Poetry unit for ESL - PDF Download

"Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feeling" W.H. Aden --- how can anything be more relatable to high school students? Allow your students to explore the world of Poetry and find ways to express their own mixed feelings!

Use this unit to setup learning stations. The poems (listed below) are separated by theme or genre, allowing students to explore different variety and styles of poetry.

The Teacher guide will lead you through the steps to elicit prior knowledge (create a graffiti wall or use online sources such as Answer Garden), define poetry and write a few short guided verses themselves. Then, students can explore different poetry through learning stations. At the stations, students are encouraged to "find what speaks to them", QR codes are also provided to allow students to listen to spoken word poetry (slam poets).

The poems are selected to suit different levels of English (some vocabulary is provided to help with understanding). Through these learning stations students can also identify the different literary devices that the poets use to get their message across.

Finally, end your unit with poetry presentations and a writing task! (Rubrics included).

Poems include:

Remember Me - Christina Rossetti

How do I love Thee- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Lost Love - William Wordsworth

the underrated heartache - Rupi Kaur

But you didn't - Merrill Glass

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

When Someday - Hovhannes Tumanyan

The Rose that Grew from Concrete - Tupac Shakur

Invictus - William Ernest Henley

The Laughing Heart - Charles Bukowski

The Age Demanded - Ernest Hemingway

Richard Cory - Edwin Arlinton Robinson

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

A Dream Within a Dream - Edgar Allan Poe

There are birds here - Jamal May

B” (If I Should Have a Daughter) - Saray Kay

The Hill We Climb - Amanda Gorman