Celebrating World Poetry Day

During its 30th session held in Paris in October-November 1999, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) decided to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".

UNESCO encourages the Member States to take an active part in celebrating the World Poetry Day, at both local and national level, with the active participation of National Commissions, NGOs and the public and private institutions concerned (schools, municipalities, poetic communities, museums, cultural associations, publishing houses, local authorities, etc.).

You can find many resources (video, blogs and others) to promote poetry in your EFL classroom on this page: http://community.eflclassroom.com/page/poetry-in-the-classroom