Project
3
a) Teaching
poetry
Pre-Reading
Tasks/Activities (Engage yourself)
Task 1
The teacher gets the students to remember the moment
when s/he was in dilemma or whether any of them in that kind of situation now.
S/he asks them to tell how they faced such undecided situation and who/what
helped him/her to decide finally – elicits students' ideas.
– Individual
work
Teacher's role:
- For facilitation, the teacher can share his own real or imaginary situation
when he hardly decided what choice to make. For this, it is advisable to say
that he consulted the elders as well
Task 2
The teacher asks the students to tell or write if
they are happy with their way of life or they have regret. Why? Both possible
answers, i.e. happy and regret should be considered but s/he tries to elicit
the reason from them why they think so. - Individual work
Teacher's role
– sharing his own experience/idea to frame students' story
Task 3
The teacher asks the
students to guess the theme of the poem on the basis of the picture given in
the textbook and the title. – Individual work
Teacher's role
– respecting their diverse ideas/answers and giving clues like "I think
life itself is a journey, do you agree?", "what do you want to be? A
teacher? Doctor? A businessman? or "what is your aim?" etc.
Reading
Activities (Study time)
Task 1
The teacher asks the
students to tell whether they have heard/ known anything about the poet. Asks
them to guess of which country he may be, etc. This may be little difficult for
the students, so the teacher shows the chart having the poet's background
prepared by the teacher beforehand. Asks them to read it and asks them to note
down. – Individual work
Teacher's role- working
as a guide to help them understand some cultural words/places associated the
poet's background.
Task 2
The teacher asks the
students to guess and tell the background of the poem. – Group work
The teacher provides
clues:
·
the poem is about someone trying to
decide which road s/he is going to take on a stroll through the woods
·
it is about the journey of life
·
the diverged roads symbolize a person's
life
·
choice about which road to take
represents the different decisions we sometimes must make
·
how those decisions affect our future
·
the poet is making the connection
between life and travelling
·
someone must be the one to try a new
thing
Task 3
The teacher writes the
title of the poem on the board, and asks the students to read the poem silently
and underline the new words – writes down the new words underlined by the
students on the board and asks them to guess the meanings in the context – uses
flash cards (with synonyms, antonyms, definition, etc) and uses audio of the
poem and phonetic transcription to teach pronunciation. – Individual work
Activities:
1.
consulting English dictionary – writing
multiple meanings – choosing the appropriate one from the dictionary
2.
sharing each other's ideas
3.
solving cross word puzzling designed by
the teacher
4.
creating self-defining context
5.
playing synonym/antonym game
6.
presenting in a pictorial form
The teacher designs
matching activity; words with their meanings and asks the students to read,
discuss and match. – Group work
Asks them to work in
pairs, and use those words in their own sentences. For example:
·
At Itahari bazzar the road has diverged
towards Dharan and Biratnagar.
·
I go to the wood to
fetch the firewood.
Teacher's role-
facilitator
Task 4
The teacher asks the
students to tell any rhyming words in and out of the poem if anyone knows –
gives some examples of Neplali songs or poems, e.g. paanko paat
kaam nagrnele kanha paaunchh dhaanko bhat where paat and bhaat
are rhyming words and defines 'rhyme' and 'rhyming words' – rhyming words
end with the same sound.
Activity
The teacher asks the
students to write the rhyming words from the poem within ten minutes –
Individual work
Teacher's role:
- feedback provider/monitor/ facilitator
Task 5
The teacher asks the
students to write answer of the questions given in the textbook by reading the
poem time and again – helps them to understand the questions
Activities
·
asks the students to go through the poem
and underline the lines the answers are likely to be found
·
asks them to finalize the answer to each
question
·
goes round the class and monitors and
helps the pairs
·
asks them to present their answers to the
whole class and asks them to evaluate each other's answers – asks them to tell
their answers if they differ from their friends – provide feedback to get the
most appropriate answers
Extended activities
·
The teacher asks the students to write a
description of the moment when they were in dilemma and the decision that they
made in that situation.
·
The teacher asks them to create a
similar poem of their own.
·
The teacher asks them to try writing a
summary of the poem.
Teacher's role:
- feedback provider
My
plan to teach Task 5 (Questions/Answers)
1.
Objective:
On completion of this lesson the students will be able to
ü answer
the questions based and text
2.
Materials:
Audio of the poem, video of the poem, charts showing diverged road and a person
facing dilemma
to determine the aim/career option, chart with possible answers
3.
Activities:
Motivation:
the teacher asks some questions from the previous lesson such as "Tell me
some rhyming words from the poem The Road Not Taken", "Who is the
poet?" etc.
i)
Presentation
The
teacher:-
·
asks the students to write the questions
in their exercise book and makes sure that they understand the questions
·
asks them to go through the poem, and
mark the lines where the answers to those questions are likely to be found
·
shows the chart to be guessed what is it
about and discussed in groups/pairs
·
asks them why the man is standing in the road
and asks them to write their guess
ii)
Practice
The
teacher:-
·
plays the audio of the poem
·
asks them to read the poem and discuss
in group to finalize the answer to each question
·
asks them to write their finalized
answers in their exercise book
·
asks them compare and contrast with each
other's answers and make necessary correction with the help of the video
·
gives every opportunity to evaluate the
answers of one group by another
·
provides necessary feedback and finally
shows the chart with the possible answers but respects students ideas
iii)
Production
The
teacher:-
·
asks them to tell what the poem is about
·
asks them to summarize the poem in a
short paragraph
·
asks them to create a poem of their own
about the situation when they faced the dilemma
4.
Evaluation
Answer the following questions
i)
What do you think 'the road' refers to?
ii)
What is the central idea of the poem?
iii)
Why is the speaker in the poem in a
dilemma?
iv)
Why does the speaker stop in a diverged
road?
v)
Which road does he choose to travel?
vi)
What does 'the one less travelled' mean?
Reflection
The activities carried
out in the classroom made the students more active than they usually are. These
activities were found to be motivational and student centered. Students'
satisfaction is teacher's satisfaction too. They seemed to be satisfied and
appeared to be able to answer the questions based on the poem/text and also
became more creative as well as imaginative enough. Almost every student could
answer the question in his/her own way or words. Every possible answer was
accepted and respected with better answer/option by the teacher. Providing
task, monitoring and proper feedback cultivate students' learning. Setting
environment is also important as good environment is prerequisite to
everything. An inventive teacher always looks for newer techniques/classroom
tools/activities to deliver the message offered by the course – this is what I
want. My effort is always oriented towards making students involved in solving
the problems more actively. Most importantly, what I think is, there may be
other potential activities for teaching poem and I should try to look for it
and make continuous effort in the days to come.
The
End
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