some effort, as learners have not been used to thinking of language as a concept which is alive, beautiful, breathing and feeling.
With late adolescent learners, teenagers and adults, the third step is to work with the senses and to think of words which sound soft, liquid, sweet, or words which feel harsh, warm, bitter, cruel, and words which taste hard, tender, cold, etc. The result is amazing, as learners gradually discover for themselves imaginative and creative meanings and associations to words which they used to consider common and plain.
In addition, learners need to be reminded of the use of punctuation, especially of commas, full stops, and, to be introduced to ellipsis (without necessarily using the name of the specific punctuation mark with young learners).
The procedure described above should be brief and is used as a warm up before the writing activity. It is more like a game with words than a way to test the learners' knowledge, and it must be conducted in a light and pleasant manner, often using mime and movement, in order to stress the effect of the specific word as it is filtered through the particular senses. In many ways, these are multi-sensory and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) activities and they help learners appropriate language with less effort.
We will start with a beginning poetry writing activity and we will suggest more at a later time.
Activity 1:
"I'm a bird"
Level: Beginner - Advanced
Age: Children - Adults
Language & Skills focus: Sentence writing; proofreading and editing; answering Wh-questions; a confidence building activity; recitation; fostering imagination; emotional intelligence; intrapersonal intelligence.
Materials: writing paper and pen
Procedure:
1.Ask learners to inhale and exhale two to three times so they can feel more relaxed. Then, ask them to think of green forests and of blue skies, of birds of all kinds: small, large, exotic birds.
2. Write the following sentence on the board and ask the learners to copy it on their paper: "I'm a bird" .
3. Then, tell them to answer, in writing, each one of the questions you will be asking them. Ask the learners to answer, using a complete sentence. Tell them to avoid long and complex sentences, and to write each answer underneath the one above.
4. Ask the following questions, pausing after each one, so the learners have the time to respond:
*What kind of a bird?
*Where are you?
*Why are you there?
*What time of year is it?
5. Use the paper of one of the learners so you can demonstrate the editing/writing of the "poem". In most cases, learners have followed instructions and have answered with a complete sentence, repeating "I am. ." each time.
Example:
I'm a bird.
I am a seagull.
I am up in the air.
I want to be free.
It's summer. . .
6.Tell learners to strike out the repetitve "I am," wherever possible and to use a comma instead of a full stop. Then, to re-read their poem and to give it a title. Demonstrate by editing the example above:
"Freedom"
I'm a bird,
a seagull,
up in the air,
I want to be free.
It's summer. . .
7.Ask the learners to recite their poems when they have finished editing. Remember to applaud after each recitation.
8. The same technique can be used with different themes, such as Christmas, using different Christmas items, e.g., the Christmas tree, an angel, a star, Santa Claus, etc.
Poems written by Greek EFL learners on different occasions:
"A War Child"
I'm a bird,
a small bird,
on a tree,
lost.
It's winter,
I'm sad. . .
Maria, 10 years old
"Happiness"
I'm a bird,
a parrot,
in the jungle,
my free home.
It's summer. . .
Elina, 11 years old
"My Soul"
I'm a bird,
an eagle,
high in the sky,
free and wild
like the night.
It's winter. . .
Catherine, 21 years old