Poem - The River (Form 1)

The tranquility and beauty of Sedim River, Kedah.

(Source of picture: http://www.asiaexplorers.com/malaysia/sungai_sedim.htm)

Introduction
The River is one of the new literature components for the English subject. The poem is written by Valerie Bloom. The Form One students in the year 2010 have started exploring and learning this new poem.


Synopsis of the poem

The River is about the many faces of a river.  The river is a wanderer where he moves all over the place.  He does not sit still and is always in motion.  He is also a winder where he twists and turns.  He meanders.  He  is  also a hoarder where  he  keeps  things  deep  down in  his  river bed.  Sometimes, he is a baby when he is happily flowing along. At times, he is a singer as seen through the happy sounds of the water.  Finally, he is also a monster and can devour trees (most probably referring to a flood).

How I went about teaching the poem
I remembered teaching this poem to my first formers last year during my practicum.

I began my lesson by showing students a few pictures of clean rivers from a PowerPoint slide:

Relau River, Pahang

(Source of Picture: http://www.impression.com.my/Tahan/gunung_tahan.htm)

Congkak River, Hulu Langat, Selangor

(Source of Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckzaidan/5160206686/)

Then, I asked and discussed the following questions with students:

1. What can you see from these pictures? (Anticipated answer: They are the pictures of rivers)
2. How do the rivers look like? (Anticipated answer: The rivers are clean)
3. How do you feel when you see these pictures? (Anticipated answers: calm/relaxed/happy/peaceful/etc.)
4. Why do you feel calm/relaxed/happy/peaceful/etc? (Anticipated answers: The rivers are clean and beautiful/ There are no rubbish in the rivers / It is great to have a picnic with our family beside the river/etc.)

Next, I showed students a few pictures of dirty rivers:

Sibuti River, Sarawak

(Source of Picture: http://utusansubis.blogspot.com/2010/03/cetekanak-di-ulu-sungai-sibuti-yang.html)

Pinang River, Pulang Pinang

(Source of Picture: http://www.malaysiazoom.com/utara-sungai-darah-babi/)

Then, I asked and discussed the same question with students:

1. How do the rivers look like? (Anticipated answer: The rivers are dirty/polluted)
2. How do you feel when you see these pictures? (Anticipated answers: I feel sick/sad/angry/disgusted/etc.)
3. Why do you feel sick/sad/angry/disgusted/etc? (Anticipated answers: People don't take care of the rivers' cleanliness/ All marine life will die/ The clean water source will deplete / etc.)

I related the above activities by telling students that they were going to learn a poem entitled "The River" by Valerie Bloom. The poem consists of 6 stanzas.

The river’s a wanderer,
A nomad, a tramp.

He doesn't choose any one place

To set up his camp.

The river’s a winder,

Through valley and hill

He twists and he turns,

He just cannot be still.

The river’s a hoarder,

And he buries down deep

Those little treasures

That he wants to keep.

The river’s a baby,

He gurgles and hums,

And sounds like he’s happily

Sucking his thumbs.

The river’s a singer,

As he dances along,

The countryside echoes

The notes of his song.

The river’s a monster,

Hungry and vexed,

He’s gobbled up trees

And he’ll swallow you next.

First, I modeled the recitation of the poem. This is an important step to allow students to hear how a poem is read with the correct pronunciation and enunciation. I read aloud the poem by playing a background music by Kitaro's Silk Road. The music is not only calming to hear but also sets the mood and suits the title of the poem. Watch the following video to hear the music:

After modeling the recitation of the poem, I instructed students to choral read the poem. I normally ask students to take turn reciting the poem. For example, the girls will read the first stanza, then the boys will read the second stanza, and they will take turn until all stanzas are read.

Next, I asked students to form six groups. Each group comprised of 5 or 6 students. The lower forms classes in my school normally comprise about 40 students. So, it is quite difficult to get students to form and work in smaller groups. Subsequently, students in groups used the dictionaries to find the meaning of unfamiliar words:

Group 1 - wanderer, nomad, tramp (words from stanza 1)

Group 2 - winder, valley, twists (words from stanza 2)

Group 3 - hoarder, buries, treasures (words from stanza 3)

Group 4 and 5 - gurgles, hums, echoes (words from stanzas 4 and 5)

Group 6 - monster, vexed, gobbled (words from stanzas 6)

I used the The River_Unfamiliar Words_Meaning handouts in the classroom. Later, as homework, students may cut and paste the words and their respective meaning side by side in their Literature Exercise Book. After finding the meaning of words, we shared the answers with the whole class.

Next, I explained the meaning of the poem from the PowerPoint slides that I had prepared. The slides have been converted into a video format. So, anyone can watch and use this video in their lesson. 

You may also download the slides in PDF format - The River - Poem Meaning. (Download Adobe Acrobat)

For reinforcement activities on the words learned from this poem, teacher may give these handouts - Crossword Puzzle, Odd One Out & Jumbled Letters Exercises.

Reference & credits

The Synopsis of the poem and all handouts came from the New Literature Component for Form 1 CD that I received from the New Literature Component Course that I attended at the Pusat Kegiatan Guru Salak, Sepang last year. Credits to the panels of writers for preparing all the useful materials in the CD:

DIANA FATIMAH AHMAD SAHANI (COORDINATOR)

BAHAGIAN PEMBANGUNAN KURIKULUM

KEMENTERIAN PELAJARAN MALAYSIA

AMAR SHOBHA SARNA (PANEL HEAD)

INSTITUT PERGURUAN MALAYSIA KAMPUS ILMU KHAS,

KUALA LUMPUR

YONG WAI YEE

SMK SERI HARTAMAS, DESA SERI HARTAMAS,

KUALA LUMPUR

ANDREW LEONG KONG MENG

SMK AIR ITAM, GEORGETOWN,

PULAU PINANG

ABANG MUAMMAR GHADDAFI

SM TEKNIK BINTULU,

SARAWAK

NADIAH CHOONG ABDULLAH

SMK DATUK MANSOR, BAHAU,

N.SEMBILAN

ASMAH ABU HADZIM

SMK PUTRAJAYA PRESINT 9(1),

PUTRAJAYA