This is a poem that I composed for my students whom I will be teaching English this year. This was both my introduction and my opening gambit, which was way more fun than a simple monologue..
This is more of a rant, rather than an ode,
There is so much to do, that I have started to pray!
Oh God in heavens, please guide my way,
I have an English period, almost every day!
Although there’s nothing more interesting than English in class,
But when I get to language part, I hope it will just pass!
With similes and metaphors, I tend to get confused,
Forgetting what’s what and when and where which is used!
And what’s to tell you of nouns and pronouns,
There are so many types that I have lost count!
There’s reflexive and relative, emphatic and interrogative,
That makes a practice session, a must, an imperative!
But when I have understood them all very well,
It’s like someone has casted me in a happy spell!
And so the story of my language goes on and on,
Even if I summarize it, it’ll last till dawn!
This then brings me to its sister-in-crime,
Literature it is, spells trouble, big time!
There’s Stevenson and Austin, Dickens and Defoe,
The stories they tell, they make you go, “Whoa!”
They write about people from all over the world,
Sometimes, it feels, I have been walking in dream world!
And what follows the reading is more comprehending, writing and listening,
Troubles ever mounting, never really ending!
English is boring or it appears to be so,
Nevertheless, it taught me things I didn’t know.
It gave me skills, and freedom of speech,
Something, movies and cartoon, can’t all alone teach!
So my dear students when English scares you,
Give it sometime, and you will pull through!
And then you will realize that sometimes in life,
All is needed is an effort, to overcome a strife.
And also that skills to do comes by doing,
And never to give up the dream you are pursuing!
So focus today, work hard every day,
All your efforts, tomorrow shall pay,
And when they do, I promise you will say!
“Boy, it’s good to work hard and be rewarded for it!”
