Lesson plan
Nature poem
Topic
Nature, acrostic poems
Aims
• To help learners identify features of an acrostic poem
• To recycle or extend previous language work
• To provide opportunities to use the language in writing
• To develop learners’ ability to manipulate language
• To develop planning skills for creative writing
Age/level
Primary learners aged 9–12
CEFR level A1+
Time
45 minutes approximately
Materials
materials for finished poem: card and colours (per learner or pair of learners)
Introduction
This short lesson plan is intended to provide a supplementary activity for primary learners who have been
working on the topic of nature. The activity works regardless of the aspect of nature that you have been
working on, but there is an assumption that learners will be familiar enough with the aspect to be able to
generate a wide variety of words and phrases connected to it.
In this activity, learners look at an example acrostic poem and identify its features. As a class, they build
another poem together by following simple stages, then they go through the same stages independently in
order to create their own poem. Finally, they share their poems with the other learners and try to guess the
topic of each other’s poems.
Procedure
1. Introducing • Read the class an example acrostic. The poem should use a main word from the
the concept (5 aspect of nature that you have been working on and show how the main letters can
minutes) either start the line or come in the middle. For example, if you have been doing
flowering plants, you could use this poem about petals:
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Lesson plan
Soft and Pretty
Every shape and size
Each Together with its neighbours
Like A colourful crown
Looking for visiting insects and birds
Success!
• Ask learners what they think the poem is about. After a few ideas, show them the
poem. Make sure you have written it so that the letters P – E – T – A – L – S stand
out, e.g. written in a different colour.
2. Identifying • Ask learners if they have seen this kind of poem before or if they know what it’s
features (5 called. Tell them it’s an acrostic poem. Give them the following questions to answer
minutes) in pairs, based on your example poem:
1. What word is the poem about?
2. Does the poem rhyme?
3. Does each letter from the main word start the line? yes/no/sometimes
4. Are the lines long, short or both?
3. Task set-up • Explain that learners are going to write their own nature acrostic poem. The main
and word (i.e. what the poem will be about) can be any word connected to the aspect of
demonstration nature that you have been working on. Brainstorm some ideas.
(10 minutes) • Choose one of the ideas and ask learners in pairs or groups to write down as many
words or phrases that could describe the main word as they can think of. Tell them
not to worry about whether the words or phrases contain one of the letters from the
main word at this stage.
• Write their ideas on one half of the board. Then write the main word vertically in the
middle of the other half of the board. First, ask learners to tell you where some ‘easy’
words or phrases could go, i.e. ones with a word which start with one of the main
letters. Now choose one or two of the trickier ones, where there is no main letter.
Elicit or demonstrate some ways of including it. Is there a synonym that has one of
the main letters? Could another word be added to make it a (longer) phrase that
would make it fit? Is it possible to make it fit with one of the main letters that’s
already taken and then find another place for that one?
• Once you have a rough poem on the board, finally ask learners to read it through
and decide if they like it, if they think the words and phrases are in a roughly logical
order, and to look at the remaining ideas on the board to see if there are any there
they might like to change something for. Then finalise the poem.
4. Planning and • Learners now choose their own main word and write a poem. They can work
production (15– individually or in pairs. You might like to specify a minimum or maximum length for
20 minutes) the word they choose.
• Break the planning and writing into stages as you did with the demonstration poem –
deciding on a main word, brainstorming words and phrases connected to it, slotting
in obvious ones, manipulating the language to fit the trickier ones, evaluating and
finalising the poem. Set separate time limits for learners to complete each stage to
help the class stay on task. During each stage, monitor to help with language and
ideas.
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© The British Council, 2019 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
Lesson plan
• When learners have finished their poem, give them some card and colours to write
their poem out neatly. Encourage them to make the main word stand out, e.g. by
using different colours or writing them in bubble writing which they decorate. Fast
finishers can draw pictures to illustrate their poem.
5. Presentation • Ask learners to mingle and read their poem to each other, but not show each other
(5–10 minutes) the written poem. Learners listen to each poem and then try to guess what the main
word is.
• Display the finished poems on the classroom wall if possible.
[Optional • Learners could write a few sentences to summarise what they’ve learned in previous
extension] lessons about this particular word. For example, for petals they could write about
what petals are and their function on a flower.
• Alternatively, learners could write another acrostic poem using a different main word
for homework.
Contributed by
Rachael Ro
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© The British Council, 2019 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
