The Teaching Plan for the Poem

After learning this poem, students will 1) be able to know how to appreciate an

English poem. 2) be able to understand the real meaning

of the poem and its message that the poet really wanted to convey.

3) be able to write a simple and similar English poem.

Activity 1: Listen to some sounds from the nature and ask

students how they feel about the sounds they heard.

Sound of a stream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJ7tIeotWw

Students try to write down any natural sounds that they are familiar with in small groups, For instance, sounds like rain, thunder, birds’ singing, door knock and so on.

Each group will act the sound out later and ask the other group about their feelings after hearing the sounds they made.

Show a picture of a pendulum clock and discuss about its history, structure, shape and sound with students.

1) Introduce the background of the poet: Andrew Berrie and the poem to the students.

2) Ask students to list some rhyming words they have known on a piece of paper. Such as may, hay, bay, lay, lock, clock, block, flock and so on.

Read the poem and try to answer the questions: 1) How do you feel or what are your emotions

after reading the poem? 2) What is special about the shape of the poem? 3) What message does the poet really want to

convey in his poem? i.e. what true theme is the poem?

4) Read the poem aloud to the class individually or in pairs or in groups.

...tick-tockTICK-TOCKTICK-TOCK

HYPNOPTISINGHYPNOPTISING

The pendulum goesUP-DOWNHIGH-LOW

The cogs go fast and slowThe weight sinks lower and lower and lower

...TICK-TOCKTICK-TOCK

The hands go stealthily roundOH What a beautiful sound...

TICK-TOCKTICK-TOCKTICK-TOCKtick-tock...

Task 1: Vocabulary 1) Check the vocabulary understanding by

matching the synonyms or paraphrases of the words in the poem:

hypnotise, pendulum, magnificent, cog, stealthily.

2) Students discuss why the poet used this word instead of its synonym whether we can replace them or not in groups.

Task 2: Poem Reciting Competition

As we often hear that time is life and time is money. It is true that time passes away in a wink.

What do you do when waiting for the bus or for classes to start?

How do you treasure your time and how do you manage your time better?

Try to write a poem that is similar to this one that you have learned today and you can express your certain feelings or emotions through your poems.

The End!