1.

Vocabulary
Hand out the vocabulary sheet to students in pairs and ask them to match the words to the meanings. When finished, elicit
the answers and ask the students to write the words in their notebooks.

Answers: 1d 2h 3e 4a 5g 6c 7f 8b

2. Introduction
Ask the students if they know what special day falls on March 21 st . Elicit ideas and then tell them that it is World Poetry Day
and give them some history of it.

In November 1999, UNESCO designated World Poetry Day to be held on March 21 each year. The organization recognized
the important role of poetry in the arts and in cultures throughout the world and over time. It also wanted the day to promote
the efforts of small publishers with regard to publishing poetry. The day also focused on promoting a return to the oral
tradition of poetry recitals, as well as strengthening the association between poetry and other forms of expression, such as
dance, music, and painting. The first World Poetry Day was held on March 21, 2000.

Ask students if they do anything for this day in their L1 lessons and, if not, whether or not they would like to.

3. Personalisation
Give students a copy of the question sheet in pairs and ask them to choose their answers and to explain why they feel like that
to their partner. When the students have finished, ask individuals to talk about their attitudes to poetry and reasons for them
to the whole class. Try to find a mix of students who are interested and uninterested in poetry. Talk about poets they know
and may have studied in L1 and favourite poems and reasons for them.

4. Studying poems
Put the students in groups of three and tell them that they are going to get one limerick each to read. Before handing out the
limericks, dictate four questions to the students which they write in their notebooks:

1. Which two lines finish with the same word?

2. How many syllables are there in each line?
3. Which lines rhyme with each other?
4. Which of these does the last line do?
a. Describes the person’s personality.
b. Describes what happens to the person.
c. Describes how the person felt.

Students work alone then compare answers in their groups of three.

Answers: 1. The first and last 2. Student A: 8, 7, 6, 6, 9 Student B: 9, 10, 6, 6, 11 Student C: 9, 9, 6, 6, 9 3. The first, second
and fifth, the third and fourth 4. Student A: b Student B: c Student C: a

Elicit the answers and make sure students know what the ‘rules’ of writing limericks are.:

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 RULES

The first and last lines end with the same word.
Lines one, two and five rhyme with each other as do lines three and four.
Although lines one, two and five can have different numbers of syllables, three and four must have six each
The last line should give the person’s personality, their feelings or what happens to the person.

5. Ideas
Tell the students to write the following place names in their notebooks:
Rome:
Ghent:
Crete:
Stoke:
Rhodes:

Tell students that you are going to dictate fifteen words. There are three which rhyme with each place. Students should write
the words next to the place they rhyme with.

home, woke, cheat, roads, foam, sent, feet, spoke, loads, broke, street, went, comb, tent, explodes

Elicit the answers and ask students if they can think of any more words which rhyme with each place. Set a one minute time
limit then elicit the students’ ideas. If they do rhyme, write them on the board and make sure everyone writes them down.

Answers: Rome: home, foam, comb Ghent: sent, went, tent Crete: cheat, feet, street Stoke: woke, spoke, broke Rhodes:
roads, loads, explodes

6. Poetry writing

Students work in groups of three. Tell them to use one of the places from exercise 5 and to start their limerick
‘There was an old / a young man / woman from Rome / Ghent / Crete / Stoke / Rhodes’

They then work together to try to complete the limerick, remembering the rules from exercise 4.

When finished, ask students to read out their limerick to the class.

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