Students' level

Senior High School Students

Rationale

The reason I chose this poem for senior high school students is to help them to find back the innocent part in the bottom of their hearts. Growing up, we gradually loose the ability to be cheered by simple things. When reading this poem, students can remember how easy they could be happy as a little child. And it is never too late to find that inner child back.

Pre-reading Activities

Activity 1 Imagination

Purpose: Building relevance. Help students recall their feelings in the childhood.

Procedure:

(1) Free association - A Journey to Childhood

Ask all the students to close their eyes. With soft music as background music, the teacher gently reads:

Relax yourself and sit on the chair as comfortable as you can. We are going to have a journey back to our childhood.

Now, you are six years old. Since it was continually rainy, you have stayed at home for a week. Finally, it is mild today. So your parents take you to a place, where is really beautiful and you have never been before. You run and jump. You are so happy that you can do whatever you want to do here. Suddenly, something caught your eyes. For an adult, that may be just ordinary. But for you, that is so special that you seldom have a chance to see it in your life. You are very excited and shouted to your parents, " You see! Wow! I've never seen that before...... "

What makes you so excited? What did you just see? Keep the feeling in your mind. And now open your eyes.

(2) Discussion

A. Discuss with a partner. Tell your partner what you saw and how you felt.

B. Discuss in class. Ask several students to talk about what they have just experienced. And ask them if they have the same feeling when they see it now.

Activity 2 Vocabulary

Purpose: Help students be familiar with the vocabulary.

Procedure:

(1) Explanation

The teacher explain the following words:

 leap - jump ; when your heart leaps up, you experience a sudden, very strong feeling of surprise or happiness.

 behold - see

 be bound by st.- the thing is its most important aspects and it is limited or restricted by that thing.

 piety - strong religious belief

(2) Fill in the blank ( see worksheet 1)

Students can work with a partner or by themselves.

While-reading Activities

Activity 3 Guessing according to the title

(1) Who is the speaker of this poem? (Whoes heart leaps up?)

(2) Why does his/her heart leap up?

Activity 4 Paraphrasing

Purpose: Paraphrase and help students comprehend the poem.

Procedure:

Explain the poem by paraphrasing it:

(1) My heart feels so high when I see a rainbow in the sky.

(2) So was it →It was so

When I was young, I was very happy when I saw a rainbow.

Now I grow up, I'm still very happy when I see a rainbow.

When I am old, I hope that I'll still be excited when I see a rainbow.

If I don't, just let me die.

(3) The Child is father of the Man.

I wish I can be joyful over natural beauty through out my life.

Activity 5 Jig saw

Purpose: Check students' comprehension.

Procedure:

Students work in groups of three and arrange the sheets of paper (see Worksheet 2) in correct order.

Activity 6 Discussion

Form groups of three. Discuss the following questions.

(1) How does the author feel when he sees the rainbow?

(2) Does his feeling change as time goes by?

(3) Why does he think that he would rather die if he were not joyful when he sees a rainbow?

(4) Why does he say "The Child is father of the Man"? Do you agree with him?

Post-reading Activities

Activity 7 Reading the poem

(1) Listen to the model

(2) Practice the reading in pairs

Activity 8 Comparing the translation

Give students the two versions of the translation of this poem. (see Worksheet 3)

Follow-up Activities

Activity 9 Writing a letter

Choose from the following topics and write a 300-word letter.

Here is magic bottle which can bring your message to the future. What advice would you like to give to the "adult you"? Write a letter to yourself.

 Here is a magic time machine which can bring you to the past or to the future. However, there are thousands of people who want to join the voyage. Write a letter to the owner of the time machine. Tell him the reason why you want to go back to the past or to the future.

The author say," The Child is father of the Man". What does he mean? Write a letter to your best friend, tell him/she what do you think about it.

Activity 10 Suggested extensive reading

-- the first chapter of The Little Prince

Purpose: In this chapter, the author contrasts the sophisticated of adults and the naive of children in an interesting way, which may help students think more about this topic.

Appendix

Worksheet 1

Worksheet 2 (For Jig Saw Puzzle)

Cut the following paper into pieces

My heart feels so high when I see a rainbow in the sky.

When I was young, I was very happy when I saw a rainbow.

Now I grow up, I'm still very happy when I see a rainbow.

When I am old, I hope that I'll still be excited when I see a rainbow.

If I don't, just let me die.

The Child is father of the Man.

I wish I can be joyful over natural beauty through out my life.

Worksheet 3

Version 1 Version 2

About the Author

William Wordsworth 為英國著名詩人，1770年初生於英國北部昆布蘭郡，1850年4月23日去世。他是律師的兒子，幼時成為孤兒，由親友撫養成人。中學畢業後進入劍橋大學學習。

他一生中有五十多年時間居住在湖村農村，過著【田園式】的生活，因而被稱為【湖畔派】詩人。