FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

HBET 4203
TEACHING OF DRAMA AND POETRY IN ESL

NAME

SARAH BINTI ZAINUDDIN

MATRIC NUMBER

861002336064001

TELEPHONE
NUMBER
E-MAIL ADDRESS

0196490494
octob23@yahoo.com

LEARNING CENTRE : KOTA BHARU,KELANTAN

TUTORS NAME: PN AZIZON
SEMESTER : JAN 2013

PART 1

(a)
In recent years, the role of literature as a basic component and source of
authentic texts of the language curriculum rather than an ultimate aim of English
instruction has been gaining momentum. Among language educators, there has been a hot
debate as to how, when, where, and why literature should be incorporated in ESL / EFL
curriculum.
According to Collie and Slater (1990:3), there are four main reasons which lead a
language teacher to use literature in the classroom. These are valuable authentic material,
cultural enrichment, language enrichment and personal involvement.
Cultural Enrichment
For many language learners, the ideal way to increase their understanding of
verbal / nonverbal aspects of communication in the country within which that language is
spoken - a visit or an extended stay - is just not probable. For such learners, literary
works, such as novels, plays, short stories,etc. facilitate understanding how
communication takes place in that country. Though the world of a novel, play, or short
story is an imaginary one, it presents a full and colorful setting in which characters from
many social / regional backgrounds can be described. A reader can discover the way the
characters in such literary works see the world outside (i.e. their thoughts, feelings,
customs, traditions, possessions; what they buy, believe in, fear, enjoy; how they speak
and behave in different settings. This colorful created world can quickly help the foreign
learner to feel for the codes and preoccupations that shape a real society through visual
literacy of semiotics. Literature is perhaps best regarded as a complement to other
materials used to develop the foreign learners understanding into the country whose
language is being earned. Also, literature adds a lot to the cultural grammar of the
learners.
The benefits of including English poetry in teaching English language can be
classified in terms of aesthetic, linguistic, pedagogical, and heuristic advantages:

The themes English poetry deals with are related to common areas of all human
experiences, although the way they are treated differs to various extents in terms of
culture. Carefully-selected English poems offer various themes which are relevant to the
interests and concerns of learners as the y provide them with meaningful and memorable
contexts for processing and interpreting new language (Lazar 17). Hence, well suited for
content-based approaches, English poetry can act as a powerful stimulus to the students
own reflective thinking and emotions, which will elicit more expressions of opinions,
reactions, and feelings for more mature and fruitful group discussion (Maley &
Moulding 135). Thus, English poetry can be used as the basis for generating at once the
students involvement and his/her subjective, creative, and meaningful responses. An
understanding and explicating of the ways in which the themes are dealt with in English
language can also help improve not only language awareness but also cultural awareness.
(* see Hansen 222-24).
The value of presenting students with a range of poem is self-evident. Because
moving from reading and recognition of ideas to expressing ones own thoughts is a
natural process, reading poetry can enrich a students particular cultural experience. The
teacher who combines poetry reading with both analytical and creative writing
assignments will find that students make a natural bridge between cognitive learning and
personal expression; each activity reinforce the other. Reading poetry and writing in
response to it can also stimulate an interest in further reading of poetry or other genres
thematically related to the poems studied.
Meanwhile, using drama in a language classroom is a good resource for language
teaching. It is through the use of drama that learners become familiar with grammatical
structures in contexts and also learn about how to use the language to express, control and
inform. The use of drama raises the students awareness towards the target language and
culture. In this context, the use of drama as a tool rather than an end gains importance in
teaching a foreign language. Yet, there is one obvious danger: cultural imposition should
be severely avoided since it results in the loss of language ego and native language
identity in many cases . To put it differently, language learning should be culture-free but
entirely not culture-biased. For this reason, the new language and the context of the
drama should fuse into a language learning process with high interest, relevance and

enjoyment. Learners should make use of drama to promote their comprehension of life
experiences, reflect on particular circumstances and make sense of their extralinguistic
world in a deeper way (Saroban 2004:15).
In addition, the benefits of elements language students can learn through drama
technique is culture. The teaching of culture is divided into two categories: coping
strategies (Savignon, 1983) and knowledge. Knowledge about a specific culture is
learned from the script and the circumstances of the play itself. Skills that are useful in
cross-cultural interactions are developed in the rehearsal process. Coping strategies are
perhaps more important than knowledge, since it is not possible to teach students
everything they will need to know about the target culture. The best thing we can do for
language learners is to help them learn about culture on their own.
In conclusion, the use of poetry in the ESL classroom enables students to explore
the linguistic and conceptual aspects of the written text without concentrating on the
mechanics of language. The dramatization of poetry is a powerful tool in stimulating
learning while acquiring a second language because the learners become intellectually,
emotionally, and physically involved in the target language within the framework of the
new culture. Poetry rich in dialogue provides students with a dramatic script. Drama
places the learners in situations that seem real. Learners use the target language for
specific purposes, language is more easily internalized and, therefore, language is
remembered.

(b)
Literature plays an important role in the English programs of many non-English
speaking countries. However, there are some problems encountered by language teachers
within the area of teaching English through literature. First, there are very few
pedagogically-designed appropriate materials that can be used by language teachers in a
language classroom. Second, there is a lack of preparation in the area of literature
teaching in TESL / TEFL programs. Third, there is the absence of clear-cut objectives
defining the role of literature in ESL /EFL. Many instructors try to include literature in
their classroom, but lack the background and training in that field.
Meanwhile, in teaching poetry in the language classroom also have several
problems. Firstly, how in this context do we define culture? That which is considered to
be literature, especially poetry, is in the main a product of the better-educated and upper
classes of a society. The word culture nowadays is a loaded expression with overtones
for many of intellectual elitism or snobbery, although ironically the term popular
culture, which was coined as a way of representing the thinking and behaviour of the
greater part of society and of raising awareness and estimation of that groups way of life,
is sometimes disparagingly thrown back at its supporters as an oxymoron. For a nonnative speaker of English who wishes to understand better the society whose language he
or she studies, expressions of popular culture such as pop music, magazines, TV shows
and such like may in fact be of greater practical use. However, if we reflect on the
reciprocity of the relationship between literary works and the society in which they were
created, the question of whether the culture affected the work, or the work affected the
culture, may lead us to the conclusion that the importance of the cultural aspect of
literature should not be over-emphasized.
Another problematic area, particularly if we turn our attention to poetry, is how
far, or even whether or not, culture can be attributed to an individual. Poetry of strong
emotional content is the intensely personal expression of its creator. The reader is also
expected to respond to the poem on a personal level. The reader-students perceptions of
a text are also undoubtedly influenced by the educators approach: which texts are
introduced, which aspects of them are explained or stressed, how the teacher interprets

them, and so forth. Cultural perceptions through this triple filter of the student, the writer
and the educators culture seem to lead to the conclusion that literature as a cultural
model may be of greater benefit in the EFL classroom as a stimulus for examining ones
own perceptions in relation to another cultures than as an introduction to that culture.
This problem can be solved with a tolerant approach to readers when their
interpretations of the text differ from the official views. In particular, the reader
response theory of Louise Rosenblatt and Wolfgang Iser rejects the opinion that every
literary text has only one fixed meaning and emphasizes the importance of the role of the
reader as the interpreter of the text (McManus, 1998). This tolerant approach to the
interpretation of poetry gives students a lot of freedom to express their own views, and it
is especially important in foreign language lessons, when students feel inhibited not only
by the difficulties that poetry can present, but also by expressing their thoughts in the
foreign language. For this reason, it is important to use methods which make students
enjoy lessons and select poems that deal with problems that young people encounter and
understand. In particular, narrative poems which contain a conflict or a topic of
loneliness, refusal, or a complicated relationship are very suitable because they enable
students to appear in situations in which they must solve conflicts and think about
relationships with people. And it is drama activities that enable them to identify with the
characters and to act like them, which leads to some genuine communication.
Some of activities teacher can conduct in their teaching is:
Portraits: pictures or photographs of characters provide students with a visual
representation of the characters and with an opportunity to speculate about their human
characteristics and their behaviour. Students are usually guided by the teachers
questions, which lead to a deeper understanding of the complexity of the characters.
Diary: Writing-in-Role: students in the role of a character write a diary in which they
reflect on the characters experience.

For teaching drama, theres also some issue and problem occur in classroom.
Important issue is that drama as a teaching technique brings out a number of deeper
Pedagogic challenges for the L2 teacher. It involves moving away from familiar
structures and routines which feel safe into approaches which are more open ended and
unpredictable. With younger learners the enthusiasm and exuberance produced by
engaging in drama can turn into problems of discipline. With older learners there may be
problems of inhibition and embarrassment. Despite the enormous potential for drama to
motivate and engage the participants, in practice the outcome can sometimes be flat and
fail to inspire. In the context of teaching a second language, the possibilities are
inevitably limited by the fluency and language facility of the learners. Needless to say
that a language pedagogy insisting on results instead of process may have a negative
effect on students' motivation and involvement. Educational drama activities should raise
positive feelings because they are essentially "play" situations.
On using drama as a teaching method, Dawn (1998) says that teachers only need
to familiarize themselves with the theatrical components of drama. These include
improvisation, role-play, Mime, impersonation and dramatization. This helps them to
guide the learners on performance. Dawn (1998) further asserts that the drama techniques
are among the primary teaching methods. Of course, a teacher needs to know exactly
what theatrical components denote. Among these are:
Improvisation This refers to an event in a play where actors themselves choose their
own words and actions to bridge the information gap. It is also very effective in creating
clarity. Here, the actors improvise words as the story unfolds. This could be very
instrumental in exploring motivation and interaction in Social Studies. This method
would be appropriate in analyzing the impact of peer pressure.
Mime This is a dramatic art with which a teacher can enhance ideas in a lesson.
Miming, being performing without the use of any audible word can be employed when
learners have limited vocabulary. Miming as a theatrical technique can be very
productive in the teaching of a second language to none-native speakers. Likewise, even
tour guides can exploit this miming technique in conducting non-native language
speakers around. The technique, would thus, be an effective method in the travel and
tourism colleges).

Dramatization - Dramatization is coined from the word drama which is synonymous with
putting an idea or event into demonstrable action.
So that, the teacher has an important role in teaching English through
literature. First, he should determine the aim of language teaching in relation to the needs
and expectations of the students. Giving a questionnaire or interviewing with the students
orally, the teacher can set up the aim and the objectives of the language teaching. Second,
he should select the appropriate language teaching method, teaching techniques, and
classroom activities. Then, the teacher should select the literary texts relevant to the aim
and the objectives of his teaching. While selecting literary texts to be used in language
classroom, the students language proficiency, interests, age, sex, etc should be taken into
account in order not to bore students with inappropriate materials. At elementary levels,
for example, students should be given simplified or specially written stories. At advanced
levels, however, students are given literature in its original form so that they can develop
their literary competence in the target language. To put it another way, students learn
practically the figurative and daily use of the target language in the literary texts and
encounter different genres of literature (i.e. poems, short stories, plays, etc. ) at advanced
levels. Observing how characters in a play or a short story use figures of speech, such as
simile, metaphor, metonomy, etc so as to express their communicative intention, students
learn how to write English more clearly, creatively, and powerfully.

Lesson plan of teaching drama n poetry

Lesson Plan
Date

: 27th August 2015

Time

: 40 minutes

Form

: Form 2 A

School

: Sek. Men. Ugama (Arab) Nurul Huda, Bukit Yong

Language
proficiency

: Intermediate

Topic

: He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Focus skills

: Speaking

Integrated skills

: Listening and writing

Curriculum

: 1.8: Listen to and understand poems on moral specification

values, such as loyalty, friendship, selflessness and cooperation.
Tell poems on moral values, such as loyalty, friendship,
selflessness and cooperation.

Prior knowledge

:1) Student have learnt about the poem and drama.

2) Based on the previous lesson, student have learned about the
moral values on the story

General objective

: To develop students ability in reading poem and dramatize it into

drama.

Specific objectives

: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Dramatize the poem into drama.
2. Reading poem with the suitable tone
3. Identify the moral values included in poem.
4. Understand the text and answering the question given.
5. Complete the task.

Moral Value

: To be loyalty and selflessness.

STAGES/TIME
Set induction
(5 minutes)

TEACHERS
ACTIVITY/INSTRUCTION
1. Teacher shows the

STUDENTS
ACTIVITY
1. Students watch

blank face to student

to blank face and

guess expression about

draw eyes to

Rationale:

the eyes for suitable

complete the

To stimulate

character. (appendix

characters.

students interest

1).

towards the topic

Explanation
(7 minutes)
Pre-stage

2. Teacher gets students

(appendix 1).

2. Students talk
with peers and

to talk about the front

answer teachers

cover ( picture with

questions.

guidance).
1. Teacher displays the

TEACHING
AIDS
Picture of face

1. Students view

Manila card

poem (appendix 2)

the synopsis of

(appendix 2 &

He had such quiet

the poem on the

3).

eyes on the imager.

imager.

2. Teacher tells the

2. Students listen to

Rationale:

synopsis about the

poem and

To make student

poem and requires

browse through

identifying the

students to listen

the synopsis and

adjective from their

carefully about the

connect it with

previous knowledge

poem story (appendix

their prior

3).

knowledge.

3. Teacher revises the

adjective from the
poem.
1. Teacher distributes

1. Students read the

Worksheet 1.

Metacognition

Worksheet (1)

question are

(Worksheet 1)

(10 minutes)

consisting the question

given on the

While-stage

which students must

worksheet.

activities

read aloud the poem.

Practice &

Rationale:

2. Teacher calls at

2. Students are
divided into

To enable students

random for each group

get a clear picture of

of students to present

the story and to test

in front of class.

student understand

groups.
3. Students present
their poem for
each group.

the topic.

Application
(15 minutes)

1. Teacher select students

1. Students listen to

Power point

to act based on poetry

the teachers

presentation.

and want other student

direction.

Song the

Rationale:

understand the

2. Students also

To enable students

situation and realize

recognizing the

apply the skills they

the value consist in

values included

have learnt.

poetry.

in poem

breaking heart.
(appendix 4)

3. Students make
reinforcement
Evaluation

1. Teacher asks students

through drama.
1. Students list the

(10 minutes)

to list situations when

situation based

Post-stage

eyes play a very

on teachers

activities

important role and list

instructions with

the reasons for the

their own are

Rationale:

heartbreak in the

divided into male

To evaluate

poem. (From male or

and female

performance and

female perspectives).

group.

understanding on

(Worksheet 2).

what they have

learnt.

Worksheet 2.

Closure

1. Students read the

Recorder or

lesson in stressing the

poem and sing

Power point

importance of being

the song together

presentation.

Rationale:

loyalty and

for fun.

To enable students to

selflessness to others.

(10 minutes)

know the importance

1. Teacher wraps up the

2. Teacher instructs

2. Students listen
carefully to

of being loyalty and

students to read and

teachers

selflessness to

sing the song together

explanation.

others.

with recorder.
3. Teacher tells students

Extended Activity

to get information on
other poem same with
the lesson from the
internet or library to be
paste on the bulletin
board.

APPENDIX 2

He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo

He had such quiet eyes

She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those wuiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise
If only shed been wise
And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
Shed be free from the hows and whys
Now heres a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really nice
Then youll never be losing at dice
Though you lose your heart once or twice

APPENDIX 4

"Soledad"
If only you could see the tears in the world you left behind
If only you could heal my heart just one more time
Even when I close my eyes
There's an image of your face
And once again I come to REALIZE
You're a loss I can't replace
Soledad
It's a keeping for the lonely
Since the day that you were gone
Why did you leave me
Soledad
In my heart you were the only
And your memory lives on
Why did you leave me
Soledad
Walking down the streets of Nothingville
Where our love was young and free
Can't believe just what an empty place
It has come to be
I would give my life away
If it could only be the same
Cause I conceal the voice inside of me
That is calling out your name
Soledad
It's a keeping for the lonely
Since the day that you were gone
Why did you leave me
Soledad
In my heart you were the only
And your memory lives on
Why did you leave me
Soledad
Time will never change the things you've told me
After all we're meant to be love will bring us back to you and me
If only you could see
Soledad

Reference:

Since the day that you were gone

Why did you leave me
Soledad
In my heart you were the only
And your memory lives on
Why did you leave me
Soledad

Bibsy Soenharjo. Et al. (2011). A collecton of poems, short stories and drama, Form 4
and 5. (2nd ed.). Shah Alam: Ministry of Education Malaysia.
Carol Clark. (n.d). Why Teach Poetry. [Online].
Available:http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/downloads/articles/why-teachpoetry.pdf. [2013, February 2].
Marie Gasparro. (1994). Creating Drama with Poetry : Teaching English as a Second
Language Through Dramatization and Improvisation. [Online].
Available:http://www.cal.org/resourses/digest/gaspar01.html. [2013, February 2].
Melissa Freeman. (2011). Teaching Reading Skills through Poetry. [Online].
Available:http://www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/curricula/units/2011/01.11.01.04.pdf.
[2013, February 23].
Mugumya Amooti R. (2012). Drama as a Cross-Curricula teaching method. Rwanda
Journal of Education, 1 (1).[Online].
Available:http://kie.ac.rw.files/Rwandan-Journal-of-education.pdf/page-50.
[2013, February 20].
Murat Hismanoglu. (2005). Teaching English Through Literature. Journal of Language
and Linguistics Studies, 1(1). [Online].
Available:http://www.jlls.org/Issues/volume1/No.1/murathismanoglu/pdf.
[2013, February 20].
Nelly Zafeuriadon. (n.d). Drama in Language Teaching: a challenge for creative
development. [Online].
Available:http://www.ekadeve.gr/arthra/expaideutika/article/-14.pdf.
[2013, February 24].

Philip Rush. (n.d). Behind the Lines : Using poetry in the language classroom. [Online].
Available:http://library.nakanishi.ac.jp/kiyon/gaidai(30)/05.pdf.
[2013, February 20].
Sally Ashton-Hay. (2005). Drama Engaging All Learning Styles. [Online].
Available:http://eprints.qut.edu.au/12261/1/1226/a.pdf. [2013, February 2012].
The conversation of two lovers.(2009). [Online].
Available:http://www.booksie.com. [2013, February 23].

Appendix 3

SYNOPSIS
The poem is about a persona, a lady who fell for the wrong man. She was
fascinated with his quiet eyes and believed that his eyes showed his true emotion and
feelings for her. The mans eyes had the power to charm her and made her believe him
and be nice to him.
However, the man was actually a pleasure seeking man. As the lady was truly
fascinated and charmed by the man, she did not listen or did want to listen to any advice
concerning the mans true behavior. In the end, she realized her error and was broken
hearted.