Appreciating Poems and Songs Teacher’s Notes
3. Suggested answers:
sight – red
taste – taste buds, sweet touch – tingling smell – sweet, scent Section B
Suggested answers:
1. The poem tries to attract the senses of sight (“Red globes of pleasure”), taste (“Set taste buds tingling”), touch (“Juice running down chin”) and smell (“Sweet scent of summer”).
2. Probably yes, because the poem describes the appearance and taste of strawberries, which might help one to imagine eating one.
3–6.These questions have no fixed answers. Students are encouraged to freely express what they think about the poem. For question 6, it is important that they explain their answers.
“I’m Feeling Rather Full Tonight” (15 minutes) Section A
Suggested answers:
1. Starter/Appetiser, main course and dessert/sweet.
2. Starter/Appetiser: green salad, soup
Main course: pork chop, meat pie, roast chicken, fish and chips Dessert/Sweet: fresh fruit, apple pie, ice-cream
3. Oh, I couldn’t eat another mouthful.
I’m sorry, but I’m not hungry.
I’ve already eaten. Thank you.
I’m trying to lose weight.
I’m on a diet.
It’s lovely, but too much.
Section B
Suggested answers:
1. He will be lying on the floor and his stomach will be hurt (lines 13-15).
T16 2. The full person wants dessert.
3. Some of the ways the poet uses to make the poem interesting are listed below. Students might like to discuss any of them or others they have identified.
•
Rhyme – including end-of-line rhymes (e.g. “tonight”/“bite”, “bean”/“tangerine”) and internal rhymes (e.g. line 10: “ham”/“yam”, line 11: “clam”/“Spam”)•
Rhythm – the use of rhymes gives rise to a musical, light-hearted rhythm•
Alliteration – e.g. “feeling…full” (line 1), “taste…tangerine” (line 4), “lettuce leaf” (line 5),“bite…bit…beef” (line 6)
•
Exaggeration – “…eating more/Would leave me lying on the floor” (lines 13-14)•
The twist or irony at the end – “And surely make my stomach hurt/Unless, of course you’ve got dessert”)4. (c).
5. Students’ own answers. What is important is that they are able to explain their views.
Catering for Learner Diversity
For extension vocabulary work, you might like to ask the more advanced students to attempt the activity below. You might also like to make use of the activity to challenge the less advanced students by reducing the number of items and selecting the more accessible ones.
Vocabulary work
1. Think of some more vegetables than bean and pea:
C_____________ (orange in colour) P_____________ (boiled, baked or fried) C_____________ (green leaf vegetable) 2. Think of some more citrus fruit than the tangerine:
O_____________ (loved for its juice) L_____________ (yellow) L_____________ (green)
3. Think of some more salad items than lettuce.
T_____________ (round and red)
P_____________ (can be green, red or even yellow) C_____________ (long and thin)
4. Think of some more types of meat than beef.
P_____________ (from pigs) P_____________ (a bird) D_____________ (a bird)
5. Think of some other types of seafood than the clam.
M_____________ (a greenish black shell)
P_____________ (common in dimsum and wonton)
C_____________ (there are blue ones and hairy one as well as soft-shelled) Suggested answers:
1. Carrot; Potato; Cabbage (others: broccoli, cauliflower, onion, etc) 2. Orange; Lemon; Lime (others: grapefruit, mandarin, pomelo, etc)
3. Tomato; Pepper; Cucumber (others: spring onion, coriander, rocket, cress, etc) 4. Pork; Pigeon; Duck (others: turkey, lamb, bacon, ham, veal, etc)
5. Mussel; Prawn; Crab (others: lobster, oyster, sea urchin, abalone, etc)
T17
“Swimming Pool” (20 minutes) Section A
Both pre-reading tasks 1 and 2 aim to help students to understand the context and feelings presented in the poem. There are no fixed answers to the questions. If time allows, teachers might like to ask their students to do both tasks, otherwise they could just focus on either one of them.
Section B
Suggested answers:
1. Outdoors because of the reference to “sky overhead” in line 8.
2. S/He is not doing anything in particular but floating on water, as though s/he were weightless.
3. Touch; this is because we are told that as the swimmer bathes in the water, s/he feels as though her/his hair “melts into” (becomes one with) her/his skin.
4. Alliteration is used in these lines. It increases the rhythmic effect of the poem and highlights the harmony between the swimmer and her/his surroundings.
5. (b) is the best description because the swimmer feels as though s/he is “floating weightless” in the pool (line 1). It seems busy thoughts have stopped for a moment, as the swimmer just enjoys being surrounded by water. It is a dream state where the swimmer thinks s/he temporarily lives outside herself/himself (line 9).
6. Students’ own answers.
Catering for Learner Diversity For less advanced students:
Teachers might like to give the less advanced students extra support to help them to work out the answers to the following questions in Section B:
2. You may ask students to identify the verbs (“floating”, “am”) and nouns (“pool”, “thoughts”) in the first stanza. You may also ask them to discuss what line 3 means. Is the swimmer happy, unhappy, relaxed or troubled?
4. It does not really matter if students don’t know the word “alliteration” so long as they can point out that the sound at the beginning of some words in the same line gets repeated. To further support students, you may ask them to consider what “I am bathed in blue” (line 6) implies.
Does it suggest that the swimmer is cold or that he is fully immersed in water and becomes part of it? By answering these questions, students will be able to work out what the swimmer is at the moment experiencing, whether he is feeling worried, restless, relaxed or calm, and how the repetition of sounds is related to the swimmer’s experience.
5. You might like to ask students to identify the negative words in the poem – i.e. “weightless”
(line 1), “nothingness” (line 2) and “nothing” (lines 7 and 8) – and consider what they imply.
“Weightless” suggests the feeling of lightness as though the body has no weight.
“Nothingness” is associated with the image of the pool being empty of anything but the blue of the water. “Nothing” signifies that there is not anything around the swimmer except for the water and sky; s/he is in a dream state of peace where busy thoughts have left her/him temporarily as suggested by “I live outside myself” (line 9). In general, by asking students to consider these words or any other key words/lines and the images that they invoke, they should be able to see whether the mood of the poem is positive or negative, pleasant or unpleasant.
T18 For more advanced students:
To stretch the more advanced students, you might consider asking them questions regarding the language of the poem. For example,
1. What is the effect of delaying the subject “I” in each of the three stanzas?
2. What is grammatically unusual about line 2? Why does the poet do this?
Suggested answers:
1. The self is made less important; the peaceful feeling of physical pleasure takes over from this world.
2. “Pool” is used without an article. It stops being a place and becomes a quality, a feeling.
You may also ask students to attempt the vocabulary extension activity below:
Vocabulary work
1. Look at the word “weightless” in the first line of the poem. What does it mean? Which two parts is it made up of?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
2. Which of these words can be followed by the suffix –less? Circle them.
arm care high sense back deliver hope strange
blue hat laugh thought
3. On the basis of your answer, what are the rules about –less words? Can the –less words all become –ful words? What is the rule?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Suggested answers:
1. It means light or having no weight. It is made up of the noun “weight” and the suffix “–less”.
2. arm; back; care; hat; hope; sense; thought
3. The suffix is used with nouns (but not colours, e.g. blue). These nouns could be concrete nouns referring to physical objects (e.g. hat) or abstract nouns (e.g. hope).
Only abstract nouns could form –ful words, which means having the stated quality (e.g. “careful”,
“thoughtful”).
Note that “arm”, a concrete noun, could also become “armful” but it has a different sort of meaning. It means what can be carried in the arms.
T19
“Rain Music” (25 minutes) Section A
1. Suggested answers:
(a) light rain
(b) a short period of rain (c) heavy rain in a short period (d) a storm with heavy rain
2. Students’ own answers. Where necessary, teachers might like to guide students to think about the use of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration or images in the poem.
3. Suggested answers:
(a) anew (b) whispered (c) strain (d) slender (e) chords (f) murmur (g) mellow (h) triumphant (i) bidding (j) ancient
4. Teachers might like to ask students to read some poems or song lyrics on the website to familiarise them with some words and expressions related to rain.
Catering for Learner Diversity For less advanced students:
For question 1, you might like to assign a different type of rain for individual groups to work on instead of asking them to do all four; each group will then share with the rest of the class what they know about the type of rain they discussed and how it affects their mood.
For question 3, if the vocabulary activity is too difficult for students, you might like to provide a glossary to assist them in understanding the poem instead. For example:
“whispered murmur” (line 3) – quiet sound
“strain” (line 4) – tune, sound
“slender” (line 5) – thin
“ancient” (line 6) – very old
“mellow” (line 7) – gentle, calming
“bidding” (line 8) – inviting
“chords” (line 9) – music
“triumphant” (line 11) – victorious
“anew” (line 16) – again
Alternatively, you might like to choose a few of the words from the list and ask students to match them with the appropriate meanings after they have done an initial reading of the poem.
For more advanced students:
You might like to give your students the extension activity, “Vocabulary Challenge: ‘Rain’” in the Supplementary Materials Section (pages T71 to T72). It comprises words and phrases associated with the different sounds and types of rain.
T20 Section B
Suggested answers:
1. “Dusty”.
2. “Slender, silvery drumsticks” (lines 5 and 13).
3. A “whispered murmur” (line 3) is used to describe the soft and barely audible sound of light rain, whereas the sound of heavy rain is referred to as “a louder strain” (line 4).
4. The rain gives life to the seeds and plants.
5. As the sound of the rain is so melodious and appealing to the ear, God its Creator must be a great musician.
6. Yes, as “Rain Music” is a poem about the rhythmic beating of rain on the ground, the repetition of these words and expressions help to enhance the musical quality of the poem.
7. Yes, because it aptly reflects what the poem tries to do, i.e. describing the wonderful musical effect of the falling rain. Students might disagree and any reasonable justifications should be accepted.
8. Students’ own answers.
“Summer Holiday” (20 minutes) Section A
Suggested answers:
1. Students’ own answers. They may want to visit historical sites in China, theme parks, big cities, or places such as Phuket or Hainan for beach holidays with water sports.
2. Students’ own answers. They will probably wish to relax, eat well, go shopping and play various sports and games.
3. Daily life Holiday time
y Routine activities y Dullness
y Stress and worry y Work
y Seriousness and effort y Doing as one is told
y Special activities and tours y Excitement
y Relaxation y Play
y Fun and laughter y Doing as one pleases Section B
To help students to better understand the lyrics, teachers might like to tell students that for working people in a colder country such as the United Kingdom, where the song originates, there is a strong desire for sun and freedom from work. Group happiness is desired (“We’re all going”) and there is also a hint of holiday romance (“For me and you”).
1. Suggested answers:
One could probably go to the beach or coastal area where “the sun shines brightly” and “the sea is blue”.
2–3.Students’ own answers.
T21 Learning Activity 3 (10 minutes)
Summing Up
Teachers could briefly review with students the features of English poems and songs they have come across so far and encourage them to share with their classmates which of those impress them most.
Learning Activity 4 (5 minutes) Tasks for the Poem and Song Journal
Teachers could freely adapt the instructions and requirements for this learning activity on the students’ handout, taking into consideration students’ interests, abilities and needs.
Additional resources on poems and songs:
http://www.colegiobolivar.edu.co/library/poetry.htm http://www.poetryamerica.com/
http://www.poemsthatgo.com/poems.htm
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display/indexpoet.html http://www.poetry-online.org/
http://www.westegg.com/nash/
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets.htm http://www.bartleby.com/verse/
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/authors.html#e http://www.daypoems.net/indexes/index_title.html
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/catalogs/bysubject-lit-poetry.html http://www.poetropical.co.uk/africa.htm
http://www.poetry.com/
http://www.asia2000.com.hk/asia2000/orchid/woman.shtml http://www.poetryclass.net/kids.htm
http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/education/potu/
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Poetry/
http://www.best-love-poems.com/links.html?c=1
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listpoetrymr14.html
http://international.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_name
=www
Part 3
Reading and Writing
Poetry
T23