English Career Resources

The Poetry of Work

Introduction

Part 1: What do you call work?

Part 2: What people feel about their work

Part 3: People and their
work – poetry writing

The Poetry of Work

Key Stage 3: The Poetry of Work

Part 3: People and their work – poetry writing

Activity One - haiku

You will need:

Writing materials
Examples of haiku

Tips:

A haiku is a brief Japanese form that has been adapted into English in various ways. Its usual definition is that it is a three-line poem, consisting of seventeen syllables split 5 - 7 - 5.
For excellent advice on how to write haiku and examples go to:
www.toyomasu.com/haiku/#Menu.

Show pupils some examples of haiku. Try writing some haiku together. Here is one I wrote about the window cleaner who comes once a month.

My window-cleaner

Carrying his sponge
Water bucket and ladder
He's on the way up!

Activity Two – Acrostic poem

You will need:

Writing materials

Tips:

Though the lines don't need to rhyme – it does help to raise the level of challenge.
Let students work in pairs on the writing..

Students choose an occupation that they think they would like to do and then create an acrostic poem full of attitude!

Here's an example:

Drills away all day
Enjoys filling in his time this way
Novacaine dulls the pain
Teeth are what he sees in a red lane
Inspection of mouths a speciality
Saliva, gobs and gums his reality
This is the life of the dentist!

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