Using Poetry in the ELT Classroom
Belgin Sakiroglu, Turkey
Belgin Sakiroglu got her Master Degree in English Language and Literature at Atılım University. She is a Doctor of Philosophy Candidate in English Language and Literature at İstanbul Aydın University. She is currently teaching as an instructor at Gediz University, Turkey. E-mail: belgin.sakiroglu@gediz.edu.tr
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Background
Poems
Poetry is a way of using language intensely. Namely, the general meaning of words or their conventional and everyday usage cannot be found in poetry. Although using poetry in ELT classes is comprehended as something hard by some teachers, I deem that writing a poem help students to enhance their vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Collins Cobuild delineates that ‘a poem is a piece of writing in which the words are chosen for their beauty and sound and are carefully arranged, often in short lines which rhyme’ (Collins Co build, 2001).
‘Poems pose a challenging cognitive task. Readers must first have a basic understanding of a concept or emotion and then transform that understanding into meaningful creative expression by exploring and distilling complex ideas. Understanding a poem involves the construction of meaning, enabling its writer to see new possibilities. The rhythm and structure of poetry communicate far more than simply presenting information; the construction of imagery and choice of specific words is as meaningful as the content’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996).
This year at the end of B1 module, I planned to make my students write a poem. I completely agree with Csikszentmiholyi about doing pre-reading before writing a poem. However, instead of studying on a poem and its structure, I preferred a short story as a pre-reading activity. Initially, I chose a short story, The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy, and the students completed to read the story in three weeks. Then, they worked as a group and discussed the story. The last week, I demanded them to write a poem about their feelings after they read the story. The results were incredible. Writing a poem did not only promote their creativity, but also increased their motivation and made the students familiar with figures of speech such as metaphor, irony, personification and simile. The technique of using poetry in ELT Classes can differentiate according to the level of students or their interests. Here, some of the written poems are given.
SEAGULLS
How you dance on the air
Like a colourful kite
How you seem so naïve
Like a shining color of a bride
How you seem so little
Like a dust particles on the air.
CIRCULATION
Like a fall of a leaf,
Her excitement crashed to ground.
Hard to bear,
Hard to tell,
Expressing anguishes to a deaf.
Now it’s the time of brown,
Exposed to forget warm,
Suddenly found herself,
Under grim looking on down.
Hard to bear,
Hard to tell,
Expressing anguishes to a deaf.
Then the season turned abruptly,
Impossible to realize identity,
White is the king of country,
She smelled the putrefaction of leaf,
Hard to bear,
Hard to tell,
Expressing anguishes to a deaf.
With the emerge of wedding,
Like all souls’ melting,
Birds are groom, flowers bride,
Green faerie touched to leaf,
No need to bear,
No need to tell,
Expressing happiness to a deaf.
This is circulation, this is life
Sometimes happy, sometimes cry
She realized the destiny,
Firmly cuddled to leaf,
In the aim of feeling deaf.
LIFE
How come we don’t see the truth
What is that misleads us to the route?
And prevents us from keeping the
Oath
Yet we don’t see that blinding light
As strong as we want
We all strive for change
Believing that it will be the rage
Days will blow like dust, neither the
first not the last
Who would desire to change the
Past
While the future is our film with the
best cast
References
Collins Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners. (2001) Glasgow: Harper Collins.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. NY: Harper Collins.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teachers as Leaders course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology & Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
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