Argues that the study of literature, including poetry, can play an important role in teaching English as a second language (ESL). Presents a seven-step approach for teaching a poem in an ESL classroom and illustrates the approach using the poem, "The Death of the Hired Man" by Robert Frost. (SED)

Describes a technique used in an English composition course to encourage student experimentation with different language choices. The students are given a Chinese poem, along with a romanized pronunciation and dictionary translation of each character. They are then instructed to write a few sentences in English conveying the poem's message. (SED)

Offers suggestions on the use of the cloze procedure as a device in teaching aural comprehension and spelling in foreign language instruction. Students listen to the unaltered spoken text while reading a multilated version of it and then fill in the blanks with the word they hear on the recording. (SED)

Suggests using poetry's short short forms for a methodical and rapid series of writing assignments that emphasize both careful writing at the sentence level and overall planning and respect for form. (HTH)

Analyzes several texts of Italian poetry to show that signs in poetic language are visual and that they may function independently of their relationship with spoken language. Maintains that poetic language is motivated in its visuality and that it is iconic in a fundamental way. (FL)

Describes a creative writing program in which second and fourth grade students wrote and read their poetry. (FL)

Describes the writing processes involved in composing and revising a poem that was eventually published. (FL)

A fictional (perhaps) description of the authors' experience as a visiting poet to a tough class. (CRH)

Describes two poetry models that encourage the students to begin writing with the literal facts--the concrete--and allow the more abstract meaning to emerge from there. (CRH)

Reviews new publications dealing with the teaching of poetry and the consideration of values in the language arts classroom. (RBW)

Compares the imagery of two poems that deal with the price exacted by athletic success: John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player" and A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young." (RBW)

Argues that the formalistic study of poetry is the best preparation for the study of law because no other discipline (1) communicates so well that words are not often interchangeable, (2) concentrates as much on the effects of ambiguity in words and phrases, and (3) focuses as much on the concept of contextuality. (MM)

Presents Gregory Corso's poem, "Poets Hitchhiking on the Highway," as an intellectually profitable assignment graphically illustrating the metonymic and metaphoric modes. (MM)

Suggests that the attempt by students to guess at the underlying sense of a poem is encouraged by teachers' pursuit of right and wrong answers, failure to respond to form and context, and presentation of poetry at a level of conceptualization beyond students' ability to respond. (KS)

Discusses the possibilities for creative work in language classes. (Editor/RK)