By
Jairo Galarza
Reading and Writing 5
April 20th 2015
Jairo Galarza
Reading and Writing 5
April 20, 2015
Benefits to teach English as L2 trough poetry Poetry always awakens our senses, promotes literacy. It helps people to draw a sketch or image of everything in their mind , which they can feel , explain and talk , but poetry serves not only as model of literature also as a model for teaching skills of second language because poetry is a universal and global pattern , so it connects people ,as English language does. There are many opportunities for English language teaching and practice poetry. It gives students a wide chance of learning vocabulary, structure and reading aloud.
First, vocabulary is a very important skill because there are many words which can only be used in poetic composition. Paint with words and use concrete words that appeal to the senses. Abstract words cannot give the reader a good picture of what student is trying to say. According to the article, ”Creating Drama with Poetry” “Poems which express strong emotions, attitudes, feelings, opinions, or ideas are usually more 'productive' than those which are gentle, descriptive, or neutral" (Tomlinson, p. 36, 1986).
Besides vocabulary games and quiz by taking English as a second language playing words and vocabulary games is valuable part of learning English. For example, by making connections between vocabulary words and pictures, students build vocabulary skills. According to the article, “Writing Poetry with English Language Learners” “The Acrostics game enhance Students write their name or a key vocabulary word in capital letters down the left side of the page. Then they insert a word that begins with each vocabulary word. It may be helpful to brainstorm first. The vocabulary words can be descriptive or can refer to things that are important to the student, such as a favorite sport or musician. For example:
Rio de Janeiro
Organized
Soccer
Affectionate
Connections between vocabulary skills faster and more efficient. However, in poetry students must use correct vocabulary to enrich it, and quizzes such as worksheets, events, pictures can be a good technique to the students. Second, structure in poetry helps to use figure of speech, adjectives, phrases and symbolic words spontaneously to show feelings. In the article, “ “Using Simple Poems to Teach Grammar” “An alphabet poem can be used to teach parts of speech or sentence structure while reinforcing dictionary skills. Since this kind of poem is rather long, students were put into groups to write two kinds of alphabet poems.” (Cobain)
Sentence are written in a unusual form in poetry, but they help a lot in learning English as a second language because the students fit words in poetic composition , and grammatically correct can be learned , and students can easily relate sentences and themes with help of poetry. In the article, “Writing poetry with English learners” “Auto biographical form is the name poem. While many name poems use acrostics, another common format uses this 10-line structure, which encourages students to think about themselves, their family, and what matters to them.” (Robertson).
Use of phrases, verb tenses plays a vital role in teaching English as a second language because sentences connect each other’s. However, students and teachers must be careful of verbal phrases. Verbal phrases are verbs that do not function as verbs. They are verbs in the ‘ed’ or ‘ing’ forms that take objects and modifiers of their own. They also have no action. They come in three common forms.
Participle phrases – always function as an adjective and usually in the ‘ing’ form (present participle), but can be in the ‘ed’ (past participle) form. These can work in the poem, if the poet does not rely on them for action. Ex: Begging forgiveness, I carved the turkey. The opening phrase is the
