"ESL" is "English as a Second Language"
I found this in my in-box today, submitted for publication. We have a student newspaper and we print pretty much anything the students feel like writing. Students Yolanda and Cresencio wrote this excellent verse. They are basic students, so for them, this is an epic. I got a kick out if it.
[I fixed up the puncuation a little.]
EVERY SINGLE DAY,
IT IS A HOLIDAY.
I LOOK AT YOU AND SAY,
"IN ENGLISH THE WORD IS... 'QUE?'"
BECAUSE YOU SPEAK ANOTHER TONGUE,
WHICH I HAVEN'T EVEN SUNG,
AND, FRANKLY, MAKES ME WANT TO RUN
TO WHERE I CAN BECOME A NUN.
[Well, maybe Yolanda and not Cresencio...]
FOR ENGLISH IS YOUR NATIVE VOICE
AND, EVEN THOUGH IT SOUNDS LIKE NOISE
TO ME IT IS A BEAUTIFUL CHOICE
THAT YOU AND I CAN CHAT AND REJOICE
6 comments:
Very impressive - there are plenty of native speakers who wouldn't come close.
how sweet....they've got the rhyme thing down pat....!
My students are famous!
That is lovely!! rhyme and meter for a non native speaker is really impressive!
r.
How WONDERFUL, Kate! Getting poetry in any language is a feat, and that they could do it and rhyme and make sense of it....impressive.
I am working on poetry with my kids. It's hard even for them. So I can't imagine trying to do it in another language.
Once, I wrote a haiku in English. My Mexican/American friend had to help me translate it, though. My translation was too textbook and literal. I can see what your students have had to go through to produce even this much! GOOD FOR YOU AND THEM!
Awww...I'm sure it is the moments like this when you really feel like what you are doing is making a difference. I know there has been a lot of trouble lately with the teacher up and quitting on you, so hopefully these little moments will help to make those disasters more bearable. :)
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