The "poetry" boys ...

I "worked" on a fairly complex poem, regarding the choice of words and intonation, with a group of seven boys aged 7 to 9, (who had attended two of my previous workshops on April 2009 and February 2010), which they were supposed to recite on the day of the exhibition ...

I must say that although I encouraged them all  week through (from Monday to Thursday inclusive), I was not fully convinced they would be able to overcome some of the Language barriers (from mispronounced words to inadequate intonation) till Sunday ...

Reciting for the audience

But they did ... and proud and flawlessly recited " The Voice of animals" in front of an audience, who was captivated by them and what they managed to accomplish in such a limited amount of time (half an hour a day for 4 consecutive days).

The extra half an hour a day was used to read a book and complete its pages by having the adequate stickers put on,  as in accordance with the guidelines at the bottom of each page. I found this activity to have further helped them to articulate words in the Portuguese Language, which (because of the similarity) they tend to adapt to the creole, not to mention the huge amount of new words they learnt with this methodology.

Showing the book they read (front row from Left to Right - Keven, Gerson and Veinilson; Back row in the same order  - Patrick, Kevin, Ismael and Kevin Patrick); Veinilson proudly showing the page he read and completed with the stickers (Right).

I also feel that this approach to poetry raised their interest in further wanting to "discover" new things, which they will otherwise not have access to, unless they continue developing their reading skills.