Professional Development Activity for

“Enhancing the Interface between

the Junior Secondary and the Three-
year Senior Secondary Curricula
through Promoting the Learning and
Teaching of Language Arts”

Teaching & Performing

Poetry
February 25, 2005

1
 Before We Start:
Workshop activity 1

What is POETRY?
How do you define it?

What do you think of teaching

and learning poetry?
2
 Getting started

Understanding poetry

3
 Word Criticis The
music, the m spontaneous
dance of of life overflow of
language powerful
Matthew Arnold feelings
A.D. Hope William Wordsworth

What is Poetry?
Poetry is the lava of Lord Byron
the imagination

W.B. Yeats Blood, imagination

and intellect running
together 4
Getting ready to teach

Understanding poetry

5
 Understanding the poem
What is happening in the poem?
• What idea and theme does the poet want to deliver?

How is it presented by the poet?

 Techniques : language, sound, imageries,
punctuation, pattern on the page

Why did the poet write this poem?

 What is his message or purpose?
 Why do I teach this poem?

6
POETRY

7
Poetic Language

Visual imagery

Mental pictures created with words

8
Simile
Explicit comparison, using
‘like’, ‘as’, ‘similar to’,
‘resembles’

Metaphor
Implied comparison

Personification
Giving human qualities to an
animal, object or abstract idea

9
The Wind Is Angry
The wind is angry ---
He’s been in a rage all night,
Stamping his feet, bellowing
and finally breaking out.
… … … ti on
i f i ca
r s on
Pe

10
 The Sea
The sea is a hungry dog,
Metaphor
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
… … … James Reeves

11
The Laundry Basket
m ile
My shirtsleeve hangs Si
Over the rim of the laundry basket
Like a limp human arm
From the jaws of a crocodile.

Chris Hereward

12
Poetic Language

Sound imagery

Feelings and moods created by sounds

13
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words

, t he r ag g e d r ascal ran
r o u nd t he r ug g e d rock
A

B re a ki n g
Glass u t m y a rms
Onomatopoeia I flung o
Use of words that sound like Clatter
Clash
the objects or actions they describe Crinkle
Crunch
oom
Now a br
Swish
Swoosh
Sweep
Swoop
14
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds
of m y w oe
an d told him
I rose

Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds
anywhere in the lines
ll s a sh a k e
hi s h a rn e ss be
He gives m e m i sta k e.
i f t h ere is so
To ask
a Snow y Evening
ping by Woods on b ert Frost)
Sto p (R o

15
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening Whose woods these are I think I know.
Robert Frost
His house is in the village though;
Consonance He will not see me stopping here
S (32 times) To watch his woods fill up with snow.
H (10 times) My little horse must think it queer
W (8 times) To stop without a farmhouse near
Assonance Between the woods and frozen lake
long vowels The darkest evening of the year.
Alliteration He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Effect: Of easy wind and downy flake.
soft The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
hissing But I have promises to keep,
sound And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
16
 Have a Go!

Workshop Activity 2

17
Study the quotations and
identify the visual and
sound imageries

18
 Visual Imagery: Key
1. Metaphor (world = stage; men & women = players)
2. Personification (night = person creeping)
3. Metaphor (life = dream; soul = sleeping man)
4. Simile (soldiers = wolf; spears = stars)
5. Personification (Autumn and Sun are conspiring
friends)
6. Personification (sea = laughing man; cliff =
frowning man)

19
 Sound Imagery: Key
1. Onomatopoeia (choo-choo puff-puff Pull, pull, pull)
2. Consonance ([s] sound)
3. Onomatopoeia (boom, crash)
Consonance ([r] sound in second line)
4. Alliteration ([b] sound)
5. Assonance ([ai] sound)
6. Alliteration ([r] sound)

20
Poetic Language

Rhythm

21
Rhythm
Regular recurrence of stressed and
unstressed sounds in the lines

The attributes of rhythm

 Meaning
 Metrical patterns (regular alternation of stressed and
unstressed syllables)
E.g
 Grammatical structure .
Iam
b
 Punctuation Tro ic --- x
cha
 Pitch ic -- / (ab
- /x ou t )
 Pace (poe
m)

22
 THE SONG OF THE SEA WIND
Austin Dobson

How it sings, sings, sings,

Blowing sharply from the sea-line,
With an edge of salt that stings;
How it laughs aloud, and passes,
As it cuts the close cliff-grasses;
How it sings again, and whistles
As it shakes the stout sea-thistles --–
How it sings!
How it shrieks, shrieks, shrieks,
In the crannies of the headlands
In the gashes of the creeks;
How it shrieks once more, and catches
Up the yellow foam in patches:
How it whirls it out and over
To the corn-field and the clover –--
How it shrieks!

Sit back and

How it roars, roars, roars,
In the iron under-caverns,
In the hollows of the shores;
listen to the rhythm
How it roars anew, and thunders,
As the strong hull splits and sunders:
And the spent ship, tempest driven,
On the reef lies rent and riven –--
How it roars!
How it wails, wails, wails,
In the tangle of the wreckage,
In the flapping of the sails;
How it sobs away, subsiding, 23
Like a tired child after chiding;
Poetic Language

Rhyme

24
Rhyme
The matching of final vowel or consonant
sounds in two or more words

Rhyming / Rhyme scheme

A pattern of the end rhymes within the
poem

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What’s the rhyming scheme?
Life is real! Life is earnest! a
Rain, rain, go away And the grave is not its goal; b
a
Come again another day Dust thou art, to dust returnest, a
a
Little children want to play Was not spoken of the soul. b
a
So rain, rain, go away. a

Write a poem a Twinkle, twinkle little star a

About a lion they said, b How I wonder who you are a
So from memories c Up above the world so high b
Of lions in my head b Like a diamond in the sky. b
I wrote about d
Tawny eyes and slashing claws, e
Lashing tail and sabred jaws e

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Types of poems

Traditional classification

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 Blank verse
Ballad
Unrhymed ten-syllable lines
A narrative poem written in
four-line stanzas, with swift an
action and direct h w aym
style
H ig Free verse
The
A poem without a regular
pattern of metre or rhyme
Ode
A long stately poem in
stanzas of varied utumn Limerick
to A
length, meter
O d eand form
A five-lined rhymed poem
that makes fun

Sonnet
ee
A fourteen-lined lyrical
h
Elegy
a T
re to a
poem that
o m p
conforms y ? A poem expressing grief, of
l I C s D a
Shal set rhyme
um m e r’
scheme subjective or meditative nature
a S
to
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Types of poem

Modern classification

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 Diamond poem
Acrostic poem
A seven-lined diamond-
A poem in which
shaped poem that
the first letter of
specifies the part of
each line, when
speech in each line,
read vertically,
sometimes with
spell out a word,
contrasting ideas
which is usually
the subject of the
poem.
Haiku
A Japanese-style
poem of three lines,
Shape poem each with a fixed
Words are placed to number of syllables
make the shape of (5,7,5 or 4,8,4) --
an object or ideas mainly about nature
described and feelings
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Acrostic poem

31
 H
G
U
H H
O
S S
N F
I I
F O R F OR NOT E O
O U V R
O N E
D R
Y
O
N
E
Anonymous
e poem
shap 32
 e poem
shap

33
 Smelly Tofu
poem
mond
Dia

Yummy!
Spicy, savoury
Delicious, heavenly, mouth-watering
A brown crispy square of deep-fried bean curd
Disgusting, unpleasant, repulsive
Stinky, greasy
Yucky!

34
 Have a Go!

Workshop Activity 3

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Read and identify the form
of poem in each item.

36
 Types of Poems
(Key)
A: Shape poem
B: Free verse
C: Diamond poem
D: Acrostic poem
E: Limerick
F: Haiku
G: Prose

37
Teaching the Poem
in Class

38
 Consider the following…
• Is the poem thematically related to the lesson?

• How can you help your students to understand

the poem?

• How can you help students to appreciate some

important poetic devices?

• How can you help students to respond to the

poem? What kind of response will you aim for?

39
 Teaching strategies
 Use pictures, realia, situations, context etc to help students
visualise the meaning of the poem.

 Use different strategies and activities to

 encourage students to respond to the poem
 Commenting on the ideas, themes and events
 Relating these to their own experience
 Acting out or writing something related to the poem
 extend their language learning experience
 teach about features of poetry

 Let students hear the poem and follow it

 Familiarize them with the intonation, stress and inflection
patterns

40
 Lesson Examples
“The Sound Collector” by Roger McGough
– onomatopoeia,
– vocabulary development
– support understanding

“My Friend Through My Eyes” by Amy Poon

– teaching about metaphor
– framework for students’ own writing

“Dreams” by Langston Hughes (for reference)

41
The Sound Collector The hissing of the frying pan
The ticking of the grill
The bubbling of the bathtub
A stranger called this morning As it starts to fill
Dressed all in black and grey
Put every sound into a bag The drumming of the raindrops
And carried them away On the window-pane
When you do the washing up
The whistling of the kettle The gurgling of the drain
The turning of the lock
The purring of the kitten The crying of the baby
The ticking of the clock The squeaking of the chair
The swishing of the curtain
The popping of the toaster The creaking of the chair
The crunching of the flakes
When you spread the marmalade A stranger called this morning
The scraping noise it makes He didn’t leave his name
Left us only silence
Life will never be the same.

42
• Step One:
– Students match
words and pictures
• Step Two
– Students listen to
sounds and match
them with the
pictures.
– They then match
the item that
makes the sound
with the word for
that sound

• Objective:
– To pre-teach
vocabulary

43
www.findsounds.com

Sounds
• Sound 1

• Sound 2

• Sound 3

• Sound 4

44
Step three: students identify vocabulary in
the poem. They list their favourite sounds

45
• Step Four:
– Students make poems
listing the sounds
which they hear in
particular locations.
– They may use the
sounds to tell a story if
they wish.

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47
MY FRIEND – THROUGH MY EYES

You are a star in the sky,

Bright and shining,
Guiding me with your light,
With you, I know the way.

You are an umbrella in the rain,

Loving and protecting,
You help me so much,
With you, I know I am safe.

You are a candle on a dark night,

Warm and comforting,
You make me strong,
With you, I am never alone.

You are a rainbow after a storm,

Beautiful and colourful,
You always give me hope,
A promise that will last

Friendship is a precious gift

A gift to treasure and keep forever. 48
Step One: students see pictures, some of which
are related to the poem. They write down words
which they associate with the pictures, including
sounds, smells, feelings – not only names of
objects

49
• Objectives of this
activity
– to prepare
students for
reading the poem
by pre-teaching
some vocabulary
– to introduce the
concept of
metaphors as
“word pictures”
– to generate some
ideas for students
to use in their own
writing

50
• Step Two:
– Students match
the verses of the
poem with some
of the pictures
from the first
worksheet

• Objectives:
– Check
comprehension
– Show how words
can also create
pictures

51
Step Three: students write “word pictures” based on
the pictures from the powerpoint but not in the poem

52
Step Four: students create poems using
their own “word pictures” or metaphors

Weaker classes made badges with

metaphors on them as gifts for their friends
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54
An alternative poem for teaching about metaphors

Dreams
Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged
bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go,
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow. Please refer to lesson plan
55
Your Turn!
Mini workshop

56
 The
o nster
Headm

 Refer to the poems “The

Headmonster” and “Ghosts”
(yellow sheets).
 Listen to the poems.
 Work in pairs.
 Complete the checklist (beige
A the
sheet) for one of Ghosts
haunted
poems.house?

57
 ve a Break
Let’s Ha

Mini book display

58
 Sharing
and
Discussion

59
 Looking at the subject matter
The Headmonster Ghosts

 A light-hearted poem about the • Also light-hearted,

arrival of a new headmaster at descriptive poem about a
the school
ghosts’ party
 The speaker is probably a
student or group of students. • The speaker is a narrator,
not a ghost
 The students are afraid of the
new headmaster, and a lot of • The poem describes how the
rumours are circulating about ghosts enjoy themselves at
him a party

 Another meaning of the poem • They are supposed to be

is about rumours --- Can we scary ghosts – but why do
always believe what we hear? they eat sweets and dance a
jig?
60
 Looking at the language and structure
The Headmonster Ghosts

 Different senses are used, • Mainly visual and sound

 Hearing “stomp, images
werewolf’s howl” • Many contrasts feature in the
 Touch “icicle stare, poem, e.g. spooky images at
razor-sharp” the beginning, but the middle
 Images are of scary part is quite funny (e.g. a baby
monsters, supernatural sucking its thumb), noise vs.
evil creatures. The visual silence at different points, dark
outside and noisy action inside
element is very strong the haunted house
 The poem rhymes, and
• The poem rhymes, and there is
has a strong rhythm, a change in the rhythmic
which adds to the light- pattern which divides
hearted mood description of the setting from
 There is some alliteration the action of the party.
eg “growls like a grizzly • Alliteration, e.g. “bone all bare”
bear”
• Abrupt ending as the ghosts
vanish

61
Teaching implications: The Headmonster
 Curriculum link: Halloween or the beginning of term

 Preparation: brainstorming Halloween context, matching

pictures and vocabulary

 Vocabulary: names of monsters, strong visual element

makes it not so difficult to put across new vocabulary by
using pictures and actions

 Language: Introducing reported speech “We’ve heard

that…”, “It’s rumoured that…..” in the context of passing
on rumours

 Activities: Matching pictures with verses of the poem,

drawing pictures of the “Headmonster”, act out his first
lesson or assembly. A parent writes a letter of complaint,
etc
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 Teaching implications: Ghosts
• Curriculum link
– Halloween / Mystery and fantasy
– Narrative or descriptive writing
• Preparation
– Use of sound effects and pictures to create the scene
• Vocabulary and Language:
– Many different verbs for movement and sounds
– Descriptive vocabulary setting the spooky scene
– A narrative in the present tense
• Activities:
– Act out the scene or draw a storyboard
– Create some spooky food for the ghosts’ party
– Choral speaking performance
– Read some scary stories for extensive reading

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64
Performing poetry

65
View
and
Discuss

66
You are going to watch the
performance of two students
during their rehearsal
First poem: “One That Got Away”
Second poem: “A Psalm of Life”

 While you watch, note the strengths and

weaknesses of each performance.

 As a teacher, what comments / suggestions for

improvement would you give to the students?

67
 Solo & Choral
Verse-speaking
Getting ready for the rehearsal

68
 Teacher’s preparation
 Read the poem aloud to yourself ---
 How would you read it to put across the meaning?
 Experiment different ways of saying it
 Decide how you want the students to say it
 Check pronunciation and meaning of words in context
 Note
 any emphasis, stress & intonation pattern
 the mood of the poem. Which words convey the mood?

69
 Teacher’s preparation (2)

 Identify and mark in the rhythmic stress pattern ---

Put special emphasis on:
 words / phrases that carry special meaning
 Words that convey the mood

 Note the end of lines, where to pause and where one line
runs on to the next

70
Rehearsing with the students
 Analyse the poem to identify potential problems to the
students
 Ensure students’ good comprehension and visualization of
the poem
 Model the reading
 Let students experiment reading --- focus on correct and
clear pronunciation first
 Achieve emphasis by varying the
 volume / pitch / pauses / pace

71
 Challenges
faced by the students

Poems are difficult to understand because of:

• Grammatical omission
• Inversion
• Old English

72
 ‘One that Got Away’ by Julie Holder
Write a poem A wounded lion poem
About a lion they said, Half crossed through!
So from memories It’s one that got away
Of lions in my head Haven’t seen itte tonthis a
day
fr gment
S en ce
I wrote about n But I carefully look,
ssio
mislashing
Tawny eyes O and u at ion) In case it’s crouching, growling,
claws, ct, punct
(Subje Licking its wounds and waiting,
Lashing tail and sabred jaws -- Under cover in the leaves
Didn’t like what I had written Inside some other book.
And began to cross it out --- And here I sit
Suddenly with a roar of rage After all this time,
It sprang from the cage of lines Still not having written
On the page A poem about a lion.
And rushed away into the blue,
73
‘A Psalm of Life’ by H.W. Longfellow
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that
slumbers, Inversion
And things are not what they
seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust
O ld returnest,
English Was not spoken of the soul.
Trust no Future, howe'er
pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present! Contraction
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

74
Rehearsing with the students (2)
 Ensure that students have mastered the pronunciation
before working on the rhythm and intonation
 Train students to highlight the following through their voice
and facial expressions :
 significant words that need special treatment (sense
words, onomatopoeia)
 the climax / punch line
 the contrast (fast & slow, hard & soft, staccato &
smooth, heavy & light)

75
 Useful tips
 Teach and ensure understanding of the whole
poem, but rehearse section by section

 Do not use explanation only ---

Students must visualise and appreciate
the poem before they can speak it
meaningfully.
 Never allow premature memorisation ---
 Memorization of the words without feeling is
disastrous
 It’s difficult to undo any mistakes
76
Choral Speaking

77
What poems to choose for verse-
speaking
 Poems that you like and have confidence in
 Poems that students understand and
appreciate --- relevant to their experience

(For choral work)

 Poems with variety and contrasts
 Avoid ‘static’ and abstract poems
 Narrative poems are good as a start
 Not poems with ‘I’ as the subject

78
Techniques for
Choral Speaking

79
 Techniques (1)
 Orchestration – Use different voices for special effect:
Divide poem into
• choral passages, Refer to the
examples
of
• small groups,
“The Freig
• solo lines or phrases ht Train”
& “Ghost”
:
 Use gestures to conduct the speech

 Listen to the voices ---

High or low
Rough or smooth
Light or dark
Melodious or monotonous

80
 Techniques (2)
 Achieve extra effects with judicious use
of
• All speakers using simultaneous gestures;
 gestures
• Individuals / small groups gesticulating on certain
words / lines

 movements
•Percussion
 sound effects
•Vocal
effects
•Use of
music
 costumes or props
81
 Techniques (3)
 Make pleasant grouping for better vocal and
visual effects

• Group according to quality of voices (dark /

light)
• Students speaking together stand together
• Change grouping to fit changes of mood
• Shapes can be related to topic
• All speakers should be seen

82
 Useful tips
 It is essential for every speaker to know the whole
poem.
 Never divide the class into groups and give each group
different parts of the poem to learn.

 It is important for learners to show their involvement

and enjoyment through facial expressions and eye
contact

 A good blend of voices and synchronized movements

show good co-ordination

 Maintain good discipline at all times.

83
Let’s watch and
appreciate

What do you think of the

group’s performance?

84
Key to success

85
 SUCCESS !

 Clear speech and accurate pronunciation are of

paramount importance
 A touch of drama is essential
 Never overdo any extra effects --- they should add to and
not distract from the poem
 It is important that students enjoy the choral work --- know
when to stop.
 Aim not at perfection, but spontaneity. Adapt your
expectation and treatment to bring out the best in the
students

86
Questioning time

87
 Anthologies of Poems
• Brian Pattern (ed.) (1998) The Puffin Book of Utterly
Brilliant Poetry. London, Puffin Books
• Michael Harrison & Christopher Stuart-Clark (Eds.)(1999)
The New Oxford Treasury of Children’s Poems. Oxford,
Oxford University Press
• Sadler, Hayllar, Powell (1981) Enjoying Poetry. South
Yarra, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd
• Michael Rosen (ed.) (1985) The Kingfisher Book of
Children’s Poetry. London, Kingfisher Publications Plc
• Helen Ferris (ed.) (1965) Favorite Poems Old and New.
USA, Doubleday & Company, Inc.
• Pappas, Lewis & Middenway (ed.) (1979) Images.
Melbourne, Longman Cheshire

88
 o y a b le !
a n d e n j
y is fu n
Po etr y te a c h in g
Happ r s a l !
re h e a
and

89
Thank you!

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