Why teach poetry in low intermediate ESL? "Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason." (Novalis) The emotional depth and wisdom of a poem can be a welcome break from the drudgery of grammar and vocabulary that so often overwhelms a second language learner. "Poetry is what gets lost in translation." (Robert Frost) In a poem, students can for the first time explore the realms of connotation, implication, and cultural nuance - all the ways in which understanding a language is much more than simply finding the dictionary definitions of words. "There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it."(Gustave Flaubert) The poems that we studied focus on common joys, sorrows and frustrations, most of them experienced by the students in this class or by people they know. Reading poetry of this kind brings us to feel the poetry in our own lives, and this gives life meaning.

At this site, you will see how students in a low intermediate community college ESL reading class, four levels below English 1A, begin to take charge of their own exploration of a piece of text. Follow them as they learn to ask their own questions about the poems, and work together to answer them.

Anne Agard ESL Department Laney College, Oakland CA aagard@peralta.edu 510-464-3159