PIZZAZ! Persona-Poems
PIZZAZ!...PERSONA-POEMS
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/bio-poem.html
PIZZAZ!
|||
OPPortunities
in ESL
INFORMATION
ESL Student Level: High Beginner+
Description: A structured 8-line poem, biographical in
nature. Adapted from the materials of June B.
White, currently at the Fundacion Grace Polit in
Quito, Ecuador.
Sample Persona-Poem
Kate.....
tall, energetic, happy, intelligent
mother (daughter, friend, etc.) of Danny
who loves music, books and fresh air
who is afraid of President Bush, spiders and heights
who wants to see Latin America, the end of poverty and summer
resident of this moment
.....Thompson.
More
Persona-Poems
WARM-UP ACTIVITIES
Persona-poems make a good in-class writing assignment at the beginning of
the
term when students are just getting acquainted with each other. Students
bring in photos or small momentos, collect pictures from magazines, and/or
draw their own pictures of things which are self-representative. This
becomes the basis for their poem and follow-up collage.
INSTRUCTIONS
- In small groups or together as a class, look at the example poem about
"Kate" and discuss the structure of the eight lines. What parts of
speech or groupings of words typify each line?
- Using the template (below), students can work alone and write about
themselves, or work in pairs and write about their partners.
Sample Analysis of a Persona-Poem
Line 1: Kate = first name/nickname of the person in the poem
Line 2: tall, energetic, happy, intelligent = 4 adjectives which
describe the person
Line 3: mother of Danny = X of Y
formula, describing an important relationship to the person
Line 4: who loves music, books and fresh air = 3 things s/he loves
Line 5: who is afraid of President Bush, spiders and heights =
3 things that scare her/him
Line 6: who wants to see Latin America, the end of poverty and
summer = 3 things s/he wants to see
Line 7: resident of this moment = resident of...+ place/time/concept
Line 8: Thompson. = last name of the person in the poem
TEMPLATE
(justify right, center or left for different effects)
Title of Poem
Author's Name
_________________ .....(first name/s)
____________, ____________, _____________, ____________
____________ of ____________
who loves ____________, ____________ and ____________
who is afraid of ____________, ____________ and ____________
who wants to see ____________, ____________ and ____________
resident of ____________
..... ________________. (last name)
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES
Students finish their collages, including the poem.
Persona-poems make good wall posters and/or a class anthology! This is a
great way for students to find out more about their peers and can be used
as the starting point for more interesting conversations.
Leslie Opp-Beckman, Technology Coordinator and ESL Instructor
E-mail:
leslieob@uoregon.edu
5212 University of
Oregon,
American English Institute
Eugene, Oregon 97403-5212 USA
Leslie Opp-Beckman and June White, copyright 1995-2003. Permission to
copy
and
distribute for in-class, non-profit use only.
URL: http://www.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/pizzaz.html
This page last updated: 13 August 2003