Lesson plan December

Topic. Love poems

Aims
• To encourage students to collaborate in a group project.
• To develop students’ creative writing skills
• To show students that creative writing can be fun.
Age group: Teenagers and young adults
Level: A2, B1, B2
Time: 50 – 60 minutes +
Materials: An audio recording of a song
Introduction
In this lesson students will collaborate in a creative writing task. First they will listen
to a song and write down words and phrases they hear. Then they will work in groups
to write a poem, following some simple guidelines and using their collective words
and phrases as a starting point. The learners will write a love poem that is ‘corny’ on
purpose. This technique removes common reservations that some learners have about
writing poetry. Learners will read their poems at the end of the lesson.

Lesson plan

Procedure

1. Warmer (5 minutes)

Choose an English song. Songs that work well are those which are difficult to
understand; some pop songs for example. The learners have to listen carefully to
identify single words or phrases. It is a good idea to choose a song that is ‘above’ the
level of your learners’ listening skills. Tell learners that they have to listen to the song
and write down words and phrases that they hear.

Nelly Furtado. I'm flying like a bird

You're beautiful, that's for sure

You'll never ever fade
You're lovely but it's not for sure

That I won't ever change

And though my love is rare

Though my love is true

I'm like a bird I'll only fly away

I don't know where my soul is (soul is)

I don't know where my home is

And baby all I need for you to know is

I'm like a bird I'll only fly away

I don't know where my soul is (soul is)

I don't know where my home is

All I need for you to know

Your faith in me brings me to tears

Even after all these years

And it pains me so much to tell

That you don't know me that well

And though my love is rare

Though my love is true

2. (10 minutes) Write the words ‘corny’ and ‘naff’ on the board and ask learners if
they know what the words mean. If no one knows, ask for a volunteer to look the
words up in a dictionary and to tell the rest of the class. Ask if there is an equivalent
word in their own language(s). Ask what kind of things can be corny or naff. It is
important that learners fully understand the terms.

‘corny’ – trite, banal, or mawkishly sentimental.

‘naff’ – unstylish; lacking taste; inferior.
Explain to learners that they are going to work in groups to write a love poem. They

are going to use the words and phrases they wrote from the song. Reassure learners

by telling them that the only* rule for the poem is that it has to be corny or naff.

*The poem doesn’t need a specific number of lines, there are no rules about rhyming,

learners can use as many or as few of their collected words as they like, etc.

beautiful

my soul is (soul is)

love is rare

love is true

like a bird

fly away

I don’t know

All I need

3. (20 – 25 minutes)

Put learners into small groups to write their poems. Monitor students as they speak
and encourage them to share their ideas. Learners should write their rough draft and
then check it, edit it and produce a final draft. It is useful to tell learners how much
time they have for this stage. 20 minutes should be adequate.

4. (10 – 15 minutes)

Invite a volunteer from each group to read their poem for the rest of the class. Praise
their efforts and especially the ‘corniness’ of the poems.

Optional follow up task

Make a classroom display of the poems.

 Educational game

FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and
inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. The aim
of my educational game is to help students improve their vocabulary and grammar
through daily lessons.

Write down what do you hear

1. You're lovely

your lovely

You're lovely

you love me

2. I don't know where my home is

I don’t like my home

I allow myself

I don't know where my home is

3. I don't know where my soul is

I don't know what do I want

I don't know where my soul is

4. That I won't ever change

I want some changes

That I won't ever change

5. All I need for you to know

we all know I hit it first

All I need for you to know

6. Your faith in me brings me to tears

you fear me and it’s clear

Your faith in me brings me to tears

7. And though my love is rare

Also my love is rare

And though my love is rare

8. That you don't know me that well

9. Even after all these years

10. I'm like a bird I'll only fly away