You're A Poet, Now Show It!

Poetry is a great way not only to get students writing in a way that seems a bit less daunting, but also to increase language awareness.  There are a seemingly endless types and styles of poetry ranging from the very simple Acrostic poems to the more difficult Epics and Ballads.  This makes writing poetry a reachable goal regardless of how much or how little experience your students have with the language.  It also has great potential for differentiation as the type of poem you request from your students may vary from person to person, not just level to level.

Many styles of poetry require students to apply their knowledge of the language.  They may depend upon counting syllables, phonemic awareness, rhyming, or parts of speech.  These are great opportunities for students to reinforce these concepts by using them first hand.  

Here is a great site where you can learn about all the different types, kinds, and styles of poetry as well as see examples:

55 Types of Poetry Forms

For Novice learners, I would recommend starting with Acrostic, Cinquain, Couplet, or Haiku style poetry.

Here are some great tools, supports, and resources for students to use as they begin to write their Spanish poetry:

Spanish Parts of Speech
Spanish Rhyming Dictionary
Spanish Phonics

If you try this in your classroom, let me know how it goes!  In closing, a couple of poems written by my students.

El Chico Café (A Limerick)                                        Mi Profesora (A Quatrain)                               

Había un chico muy raro                                            Mi profesora
Que conducía un carro caro.                                     Siempre está hablando
Un dia, chocó con una vaca                                      La boca grande
Y cayó en una pila de caca                                       Siempre está charlando
Al lado de su faro

I'm sure they couldn't have been talking about me in that last one...nah...

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