Crossing Borders/Breaking Boundaries IV:
The Impact of Islamic Culture on the Arts of the Renaissance

July 19-26, 2004
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Lesson Title: Using Poems to Teach Language and an Appreciation for Nature

Name: Victoria Yan

School/Grade level: Viers Mill Elementary School – teaching ESOL to fourth and fifth grade students.

Keywords: poem, poetry, ESOL, nature, beauty, figurative language, similes, descriptions

Theme: Living a Balanced Life (Appreciating the Beauty of Nature)

This lesson is designed for fifth grade ESOL students. The students, of many different cultural backgrounds, speak a language other than English at home and attend ESOL class to become proficient in the English language. The ESOL curriculum is based on the English Language Arts curriculum of the school system in which I teach. In ESOL class, five language skills are focused on: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language study.

The theme of this lesson is “living a balanced life,” which is a salient aspect of Islamic culture. Possessing an ability to appreciate the beauty of nature is one facet of living a balanced life because it contributes to the development of a rounded, and, hopefully, optimistic individual. Two poems from Muslim Spain which reveal the beauty of nature through clearly-defined imagery and repeated language patterns are used for this lesson: Sun on the Horizon by Ali ibn Musa ibn Sa’id and The Beauty of the Rose by Abu al-Abbas al-Ghassani. In addition to helping students appreciate the beauty of nature, this lesson also integrates reading, writing, speaking, and language study—skills that the ESOL students need to develop. This lesson will be taught in conjunction with the poetry study unit of the English Language Arts curriculum. The duration of this lesson is 60 minutes.

Essential Questions:

  • How does an appreciation of the beauty of nature help me to become a balanced person?
  • How does reading and writing poetry help me to develop language proficiency?

Lesson Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will

  • Read and comprehend two poems centered on the beauty of nature.
  • Write “parallel poems”, using figurative language and appropriate grammtical elements.
  • Use similes and descriptive phrases to evoke salient aspects of natural objects.
  • Illustrate their poems to clarify the meaning and express an appreciation for the beauty of nature.
  • Share their poems with the class by reading them aloud.

Assessments:

  • Students answer questions on the meaning of the two poems.
  • Students perform oral and written tasks that focus on identifying and producing appropriate similes and descriptive phrases.
  • Students write parallel poems, using appropriate similes, descriptive phrases, and grammatical elements.
  • Students draw illustrations to clarify their poems and show an appreciation for the beauty of nature.
  • Students read poems aloud with fluency and expression.

Lesson Plan Stages:

Introduction/Activator
Students are shown pictures and photographs of beautiful natural objects.
Teacher models the use of descriptive phrases and similes to bring out the beauty of the objects.
Class discusses how appreciating natural objects help them to become better people.

Explanation/Modeling
Teacher reads “Sun on the Horizon” aloud.
Class discusses poem, focusing on the use of the simile and descriptive phrase in the poem.
Students read the poem for fluency with a partner.
Teacher models a “parallel poem,” using the moon as a natural object.

Guided Practice
Students are given a parallel poem, entitled “Stars in the Night Sky”, with blanks where they need to provide an appropriate simile and a descriptive phrase.
Students work with a partner to complete the parallel poem “Stars in the Night Sky.”
Students draw an illustration of their poem to bring out the meaning of the poem and the beauty of the scene.

Teacher reads the second poem “The Beauty of the Rose” aloud.
Teacher discusses word meanings with class (“brilliance,” “twilight,” “sesame seeds,” “clustered.”)
In a think/pair/share activity, students first reread the poem, then think about the meaning, and finally share what they comprehend with a partner.
With their partner, students look for the similes and descriptive phrases in the poem and write them in their notebook.
Students share their written work with the class.

Independent Practice
Students will write a parallel poem, based on the structure of “The Beauty of the Rose”.
For the parallel poem, students will select a favorite natural object—for example, a tree, a fruit, grass, another flower, or an animal.
After selecting their favorite natural object, students will complete the parallel poem—i.e. fill in the blanks with appropriate similes, descriptive phrases, and vocabulary, using appropriate grammatical elements.
Students draw illustrations that bring out the meaning of the poem.
Students read their poem aloud to the class with expression and fluency.

Closure
Students fill in an exit card summarizing what they have learned in the lesson:
Two things that I learned in this lesson.
One question I have about this lesson.

Instructional Materials

Sun on the Horizon
Ali ibn Musa ibn Sa’id

Look at the sun on the horizon; it is like a bird
Casting its wing over the surface of the bay.

The Beauty of the Rose
Abu al-Abbas al-Ghassani

How beautiful the rose in its colors
of deep red and pure white.
Its whiteness is like the brilliance of the stars; its
redness not different from the red of twilight.
And the yellow in its center is like sesame seeds
clustered on a plate.

Teacher Model (based on Sun on the Horizon)
Moon in the Winter Sky
Look at the moon in the winter sky; it is like a glowing ball
Floating in a sea of darkness.

Students’ Parallel Poem (based on Sun on the Horizon)
Stars in the Night Sky
Look at the stars in the night sky; they are ______________________
_ (simile)
______________________________________________________
___ (descriptive phrase).

Students’ Parallel Poem (based on The Beauty of the Rose)

_______________________________ (Title)
How beautiful the ______________________________________________ (object)
_____________________________________________________ (and descriptive phrase).

Its ______________ (a color) is ________________________________________ (simile); its _____________ (a color) not different __________________________ (descriptive phrase)
And the _______________ (color) in its center is ____________________________ (simile)
_______________________________________________________ (descriptive phrase).

Sponsored by
the Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies
and the Maryland State Department of Education