Poetry Ideas in Teaching Literature and Writing to Foreign Students

Abstract

The scarcity of references to poetry writing in ESL/EFL literature suggests that little has been done by either literature or writing teachers to tap this potentially valuable resource as a means of directly and actively involving foreign students in communicative, creative uses of English. In this article, I draw upon the experience and insights of Koch (1970, 1973, 1977) to illustrate a way of adapting two poetry ideas for use in teaching poetry writing to a group of intermediate level Thai secondary teachers of English. Rather than subjecting model poems to extensive analysis, or selecting poetry for imitation based on strict attention to formal elements like rhyme and repetition –as is often the practice in litarature and writing classes– poetry ideas are designed and presented which allow students to find and recreate within themselves the main feelings of the poems they read (Koch 1973). By providing students with a vehicle for participating in the process of poetry writing, opportunities are made possible for enhanced literary appreciation, fresh self conceptions, and creative language responses.