Exploring
poetry as a strong option in the Language classroom
Most
of the time literature is mainly related to reading and writing, but it may
play the same meaningful role in teaching speaking and listening if we design
creative activities. Teachers can use literature in the classroom for different
purposes such as reading aloud and dramatizing a poem, teaching pronunciation,
and many other activities.There are many advantages of using
literature in the Language classroom. To talk about the general advantages of
literature can be a broad approach thus; we will not focus on them. Instead, we
will have a look at the benefits from three different perspectives: literature
as genuine and authentic material, as a good language source and as a bridge to
get the learner interested and also, we will mention poetry as a strong option
to develop students’ skills.
MATERIAL
Literature
is authentic material which keeps our students motivated and promotes favorable
attitude toward learning.Poems, novels, and stories can bring powerful emotional
responses to the classroom. Furthermore, students can relate their own real
lives to the stories they read.Literary texts help students to improve language
learning. However, literature by itself is not enough; teachers need to use
imaginative techniques for integrating literature work with language teaching.
It is also necessary to bring motivating methodology and to choose the right
material to keep students interested.
LANGUAGE
As
they use literature they learn about language structure without even noticing,
this helps to develop their communicative competence, what as we know, is the
ultimate aim of English learning.
LEARNER
Literature
can be seen as the bridge between the learner and the culture of the people
whose language they are studying; in order to get the learners interested in
the culture, we have to carefully select the literary texts according to their
interests and level of comprehension.
WHY DO WE USE POETRY WITH THE LANGUAGE LEARNER?
Poetry
is a short piece of imaginative writing, of a personal nature and laid out in
lines. In this sense, poetry is a product of the language and a tool to teach
it, a tool to teach grammatical clues and a product when students make a
composition of any topic.
Most
of the poems include metaphors. Students can use cognitive skills by making
comparisons between two different things and finding their similarities. The
figures of speech used in poetry such as metaphors, similes and personifications
help students to have a better understanding of the use of language in an
unconscious way.
Poetry
is a way for teaching and learning basic skills. It can be used as an enjoyable
and a rewarding tool with the properties of rhyming and rhythm. It helps
students to easily learn with the supra-segmental aspect of the target
language, such as stress, pitch, intonation.
Using poetry while teaching English can have many benefits:
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It encourages creative writing.
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It helps students appreciate sounds words and patterns.
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It develops phonic skills.
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It makes students express feelings and opinions.
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It provides a great opportunity to play with language.
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It reinforces the ability to think and to experiment with
students’ understanding of the world.
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It helps to acquire vocabulary, creativity and imagination.
§
it reveals, restates, reinforces and affirms those things which
we think are true.
§
It gives the chance to discover and explore the use of the
language.
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It generates collaborative activities (pair and group work).
Best Wishes....
Nikita Gadani
