The Language Teacher
July 2001

Fun with Poetry

Richard Gabbrielli

Yasuda Women's University, Hiroshima




QUICK GUIDE

Key Words: Poetry, Vocabulary Development, Writing, Speaking
Learner English Level: Intermediate and up
Learner Maturity Level: High School to Adult
Preparation Time: None
Activity Time: 30 minutes to an hour


This activity has been adapted from Hadfield (1990) and works really well in both writing and conversation classes. The idea is to engage students in language play through the medium of poetry. While many students may groan at the idea of writing poetry, this activity is straightforward, structured, learner centered, and encourages students to tap into their creative spirit to confidently create poems of their own. It can also be easily adapted to match the levels of your students.

Procedure

1. Students get into groups of three or four.

2. Ask the students to brainstorm the noun forms of vocabulary related to feelings and emotions. A good way to do this would be to give each group one sheet of paper, which they pass round in a circle, each member in turn adding one vocabulary item to the list.

3. After a given period of time (say ten or fifteen minutes), ask the students to choose a group representative who will stand up and read the group's list to the whole class. This allows all the students to share their vocabulary and to add more words to their lists.

4. Invite students to call out any of their words and choose one, which you, the teacher, write on the board. Then draw a circle around it. Now ask the students the following question: "When you think of the word (love), what color does it make you think of?"

Write your answer to the right of the main word and ask your students to do the same on a sheet of paper. Remind them not to look at their partners' answers throughout this activity.

5. Now, using the same procedure, get the students to answer the next question: "What does (love) sound like?" This time, everyone writes the answer to the left of the main word.

6. Continue with: "What does (love) taste like?" Everyone now writes their answer directly above the main word.

7. The next question is: "What does (love) smell like?" This time, everyone writes their answer directly below the main word.

8. The last question reads: "Think about the word (love). Close your eyes for a moment. What are you thinking about?" Everyone now writes their answer below the word in Number 7 above. Try to encourage a phrase that shows some kind of action in progress like: "walking in the rain."

At this stage, check that everyone's page looks something like this:

9. Ask the students (in their groups) to comment on what they have written.

10. On the board, present the following stem structures to the students:

[Love] is ...

It sounds (like) ...

It tastes (of/like) ...

It smells (of/like) ...

It feels (like) ...

Complete the stems with your own answers and then read your completed poem to your students. Mine would read:

Love is blue

It sounds like the sea

It tastes like chocolate

It smells like flowers

It feels like walking in the rain

11. Ask the students to do the same and then to read their poems to their group members. If you like, you could get all the students mingling and sharing their poems with the whole class.

12. In their groups again, ask the students to choose other words they have brainstormed (individually or by group consent) and have them repeat the steps in their own time.

 

This activity has always gone down a treat. The students have fun and seem to appreciate that there is more to poetry than meets the eye. Try it and see how it goes!

Reference

Hadfield, J. (1990). Writing games. Edinburgh: Nelson.



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