Some experiences on guiding grade 4 students to create poems as a technique to improve the English skills

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENT
PAGE
Introduction
1
 1.1. Reason for choosing the topic
2
 1.2. Aim of the study
2
 1.3 The object of the study
2
 1.4. Method of the study
2
Development
3
Literature view
3
The reality of teaching and learning English in my school.
4
Solution for the problem
5
What and how to choose to creat a poem?
5
Steps to creat a poem.
6
Guiding students to present a poem.
9
Some activities can be done using poems.
9
The effects of the study
14
Conclusion and suggestion
15
 References
16
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reason for choosing the topic
These days, our country has been in the integration process and co-operation with many other countries and English is regarded as a global language in communication. Therefore, we can see the importance of learning English. For Vietnamese students, who are the future generation of the country, learning English becomes even more necessary than ever. English is also mandatory graduation exam levels. But in Vietnam teaching and learning English are still issues that cause headache education matters such as how to find a standard method of learning English to help children progress faster?, why many students who have learnt English for more than ten years even that after they left school, cannot use the English competently?, etc. The educational system of Vietnam has taken English as a compulsory subject at school from primary school years. English in primary schools is the subject that combines all the skills. It is not too difficult in term of knowledge but for primary students, the concept of words, sentences, wording of the mother tongue is vague for them, so they find the concept of speech, pronunciation, writing, memorizing vocabulary ... of a foreign language too complex. 
I have been a teacher of English for nine years and taken part in many workshops and courses on teaching English for kids. I always try to find best ways to make my students interested in learning English and find it easier. What are difficulties for kids in learning English? In my opinion, they are remembering words and structures and using them for communicating naturally. Thanks for many techniques as “rub out and remember”, “what and where”, “matching” or using songs, chants, so on, kids can remember words and structures but how to use them to practice in a natural way and improve the speaking skill effectively? How to help them form and develop the comprehensive study skills? How to help children love, inculcate knowledge of foreign culture, grasp and absorb it most effectively? That is why the research into ways to help school students acquire the full, deep remembering English vocabulary and using it is quite necessary and important for primary students. And I would like to introduce my experienced study that is “Some experiences on guiding grade 4 students to create poems as a technique to improve the English skills”.
Aim of the study 
The study is carried out to show the benefits of teaching kids how to use English words and structures to create/write and read simple poems to help them develop the English skills to gain communicative approach in teaching and learning English. The rationale behind the package is that students will have ample opportunities to enrich their English learning experience and extend a range of language abilities through exploring poems. Carefully designed and sequenced, the materials and activities in this package aim to: strengthen students’ skills of understanding and appreciating the themes, structures, features and language in a range of poem; help students to respond to and give expression to the imaginative ideas, moods and feelings expressed in poems and songs through written, oral and performance means and enable students to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in their own creative production and critical appreciation of poems.
The object of the study
	The grade 4 students are the ones that have a certain number of English vocabularies, their ways of learning English are formed and they can make simple English conversations. Vocabularies in English 4 textbook are various so creating poems give them an opportunity to improve and develop English skills. 
Method of the study
	To obtain the effects of the mentioned aim, I have studied documents from the methodology course on techniques to teach kids English. Then I read, analyzed and synthesized the textbook and reference books, made plans on what to do basing on the grade 4 students’ psychology and language ability. 
DEVELOPMENT
Literature view
What is a poem?
	A poem is a piece of writing in which the words are chosen for their beauty and sound and carefully arranged, often in short lines in rhyme. Free verse is a modern form of poetry that does not follow any specific rhyme or metrical scheme, although it does not completely abandon the basic poetic precepts of heightened language and sonics. Through poems, people can show their emotions, feelings, thoughts, looks, etc.
	We may have misunderstanding between poems and chants. A chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures, often including a great deal of repetition of musical subphrases. And we often say “Sing chants” but “Read poems”. Rhythm of a poem is slow and softly strengthened so it is easy to read.
Poetry is characterized by the following:
 - Lines
- Syllables
- Rhythm (and beat) 
- Rhyme
- Images
 - Alliteration
Reasons why creatingEnglish poems should be used in taught and learnt 
	There have been positive remarks by scholars who consider poetry an effective tool for multi-skill development in language learning. According to Hess (2003), through its drama and emotional context, a good poem is suitable for a close “reading”, with much good language practice. Hedge (2000) also believes poems as authentic materials can be used to develop especially the receptive skill of reading. Another claim is that reproduction of poetry – memorizing, rewriting, reporting and translating – can exercise the productive skill of “writing”, which is not an easy task to teach (Alber-Morgan Sheila; Hessler, & Konrad, 2007). When considered in terms of the skill of “speaking”, as the themes of poetry (e.g. love, death, nature, beliefs, despair etc.) are universal among all human beings (Maley & Duff, 1989), and because each person’s perception is different, poems can initiate a fund of interactive discussion and create the atmosphere for a genuine exchange of ideas. Besides, poetry can also be a very good way to help children understand the “phonics of English” and work with rhyming words (Collins, 2008). Along with the skills development, the memorability feature of a poem can support the natural ability to unconsciously absorb language, which enables the learner to “retrieve grammatical and lexical information” when needed (Ainy, 2008).
Most of Vietnamese people think that creating poems is very difficult because it is considered as a style of art that requires creation and literature aesthetic values. In some cases, that is not completely true. Creating simple poems is very entertaining to deal with while students constantly work on all skills simultaneously, even though they are not conscious about it sometimes. Poems’ structure makes them easy to read while its rhyme makes them extremely memorable. On top of that poems provoke people to express their personal opinion which is great for working on speaking. In many countries where English is used as the second language, poetry plays an important role in teaching four basic language skills like reading, writing, listening and speaking.
	Poems are authentic texts. This is a great motivator. Learning becomes stimulating and fun. Poems present a wide range of learning opportunities. Kids can learn the four skills, practice specific language structures, pronunciation and grammar. Reading poems loud can make significant gains in students’ oral reading fluency. When writing/ creating poems, kids have interesting opportunities to express themselves, students can explore their imagination and ideas when writing poems, and nurture their creativity. Students develop confidence in sharing ideas. Through listening to/ creating/ reading poems, students can improve their language and skills.
The reality of teaching and learning English in my school
The school where I am teaching is in a town. People’s lives here are quite good so most of my students’ families have good conditions of living. The parents really care of their children’s studies in common and, especially, their English learning because they now understand that English plays a very important role in studying and career. More than fifty percent of the students in my school are excellent and good. They like English very much. Many of them like learning English as well. They can remember many new words. They can memorize model or forms of sentences. They can do the tasks of the lessons in the textbooks. However, I have realized that my students have passive style of learning. Their memorized words and sentences are not often used so they will not be able to promote their language skills. During my periods of teaching English I noticed that my students had many difficulties in speaking and writing skills. They found it was hard to express their ideas. 
And one more problem is that there are not many creative activities signed for students in the textbook and at school.
In this school year, we are going to hold English clubs for all the students. There will games, song and chant performance or many other interesting activities. This is a chance for them to play to learn and show their ability of English skills. 
A servey has been done for my 64 grade 4 students. I gave them some Yes/ No questions about poems and here is the result. 
64 grade 4 students
Questions
Yes
Percent
No
Percent
1. Have you ever known about English poems? 
0
0
64
100
2. Have you ever read any English poems? 
0
0
64
100
3. Have you ever make any poems in Vietnamese or English? 
0
0
64
100
4. Do you think that making and reading English poems can help you to improve your level of English in terms of creativity, use of vocabulary and pronunciation? 
15
23,4%
49
76,6%
The result showed that all the students had no concepts of knowing or making any poems. And some of them thought poems was able to help them in learning English.
Solution to the problem
	The reason why I suggest creating poems is because poems are very entertaining to deal with while students constantly work on all skills simultaneously, even though they are not conscious about it sometimes. Poems’ structure makes them easy to read while its rhyme makes them extremely memorable. On top of that poems provoke people to express their personal opinion which is great for working on speaking.
 	When create poems? 
Warm up/ Ice- breaking
While-task
Post-task
 What and how to choose to create a poem?
When selecting the literary texts to be used in language classes, the language teacher should take into account needs, motivation, interests, cultural background and language level of the students. Choosing the topic relevant to the real-life experiences, emotions, or dreams of the learner is of great importance. Before starting with an activity the teacher should explain clearly the process that is to be followed, solving any possible doubts that students may have. In terms of reasoning methods, the deductive and the inductive are to be used. That is, the teacher would go over the general concepts, moving on to the specific ones or the other way around, depending on the activity.
It is well known that learning a language is an active process. Therefore, it is highly important that students practice what they learn as the more they practice, better their overall level of English will become. For that reason the strategies and techniques through which this didactic unit is to be carried out are the active participation and the group work.
Even though it is not stated in the activities, the teacher could ask the students to record themselves and to try to identify areas they could improve. It is a great way of detecting their own mistakes. 
We must think that the purpose of this didactic proposal is not to work on poetry in depth but to enhance language learning. For that reason, theoretical explanation about poetry should be simplified and reduced to a minimum. On the contrary, students’ reaction would not be very positive, and maintaining an interactive atmosphere would be a challenge.
	Choose themes or topics that kids have learnt or are learning. Poems with different structures help to ensure the students’ comprehension and motivation. 
Steps to create a poem: 
Set the topic and type of the poem
The teacher reads the original poem 
Have students to repeat the poem to pick up with the lyric and then ask them about:
- A description of the theme of the poem or song
- Language that they have learned from it (e.g. vocabulary, metaphors, similes, expressions)
Body language, intonation and voice are tools that they should use in order to keep the audience interested in what they have to say. The students will be asked to carefully watch, listen to and pay attention to gestures, rise in intonation and voice changes. After that the students will have to rise hands and share their observations and thoughts. If they do not participate much, the teacher can start commenting on the poem so that the students can start participating. After discussing, the teacher can ask them if they have ever attended a presentation, a talk, etc. and to tell their classmates why it was boring or interesting and how the presenter/ speaker achieved it. 
Elicit to help students draw the list of the vocabulary and structure dealing with the topic and the form of the poem. The idea is that students explore vocabulary and use it creatively while they have some fun. 
Let student work in pairs or groups to help each other to create and practice reading the poem
During the writing process the teacher goes around and helps the students if necessary. 
These are some following types of simple poems for kids to create:
Cinquain Poems
	Cinq is the French words for five. A cinquain is a short, five-line poem which follows the following format 
	1st line - The title (Noun)
	2nd line – Describe the title (two adjectives)
	3rd line – Express actions (V_ings)
	4th line – A feeling or thought (four words/ a phrase)
	5th line – A synonyms for the title or a word close in meaning to it.
	An example of Cinquain Poems that we made for the unit 14 - Tiếng Anh 4.
	Mother
	Short, pretty
	Cooking and cleaning
	Loving family always
	Mummy
Acrostics
Acrostic poem is a poem where certain letters in each line spells out a word or phrase. Typically, the first letters of a line are used to spell the message; but, they can appear anywhere.
The name of the person, object, place, etc. is written vertically down the left hand side of page.
Each letter is capitalized and becomes the first letter of the word beginning each line or in any place of the line.
Each line may comprise a word a phrase or a thought that is continued on to the next line.
	Acrostics require writers to write in a positive way.
	An example of Acrostics: Teacher
Talented 
Easy-going
Able 
Caring 
Humorous 
Energetic 
Reasonable
Name Poems: 
A Name Poem is a good way to teach children to focus the influence that people around them have. 
	1st line – A line about the person
2nd line – Who looks
3rd line – Who loves
4th line – Who wants
5th line – Who fears	
6th line – Who would like to	
..
 My students used it to talk about a person’s job in the Unit 12- Tiếng Anh 4.
 	Farmer
	Who looks happy.
	 Who works so hard.
	 Who loves his family.
Who would like some chicken.
Emotion/ Sense poems
The writer writes about their feelings, using some or all of the five senses (taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing) . Students can create a poem about their favorite thing such as a color, a day of the week, a month of the year or a person, etc. 
An example of Sense poems: The blue color
 	Blue looks like a sky.
Blue sounds like a police car.
Blue tastes like swimming pool water 
Blue smells like new jeans
Blue feels like ice.
 	Or: 	In September
	I see
	I hear.
	I touch
	I smell
	I taste.
	I love September.
Here is the poems was made for the Unit 4 - Tiếng Anh 4
	In February 
	I see flowers
I hear laughters
I touch new clothes
I taste Banh Chung
I love February
Rhyming Poems 
Rhyming poems are poems that feature rhyming words at the end of certain verses. Unlike free verse poetry, rhyming poems must contain words that sound alike. This type of poem may be a little complex for students because their vocabulary amount is limited so we should have them create short poems.
Example: 
I love my daddy.
He is so sporty.
 Or another example for the Unit 4 Tiếng Anh 4
This is a good day
Let’s go out to play
In the month of May.
Guiding students to present a poem
The presenter of each pair of group comes in front of the class to talk and describe their idea of the topic 
 The new poems are performed in group(one member – one line) or in individual dealing with the rhythm of the original one. The teacher should encourage students to show gestures, rise in intonation and voice changes to make the poem exciting. 
The others and the teacher listen and give comments.
If there is time left the teacher can ask the students which poem they like the most and why. Voting for the best poem is also an option. The best poem will be solemnly displayed as a famous work. 
Some activities can be done using poems:
Here are some activities that can be used for the English club. They are created as games for teams so that students are given opportunities to practice and consolidate vocabulary and grammar.
Matching
Gap-fill
Role play
Poem-build
Rearrange the lines
The following is the lesson plan for Unit 4 in the textbook Tieng Anh 4 where creating poems is used as a productive activity at the end of the lesson when all the skills have been done. The aim of the activity is to ensure students remember the vocabularies of the Lesson 1 and 2, know how to use it and give them a chance for further practice.
LESSON PLAN
Unit 4: When’s your birthday?
Lesson 2: Part 4,5,6
I. Overview:
1. Aims
Give students a chance to practice English skills and revise the vocabularies of the two lessons.
2.Objectives:
	By the end of the lesson SS will be able to do a listening task and write about someone’s birthday.
 	3. Language focus: 
3.1. Vocabulary: words for months of the year and dates of the month.
3.2. Sentence patterns: 
4. Aids: 
- Students’ Textbook teacher’s book
- CD player, disc, Colorful chalks, A4 papers
II. Procedure.
Teacher’s and students’ activities
Target language
Revsion: (5 minutes)
- Teacher calls some pairs of students to ask and answer about their birthday in front of the class.
- Teacher gives comments and rewards.
New lesson:
2.1. Part 4: Listen and number (8 minutes)
- Teacher runs through the pictures, explains what SS are going to do.
- Teacher asks students to read aloud the date of birthday in each picture in English.
- Teacher plays the disc twice.
- Students listen and number the pictures.
- Teacher has students to give answers.
- Teacher gives comments and 
- Teacher plays disc again and lets students check their answers.
2.2. Part 5: Look and write (5 minutes)
- Teacher lets students look at the picture and read the information.
- Teacher tells pupils that they are going to write the answers to the questions, using the picture cues.
- Have them rea