Words

Riita Venola, Finland

I like words
I like Finnish words
I like English words
What is a word?

Words sound good, taste good,
Look good, feel good.
Words are exciting and surprising

"Feel" is a beautiful word.
I also like "why".
I love the world of words.

This poem comes from a really interesting collection of verse

Chalkface Muse
Poetry as a foreign language
EFL Poetry Anthology

Edited by Martin Bates, White Adder Press , 1999

These are the section headings in the book:

Experience of Learning
Classroom Interaction
The Teacher reflects
Language and Identity
A Meeting of Cultures
Appeals to Language
The Ghost in the Textbook.
A Meeting of Languages
Enter the Expert
Migration and Exile
The Second Person
Expatriate Life
Language Play
Dreaming in a Foreign Language

This book is well worth a browse through if you are an expatriate teacher.
If you are a decent citizen of your own country teaching English to your compatriots, then this slim volume is an excellent peep-hole into the bizarre world of the itinerant foreign EFL teachers who may occasionally drift across your screen.