Writes Valentina Kotsuba, Teacher of French
National Poetry Day is an annual event celebrated across the UK, and at MTS it takes place on the first Thursday of October. This year, the theme is PLAY.
Ms Kotsuba engaged both her Tutor Group and one of her Fourth Form French classes in a collaborative poetry-writing activity in French. To begin, students were introduced to the poem L’Arbre by Jacques Charpentreau as a model. They were then provided with a template to guide them in crafting their own group poems.
The poems were designed to explore the purposeful nature of everyday objects while incorporating playful and clever use of language to convey humour and creativity. Linguistically, the activity offered a great opportunity to practise the pour + infinitif structure in French.
Working in groups of four, students produced five themed poems on topics such as animals, parts of the body, leisure, and school items. They were asked to complete and personalise their final versions at home, which led to wonderfully individual expressions in both wording and presentation.
Many pupils were awarded Gold Notes, and two students – Jacob L. and Oliver L. – received Commendations from the Head Master.
Félicitations, messieurs! Chapeau! What a fantastic display of creativity
