The Poetry Society

James Carter visits Elis International School in Murcia, Spain

21-25 April 2008

What makes a good visit to a school? Organisation and preparation. Oh yes – and heaps of enthusiasm, all of which were in abundance during my second residency at ELIS International school in Murcia, Spain.

I have worked as a roving children’s poet for six years now. I visit, on average, over 140 Primary schools a year. That’s a lot of schools, and a lot of fun. I have had a great many rewarding times in Primary schools – fantastic days in which both teachers and children alike have been most welcoming, receptive, responsive and above all, keen to participate in my poetry performances and workshops. But without doubt, this  residency at El Limonar International School (ELIS) in Murcia, was one of the most enjoyable and rewqrding experiences I’ve had in six years. The five days were meticulously organised by the Primary Co-ordinator. We exchanged many emails working out a mutually agreeable schedule – with a range of performances and workshops for KS1/KS2/KS3 in four different ELIS schools in the Murcia area.

Before I even stepped off that Easyjet plane, each child in the four schools had read my poetry, prepared not only questions to ask at the end of my performances, but also every class in the Murcia Upper KS2 department had prepared a performance (with actions!) of one of my poems. On noticeboards around the Murcia Primary school there were even photos of me with biographies and a selection of my poems. Talk about the red carpet!

In brief, the week shaped out like this :

MONDAY – at main ELIS Primary school in Murcia

• 1/2 hour performance for Yrs 2/3/4 in hall
• 4 workshops with Yr 4 and Yr 5 classes (1 hour each)

TUESDAY – at main ELIS Primary school in Murcia

• ½ hr performance for Yrs 5/6/7 in hall
• ½ hr Q&A session / Class Poetry Performances – in hall
• 3 workshops with Yr 4 and Yr 5 classes

WEDNESDAY – day divided between two Infant schools

• AM : two short poetry performances – Reception/Yr 1
• 1 hr INSET on Poetry writing with teachers
• PM : two short poetry performances –n Reception/Yr 1
• 1 hr INSET as above

THURSDAY – visit to ELIS school in Villamartin by the coast

• AM – Performances for Yrs 2/3/4 and 5/6/7 in hall – ½ hr each
• 4 workshops with Yrs 6 and 7 (1 hr each) 

FRIDAY – final day back at Murcia, but in Senior school

• 2 workshops with Yr 8 – 1 ½ hrs each

ELIS is a group of international schools, with, on average, 80% Spanish nationals, 20& English pupils. Most lessons are taught in English. As a school, they highly value poetry as a dynamic, creative and performance-based, cross-curricular learning tool. I’m sure the Head of the Murcia Primary school won’t mind me saying that she is a poet herself, so poetry is high on the school’s agenda.

As a performer and workshopper I am lively, quirky and exuberant! ELIS very much encourages this, and the children were most responsive orally and on paper too in the workshops. I heard a great many wonderful poems from haikus to kennings to raps, some of which are included here. You can just feel the energy and imagination that have gone into writing these pieces.

All the workshops involved me performing a few poems to warm up the session and a brief introduction to my books and my process of writing. From there, I would introduce the form of poetry and I would scribe the children’s ideas, shaping them into a poem on the board. The children then had half an hour or so to write and read out their own versions. I would highlight lines and phrases in particular that I liked, and would offer gentle suggestions for further work on the poems. My philiosophy in workshops is to encourage and to enthuse, but to always show children how their poems can be developed further beyond the first draft.

The two INSET sessions I gave on the Tuesday were for Reception and Year 1 teachers in Maria Dios’s two infant departments. We looked at very simple models of poetic language that allow children to engage in their own creativity, with plenty of patterning, repetition and alliteration.

Working in an international school is not that different to any school in the UK. Clearly, you have to talk more slowly and as clearly as you can - and of course watch the cultural references. As I always say, children are children wherever you go, and are always up for having fun with language. What really makes the difference with a one day visit or a residency is the teaching staff – it’s whether they prepare the children, involve the children and signal to the children that a visit from a pot is an exciting and important event. ELIS certainly does that!

As a visiting poet, I am perpetually baffled by teachers that tell me ‘oh, we did poetry last term,’ or ‘we'll be doing a module on poetry after half-term’ or, worst of all, ‘we never do any poetry, but we will today because you’re here’. Isn’t language central, sorry, fundamental to the Primary curriculum? And isn’t poetry the most immediate, fun, accessible and user-friendly form of language available to Primary teachers and children? Surely it should be part of the fabric of a Primary school’s daily life? Is that a bit radical? No! ELIS does this – and the results are manifold. Here are some of them . . .
 

Snow White Rap

by Carolina & Hope (P6A)

Hey everybody – listen, yo!
Here’s a rap you might just know,
It’s all about a girl called Snow!

(Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!)

She was the prettiest girl you’ll ever have seen –
Despite her mother, who was so mean.
She headed to the woods one day
Listening to the dwarfs who say:

(Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!)

She followed the dwarfs into their house,
And said, “Hey dudes, how’s you hanging out?”
She grabbed the broom and swept the floor,
Knocking Dopey out the door.

(Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!)

Later on while Snow was sleepin’
Along came a dame who was a-weepin’:
“Take this apple, my dear child!”
Snow White bit it, and then she smiled.

(Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!)

To her shock she fell to the ground,
Just after that the dwarfs came round.
Followed by a hunky prince
Who gave her a right royal kiss!

(Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to CHURCH we go!)

What am I?

Kennings written by P4 children.

Dolphin

Help giver
Sea taker,
People lover
Shark hater
Fish eater
Peace maker
Sea creature

Monkey

Smile bringer
Camera taker
Fruit lover
Apple eater
Jungle creature

 

The Planets

Haiku Poem by 5PB

Mercury – closest
Although its not the hottest
Days are the longest

Venus is hottest
second neearest to the sun
it’s very cloudy

Earth, earth, where we live
Much bigger than the moon
Smaller than the sun

Mars, the red planet
Similar to planet Earth?
Poisonous planet!

It spins around space
Saturn is a ringed planet
where no one has gone

Made of gases, third
Largest planet, Uranus
It spins differently

Neptune looks dark blue
Like earth’s blue seas and oceans
Poisonous gases!

Pluto is so small
All it is is ice and rock
It’s not a planet