Poetry Recitation Contest
"Students and their families have been exposed to people, programs, resources, and connections that can open doors for them, and they are able to navigate and access those opportunities" (Johns Hopkins, n.d.).
Table of Contents
Introduction
As a language teacher, one of my goals is for students to be excited about learning a language, so that they will continue to learn it after taking my course. One way that I had been working on this was by entering students in a poetry recitation contest. The contest — hosted by COLT (Connecticut Council of Language Teachers) — is an opportunity that is not regularly available to my students. Because of the long distance from our school and the cost, it is mostly attended by suburban schools in other areas of Connecticut. I have students that are interested in poetry who expressed interest in the idea of a poetry competition. As Elena Aguilar (2013) mentions, "Poetry has space for English Language Learners. Because poems defy rules, poetry can be made accessible for ELLs — poems can be easily scaffolded and students can find ways of expressing their voices while being limited in their vocabulary. Furthermore, poetry is universal." This can be extended to Spanish learners. The ACTFL Standards stress practicing speaking, listening, reading, and writing in order to reach a proficient level in all four skills. Acquisition through poetry is a useful method that can be exciting for students who are both new to poetry or already poetry enthusiasts. Because of this, I expressed the idea to my students and had a few students express interest in the competition. The contest was planned for April 2020. I was able to bring up to one student per level. That means that I could bring a student from Spanish 1, 2, 3, 4 and AP, as well as a Heritage Speaker. The students picked a poem from the website based on their level and practice it. In April, we had planned to bus the students to the event where they would compete against students from across the state. Update: At the moment, the event has been postponed as a result of the Corona virus.
Instructions and Event Details
Connection to Standards
The Common European Framework (CEFR) estimates upward of 1,000 learning hours are needed to become proficient in a language depending on many factors, such as the similarity to the learner's language (Cambridge, 2018). ACTFL World Language Standards not only push for Global Competency and cultural understanding, but they also push for proficiency in the language. If more than 1,000 hours are needed for a student to become proficient in a language, they need as much exposure as possible. This poetry event provides access to students to practice Spanish outside of class in a manner with which they are engaged. Areas of the ACTFL Standards to which I align my lessons include Presentational Speaking and Interpretive Reading. This poetry contest provides an opportunity for the students to practice and apply their speaking and reading skills, as they will need to read the poem and learn what it means, as well as memorize and present it in front of judges and other students. The picture below shows the ACTFL Standards on Presentational Skills. Most of my students are in the Novice-to-Intermediate range, with a few Heritage speakers in the Advanced range. Novice presenters can produce "words and phrases and highly practiced sentences or formulaic questions," while Intermediate presenters can produce "sentences, series of sentences and some connected sentences" (ACTFL, n.d.). Advanced presenters can produce "full paragraphs that are organized and detailed" (ACTFL, n.d.). This means that when choosing a poem to read and present for the competition, the students should find a poem that is challenging but within their range.
Instructions and Event Details
Participation
The event was first brought to my attention by a fellow teacher. He has participated as a judge and brought students to the event for years. When he described the poetry contest, I thought about which of my students might be interested in participating. He talked about his students being the only students from Bridgeport, while most of the students come from suburban schools around the state. He talked about how excited his students had gotten in each of the years competing. The only concern was transportation and the fees to participate. The school and district would not pay for the students to participate in the contest, so it was up to the teachers to find a way to pay. I have a few students that are interested in poetry, so I kept those students in my mind. In my classes, I announced the event and opportunity for students to receive extra credit as an added benefit. There were also prizes available to students who won. I had the students who were interested talk to me after class, and a few students from a couple classes discussed the poetry contest and specifics to it. In total, I had three students commit to the competition. All three of the students had a different proficiency level, with one student at a Spanish One level, one student at a Spanish Two level and one Heritage speaker at an advanced level. Below is one the students' release forms for the competition.
Student Release From
After finding students to participate in the event, we had a list of poems from which they could select a poem based on their levels. Since all three of my volunteering students were of differing levels, they all had different lists from which they could choose a poem. Below is one of the poems that one of the students chose. She practiced it each day at the end of class while all the other students were preparing to leave. I helped her with pronunciation, and she gained confidence each time that she read it.
One of the Student Poems
Give me your hand and we will dance: Give me your hand and you will love me.
Just like one flower we will be, like a flower and nothing more...
We will sing the same verse, the same step you will dance.
Like a sprig we will curl up, like a sprig and nothing else.
You are Rose and I am Hope; but you forget your name,
Because we are a dance in the hill and nothing more...
One of my goals from this event was for my students to become excited about their education, especially learning another language. The three students are all seniors and tired of school. I have had conversations with them all, and they repeatedly told me that they had been counting down the days until they could leave school. In the photo below, two of the students that participated in the poetry contest sit in the back of class. They spent much of the first semester not very interested in Spanish and had stated that they could not learn it. According to Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching (2012), they are surface learners: someone who will “often do what it takes to pass an exam or course, but they won’t choose to go beyond the minimum required for fear of failure.” I was happy that they committed to participating in the poetry contest. I paid for them to enter, and it was worth it. They showed up to class more consistently, and I would remind them that they needed to practice the poem at the end of class. They did not resist and were excited to practice.
The students were not super invested in class before signing up for the contest.
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There are three samples below from one of the students participating in the contest. In the first one, she is unable to answer the last question. In the second, we complete a speed write, where the students write as many words as they can remember from a story we read in class. She was only able to remember six words. There were also many instances when she did not turn in an exit ticket. In the third sample, she wrote about her family. This sample took place after she signed up to participate in the contest. She did much better in writing about her family. She paid more attention in this lesson than in previous lessons. Therefore, she was able to produce more at the end of class.
Student Sample from October
1. Where are you from? I am from New York.
2. How old are you? I am 18.
Where do you live? ...
Student Sample from December
Monica, name, girl, floor cat, has
Student Sample from March
Family, My mom is attractive. My sister is attractive. My dad is handsome. My sister loves to eat.
The Event
Update: After all the schools in Connecticut were closed due to the Corona virus outbreak, the Poetry Recitation Contest was postponed. If the students return to school later this semester, it will be rescheduled. However, if the rest of the school year is cancelled, then the event will be cancelled this year. That being said, I plan on participating in the following Poetry Contest next school year regardless, as it was a bonding experience for my students and myself. This outside opportunity helped invest the participants in our class. The three students this year were tired of school and ready to leave school, since they did not have much interest in their classes. This gave them something to which they could look forward. Although the event did not happen, the weeks leading up to the Poetry Contest motivated my students and invested them in the class. By providing my students access to this opportunity, they worked harder in class as a result.
References:
ACTFL. (n.d.). USE OF TARGET LANGUAGE IN LANGUAGE LEARNING. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.actfl.org/guiding-principles/use-target-language-language-learning.
Aguilar, E. (2013, April 8). Five Reasons Why We Need Poetry in Schools. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-reasons-poetry-needed-schools-elena-aguilar
Cambridge University Press. (2018, January). HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE? Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/How-long-does-it-take-to-learn-a-foreign-language.pdf
Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. (2012). Motivating students. Retrieved from
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/