Producing Little Shakespeares

        When time permits, I love to introduce acrostic poems in my classes. And I always include at least a session of acrostic poems in my English Language Society meetings. An acrostic poem is a poem where certain letters in each line spell out a word or phrase. More often than not, the very first letter of each line is used to spell out the message. 

As April draws to its end,
Perhaps it's time to 
Reflect on how much we've achieved
In these four months and
Learn from mistakes made.

        Students love it, especially, when I get them to write acrostic poems of either their own names or names of their classmates. Needless to say, I have to emphasise that only positive things get to be featured.

        But in the most recent English Language Society meeting, I decided to tweak the writing a little after coming across the idea in the Internet. I divided the members into four groups : 2 groups were named the Optimist Clubs while the remaining 2 were members of the Pessimist Clubs. Captains from each group came forward to pick a topic, which was then used to pen an acrostic poem. 

The rule : the Optimist Club can only describe their topic in everything positive and the Pessimist Club is only allowed to depict their topic in a negative light!

The results of their labour :
1.   The Optimist Club said 
Examinations are great
Xtra revision to reinforce our information
A plus will be claimed
Moms will be happy
Imagine a world with smart people
Nothing would stop me
A new hope is waiting
To be achieved
I will be the best!
Our knowledge will be tested
Never be last
Search for your standard!

2.   The Pessimist Club said
Exams are useless
Xtremely hard and boring
Always study until midnight
Mom scolds me every day
I hate exams
Nobody likes exams
A is impossible to get
Terrifying questions everywhere
Immensely suffocating
Oh my God!
Nobody welcomes exams
Sad life of every student.

3.   The Optimist Club said
Girlfriends
I have a gem
Ready to be by my side
Let's go on a trip
Far away from the busy city
Resting on your shoulders
Inhale the beautiful sunset view
Everlasting
Never ending
Dreams come true.

4.   The Pessimist Club said
Great without them
Incredibly selfish and demanding
Respect nothing
Lack of sympathy
Furious when wishes are not met
Retarded
Idiotic
Extremely impossible to reason with
No privacy for boys
Dreadful to meet.

       

Little poets hard at work

At the end of the session, I have not churned out little Shakespeares but at least, my charges appeared to have enjoyed writing the poems.