Last Wednesday I had a poem workshop in my English class at Molloy College. I met our writer-in-residence, Barbara Novack. What an amazing woman and a pleasure to meet. She gave us many poems and stated that poetry is a great learning tool for ESL students. Below are some poems that she gave us to read.

Verb Poem
Boom, rattle, crash,
Duck, run, hide.
I hate broken windows!

Speak, Chat, discuss,
Communicate, gossip, talk
I love my phone!


Adverb Poem

The Goat

The goat bleats happily,
The goat bleats, happily, disturbingly,
Bleats happily, disturbingly, weirdly,
Happily, disturbingly, weirdly, excitedly,
When it sees a female goat.

Vocabulary
Broken- something that was smashed and now is in two or more pieces
Female - girl
Residence - Where you live
Poem - a group of words that have a meaning about something
Workshop - small group of people that are learning about a specific topic
Commincate - to let people know something by peroson, phone, tv, newspaper, etc.
Chat - to talk
Hide - to go somewhere, where you cannot be seen
Read - to say words out loud
Many - more than once


Vocabulary Exercise - Please fill in the blanks with the correct word

1. There are two _____ envelopes in the mailbox.
2. An applciation might ask you if you are a _______ or a male.
3. I have to attend a professional _______ each semester for my Masters Degree.
4. My ______ is in the state of New York.
5. The students had to write a _____ about their favorite color.
6. The children had to ____ while the teacher counted to ten.
7. You have to _____ to improve your vocabulary.
8. The teacher had to _______ to her students that class was canceled.
9. I sat down with my parents and had a _____ about school.
10. When Amy was walking to her car, she noticed that the windows were ______.

Grammar Point
Identify the Verbs and Adverbs from the poems.