This month, we celebrate National Poetry Month with a conversation that is sure to inspire world language teachers everywhere. In episode 28 of the Growing with Proficiency The Podcast, we have the pleasure of speaking with Diego Ojeda, a renowned world language educator, presenter, trainer, blogger, and author.
Diego is passionate about the power of poetry in language learning, and he shares with us his insights on why incorporating it in our curriculum is so important. He also shares practical strategies to make poetry comprehensible and accessible to all students, regardless of their language proficiency level. Diego has been teaching in the United States for 23 years, and he started out our conversation by explaining what poetry is.
What is Poetry?
Diego explained that poetry is an opportunity to communicate with very few words. However, those few words are very strong words. For our students, having these words, powerful words, allows them to be able to express feelings, opinions, and ideas with less words. I think all our students are going to be super excited!
This is important because teachers seem to not include poetry in language classes because they feel it is too complicated. Also, instead of students trying to think about giving their message in a very elaborated way, they can focus on choosing the right words, and placing those words in the right way to give the same message.
Why Do We Need to Bring It Into Our World Language Classes?
Diego believes that poetry is a tool in the world language classroom that allows us to digest the foreign language in an easier way. This is because when we’re reading poems versus reading a chapter of a book, we can get the same type of information, but it is more concise.
Poetry Sparks the Imagination
Start slowly with your students. One way is to compare two things. Use the words to extend the conversation. Poetry allows us to communicate, but it also sparks the imagination. So, the moment we spark imagination in our language classes, the students get more motivated. Some teachers will say that students don’t talk, they don’t participate, they don’t speak in their classes.
But, maybe we’re just not using the right triggers. Poetry is an amazing trigger. Because, once they understand the symbolism behind it, each one of them is going to have something different to say, and then we can make that a conversation.
Poetry Activities
One activity you can do with poetry is to take pieces of poems and make them passwords for the classroom. Each one of your students can have their own password. Diego talks more about this in episode 28. When you use poems in the classroom, classes get more practical because you’re working with very brief texts. Sometimes with stories, students can get overwhelmed with all of the chapters and pages.
No matter the activity, start with poetry that students can understand. This is a great point that Diego made. He also explained that he used to struggle to find comprehensive poetry that he could use with his lower level students, because most of what he found was for students in higher levels. So, he decided to write his own poetry, which later turned into a book.
It’s easier for students in level one to read and listen to poetry about things that interest them and that they can relate to. Another activity to use in your world language classroom is for students to write an acrostic poem. This is where the student takes their name, and writes a poem line starting with each of the letters of their name.
Learn More
Throughout the episode, Diego offered valuable resources that you can use right away to start incorporating poetry in your classroom. Whether you’re a seasoned language teacher or just starting out, this conversation is sure to inspire you to try new things and make a difference in your students’ lives.
In this post, I highlighted some of the key takeaways from our conversation but to get all of the details, click play above or listen here and get ready to celebrate National Poetry Month with your students in a whole new way.
Don’t forget that you can listen to every episode of the Growing with Proficiency The Podcast HERE.
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