ORIGINAL
TEXT
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SUMMARY
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Problem Statement
In
order to reclaim the creative in the English classroom, educators should place
verbal art at the heart of their English language programs. Poetry is a rich
language resource available to the English Language learner (ELL) and, as
such, we argue that reading, interpreting and performing poetry should be a
central pedagogical feature of the English program. Poetry enables the
exploration of sound, image and word association while extending the semantic
resources available to students. However, current uses of poetry in the
classroom more readily focus on eliciting oral or written responses to the
poem from students. In contrast, although recognizing that some rudimentary
knowledge of the language and meaning of the poem is an important
prerequisite for its understanding, we suggest that dramatizing the poem can
also be a creative and interesting method through which ELL students can
develop a response to the poem.
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Elting, S. and Firkins, A. (2006) argued that teaching
and learning poetry should not only be reading, interpreting and presenting,
but they came out with a creative and interesting method which ELL students can explore the aesthetic
function of language and, more
widely, develop confidence in using English as a communicative tool through the dramatization of poetry.
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Objective
In
this paper, we illustrate how teachers can use performance poetry to enhance
their students’ language experiences in the classroom, improve their
proficiency and increase their confidence in using English as a tool for
communication. We present a method which teachers can use to teach
performance poetry, and illustrate this method through two examples of how
middle and secondary students in Hong Kong have dramatized a poem.
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This paper aims to find
creative ways teachers can apply in the classroom in teaching poetry through
drama which can benefit the students’ proficiency, confidence and language
experiences.
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Methodology
We
illustrate our process of dramatizing poetry through two examples developed
by ELL students in Hong Kong.
Example
I is a simple and fun rhyming poem by Bruce Lansky suitable for lower level
ELL students. A performance team from Chan Shu Kui Middle School in Hong Kong
followed the process described above to prepare for their dramatization of
this poem. Characters are identified in parentheses and actions are
italicized.
Example
II is an excellent choice for higher-level, junior high and high-school
students. They respond to this poem because of its simple language, obvious
rhyme scheme that gives it a jazzy, musical quality and repetition giving it
wonderful cadence – it speaks to their adolescent selves on a social and
personal level. They like the references to dropping out of school and being
“cool”. Although this poem appears to be culturally specific, the concept of
being cool appeals to students in Hong Kong as much as those in the states.
The 10th grade students at Tung Wah Secondary School in Hong Kong developed
the following script, and although there are seven easily identifiable
“characters” in the poem, a performance team of four students was able to
perform this poem delightfully by calling on three classmates in the audience
to fill in the missing.
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Two examples of dramatizing
poetry had been given to the English Language Learners (ELL) students from
Chan Shu Kui Middle School and the 10th grade students at Tung Wah Secondary
School in Hong Kong.
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Findings
We
have found that using theatrical techniques to take poetry from the page to
the stage has had a positive effect on the students in Hong Kong. This
includes increased participation as students become more personally involved
in the poetic and dramatic process, including reading, developing scripts,
working in teams, advocating for particular interpretations, and directing
and assuming different character roles. In addition, for our ELL students,
there have been language outcomes in terms of cooperative learning (as
students must work in small groups), pronunciation benefits, the honing of
listening skills and the development of writing skills through scriptwriting,
all of which are centered in a goal oriented activity. This is all evident
because the engagement culminates in an actual, observable performance. As
the teacher assumes the role of facilitator, students are given maximum
freedom in developing their own responses. For us, we need look no further
than the enthusiasm with which the students approach their performance day
and the smiles of pride on their faces as they take a bow to their
classmates’ applause as evidence of success.
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Elting and Firkins (2006) found
that using the “From the Page to the Stage” approach in teaching poetry had
given an encouraging outcome to the students whereby students could develop
their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills as well as their language
skills.
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ORIGINAL
TEXT
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SUMMARY
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Problem Statement
It
is the task of teachers to motivate their students and make their lessons as
interesting as possible, and that is why it is not enough to use good
textbooks, but also some entertaining activities which are based on
supplementary materials. Therefore, many dedicated English teachers attend
various seminars organized either by the British Council or publishing houses
and universities, which supply them with some new ideas. Naturally, it is
also the responsibility of faculties of education preparing future teachers
to provide them with methods that will enliven their teaching.
Cockett
and Fox (1999: 83) emphasize the emotional character of poetry, which is
frequently neglected in schools at the expense of its intellectual aspects.
They suppose that the negative attitude of students towards poetry is caused
by the way teachers deal with poetry in lessons in which they force students
to analyze poetry without providing them with an opportunity to enjoy poems
emotionally. In some poetry lessons students are expected to passively accept
the ideas and views of literary critics, which would never occur to them.
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According to Vodickova, M.
(2009), English teachers were lack of creative and fun ways of teaching poetry.
Failing in making the poetry lessons pleasurable and enjoyable had resulted
to the negative perception of students towards poetry.
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Objective
This article demonstrates how an effective lesson
in poetry, which frequently frightens young people or to which they have a
hostile attitude, can instead appeal to them. It is only important to choose
the right text and the right method.
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To identify the right
method to make poetry lesson effective and non-threatening.
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Methodology
In
that context, this article describes a literature lesson at the Faculty of
Education at Palacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic) in which students
interpreted a poem through drama activities.
The
poem chosen for the lesson was What has happened to Lulu by
Charles Causley (In Maley, A. and Moulding S. 1985: 27). The poem was not only read and discussed,
which is usually done in literature lessons, but, because this topic requires
students’ emotional participation, and instead the elements of structured
drama were employed.
As
structured drama leads to an active exploration of a text and its meaning,
the effectiveness of education in exploiting it depends directly on the dynamic
structuring of the drama activities (called conventions) prepared by the
teacher beforehand. Conventions represent the approaches used in the
exploration and creation of character and can emphasize various qualities in
the theatrical possibilities of time, space and human behaviour.
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Students of Faculty of
Education, Palacky University, Olomouc interpreted the poem by Charles
Causley through drama activities or Vodickova used the term as “drama
conventions”.
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Finding
and conclusion
In
the discussion that followed, the students assessed the lesson very
positively because speaking in roles provided them with more opportunities to
use the English language than in other literature lessons, and they felt more
relaxed. Most of them considered this lesson as an inspiration for their own
lessons in their future teaching career. They also appreciated that the
activities enabled them to move around in the classroom, which, after sitting
for the whole morning, was very pleasant. Another important aspect of using
drama activities was that they had to cooperate and appearing in roles taught
them empathy, which, as they admitted, they will need as teachers.
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Vodickova emphasized that
role-playing or drama in poetry provided more opportunities to use the
language which led them to feel that dealing with poetry could be fun and
that was why the lesson they enjoyed could serve for them as inspiration for
their future teaching career.
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ORIGINAL
TEXT
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SUMMARY
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Problem Statement
Many consider poetry as one of the most sophisticated forms of
literary expression and hence a difficult medium for language learners. While
some believe that poetry helps in the process of language acquisition, others
suspect that poetic concepts and cultural assumptions are usually too
difficult for EFL learners to grasp.
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Panavelil, A. (2011) stated
that poetry was considered a very difficult and complicated subject to be
understood and tackled by the ESL learners.
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Objective
This paper tries to describe how poems can effectively be used
in English language classes to reinforce students' knowledge of the English
language vocabulary, grammar etc. The paper advocates an interactive and
collaborative approach to teaching a poem which will have the required
result.
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Aimed to show that English poems can be
turned into effective materials which can be used to improve students' level
of the English language using integrative and communicative approach as a
strategy for teaching poetry.
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Methodology
One of the important strategies a teacher can adopt in the
class is an integrated approach where the students are involved full well. In
this method, language skills will not be taught in isolation but in an
integrated way, incorporating a set of text-based, student centered
activities which as Collie & Slater (1987) suggest "add fresh
momentum into the teaching of literature by stimulating students' desire to
read and encouraging their responses" (p.8). Teaching a poem should
involve pre-reading tasks, interactive work on the text and follow up
activities. Activities like predicting, gap filling, creative writing, role-playing,
integrating spelling with vocabulary etc can establish the necessary
connection between language and the literature which eventually make the
teaching and learning of the poem a very productive and enjoyable enterprise.
In an integrated approach, a teacher ceases to teach and
instead he becomes a participant and guide who work with his/her students.
Here, the classroom activities may be divided into three categories viz.
"Pre-Reading Activities", "While-Reading Activities" and
"Post- Reading Activities". Pre-reading activities are kind of
warming up which can provide a forum to elicit from students their feelings
and responses to ideas and issues in a prescribed text. "While- reading
activities" aim at helping the students to experience the text
holistically by developing a fruitful interaction between the text and the
reader. Post-reading activities encourage students to reflect upon what they
have read and they generate thoughtful discussion on different issues related
to both language and literature arising from the text. In what follows, I
shall try to enumerate some integrated and communicative approaches for
teaching a poem in an undergraduate class. The selected poem is Robert
Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".
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An integrated approach was
introduced in teaching poetry which involved 3 activities; Pre-Reading,
While-Reading and Post-Reading Activities using the selected poem by Robert
Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening" to a class of degree students.
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Finding
and Conclusion
Whatever strategies a teacher adopts in the class, the aim is
that students gain a fuller understanding of the text and have linguistically
and conceptually prepare themselves to study it for interpretation and
evaluation. Using the strategies, students learn how to make predictions and
check them against the details in the given text. They also learn how to
derive meaning of a text and form a semantic chain from the key words,
examine how language is used to describe a setting and create desired
effects, analyze how to assess them, and also find out ways of transferring
the text and reconstructing its specific and literal meaning. Thus, with
awakened language sensitivity and improved literary insight, they gain the
ability to read a poem critically as a creative expression with aesthetic
sensibility.
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Using the discussed strategies,
Panavelil found out that the students had achieved the skill to be able to
understand the poem linguistically, conceptually, creatively and
aesthetically.
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