USING POETRY IN EFL

Classroom Techniques
2020/21 Spring
farkas.kornel@pte.hu
 Happiness  Happiness is like…

Happiness is walking Happiness is like a crown

barefoot on a windy beach, of crimson feathers,
Happiness is… Happiness smells like…
Happiness is… Happiness tastes like…
Happiness is… Happiness sounds like…
Happiness is… And it feels like…

Clare, 2016
 Group A & B: freedom

 Group C & D: loneliness

 Group E & F: jealousy

 Group G & H: boredom

Light and shadow
Inside every saint there's a sinner.
Inside every loser there's a winner.
Inside every famine there's a feast.
Inside every lover there's a beast.
Inside every wise man there's a fool.
Inside every chaos there's a rule.
Inside every certainty there's a doubt.
Inside every silence there's a shout.
…
...
 LIGHT AND SHADOW
Inside every saint there's a sinner.
Inside every loser there's a winner.
Inside every famine there's a feast.
Inside every lover there's a beast.
Inside every wise man there's a fool.
Inside every chaos there's a rule.
Inside every certainty there's a doubt.
Inside every silence there's a shout.
Inside every death there's a life.
Inside every peace there's strife.
Inside every good man there's a thief.
Inside every worry there's a relief.
Inside every free man there's a prisoner.
Inside every chatterbox there's a listener.
Inside every general there's a priest.
Inside every most there's a least.
Inside some poverty is wealth.
Inside some sickness there is health.
Inside humble acts there is pride.
Inside everything we can find its other side.
Clare, 2016, p. 48
 In my experience, writing a poem using a framework
like this can be very confidence-boosting for learners.
Often learners have never written a poem in English,
many have never written one in their own language.

So given the framework, the language and

the inspiration, they are often amazed by what they’re
able to achieve.

Clare, 2016, p. 52
 What is certain is that creativity can be tacitly learned
even if it cannot be explicitly taught.
But unless we as teachers demonstrate our own
commitment to creativity, and unless we offer our
students a richly varied diet of creative practices,
they are unlikely to learn it.

Maley, 2016, p. 12
 You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
IF YOU FORGET ME aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=aW8BDgLpZkI