Hong Kong Budding Poets

(English) Award
Presented by NET Section
&
Co-organised with Gifted Education Section
EDB
Primary Workshop
16 & 18 March 2006

1
 Housekeeping Rap
We welcome you all to our hood
and hope you find this workshop good
There are some things you need to know
So listen up and here we go.
Immobilise your mobile phones
Don't ring your friends and don't call home
Go to the lifts, turn left and see
the toilets Don't forget the key
and bring it back and put it where
the water is Just over there! 2
 Housekeeping Rap

We don't do coffee . sorry its true

But downstairs Starbucks is there for you.
We'll have a break at half past, then,
Make sure you come back up again.
Without any more ado
Let me introduce the crew.

3
 Introductions
This cool chick, her name is Joan
I love talking on the phone.
This is Pam, shes full of life,
Behave or I will give you strife.
Heres Carine shes really sweet,
If you work hard youll get a treat.
Cindy is the next in line,
We hope you think our Workshops fine!

4
 Objectives
To encourage the teaching of poetry
To encourage the use of poetry in teaching
English
To introduce a variety or poetic structures and
devices
To develop strategies for assisting entrants in the
Budding Poets (English) Award

5
 Poetry Discovery Chart

Brainstorm

what you know already

what you want to know

about how to get students writing poetry

6
 Value of poetry
Appreciate Spoken Fun
sounds expression
words and
patterns Creative
writing
Creativit
Integratio
y Vocabulary
n

Confidence Variet
Imagination
y

Express
Phonic Language feeling and
skills skills opinions
 Poetry and the Curriculum

In the implementation of the English Language

Curriculum, the use of a wide range of language
arts materials such as songs, rhymes, poems,
stories, tongue twisters and plays is advocated.

English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-6) p.178

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 Teaching Poetry
Use the five senses
Encourage careful observation of
concrete events and scenes
Encourage the use of figurative
language
Make each word count
Consider using an existing poetry
structure to create new work
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 Elements of Poetry
1. Form and Structure

2. Rhyme

3. Rhythm

4. Imagery

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 1. Structure
Each poem has a structure
The structure is the framework of the poem
rhyming couplets
ballads
odes
limericks
haiku
cinquain
sonnet
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 2. Rhyme
Words consist of Onsets and Rimes
Onsets are the opening unit of a word or
syllable prior to the vowel
Rimes begin with a vowel and are the
ending unit of a word or syllable
Onset Rime
c at
gl ad
m eat

Words with the same rime, rhyme

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 Onset-rime Matrix

Look at the Onset-rime matrix

Work together to fill in all the
blank spaces on the grid
Look for rhyming patterns

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 The Town Child
I live in the town in a street,
It is crowded with traffic and ____.
There are buses and motors and ____,
I wish there were meadows and _____.

The houses all wait in a row,

There is smoke everywhere that I ____.
I dont like the noises I ____,
I wish there were woods very ____.

There is only one thing that I love,

And that is the sky far _____.
There is plenty of room in the ____,
For castles of clouds and me ____!
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 The Town Child
I live in the town in a street,
It is crowded with traffic and feet.
There are buses and motors and trams,
I wish there were meadows and lambs.

The houses all wait in a row,

There is smoke everywhere that I go.
I dont like the noises I hear,
I wish there were woods very near.

There is only one thing that I love,

And that is the sky far above.
There is plenty of room in the blue,
For castles of clouds and me too!
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Practical classroom suggestion
Provide plenty of opportunities for students
to hear rhymes

Let students collect rhyming families

Display rhyming families creatively

Any more ideas to share?

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 3. Rhythm
Steady beat
Repeating pattern
Keeps time
Continuous throughout
the poem
Measured flow

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 Water
Water has no taste at all, (4 beats)
Water has no smell. (3 + rest )
Waters in the waterfall, (4 beats)
In pump, and tap and well. (3 + rest)

Waters everywhere about,

Waters in the rain.
In the bath, the pond and out
At sea its there again.

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 4. Imagery is
Language using similes and metaphors
that produces images in the mind

A Halloween moon
Metapho
is a giant dinner plate
lost in the dark r

The wind is like a wild horse Simile

Racing across the world

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 Mind Map Participles
Adjectives
toasting tanning
big shiny sweating burning
warming glowing
bright golden
round
hot
fiery Nouns
warm Title heat fire
skin
SUN
afterglow

It makes me feel
Colour or Synonym
hot warm
orange
happy sweaty red fireball
 The Sun

The sun is like a red hot fire,

It fills my heart with warm desire.
It heats my skin from head to toe,
And bathes me in its afterglow
 Picture Images
Look at the picture provided
Using the mind map, brainstorm relevant
words to match your picture
Write a four line rhyming poem
Perform your poem

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 Some Ideas for Starting
Play at making similes and metaphors - the
moon is like a banana...the moon is a white
smile.
Make use of the 5 senses lemons taste
the smell of baking bread when I see icicles
the sound of rain the scratchy feel of
Repetitive phrases -
At the end of the rainbow I saw
In my magic box I will put . list things you
like
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 More ideas
I am afraid of
I wish I was..
Its a secret but..
I dreamed I saw
In my pocket.
What is Yellow?
AlliterationOne slithery snake two
toothsome tigersfour funny friends...
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 When choosing a poem:
consider .
Themes
Textbook adaptation
Teaching/consolidating vocabulary and grammar
Developing poetry concepts
Body language and percussion
Rhythm, rhyme, diction
Age and culturally appropriate
Reading aloud
Performance
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 It seems like only yesterday ...
Pamela Davies
It seems like only yesterday,
That I was born and life began.
That year I learned to laugh and play,
It seems like only yesterday.

It seems like only yesterday,

I met my love and we were wed.
Life was good, whats more to say?
It seems like only yesterday.

Now 80 years have been and gone,

My lifes complete, I dont have long.
Treasure each moment, dont lose your way,
Or you will wish for yesterday. (see handout for full poem).

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 Poetry Structures
On your table, you have
An example of a poetry structure
An explanation of the structure

- Prepare a short whole-class activity based

on this structure
- Teaching focus?

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 Poetry Discovery Chart
Please complete your chart
Reflect on
What have you learned about poetry
today?
What do you still want to know about
poetry?

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 Thank You for your participation

Please fill in an evaluation

form we value your
comments!