Topic 4B: Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Poems

Topic 4B: Principles of Selection and Adaptation of Poems

1. Selection of Poems for Young Learners

   • Purposes of Using Poetry
     • provides enjoyment
     • helps to develop confidence in using English
     • encourages the use of correct stress and intonation in English speech
     • help to develop interest in words and word usage in new ways to achieve certain effects
     • helps to introduce new vocabulary and word order
     • present the use of ordinary words in new ways helps to sharpen pupils' senses and appreciation of language
     • helps pupils to remember and memorize them easily
     • help to expand students' knowledge about the world
     • help students to identify with people and situations
     • express moods familiar to pupils
     • give insights into pupils and their feelings
   • Criteria for Poetry Selection
     • Learner Levels
       • suit students' level in terms of text difficulty and language complexity (vocabulary,structure)
     • Cultural Considerations
       • cultural biasness
       • sensitivity to the impact of culturally-induced behavior
       • familiarity to learners' background knowledge
       • use of words or expression which are perceived as inappriopriate
     • Students' Interest
       • prefer narrative poems over lyric poems as compared to free verse and haiku
       • humorous poems, poems about animals and enjoyable familiar experiences
       • limericks are children's favored form.
       • prefer poems that have pronounced sound patterns of all kinds, but especially enjoy poems that rhyme
       • prefer poems with regular, distinctive beats (rhythm)
       • not easy to understand the elements of imagery and figurative language
     • Other Considerations
       • rhyme, humorous narrative, and content based on familiar experiences
       • enthusiasm declines as children get older
       • favor contemporary over traditional poems
       • use of minimal complex imagery and subtle emotion
       • lively poems with exciting meters and rhythms
       • should emphasize the sounds of language and encourage play with words
       • allow children to expand their imaginations
       • should tell simple stories and introduce stirring scenes of action
       • should not have been written down to children's supposed level
       • allow children to interpret, to feel and to put themselves into the poems
       • should delight children, say something to them, enhance their egos, strike happy recollections, tickle their funny bones, encourage them to explore
       • should be good enough to stand up under repeated readings

2. Techniques

   • marching to rhymes
   • listening to rhymes
   • rhyming cloze
   • poem pictures
   • word endings
   • poem performances
   • poetry play
   • finger poems and action poems
   • poem posters
   • poem puzzles
   • poetry and prose
   • word match