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Introduction

Grammar teaching has often been regarded as a structure based, formal activity. After the integration of several sources and techniques, which are mainly based on communicative activities, the teaching of grammar gained a new insight (Arif Saricoban and Esen Metin). In the teaching of grammar in senior middle school in China, most teachers use the deductive and the inductive approach, especially the deductive approach. The teacher present the rules and the language is also based on the rules. Students feel bored in remembering the rules. In order to make a grammar lesson effective, beneficial, and interesting I use some well-developed and fascinating techniques in the classroom. In the present paper, a challenging activity in teaching grammar – using poems - will be discussed and examples will be provided.

Using Poems

Since the meaning is an important device in teaching grammar, it is important to contextualize any grammar point. Poems are one of the most attractive and rich resources that can easily be used in language classrooms. Poems can contextualize a grammar lesson effectively. Since poetry is often spoken, repeated, dealt with, and considered, it acts as an effective tool for practicing a specific grammatical structure. Through repeating and considering the poem, the grammatical structures become more specified. Thus, poetry not only provides a worthy resource for structured practice of grammar, but also a proper basis for practice, review and model writing. If a poem that exemplifies a particular structure is also a good poem, it engages the eye, the ear and the tongue simultaneously while also stimulating and moving us; this polymorphic effect makes poetry easier to memorize than other things for many students (Celce-Murcia and Hills, 1988).

Poems may bring the use of creativity and the rhythm into the language classroom, though they may also bring some difficulties. Poems are not constructed in a simple way and syntactically, thus it might be very difficult for my students to comprehend them completely. As stated by Povey (cited in Celce-Murcia and Hills, 1988) there are three main barriers for literature including poetry. They are linguistic, cultural, and intellectual barriers. Linguistic difficulties are the problems caused by the syntax or the lexicon of the poem. Cultural difficulties include imagery, tone, and allusion. At the intellectual level, the students should be intellectual and mature enough to understand the theme of the poem. These difficulties could be easily removed if the teacher provides a poem which is syntactically and thematically appropriate to the level, age and the interests of the students. Thus, by removing or minimizing the potential problems, poetry can provide a rich, enjoyable and authentic context for my students.

In the selection of a poem, I should first consider the grammatical structure to be presented, practiced, reviewed or modelled, then the level and the age of the students, next the theme and the length of the poem and its appropriateness to the classroom objectives. It is advisable to select a contemporary poem. Poems, which reflect cultural themes, universal features, humanistic values, or emotional aspects, will be more relevant to my students. Finally, through taking the classroom objectives into consideration, I should effectively benefit from poems as teaching aids.

Teaching Procedures

1. Teaching a poem

At the teaching stage of a poem, it is not advisable to talk about the meaning of the poem in advance. Since they offer a reading and listening activity, poems could be presented through a reading plan. At the pre-reading stage, students might be motivated through some enthusiastic talks about poetry or the poet. Some necessary vocabulary can also be handled at this stage. At the reading stage, in order to create images , I may want the students to close their eyes while he/she is reading the poem. After the poem has been read at least twice, it is better to elicit the primary responses of the students about the poem. Next, after distributing the poem to students, I ask students to read it either loudly or silently. In order to practice the determined grammar point, I ask students to paraphrase the poem. After students reading, comprehending the vocabulary, paraphrasing the poem, students get an idea about the theme of the poem.

2. Discussing

A follow-up activity is a discussion. After paraphrasing the poem and providing some questions, the students will eventually discover the deeper meaning of the poem. But I always avoid telling the meaning. After each student grasps his or her own meaning, it is proper to discuss the depth of the poem. In this procedure, my aim is to support the students in their attempts to understand the poem and make it relevant to their lives. Once they have understood it and perceived its relevance, they will have no objection to practicing the poem or even memorizing it, for it will have become special for them (Celce-Murcia and Hills, 1988).