TESL Ontario Webinar

Does poetry have a place in the English language classroom? How can it be used to teach more than language? How can we enable students to engage confidently with poetry while becoming aware of social issues?

Poetry can be a vehicle for messages of social justice, bringing our attention towards injustices, and helping us cope with them. Our presenter will present three poems and show how to enable students to engage confidently with contemporary poetry and help them build empathy and understanding.

The poems are ‘Originally’ by Carol Ann Duffy, ‘Neighbours’ by Benjamin Zephaniah, and ‘The day war came’ by Nicola Davies. See the Event Information section below for links to the poems.

The key points to be covered are:

• a brief explanation of what the main themes of the poems are, and
• a description of activities to accompany the poems, suitable for different ages and levels of English (ESL and EFL).

WEBINAR TYPE

Teaching Best Practices

CATEGORIES

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; Social Justice

TEACHING SECTORS

All sectors

PARTICIPANT LEVEL

Moderate level

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Annie Altamirano (she/her) has over 30 years’ experience as a teacher and teacher trainer and has given teacher-training workshops in Europe. Her main areas of interest and study are assessment for learning, the use of literature and, more specifically poetry to develop awareness of social issues, and integrating different visual media to develop critical thinking and creativity. She has an MA in ELT and Applied Linguistics from the University of London, England. She is currently TESOL-SPAIN’s Vice-President and External Liaison Officer.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniealtamirano/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnieAlta2012

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anniealtamirano.teachertrainer/

Blog: https://bloggingcrazy-annie.blogspot.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AnnieAltamiranoTeacherTrainer