"A thing of beauty is joy forever"
The poems published here could be used for your language teaching and learning process. They have been carefully selected to suit the young reader. The teacher can turn these short poems on to a platform where the young learner is motivated towards poetry.
Sajendra Kumara
A trained teacher of English
Voice: 07775978775
Dear teachers,
Do not merely get your students to answer these simple poems and switch on to another. First build up a fine bridge between your students and the poem. Your students will walk over slowly into the poetic world. Let them have that fun with you.
Then let your students attempt the questions and finally make sure that you lead a healthy discussion. The poems I publish here create a background for you to guide them deeper into the poems.
Today, most of our teachers have become quite mechanical and do not let the students to peep into the literary world.
I was made to leave this remark here because I chanced to listen to some young lady teacher explaining a poem in her language class. She did not treat the poem the way she should have done it and roughly touched upon the surface of the poem for the sake of doing it.
Do justice to the poems and the poets by discussing them with your students. Listen to what your students speak of them. Let your students truly enjoy a poem. Do not steal that right from them. Be well prepared before discussing a poem with your students.
I humbly regret if I have hurt you my readers.
Blogger Sajendra Kumara.
Poem 1: Read the following poem and answer the questions given below.
What Will You Be
What will you be when you grow up?
A dancer? or A doctor?
A teacher? Or A cricketer?
There are so many careers you can
choose to do
It's very very hard to decide you know
Sometimes you may keep on thinking
Doing many jobs and never deciding.
Monday you will be a street keeper
Wednesday you will chart the skies with
the navy
Thursday you will go for the war with
the army
Friday you will be happy on sea, as a sailor
Saturday you are back to be a tailor
And on Sunday again you will
keep wondering
What the years that lie ahead will
likely bring
------------------------------------------
1. List the jobs mentioned in this poem?
2. On which day will you not wonder about any job?
3. What can you do if you join the army?
4. Which lines say that you are still not old enough to do any job?
5. Find similar words from the poem for the following words.
a) jobs - .................
b) difficult - ............
6. Find two rhyming pairs from the poem.
a) ......................... b) .........................
What Will You Be
What will you be when you grow up?
A dancer? or A doctor?
A teacher? Or A cricketer?
There are so many careers you can
choose to do
It's very very hard to decide you know
Sometimes you may keep on thinking
Doing many jobs and never deciding.
Monday you will be a street keeper
Wednesday you will chart the skies with
the navy
Thursday you will go for the war with
the army
Friday you will be happy on sea, as a sailor
Saturday you are back to be a tailor
And on Sunday again you will
keep wondering
What the years that lie ahead will
likely bring
------------------------------------------
1. List the jobs mentioned in this poem?
2. On which day will you not wonder about any job?
3. What can you do if you join the army?
4. Which lines say that you are still not old enough to do any job?
5. Find similar words from the poem for the following words.
a) jobs - .................
b) difficult - ............
6. Find two rhyming pairs from the poem.
a) ......................... b) .........................
Discussion:
The young live in a word of ambitions. They are naturally attracted to the different professions they see. They form images of their future professions based on different reasons. For example, one may like to be a doctor because the family doctor may be a friendly person closer to him. Another, could hate to be doctor simply because he , the doctor, may have prescribed him some 'bitter medicinal stuff'. A child who hates to see blood may never like to be a doctor.
One student told me that he wished to be a beggar. I was surprised and asked the reason. He told me that beggars led a free life. "They don't have to study, make a house , buy new clothes , work hard and earn......" the child went on explaining.
Well, talk about your students' ambition and don't forget to ask them why they choose that particular profession. I am sure you will be surprised to hear what they speak of their future professions.
