World Poetry Day

March 21 marks World Poetry Day (WPD). Created by UNESCO in 1999, WPD encourages us to return to the tradition of poetry readings and to place poetry within other literary genres such as novels, short stories and theatre plays. Poetry shouldn't be considered an outdated form of art, but "one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity". Poetry, in other words, has been one of the most powerful forms of expression to convey our most profound feelings and to inspire social change and progress.

To celebrate the greatness of poetry, watch this stimulating talk by Stephen Hurt on why we need poetry.

Poetry, you will see, has many great uses yet one that hasn't been mentioned by Stephen Hurt is its potential to help us perfect a skill that ESL learners find quite challenging: pronunciation. Carla Dechant, one of our English teachers, has very kindly shared with us a Crazy English Pronunciation Poem and some related activities that will help you practice the pronunciation of some of the most difficult spellings in English. Click here to download the worksheet.

Thanks a million, Carla!

Happy Poetry Day to all!