A Festivals of Poems

KS2 Package A Festival of Poems

A Festivals of Poems

Unit Framework

Key Stage 2: Primary Four

Learning Outcomes: /

Understanding information, ideas and feelings in some simple texts, using some listening strategies as appropriate (Learning Progression Framework (LPF) Listening-Level 3).
Understanding and inferring information, ideas and feelings in a small range of simple texts, using and integrating a small range of reading strategies as appropriate (Learning Progression Framework (LPF) Reading-Level 3).
Speaking simple and short stretches of English quite accurately, and showing an awareness of stress, rhythm and intonation (Learning Progression Framework (LPF) Speaking-Level 3).
Using a small range of quite appropriate and accurate language forms and functions and showing an awareness of tone, style register and features of some text types (Learning Progression Framework (LPF) Writing-Level 4).

Suggested Teaching Level / P4
Text / Poems
Theme / A Festivals of Poems
No. of Lessons / 7 (35-40 minutes per lesson)
Lessons 1 and 2: Reading aloud Chinese festival poems / Step 1: Motivate learners by asking the following questions:

Which Chinese festivals do you celebrate?
Who do you celebrate this/these festival(s) with?
How do you celebrate? What activities do you participate in?
What do you eat during this/these festival(s)?

Step 2: Tell learners they are going to read a poem about the Mid-Autumn Festival and create an acrostic poem.
Step 3: Read aloud Mid-Autumn Festival poem (PPT1) by modeling the intonation, stress and rhythm.

Ask the following questions after reading the poem:

 What is special about this poem? (Prompt learners to look at capital letters in the poem)
 Which words in the poem describe the festival and make you think of Mid-Autumn Festival?
 How do you celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival? Is it the same as in the poem?
Step 4: Explain new words using the flash cards (PPT2) and clarify the meaning of the poem.
Step 5: Discuss the basic features of an acrostic poem:

The topic is spelt using the first letter of the word in each line in capital letters.
Single words or phrases are created using the first letter in each line.
Words or phrases should relate to the topic.

Step 6: Teacher does shared writing of an acrostic poem using the word ‘MIDAUTUMN’ using Resource 1 Set A (print in A3 size) with students.
Step 7: Learners create their own acrostic poem using the word ‘MIDAUTUMN’ (Resource 1 Set A) or the names of other Chinese festivals, e.g. Lunar New Year, Chung Yeung (Double Nine) (Resource 1 Set B or Set C).
Additional resources for further teaching:

Dragon Boat Festival poem (PPT3)
Dragon Boat Festival vocabulary flash cards (PPT4)

Lessons 3 and 4: Reading aloud Western festival poems / Step 1: Motivate learners by asking the following questions:

Which Western festivals do you celebrate?
Who do you celebrate this/these festival(s) with?
How do you celebrate? What activities do you participate in?
What do you eat during this/these festival(s)?
Tell learners they are going to read a poem about Christmas and create a 5W poem.

Step 2: Read aloud the poem, Christmas Time (Resource 2) and model intonation, stress and rhythm.

Ask the following questions after reading the poem:

 What are the rhyming pairs in the poem? Prompt learners to think of additional examples (e.g. day, play, eve, believe).
 Which words in the poem make you think of Christmas?
 How do you think the poet feels about Christmas? How does the poem make you feel about Christmas?
Step 3: Teacher explains new words in the poem using the flash cards (Resource 3) and explains the meaning of the poem, using each rhyming couplet.
Step 4: Discuss the basic features of a 5W poem (PPT5):
Line 1: Who or what is the poem about?
Line 2: What action is taking place?
Line 3: When does the action take place?
Line 4: Where does the action take place?
Line 5: Why does this action happen?
Step 5: Teacher does shared writing of a 5W poem using Christmas Time poem with students.
Who? Carolers singing songs, shoppers
What? Shopping for gifts, eating together
When? Christmas Eve, 25 December
Where? Shopping malls, at home
Why? It means Christmas Day is near
Step 6: Brainstorm on the board different Christmas vocabulary using the 5W questions. Learners create their own 5W poem using one of the differentiated worksheets (Resource 4) about Christmas.
Lessons 5 and 6: Diamante Poetry Writing / Step 1: Revisit Chinese and Western festival vocabulary using PPT2 and PPT5. Ask learners what their favourite festival is and why.
Step 2: Read the diamante poem (Resource 5: diamante poem-sample):

Ask the following questions after reading the poem:
What is the shape of the poem? diamond shape
What is special about the poem? A diamante poem compares two different themes, topics or ideas

Line 1: Noun (person, place, thing)
Line 2: Two adjectives describing the noun
Line 3: Three participles (-ing) referring to line 1
Line 4: Four nouns: two related to line 1 and two related to
line 7
Line 5: Three participles referring to the noun in line 7
Line 6: Two adjectives describing the noun in line 7
Line 7: Noun opposite to line 1

What do you like about this poem? Why?

Step 3: Teacher does shared writing a diamante poem comparing Mid-Autumn festival with Easter (Resource 6: Teacher Demonstration Template).
Step 4: Learners create their own diamante poem using one of the differentiated worksheets (Resource 6, Set A or Set B) to compare one Chinese festival and one Western festival.
Additional resources for further teaching:

Easter Matching Game (Resource 7, pictures to be provided by teachers)
Song, ‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail’ (you-tube on-line resource) ( or

Lesson 7: Extended Practice to Cater for Learner Diversity (Vocabulary & eLearning activities) / Teachers choose suitable activities below to cater for learner diversity and further support language development:

Mid-Autumn Festival matching game (Resource 8)
Dragon Boat Festival matching game (Resource 9)
iPad Games: ICanWrite3, VocabBuilder4 and 5

Additional resources for further teaching:

Mid-Autumn Festival class survey/questionnaire (Resource 10)
Dragon Boat Festival speaking activity (Resource 11)

Assessment Criteria for Teachers: / Teacher could use the Teacher Assessment Criteria from the Learning Progression framework (LPF) (Resource 12) on a continuous basis to tick the appropriate columns as learners demonstrate the ability to achieve the lesson objectives.
Listening skill: Understand speakers’ feelings by using semantic and syntactic clues.
Listening skill: Recognise the sound effects (e.g. rhyme) in poetry texts.
Reading skill: Identify simple stylistic features (e.g. rhyming words, descriptive phrases, etc.).
Speaking skill: Produce short spontaneous utterances showing an awareness of stress, rhythm and intonation.
Speaking skill: Read aloud short and simple texts quite fluently.
Writing skill: Use a small range of adjectives to describe things and feelings with some consistency.
Writing skill: Show an awareness of using some stylistic features (e.g. rhyming words, descriptive phrases, etc.).
Extended activities for Language Across the Curriculum (LAC): / The following activities should be conducted in the English lessons to cater for multiple Intelligences of learners.
Visual Arts

Teacher reads aloud the ‘Christmas Time’ poem from Lessons 3 and 4, Resource 3.
Learners choose 1-3 descriptive phrases from the poem (e.g. Stockings are hung on Christmas Eve, full of wonderful gifts I believe) and draw pictures to illustrate the target language.

General Studies

Class reads aloud ‘Dragon Boat Story’ (PPT6) to further their understanding about the festival.
Teacher focuses on stress, intonation and rhythm to develop speaking skills.