Language games

Poems

In order to improve your students' reading comprehension skills and broaden their vocabulary at the same time, you can use some games based on reading poems.

Of course, the vocabulary, which the poem you are going to work with includes, should be adequate to your students' competence; otherwise the whole game can be easily spoilt And instead of having fun they will simply have a very difficult time.

I chose some poems published on http://www.poemsforfree.com/, which represent intermediate level and are grouped in differ rent theme categories.

Here are various techniques to check and improve your students' language skills.

1. Filling in gaps.

Select a poem and simply, remove certain words which you know your students should be familiar with, and distribute such copies to them; one copy per pair. Now get your students to Fill in the missing gaps so that the words will fit the context properly. You could give them a hint by drawing their attention to the missing words at the end of a line, which could rhyme with the preceding or the following ones. After some time (10-15 minutes) students read and compare their own answers. Finally, provide them with the original version to see the differences. The pair whose version is closest to the original wins the game.

You can also modify this game and make it easier by providing the definitions of the missing words either next to the gaps or below the text in a jumbled order.

2. Mixing poems

Choose three different poems dealing with the same topic e.g. love, cut each verse separately and mix them. Now distribute the jumbled verses and ask your students to rearrange them so as to create the original poems. After some time students read their poems aloud and justify their choices. Finally, present the original versions.

Instead of using a few poems you can cut one single poem into separate lines mix them and ask your students to reproduce the original.
After each activity you can also concentrate on new vocabulary items and do some work such as providing definitions or getting students to make their own sentences with the new words.

Since some students may not like poetry so much, you can use song lyrics instead of poems and play the original songs at the end of each activity.

Opracowanie:
Leszek Morawa
Nauczyciel j. angielskiego
IV LO w Sosnowcu

Wyświetleń: 3128