English Corner Kit – Oral Practice Pack
2 Poems
Writing poems is good for practising English because it allows students to use their own creativity and can be very personal, and thus motivating. Poems can also be written by students of varying English ability. Most poetry is written for someone else to read/listen to, so it is nice to “publish” students’ work (if they agree – some may prefer not to). You could display your students’ poems on a notice board, in a school magazine, on a Web site ....
Below are a few suggestions to help students write their own poems.
Diamond Poems
These can be written by students of elementary level and above. Here is an example, entitled Day and Night. Notice how the middle line is the longest and the one which leads from day-time activities to evening activities.
day
wake up
sun’s shining
I’m feeling happy
brother shops for lunch
birds singing children playing
my mother busy working all day long
people eating people resting people talking
father comes home but it’s not too late
TV switched on bathwater running
sister does her homework
I’m feeling sleepy
lights go off
bedtime
night
Here is a suggested way to use this diamond poem:
1) Play a matching game with opposites, eg. Day & Night, Hot & Cold, Early & Late, etc.
2) Use the Day & Night pair and elicit from students what happens between daybreak and nightfall.
3) Divide the students in half. Read the poem aloud and ask one half to count how many daytime activities you mention, the other half, evening activities.
4) Give the students a cut-up copy of the poem to put in order. Read it aloud again to check. Point out it’s shape, and how it progresses from day to night.
5) Ask the students to write their own Day & Night diamond poem – as individuals, in pairs, or groups.
· You can vary the length of the poem, from 7 lines to 107 lines! If students need more guidance, tell them what part of speech is required for each line, and how many words, e.g. 1 noun, 2 colours, 3 verbs, 4 adjectives (2 about top noun, 2 about bottom noun), 3 verbs, 2 colours, 1 noun
· Try a different theme: Winter & Spring, Young & Old, Monday to Sunday, etc.
Shape Poems
These can be adapted to suit any level of English. The finished poem forms the shape of the object it is describing. Draw a simple outline of the object – a tree, waterfall, mountain, skyscraper, space rocket - let your students’ imaginations fly! Choose one outline to demonstrate how to do it. Elicit as many words/phrases from the students that describe the object as you can, then order them so they sound pleasant together, then write them into the outline so they fit exactly.
Senses Poems
These require at least a lower intermediate level of English. Here is an example:
Happiness is the colour of flowers in spring
It tastes like chocolate ice-cream
It smells like my mother’s perfume
It sounds like birds singing
It looks like the clear blue sky
And it feels like my birthday party.
You could introduce this to students as follows:
1) Elicit various feelings (happiness, fear, anger, sadness, boredom) by describing things that happened to you recently. Get students to mime the feelings.
2) Ask students to describe any times when they’ve experienced such feelings.
3) Show students the poem with some of the words missing (see page 10), and get them to fill in the gaps.
4) Read the poem aloud together, then cover up the last line and read the whole poem again (last line from memory). Now cover up the last two lines and read the whole poem again (last two lines from memory), and so on until the whole poem can be recited from memory.
5) Ask students to write down the whole poem – from memory.
6) Divide the students into pairs and give them a different copy of the “Fear” poem each (see page 11). They should dictate the missing words to each other, without looking at their partner’s copy, i.e. practise mainly speaking and listening. They can compare afterwards to check.
7) Give students the poem template to write their own senses poem (see page 12), or allow them to write on a blank piece of paper if they appreciate more freedom.
Collaborative poems from sentence stems
These are a good way to warm students up to the idea of writing poetry in English. Give a strip of paper to each student and ask them to write a sentence on the strip. Give them all the same sentence stem to complete, e.g. Love is... ; As soon as the exams are over, I’ll... ; I really wish I’d ... ; Hong Kong is... ; etc. Collect in the sentences and mix them up, then give out to different students. Put the students into groups of four or five and ask them to make a poem with the sentences they have – they’ll have to think about order, and may have to edit to make it flow smoothly.
Collaborative poems from a dictionary entry
This is similar to the above activity. Take a dictionary and ask students to give you a page number. Turn to
that page. Ask them for another number and look at that column. A third random number will lead you to
the word. Ask every student to write a sentence with the selected word in it and then join the sentences to make a poem, as above.
Model poems
Here are a few models to adapt:
Like a flower without petals If I were an animal
Like the moon without stars I’d be a fly
Like Hong Kong without a harbour So I could watch everybody from the
Like me without you. corner of the ceiling.
Yesterday I was grass Hello sun, goodbye moon
Today I am milk Hello spring, goodbye winter....
Tomorrow I’ll be breakfast.
Acrostic poems
Don’t forget these - they can be adapted to suit any level of English. Start with a word written vertically down the side of a page. This is the topic word for the poem. Then write the poem – the first word of every line beginning with the next letter in the vertical word. The poem should be based on the topic. Each line can be as short as one word, or as long, rhythmic and rhyming as students are capable of. Here is an example:
Sun shining overhead
Umbrellas up for shade
My face is hot and glistening
Mouth longs for cool water
Everyone wears bright colours
Red, orange, yellow sun.
Other Ideas
More ideas for writing poems can be found in:
Gunter, G and Herbert, P (1992) Creative Grammar Practice, Longman/Pilgrims
Bassnet, S and Grundy, P (1993) Language through Literature, Pilgrims Longman Resource Books
Maley, A and Duff, A (1982) Drama Techniques in Language Learning , CUP
Hadfield, C and Hadfield, J (1990) Writing Games, Nelson
Littlejohn, A (1993)Writing 3 - Cambridge Skills for Fluency, CUP
Cassell (1991) 100 Poems on the Underground
Senses poems – Happiness Template
Fill in the missing words in the poem below:
Happiness is the __________ of flowers in spring
It ____________ like chocolate ice cream
It ____________ like my mother’s perfume
It ____________ like birds singing
It ____________ like the clear blue sky
And it _________ like my birthday party.
Senses Poems: Paired Dictation A
Read these words to your partner so s/he can copy them down. Fill in the gaps below with the words your partner reads to you.
Fear
Fear is the ____________ _______ ____________
_______ ____________ __________ bitter lemon
It smells like ____________ ____________
_______ ____________ __________ a fire alarm
It looks like _____ __________ __________
_______ ____________ like ice.
Senses Poem: Paired Dictation B
Read these words to your partner so s/he can copy them down. Fill in the gaps below with the words your partner reads to you.
Fear
__________ _______ _______ colour of smoke
It tastes like ____________ ____________
_____ __________ __________ cooked cabbage
It sounds like _____ __________ __________
_____ __________ __________ a cat’s eyes
It feels __________ ________.
Senses poems - blank template
Write your own senses poem below.
_______________ is the colour of _______________________________
It tastes like ________________________________________________
It smells like ________________________________________________
It sounds like ________________________________________________
It looks like _________________________________________________
And it feels like ______________________________________________
Make sure all your spelling is correct, then copy your poem onto a new piece of paper and decorate it with pictures.
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