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Using poems to teach EFL teaching of english through interactive poems, was what sparked my own thoughts that poetry could be (and is) a powerful teaching tool for english as a foreign language. This course idea came to me when my assignment for one of the certification units included a lesson plan that needed a difference, in my mind, of creative motivation for the student. Andrew Finch, in the above-named article, believes the applicable levels for this are as early as "elementary and secondary" ages. From this, we can infer that for more sophisticated (older) seekers of english-making-sense, a poem, like the one I chose for a 'lesson plan' examination ( Shakespeare's sonnet of love, 116) can be a clean slate chance to analyze the very core of english. The student at that point can be introduced to the invaluable research source of Cliffs Notes (Lincoln, Nebraska). Poems are classified as a literary activity, not as conversational or reading, per sae. This can be invaluable as giving the student a framework for expressing written ideas. To make english a means of personal expression can bolster and invigorate the student who wishes more use of subtlty, or dynamic expression, with the language. This can be particularly true of someone who looks toward business english as their future work. A broader use term for poetry as a "highly allusive language" (Brindley, D.J. 1980,p.1) is lauded by Collin Cobuild (2001) : "a poem is a piece of writing in which the words are chosen for their beauty and sound and are carefully arranged, often in short lines and rhyme". This is a generously defined field that can include haiku, pop songs, nursery rhymes, folksongs, and pattern poems. Brindley (1980,p.1) says of this, "not only can language learning be facilitated, but learners AT ALL LEVELS (my emphasis) can use the medium of poetry to express themselves in the target language". As proponents of guidelines for ESL classes, many have assumed that the studying and writing of poetry is an individual activity. There remains a "collaborative approach", cites Moore, J.N. (2002,p.44), of how poems can be used to promote cooperation and communication as well as individual expression in the EFL classroom. The idea of creating, through the investing of critical thought and feeling, is an enormously rich by-product, even alchemy, of students reading poetry for inspiration of analyzing english, in my opinion. The structure and creativity of a student composing an alternative way to say something expressive in a target language, is a noble and enthusiastic approach for a good argument to variations-thinking with the designers of ESL / TEFL classrooms. Pattern poems, used by all ages and levels of learners, are particularly effective in ESL classes because of the adaptation to teaching grammar and sentence structure. The patterns usually consist of grammatical items such as adjectives, adverbs, verbs, acronyms, and alphabetical sequencing. Students thereby can also discover new vocabulary while perusing dictionaries and thesauruses, while being mesmerized at the professional and successful use of specific language structure (phrases, word order, verb tense). Simple in uncomplicated nature, pattern poems reinforce and even teach multiple language skills to students during this creative process of re-thinking what a poem says (and, in the words of this article's researcher, Andrew Finch [Using Poems to Teach english] ) ..."while sharing their vision of the world in a non-threatening way"! A rather perfect signature to the teaching of english as a foreign language.
