Poetry from the heart

Abstract

Task-based classroom work in Taiwan that uses a mix of traditional teaching, multimedia, and online video. In this paper, I discuss how poetry can be used as a topic of discussion and the basis for a task-based project for university students who have had little exposure to American poetry. The use of multimedia and online video as tools in the course of this project is also discussed and attention is likewise given to student feedback on a questionnaire administered online. Students' critical reflections and subjective analyses of their performances and their feelings toward the project reveal positive results, allowing me to conclude that the integration of poetry into language-teaching work, if delivered effectively, can hone students' thinking, reading, listening, writing, speaking and analytical skills. It is not only the amount of hard work that matters, but how far the imagination is stretched.