Story of a Poem

A poem is a delicate entity with its own story of creation. It is conceived in circumstances unknown to the reader and it ceases to belong to its creator once it has been published. It is the possession of all those who will read it, to do as they like with it, to make what they will of it. It becomes enmeshed in their own life and circumstances or it is destined to demise on a crumpled sheet of paper or in a niche of the Big (not always Friendly) Giant: the internet.

It is with full awareness of these facts that I post this:

Story of a Poem

Out of the fathomless

Depths of the mind

I emerge

Word by painful word

Dream-draped

Moon-drenched

Storm-smitten

Fairy-populated

Eager to touch

Noticed but by a few

Indifferent to most

Into obscurity I drown

Whence I came

A diaphanous Non-Entity

Time

The Small Ghostie

Creating one’s own resources: a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding enterprise

As a teacher I find that creating my own resources rather than relying exclusively on a coursebook is one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of my job.

It is challenging in the sense that I have to make the right choice of text depending on the level, age and interests of the students it is aimed at. This involves quite a lot of sifting through online sources as well as searching among a collection of books acquired over decades. The material I use includes poems, short stories, literary extracts and articles or news items. The next step, which is more demanding, consists in customising the presentation and/or activities for my learners.

In this post, I am going to focus on how a poem can be used as a vehicle for teaching contextualised vocabulary and practising the new words by miming.

The poem I am going to discuss is The Small Ghostie by Barbara Ireson, and it is an excellent choice for young children. The learners can listen to it (link provided) but there is no better substitute for a teacher’s dramatization.

https://audioboom.com/boos/4490835-the-small-ghostie-by-barbara-ireson

I introduce it gradually, by verse, as there is a lot to teach and practise and it also creates an ambiance of suspense.

The main focus is on words related to different kinds of sounds but there are other items which can be dealt with in different ways. Personally, I find that the right ages to teach sounds and movements are between 5 and 10, when children are more spontaneous and less reserved and only too willing to join in the fun.  

Here is the first verse:

When it’s late and it’s dark

 And everyone sleeps ...

 shhh shhh shhh, Into our kitchen

A small ghostie creeps ... shhh shhh shhh

For “dark”, if my students do not already know the word, I draw the curtains and switch off the lights. Later when they practise, they simply mime the movements. In fact, most of the kids I have used the poem with take a liking to miming “shhh” for some reason!

For “sleeps” another mime and for “creeps” the same. They love miming “creeps”. And of course for “ghostie” a white sheet can make them really excited though they already know the word. But, of course, young children never tire of make-believe.

The second verse goes:

We hear knockings and raps

And then rattles and taps

I simply knock on the door for “knockings”, I use a ruler on the desk for “raps”, I bring in a baby rattle for “rattles” and I tap on the window for “taps”.

And so on till we come to the fourth verse

And he whistles and yowls

And he screeches and howls …

by which point I assign each different sound to those better suited to the task than me: my students! Screeches for braking cars, howls for wolves and so on – each one in their element.

However, the real fun comes in the last verse, we all lie down on the floor and pull an imaginary blanket over our heads. Make sure the floor is spotlessly clean!

So we pull up our covers over our heads

And we block up our ears and WE STAY IN OUR BEDS

This particular poem is easy to practise as all you have to do is reverse the presentation. In other words, you mime the movements inviting your students to guess the words. You can have the sounds recorded and elicit the words from the students by playing the sounds.

Alternatively and assuming that the size of your class allows for this, you can divide the students into two groups and ask them to take turns miming and coming up with the right word. They can be further motivated by winning points for each correct guess (word).

I must admit I enjoy the process just as much as the children!

Wish you all fun!

Collections

There is so much to be done on a single theme. Take collections for example.

Derivatives

If you collect items, you are a collector and hopefully you have built up a rich collection.

Grammar: Tenses

Present Simple

Do you collect anything?

Present Perfect Continuous

How long have you been collecting …………….?

Present Perfect Simple

How many ………………….. have you collected so far?

Present Continuous

Are you searching for anything in particular at the moment?

Past Simple

How many items of your collection did you sell last year?

Word groups

Example

pebbles, rounded, rough, angular, smooth,

beach, deserted, isolated, remote, frequented

arrangement, design, mosaic

History

Ancient Greeks voted with pebbles. They deposited their pebble in one of two urns to indicate their choice.

One might want to take collections to a metaphorical level. I will share a poem I wrote some time ago:

Collector

i collect dreams

keep them in jars

like kids keep their teeth

under their pillows

one day i'll make

something out of them

something dazzling

something to compare

to your crystalline universe...

Pebbles and Words

It is summer – at least in one half of the world. Depending on one’s origin and residence, summer means as many different things as people around the world. Born and having eventually settled down in a place in Greece where the sea is only a stone’s throw from home, summer to me means pebbly beaches and boundless seas.

In the long hours of sea-gazing one cannot help becoming rather philosophical if, for no other reason, in order to while the time away. I am susceptible to such bouts of introspection.

What follows is the –somewhat processed —outcome of such activity:

(The above is the result of personal summer tinkering)

To my mind words are very similar to pebbles: pebbles come in a motley of shapes and colours that nature has carved and imprinted on them. Likewise words carry all kinds of meanings – present and obsolete—and different emotional loads for each user.

 Words are age-old like the rocks from which the pebbles were chiselled off by the patient force of the wind and the rain before depositing themselves where they are currently situated.

Words, like pebbles, are dynamic, broadening or narrowing their meaning, rising or falling in popularity similarly to pebbles which are here this moment but perhaps elsewhere the next.

Both pebbles and words are at anyone’s disposal; all one needs to do is pick a few and start creating with them – images or texts, simple or more complicated. In different arrangements and structures, they can take on innumerable forms and meanings. 

Pebbles are hardly loved by the masses. Only a few romantics still observe them noticing the tiny cracks in them – wounds that the passage of time has left on them – or the marks etched on them in their scrapes against a myriad of obstacles in their erratic path. Words also bear the scars of their use or abuse.

Finally, in the same way that pebbles constitute the traces of the workings of nature since time immemorial, words are the evidence of the evolution of mankind.

Pebbles and Words

It is summer – at least in one half of the world. Depending on one’s origin and residence, summer means as many different things as people around the world. Born and having eventually settled down in a place in Greece where the sea is only a stone’s throw from home, summer to me means pebbly beaches and boundless seas.

In the long hours of sea-gazing one cannot help becoming rather philosophical if, for no other reason, in order to while the time away. I am susceptible to such bouts of introspection.

What follows is the –somewhat processed —outcome of such activity:

(The above is the result of personal summer tinkering)

To my mind words are very similar to pebbles: pebbles come in a motley of shapes and colours that nature has carved and imprinted on them. Likewise words carry all kinds of meanings – present and obsolete—and different emotional loads for each user.

 Words are age-old like the rocks from which the pebbles were chiselled off by the patient force of the wind and the rain before depositing themselves where they are currently situated.

Words, like pebbles, are dynamic, broadening or narrowing their meaning, rising or falling in popularity similarly to pebbles which are here this moment but perhaps elsewhere the next.

Both pebbles and words are at anyone’s disposal; all one needs to do is pick a few and start creating with them – images or texts, simple or more complicated. In different arrangements and structures, they can take on innumerable forms and meanings. 

Pebbles are hardly loved by the masses. Only a few romantics still observe them noticing the tiny cracks in them – wounds that the passage of time has left on them – or the marks etched on them in their scrapes against a myriad of obstacles in their erratic path. Words also bear the scars of their use or abuse.

Finally, in the same way that pebbles constitute the traces of the workings of nature since time immemorial, words are the evidence of the evolution of mankind.

Why poetry in teaching: making a case for its use

If we look around us, there is poetry everywhere: in the vastness of the sea, in the brightness of the sun, in the journey of the falling leaves, in the sound of the soft rain. 

Reading a poem is an experience of a different order from those of “real life” and yet of the kind that can, many a time, make “real life” less insufferable than it might be.

A poem is something we “make”. It comes from the Greek word for the result of “making”. (ποίημα). A poem encapsulates a lifetime’s thoughts and experiences. It can evoke a whole range of feelings and emotions, but above all, it can bring people together by the power of its rhythm and imagery which are universal and culture-free.

Poetry has been kept out of teaching language though there are a number of good reasons why it should form part of it. In the age of texting and tweeting, a poem has the advantage of being brief and self-contained – even the longer ones – compared to novels which can be a few hundred to over a thousand pages long. 

Of course, I am not trying to underestimate the importance of reading extensively – far from it. I am only suggesting that poems can provide ideal language input, ample scope for discussion and a springboard for writing.

One can read a poem out, or play a reading of it on one of the numerous poetry sites. There is nothing wrong with reading a poem several times; on the contrary, one might find plenty of opportunities for doing so: getting the rhythm right, reading it on your own or in a group, counting the syllables in each line and so on.

A poem can be acted out if it lends itself to dramatization or put to music or recited. A poem can be conversational or narrative or philosophical among others. Depending on the subject and the degree of difficulty a teacher can devise all kinds of different activities.

I will provide a simple example. Here is a very popular English poem:

Once the Wind

Once the wind
said to the sea
I am sad
       And the sea said
Why
       And the wind said
Because I
am not blue like the sky
or like you

       So the sea said what’s
so sad about that
                         Lots
of things are blue
or red or other colours too
       but nothing
neither sea nor sky
can blow so strong
or sing so long as you
       And the sea looked sad
          So the wind said
Why

By Shake Keane

One can use this poem for many purposes in class. I am a stickler for testing comprehension and in this case it fits perfectly with testing coherence and cohesion. I jumbled the first few lines of the poem as follows:

I am sad

Why

Once the wind

And the sea said

Because I

Said to the sea

And the wind said

I asked my students to put the lines in the right order, which they found quite engaging.

If your students keep forgetting the preposition “to” after the verb “say”, this is a nice way of bringing it home to them.

The poem, thanks to its conversational nature can be acted out .

The end of it can put into motion another exchange between the wind and the sea and therefore lead to creative writing. Alternatively, the teacher can provide two different identities for children to write their poem with those in the place of the wind and the sea. A handy example is : ice and fire.

Groups of words could be built under the headings:

wind

breeze

gale

hurricane

tornado

or

sea

waves

calm

choppy

rough

bottom

surface

It is therefore obvious that poetry can not only provide pleasure reading but it can also hone skills, encourage creativity and enrich vocabulary to mention but a few of its advantages.