World Poetry Day

World Poetry Day is celebrated every year on March 21 and was established by the UNESCO to promote the reading, writing, publishing, and teaching of poetry around the world. The day recognizes poetry as a powerful form of expression that reflects cultural identity, preserves languages, and gives voice to emotions, ideas, and social realities. It also aims to support linguistic diversity and encourage the appreciation of both well-known and lesser-known poets.

For educators, World Poetry Day is an important opportunity to bring creativity and critical thinking into the classroom. Poetry helps students develop language skills, improve reading comprehension, and explore rhythm, imagery, and meaning in a deeper way than many other types of texts. It also allows learners to express their thoughts and feelings, making it a valuable tool for emotional development and personal reflection. By introducing poetry from different cultures and traditions, teachers can foster empathy, cultural awareness, and respect for diversity.

Poetry can be used across subjects, connecting language learning with history, art, and social issues. Celebrating World Poetry Day in schools encourages students to see literature as something alive and relevant, not just as an academic subject. Overall, it is a meaningful way for educators to inspire a love of language, creativity, and expression while helping students understand the richness of human experience.

Visit.

https://www.unesco.org/en/days/poetry

Lyrikline.org

Lyrikline.org is an international online platform dedicated to poetry. It was created in 1999 by the Haus für Poesie in Berlin, Germany.

The website offers poems from around the world in their original language and often translated into other languages (including English), audio recordings of poets reading their own poems, biographical information about the poets, and access to thousands of poems from different cultures and time periods.

Lyrikline.org can be very useful for language learning as you can listen to poems in their original language and improve your listening skills.

https://www.lyrikline.org/en/home/

A selection of poems in English:

https://www.lyrikline.org/en/poems?nav=1&filter_fired=1&lang%5B%5D=en

Poetry by Heart

Poetry by Heart is a national poetry speaking competition for schools and colleges in England. It’s also a website for teaching and learning about poetry, and with plenty of choice for young people to explore poems and find the ones that speak to them.

It offers a wealth of resources, including:

• A curated collection of poems from a variety of poets and styles
• "Suggested Poems" section with poems chosen for their quality, accessibility, and suitability for performance
• Audio recordings of poems to help students learn the rhythm and flow of the language
• Teaching tips and performance tips
• Information about the competition, including how to enter
• A community forum where teachers and students can connect and share resources

In addition to the resources available on the website, Poetry by Heart also organizes workshops and events for teachers and students. These events provide an opportunity to learn more about the competition, get feedback on performances, and network with other poetry enthusiasts. 

https://poetrybyheart.org.uk/about

There's a Poem for That

This series on YouTube pairs contemporary & classical poems with award-winning animators.

Find it on:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJicmE8fK0Egxi0hgy5Tw-NFyLcpJ4bzJ 

Verse by Verse

Verse by Verse (a project from Google) is an experimental AI-powered muse that helps you compose poetry inspired by classic American poets.

Each poet will try to offer suggestions that they think would best continue a poem in the style of that given poet. As such, try working with different poets to see whose style best meshes with your own.  Select the poets who inspire you and write your own first line of a poem.

Poems can be downloaded as images. 

https://sites.research.google/versebyverse/ 

Joseph Coelho. Understanding Poetry

In this resource for primary school English teachers, Joseph Coelho explains various aspects of poetry such as its possibilities for understanding one's emotions and thoughts, the rhythm, the play with words and its connection to music and image. 

You can find it on:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/english-ks1-ks2-understanding-poetry-with-joseph-coelho/zdhbqp3 

You can also visit Joseph Coelho’s YouTube Channel on:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVwqA7c4A90RvaKpc2MlOrQ 

World Poetry Day

World Poetry Day is celebrated on 21 March. It was declared by UNESCO in 1999 “with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard”.

For more information about this celebration:

https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-poetry-day 

Resource. Reading and writing poetry: the recommendations of noted poets from many lands on the teaching of poetry in secondary schools 

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000139551 (Also available in Spanish and French)

Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature

The Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature at the Library of Congress dates back to 1943. It contains nearly two thousand recordings—of poets and prose writers participating in literary events at the Library’s Capitol Hill campus as well as sessions at the Library’s Recording Laboratory.

Most of these recordings are captured on magnetic tape reels, and only accessible at the Library itself. In digitizing the archive and presenting it online, the Library hopes to greatly broaden its use and value.

(Source Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature)

Visit:

https://www.loc.gov/collections/archive-of-recorded-poetry-and-literature/about-this-collection/

Poetry by Heart

Poetry is often among the topics which get dismissed as unimportant. However, it is a powerful instructional tool, and a relevant art to study at any age. Poetry enables teachers to teach their students how to write, read, and understand any text.

Poetry by Heart is a great resource for learning poets at primary schools. Most poems have an audio of the poet reading their poems.

http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poetry-for-children/

World Poetry Day

World Poetry Day is on 21 March, and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. World Poetry Day is now celebrated in hundreds of countries around the world. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".

UNESCO on World Poetry Day: http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/

Message from Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Poetry Day 21 March 2013: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002200/220091e.pdf

Some extra resources to celebrate this day: 
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6182812 
http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/worldpoetry.php 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/mar/19/teaching-resources-world-poetry-day http://www.poets.org/http://poems.com/

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