Teacher Guidance Flip Book, Entry v0.8

Activity 2: Speaking by Heart

Poetry can play a major role in capturing pupils’ imagination and stimulating their creative thinking. We hope that each pupil feels inspired by their chosen poem and really enjoys learning and delivering it. However, we understand that it can be difficult to choose the right poem for a pupil. Below are top tips for helping pupils to prepare for Speaking by Heart :  It is important to ensure that pupils enjoy their selected poem. Pupils should really like their choice of poem (not a self-composition). If possible, try to select poems in an area of genuine personal interest.  If there is too much choice and time is limited, select a small number of poems and allow each group (for example 6 pupils) to read and pass them round. Each pupil might then select one or two poems to read aloud to their group. You can then ask pupils who have chosen the same poem to work together.

 Poems need to meet the following criteria:

 Be short enough to allow pupils to maintain concentration;

16