ESL Clases in Houston, Texas
The ESL students will learn, through literary terms, about the sound of Words in poetry. Students will comprehend that we are attracted to the sounds of nursery rhymes for two simple reasons. The first is that rhymes are pleasing to the ear. They sound nice because they imitate the palpitating heart; even before Children can understand the words, they like the sounds. The second reason is that rhymes are easy to remember. As teachers we have to use this opportunity and provide the students with positive rhymes like in the love poem by Emanuel Sifuentes: "You're perfect and so is this love that we share."
The Texas Education Agency indicates that in order for ESL students to be successful, they must acquire both social and academic language proficiency in English. Social language proficiency in English. Social language proficiency in English consists of the English needed for daily social interactions. Academic language proficiency consists of the English needed to think critically, understand and learn new concepts, process complex academic material, and interact and communicate in English academic settings. I am not satisfied with the social language that they use to communicate, which is limited in expression and content.
Through poetry we can think critically, and understand the literary terms as new concepts, process complex academic material to learn genres, and interact and communicate in English, following the guidance of the Texas standards for Language Arts.
Classroom instruction will effectively integrate second language acquisition with quality content area described in this unit, assuring that ESLs acquire social and academic language proficiency in English and reach their full academic potential through the exposure of lectures, poems, and literary terms.
Effective instruction in second language acquisition involves giving ESLs opportunities to listen to poems, speak or express their thoughts and feeling, read concepts and effects, and write at their current levels of English development while gradually increasing the linguistic complexity of the English they read and hear, and are expected to speak and write.
The objective of this unit is to facilitate the students' comprehension of poetry, to show that poetry involves play, pleasure and pain, but most of all, involves us in the beautiful experience of discovering creative light and imagination. Lofty expectations! However, bringing awareness and exposure to a new way of thinking, feeling and writing can ‘turn on' students' imagination and creativity that may never be tapped unless I develop this poetry unit The Unknown Voice of My Students.
The Unknown Voice of My Students will be accessible to middle school students, parents, and everyone interested in poetry. Through the use of this curriculum unit the students will be enabled to hear and discover their voices and develop new voices through different activities like distinguishing verse from prose, tone from voice, rhythm from rhyme, accent from stress, etc.
All writers cultivate knowledge of words; they are aware of the sounds of words and become conscious of the poetic elements used for an intended effect. That is the reason why we need to learn about the basic tricks, figures of speech, poetic devices and literary terms; variations for the use of words, their synonyms and antonyms, for the creation of poetic expression.
Students have to realize that professional writers proofread, and correct their writing. We all have to become the first readers of our writing, learn how to hear our own voice, and work until we obtain the essence of the relationship between words-circumstance-feeling. Middle school students need to continue to work, edit and understand the basic purpose of their writing, especially poetry. Not for just a grade or not because the teacher said "Do this writing" but to be honest on paper as they create their own poetic expressions about the subject they are writing.
For poetry to have a potent effect on people it must relate to their personal lives. We have to bring poetry to the people. There are a variety of ways to do this. We can now introduce video, CDs, DVDs, and other media representations of poetry. Students can actually see poets of all ages performing their works. So, with research, it is easy to find relevant poetry that connects with your audience. From a Latino point of reference, I would look toward sites such as www.Nuyoricanpoets.org, and www.Virtualboricua.net for materials relevant to Latino students. The Institute of Puerto Rican Students at Hunter College in New York City provides archival materials on the history of Puerto Ricans in the United States, and their contributions to American society, including the world of literature. The Chicano, as other ethnic experience in the United States contains a rich field. Searches can therefore be made regionally according to students' needs.
Research indicated by Mary A. Wolfe at Cornell University shows that the fast electronic world only uses the decoding part of the brain but does not go to the frontal lobe of the brain where inference and connecting thoughts and experiences takes place. As an educator trying to develop further inference in a poetry unit with this age group, motivates me further to develop this poetry unit into the curriculum using incremental, accumulative knowledge. With short, introductory lessons each class period to ‘turn on' the inference as part of the students' brains! At the least, this unit will expose the students to words and literary devices that help express their feelings and thoughts or connect some of their life experiences and bring the thoughts forward as positive expressions when they write or record poetry in their own notebooks or electronic devices.
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