Choose a short poem (for example, from any of the textbooks).

Prepare a
series of tasks based on the poem for secondary-level learners. You must have at
least:
• Two pre-tasks.
• One while task.
• Reading comprehension questions.
• Two vocabulary tasks.
• Two grammar tasks.
• Two appreciation tasks.
Write a research report on your materials production. Your research report
should have:
• The reasons for choosing the poem.
• The principles that you had in mind while preparing the tasks.
• What do you thank are the tasks capable of achieving.
• And a review of at least two articles or books that related your material
production.
• Any problems that you faced and how you overcame them.

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 Introduction
Literature in the language classroom has long been an integral part of ELT.
For understanding of the high culture and thought expressed in elegant language
through literature takes precedence over grater competence in language.
Literature played a central role in TESL/TEFL in early 20th century.
Graham Trengove [2] argues that awareness of variety in language can be an
important prerequisite for responding sensitively to literary language use.
Literature study also enhances awareness of language functions. That is why the
role of literature in language teaching remains important. “Literature offers
several benefits to ESL classroom .It can be useful in developing linguistic
knowledge, both on a usage level and a use level. Secondary to the extent that
student enjoys reading literature, it may increase their motivation to interact with
a text, and thus ultimately increase their reading proficiency. Finally, an
examination of a foreign culture through literature may increase their
understanding of that culture and perhaps spur their own imaginative writing.”
[2].
There are certain advantages in using literature in the language classroom.
Study of literature:[5]
1. develops learner autonomy by indicating that teacher is not the font of
all knowledge.
2. stimulates students to interact with the text creatively.
3. helps students to become an active agent rather than a passive
recipient.
4. high lights language properties like coherence and text organization in
the best way.
5. encourages classroom discussion and lateral thinking.
6. can be used for testing different sorts of abilities, the ability to make
connections and cross-references.

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 7. develops independent thinking skills.
8. enables learners to appreciate the phonetic features (especially
through rhyming in poetry).
9. makes the learner aware of possibilities of semantic range.
10. encourages overall development of personality through role plays
and others interactive activities.
According to William T.Liltlewood [2], there are five different perspectives
and language teaching through literature.
The first perspective: literature provides instances of language structure in
current use, which can form the basic for instruction and practice in language
skills, specially reading comprehension accompanied by variety and amount of
grammatical analysis and explanation. In addition, exercises and drills may be
devised in order to transfer linguistic structures to the learners ‘active repertoire.’
The second perspective: literature becomes a vehicle for the learning of
differences between language variations.
The third perspective: it uses language in its own context and enables it to
demonstrate how a language can transcend the artificial classroom situation.
There are three ways in which language teaching attempts to compensate for the
absence of real events: (1) by talking or gossiping about them; (2) by using role
play or make-believe to stimulate them; and (3) by using reading material or
literature to represent them real events.
The forth perspective: it develops the skills of generalizing and theorizing.
Finally the fifth perspective: it co-relates features of different levels to the
linguistic social or intellectual development of the culture, of which it is a part.

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 Why use poetry to learn English? [3]
The first answer is “Why not?” Poetry is a special type of expression, just as
scientific or newspaper English are special in different ways. It deserves study as
much they do, perhaps more, since poetry is the type of English which touches
our personal feelings most closely. And personal feelings are as important in a
foreign language as they are in our own language.
Poems can help us to assimilate the typical rhythms of a language. Poems are
often very easy to remember. They stick in our minds without conscious effort.
One reason for this is that they frequently repeat patterns of sound or words.
The topics which poems about are in themselves interesting and important. A
planed curriculum should expose students to poetry as well as prose. While prose
appeals to the mind, poetry appeals to the heart. Teaching of language should
include how to use it to touch the heart, not just how to communicate.
Approaching poetry through the study of a variety of poems helps students a
sensitive heart.

Rhyme and Rhythm in teaching language. [6]

Poetry, unlike other literary forms, focuses most sharply on language itself.
The music of words, how they sound, how their sounds flow and mix and form
musical patterns are vital to poetry. Writer A.S. Rosenthal said, “Far from being
incidental, qualities of sound and rhythm give a poetic work its organic body.”
Poets must use all the physical attributes of words: their sound, size, shape, and
rhythms.

1. Imagery
If the music of poetry is its life-blood, images give poetry its soul. Although
you can write a successful poem without imagery, the best poems come alive
with simile, metaphor, symbolism, and use of personification. Advising students

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about writing poems be alert to images in poems you read, and try to include
some original imagery in your own poems. Keep in mind that imagery is the
language of dreams. When you write with imagery you bring the magic and
mystery of dreamscapes to your writing.”

2. Rhythm
Rhythm can be defined as the flow of stressed and unstressed syllables to
create oral patterns. To achieve rhythm, English poets have traditionally counted
three things:
a. the number of syllables in a line
b. the number of stressed or accented syllables
c. the number of individual units of both stressed and unstressed syllables.

3. Rhyme
Rhyme is a regular recurrence of corresponding sounds which occurs usually
at the end of a line. There are three main types of end-rhymes:
a. true rhyme (also called cadence) occurs exactly on one stressed syllable.
Example: car, far.
b. feminine rhyme uses words of more than one syllable and occurs when
the accented syllable rhymes.
Example: buckle, knuckle.
c. off-rhyme or slant rhyme occurs when words sound very similar but do
not correspond in sound exactly.
Example: down, noon.

Often associated with rhyme, but not the same thing, is a refrain. This is the
repetition of one or more lines in a poem. A refrain can bring beauty and music
to a poem. It also creates in the listener a higher degree of attention. When used

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well, rhyme can unify a poem; help with its musical flow, and greatly aid
memorization. When used poorly, rhyme can sound juvenile or silly; can make
the poem sound stilted, and cause humor sometimes where none was intended.
Poor rhyme can also cause poor word choice by the poet’s forced focus on
making the last word in each line rhyme.

Ways of Experiencing Poetry

Thorkild Botup Jensen [3] suggests ways of experiencing poetry in the
classroom which, in my opinion, appeal to the pupils’ curiosity and also open up
passages into the land of poetry.
First of all, I should like to suggest singing together in the classroom. This
activity could include a variety of songs; well-known and popular songs, as well
as quit new unknown ones. This is an important introduction to poetry because
the pupils need to make the connections between poetry and music. It is
important to reinforce the impression that poems are accompanied by music and
melodic sound.
As a related activity I should like to recommend listening to songs on record
or audio-tape. These could include both the teacher’s and the pupils’ favorite
songs and performers. After listening together in our class we exchange comment
on the turn and the style of singing.
A third way of experience poetry has to do with poetic knowledge that the
student bring with them into classroom. As a class we collect and jointly present
the jingles and nursery rhymes that we already know and are familiar with.
Reciting poems in the classroom is another common but important way of
experiencing poetry. The reciting may take place with or without preparation. It
may take place spontaneously during a lesson when the pupil makes a connection
with a known poem.

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 An important part of the teacher’s job is to help pupils become active
listener. The poetic word wants to be spoken out loud and listened to as a
personal utterance, as a confession, a cry of sorrow or of joy.
To recite a poem could be an inspirational introduction to a new theme or
topic. It is a good way to begin the school day. Poems can be a new way of
looking at a familiar them; it is not difficult to find a poem suitable for almost
every occasion and event.
Poetry is unique. No other type of text is so aware of language. This makes
poetry ideal teaching material for language teachers. No other text experiments
with language in the way that poetry does. There are a number of ways in which
teachers can develop the ideas already outlined. The teacher can introduce ‘the
poem of day’ or ‘the poem of week’ as an idea to the pupils. There are a number
of benefits to this approach to teaching poetry. It serves a variety of purposes,
helping to throw light on the fact that:
• every recital is a unique way of understanding and interpreting the poem.
• more understandings and varying interpretations of each poem are
possible.
• some understandings and interpretations are better than others, perhaps
because they utilize better what the poem contains or because they give a
great experience or clearer sensation to the poem.
• the poem is a voice that wants to be heard; it is an experience that can be
transmitted physically to a wider audience.
• an exchange of possibilities is taking place during our listening to the
poem; this carries meaning to the listeners, who for their part provide the
poem with meaning and coherence.
• every poem has a certain shape, body or structure; it also has a personal
appeal to the co-operating imagination which emanates from past and
present experiences seeking poetic understanding.

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Historical overview of teaching literature in India. [5]
English literature teaching in India started during the initial period of 19th
century. East India Company was ruling India at that time it was in 1813 that the
charter Act was passed under the Government of England for revival and
improvement of literature. Then came Macaulays’ Minute in 1935 .It was called
English Education in India was to create a class of interpreters “Indian in blood
and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.”
It was also meant for re fining the vernacular dialects of the country to enrich
those dialects with terms of science

Response in literature
The teaching of literature is an arid business unless there are responses that
can create an interesting classroom situation. Teaching of literature to non-native
speakers should seek to develop responses.
Response is necessary in teaching poetry also as learners must react to
whatever they are reading .It can develop cognitive as well as metacognitive
skills. It can also develop critical skills; appreciation skills. It can help develop
participatory skills since all response happens through discussion and debate.
We can elicit response through different activities. They are as under:
• pre-tasks, discussion tasks and group tasks that ask learners to react to
section/whole of the text.
• cloze activities, particularly for comprehension.
• comparison and contrast activities.
• ask student to paraphrase, is it true make-believes activities etc.
• integrated activities that can combine all the four skills.

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 Criteria for selecting a poem
The poem should lend to:
1. learning of vocabulary.
2. learning of literary rhyming, metaphor etc.
3. evoking responses from students.
4. constructing language learning tasks.
This poem talks about a different culture, it can help students to extend their
vocabulary and help memorize them in a number of meaningful ways, encourage
reading for pleasure because the students like to repeat rhyming words charm
words and refrains.
Teachers should process the poem for their own, understanding, so that when
they read it to the classes, they might:
a. stress the important words and phrases.
b. convey appropriate feelings.
c. dramatis action and mood.
d. show pictures of similar imagery.
e. point out differences between cultures.
f. emphases the message the poem may convey.
As a result, students will keep high motivation and interesting in language
teaching through poetry, but the teacher should take more care about what kind
of poem to select and what the poem should teach because many students have
aversion to the study of poetry. The teacher facilitates learning of difficult words
and expressions appearing in the poem and creates situations likely to promote
this activity.
The teacher should choose appropriate materials including the following: [4]
1. materials should achieve impact. Impact is achieved when materials have
a noticeable effect on learners that is when the learner’s curiosity, interest
and attention are attracted. Materials can achieve impact through:

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 a. novelty (e.g. unusual topics, illustrations and activities.
b. Variety (e.g. breaking up the monotony of a unit routine with an
unexpected activity; using many different text types taken from many
different types of sources; using a number of different instructor voices
on a cassette)
2. materials should help learners to feel at ease:
a. less anxiety, the better learning .
b. materials with lost of white space.
c. cultural relevance of texts and illustration.
3. materials should maximize both right and left brain engaging the learners
in a variety of left and brain activities in the same lesson for examples
reading dialogue, dancing to instruction, singing a song, doing a
substitution drills, writing a story.
4. materials should provide opportunities for outcome feedback. Feedback
which is focused first on the effectiveness of the outcome rather than just
on the accuracy of the output can lead to output becoming a profitable
source of input.
The tasks capable of achieving, to diagnose assess students ability to perform
a simple task and to assess student competence to read and write at the
intermediate level.

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