Hello Colleagues, Developing fluency in reading is an important goal for many adult learners. One beneficial way to develop fluency is reading aloud. Poetry is ideal for reading aloud since poems are meant to be heard -- not just read. This kind of activity has added benefits for many students including English learners since it gives ELs the opportunity to not only dig into a juicy poem, but also practice their English speaking skills.
I have had students choose poems to read and present orally to the class. The students also record themselves via both video and audio as a way to practice, which definitely helps them to develop fluency in both reading and speaking. I modeled my lessons on Poetry Out Loud, which is a national competition open to high school students, although in my classes the students did not compete.
On the Poetry Out Loud website, teachers can find many instructional resources, including standards-based lessons. You will also find videos of phenomenal poetry performances.
It's National Poetry Month, so check it out. We would all love to hear how others use poetry in the classroom.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, AELL and CCS CoPs
Comments
finmiller,
I can’t include the link, because the project is in its early stages, but my program has begun something similar to what you and Poetry Out Loud are doing.
Until a few years ago, we had an annual writing competition in which learners would write short essays that would be collected and published in a small booklet. We would then have a celebration where those who wished would read their essays aloud, the writers of the best ones would receive prizes.
During this past year, a board member, who is also a tutor, began to revive this competition. At a recent meeting, one of the learners read her essay, which I videotaped. A few days later, I put together a demo WordPress blog with a post containing the video of the learner above the text of her essay. I sent it to the board member and suggested we create an online version of the writing competition, similar to my little demo; make competition ongoing, througout the year, instead of just annually; and publish it in a print brochure at the end of the year. By having it online, we could demonstrate to donors and the community how much learners were learning, and learners could send the links to their families and friends in their native countries to maybe impress them (“Look at me, I’m on the Internet!), which might help retention and persistence. The board member liked the idea and immediately volunteered to take charge of the project.
In the past, I have downloaded free poetry audiobooks, burned them to CDs, and given them to ESOL learners to help them learn the rhythms of the English language.
LibriVox (https://librivox.org/search?primary_key=0&search_category=author&search_page=1&search_form=get_results) is a good source of free audiobooks of poerty and literature.
Bob
Hi Bob and all, It's great to hear about the writing and videotaping project you are engaged in, Bob. And thank you for sharing the link to the online audio books and poetry. This is a tremendous resource. I'm curious what students have found most interesting from this site. Can you let us in on that?
I was pleased to see the collection of children's books, too, which families can enjoy listening to.
Have others drawn upon similar online resources? Additional recommended resources are welcome!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, AELL CoP