G. Poem-Painting-Poem

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I learned the ideas in this section from Suzanne Molitor at the TESL 7 Ontario Conference in January 1994.

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You will find poems in other chapters of this book; other good sources are The Other Voice: 20th Century Women's Poetry in Translation; and Going for Coffee by Tom Wayman.
(See Resources, page 99.)

The purpose of this section is to encourage learners to express their feelings by drawing or painting after reading poetry.

2. Reading poems

* Select a few poems from different cultures about women's issues. Divide learners into small groups, and ask each group to choose a poem.

* Ask each group to read the chosen poem. A discussion about the poem might be necessary depending on the level of the group. New words, especially those that describe feelings, should be introduced during the discussion.

3. Painting

* Ask each group to draw or paint one picture to illustrate the poem, or to make a collage from magazine pictures.

* Share the art the groups produce.

4. Writing a poem

* Ask learners to choose one of the pictures created by the groups, and write a seven line poem about it, based on their telephone numbers. Ask them to write the telephone number vertically, as shown below. The number of words on each line is specified by the number on the left. If there is a "0" in the telephone number the learner has the choice of leaving the line blank, or choosing any number of words for that line.

9 ____________________________________________________
5 ____________________________________________________
3 ____________________________________________________
2 ____________________________________________________
7 ____________________________________________________
0 ____________________________________________________
1 ____________________________________________________

There is no need for rhyming. Lines can consist of individual words, phrases or sentences.

* Learners share their work and proofread each other's poems.

* Copy the poems and display them in the classroom.

H. Proverbs

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The proverbs are intended to raise our awareness about how women have been portrayed in different cultures. Even though the sayings presented here are mostly biased or negative, this activity by no means condones them. Therefore, it would be advisable for teachers to make this point clear to the learners throughout the activity.

The objectives of this section are to encourage learners to exchange proverbs, to examine proverbs about women and men from many parts of the world, and to discuss discrimination, stereotypes and double standards.

To prepare for this activity, collect proverbs about men, women and marriage. Select some proverbs, perhaps a maximum of 20. Divide each proverb into two halves and prepare two sets of flash cards, each a different colour. Use flash cards of one colour to write the beginnings of the proverbs, and cards of the other color to write the endings. For example, "If a man tells his secrets to his wife. . ." (first half) " she will bring him into the way of Satan" (second half). (African Kanuri)

1. Completing a proverb

* Teacher demonstrates the activity by selecting a card (half of a proverb) and asking learners to make up a beginning or an ending for the proverb.

* Learners select two to three cards and complete the proverbs. Remind learners that they only have half of a proverb. A capital letter starts the first half and a small letter starts the second half of the proverb.

* Learners share their completed proverbs and suggest other ways of completing the proverbs.

* Show learners the original endings of the proverbs.


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