Poetry writing and appreciation in action

1. Poetry writing and appreciation in action 8 March 2008 Pat Heung Central Primary School

2. Rationale 1. learning the language • appreciate the beauty of the language • enlarge pupils’ vocabulary and extend their use of words • increase understanding of how language is used and organized 2. encouraging critical thinking and creativity • sharpen pupils’ aesthetic sensitivities • open up the world of imagination

3. KS1: make greater use of text types and literary and imaginative texts to provide pleasurable and enjoyable learning experiences and encourage free expression, imagination and creativityKS2: make extensive use of a diversity of text types and literary or imaginative texts to stimulate critical thinking and encourage free expression and creativity 3. fulfilling emotional needs • share personal feelings, ideas and experiences • experience the joy of learning English 4. responding to the CG • integrate language arts into the learning Modules and Units • actualize the mid-term focuses for curriculum development (from 2006-7 to 2010-11)

4. Recent Research on ‘letting pupils’ voice shine through’ poetry • help the struggling and reluctant writers find success • proficient writers experiment with language and enhance their creativity Oczkus, Baura, Murray & Berry (2006)

5. Mixed ability Able pupils understood simple instruction managed writing simple sentences Pupils’ ability in general had limited vocabulary made a lot of grammatical mistakes wrote incomplete sentences Pupil Learning Review How to help the weak pupils?How to stretch the able pupils’ strengths?

6. Creative Writing—Shape poems Topic: Animals Big and Small Focus: use of adjectives

7. Show and read the Shape Poems Shiny, silver fish Swimming in the sea. Structure: • Two adjectives to describe a noun • Verb(-ing form) and complement Pretty, green peacock Opening up its tail. Task: Write your own shape poem about an animal.

8. Language Input Practices 1. Brainstorming the adjectives lion monkey frog 2. Brainstorming the action word and the location Improvement on input Using adjectives in the correct word order: • size—colour e.g. a big, blue fish • size —qualities of mind/character e.g. a big, fierce lion • quality—colour e.g. a beautiful red flower

9. Create and Display 1. Create a sentence using at least two adjectives and a verb to describe an animal. e.g. Naughty, hungry monkey jumping on the stone. 2. Draw/select a picture of an animal and write down the sentence round the shape of the animal. 3. Display pupil work on the school webpage for sharing.

10. Combining Grammar and Poetry Skills Strong, powerful elephant Playing with water in the river. Dangerous blue shark Hunting fish in the sea. Small naughty monkey Sitting on the stone.

11. Combining Grammar and Poetry Skills Big, fierce lion Sleeping on the grass. Big, yellow goose Running on the grass. Beautiful, fast horse Flying in the sky.

12. Small brown cute monkeyEnjoying the beautiful viewWith his friends. -accurate descriptions -expressing feelings

13. accuracy of words, structures and feelings Big, fierce lion! He likes running, jumping and roaring. He is very scary! Roar!

14. Combining Grammar, Phonics and Poetry Skills (by able pupils) Tiny, white mouse Eating cheese in the house. Rhyming words Naughty, fat cat Scratching Dad's mat. Small, little seal eating the meal. Middle vowel sounds

15. Creative Writing—Haiku Theme: The Natural World Focus: Learning the syllables

16. What is a Haiku? Structure: Line 1: 5 syllables Line 2: 7 syllables Line 3: 5 syllables Can you write a Haiku?

17. Procedure—Day 1 (70 mins) • Motivation and revision—talk about the weather (focus on adjectives e.g. sunny and warm) and draw the pictures. • Worksheets on adjectives—circle the correct pictures. • Introduce syllables using the adjectives (clap hands to help pupils understand what syllables are, e.g. happy, beautiful).

18. Introduce Haiku—show pupils some sample poems and identify the 5/7/5 pattern of syllables The baby monkey Is looking for the candies Waiting all alone The worried monkey Looking everywhere sadly Missing his mother The baby monkey Is calling Mr Kelly Asking him for help

19. Introduce Haiku—show pupils some sample poems and identify the 5/7/5 pattern of syllables A laughing lion Likes to tell jokes to his friends Before eating them An angry lion Showing his dirty sharp teeth Will kill a small cub The hungry lion Roaring at a small rabbit Planning to eat it

20. Read the sample poems with pupils and clap hands to show syllables. • Brainstorm a list of phrases that tell what is happening to the things in the natural world. • Provide pupils with pictures to help them write their poems. • Help pupils count the syllables of their own poems and make any changes to keep the 5/7/5 pattern.

21. Procedure—Day 2 (70 mins) • Write some good poems written by the pupils on the board for appreciation. • Help the pupils revise and improve their own poems, and provide a title to the poem. • Get pupils read aloud their poems and clap/beat the syllables. • Let pupils draw, illustrate and colour their work. • Make a class poetry book for display.

22. Some good poems created by pupils Beautiful white sheep Walking in the fields with friends Eating their own food Happy hungry dogs Chase cats at 7 o’clock Under a tall tree A handsome green frog Doing something exciting Near his happy pond

25. Creative writing—poems with rhyming words Textbook unit: Food from around the world Language structure: I like…/I don’t like… Focuses of sound patterns: rhyming words & rhythmic flow

26. The picky eater (original) I like bread with lots of jam I like sandwiches made with ham I like rice, vegetables and meat These are the things I always eat! I don’t like milk in my tea I don’t like fish from the sea I don’t like chocolate for a treat These are the things I never eat!

27. Experiencing the beauty of rhymes and rhythms • Pupils identify the rhyming patterns and the rhythmic flow of the language • They participate in individual/choral verse speaking, clapping hands or hitting the beats with percussion instruments. • They create their own simple poems in groups based on the model provided and keep the rhyming pattern. • They have their poems performed in front of the whole class.

28. The picky eater by Tina, Betty and April Video-rehearsal Video-rehearsal2 Video-perform I like bread with lots of jam I like sandwiches made with ham I like milkshakes, cakes and meat These are the things I always eat! I don’t like sugar in my tea I don’t like melons from the tree I don’t like jelly for a treat These are the things I never eat!

29. The picky eater by Kelvin, Ken and Roy Video I like corn with lots of sweet I like pizza made with cheese I like cookies, jelly and cakes These are the things I always eat! I don’t like sugar in my milk I don’t like curry for a meal I don’t like lemons for the tea These are the things I never eat!

30. The picky eater by Ruby and Amy I don’t like bread with lots of jam I don’t like sandwiches made with ham I don’t like cakes for a treat These are the things I never eat! I like milk in my tea I like fish from the sea I like rice, sushi and meat These are the things I often eat! Video

31. Other pupils’ work showing a good combination of grammar, phonics and poetry skills Amy, the picky eater I like green melons, But I don’t like yellow lemons. I love cold jelly, But I don’t like hot coffee. I like hamburgers from America, I like tasty sushi from Japan. I don’t like bread with jam, I don’t like sandwiches with ham. 4S C. Y. Peter, the picky eater I like sweet melons, I love water-melons, Buyfruit in the Harbin, Hope it is on sale. 4S K. Y. rhyme coherence contrast

32. Creative Writing—poems on a variety of themes Food Wonderful placesWhere shall we go?

33. Food Poems Structured framework : - Name of food - From where - Ingredients - Taste Style: -Personification Sentence pattern: -comparatives/ superlatives

34. Wonderful Hamburger I am a wonderful hamburger. I am made of tasty bread and fantastic pork. I am salty and delicious. I come from America. I am better than hotdogs. I am the nicest hamburger in the world. 4S Peter Food Poems Delicious American Hotdog I am a delicious hotdog. I come from America. I am made of fresh vegetables, a crunchy sausage and bread. I am salty and crunchy. I am more delicious than hamburgers. I am the most delicious food in America. 4S Kitty appropriate choice of adjectives emphasis (using comparatives & superlatives)

35. Poem: Wonderful Places More challenging work for the able class Language knowledge Knowledge of the world Creativity Critical thinking Structure: • Come to (adj.)(place) • So many things to do • (action) • And (action)

36. Poem: Wonderful Places Content Input: Interesting places around Hong Kong (Textbook 4B, Unit 3) Interesting places in the world (brainstorming) Interesting activities of people (Textbook 4B, Unit 3) Language Input: Adjectives (wonderful, lovely, beautiful ….) Verb phrases (go shopping, take photos, have fun, have lunch, visit the market--- Textbook 4B p. 18)

37. Poem: Wonderful Places (by able pupils) Wonderful Hong Kong Come to wonderful Hong Kong So many things to do Have fun in the Ocean Park And play the exciting roller-coaster too! Come to wonderful Hong Kong So many things to do Take photos in Disneyland And meet the Disney’s characters too! Come to wonderful Hong Kong So many things to do Visit around Wan Chai And see the Golden Bauhinia there too! Come to wonderful Hong Kong So many things to do Eat seafood at the floating restaurant And see the sea too!

38. Poem: Wonderful Places (by able pupils) Wonderful world Come to wonderful Nepal So many things to do Go to visit Kathmandu And go to temples too! Come to wonderful U.S.A. So many things to do Go to the disco And sing rap songs too! Come to wonderful Hong Kong So many things to do Have lunch at the Peak And buy nice clothes too! Come to wonderful Thailand So many things to do Watch action movies And learn Thai boxing too!

39. Poem: Wonderful Places (by able pupils) Wonderful world Come to wonderful U.S.A. So many things to do Go to the lovely Disneyland And have a happy day too! Come to wonderful India So many things to do Go to the beautiful Simla And go skiing too! Come to wonderful Hong Kong So many things to do Go to the Ocean Park And see the happy sea animals too! Come to wonderful Nepal So many things to do Go to the country Park And take photographs of flowers too!

40. Poem: Where shall we go?

41. Where shall we go? Shall we go to Marine Park!? What can we do there? We can watch many fishes. But I’m scared of the shark. Shall we go to Sawant’s home? What can we do there? We can play with him. But I’m scared of his mother. Shall we go to Kam Shan? What can we do there? We can watch monkeys. But I’m scared that they will pull my hair.

42. Disneyland Shall we go to the Disneyland? What can we do there? We can play lots of game. But I love playing with sand. How can we get to Disneyland? Is it near or far? Shall we take a bus? Or can we go in the car? We can get there by car. Because it is not very near. You can meet lots of Disney characters. But when you return your eyes will be full of tears.

43. enchanced imagination, creativity and critical thinking increased semantic knowledge Poetry writing and appreciation in action increased syntactic knowledge increased graphophonic knowledge

44. Appreciating creative work • Teachers: • accept every pupil’s creative work • look for interesting points in every pupil’s work • try to understand individual pupil’s feelings and ideas - give pupils praises and have their work put on a display • Pupils: - read and learn a number of poems/rhymes - more sharing activities among themselves - be aware of the language - learn to be imaginative, creative and critical

45. To see a world in a grain of sand,And a heaven in a wild flower,Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,And eternity in an hour. William Blake Thank you!