Chennai: Reinforcing the notion that Men are from Mars and Women from Venus, children at a city workshop to revive interest in English poetry, showed a marked difference in their approach to it depending on their gender. While the boys were more interested in penning adventure stories, the girls enjoyed the romance of poetry.
“Boys I have observed are better at writing stories of adventure and mystery while girls seem to enjoy writing poetry more,” said a teacher, Soumya RamakrisÂhna. The workshop organised by Karadi Tales was meant to give teachers from various city schools tips on making poetry classes interesting for their students.
Shobha ViswanÂath, publishing director of Karadi Tales, blamed the absence of a good selection of poems in the syllabus for the children losing inteÂrest in poetry most schoÂols.
“We need to teach poems like If by Rudyard Kipling or Road Not Taken by Frost that are inspiring and Nissim Ezekiel’s Night of the Scorpion that is poignant. Talking about a poet’s life and enacting the poems can also make classes interesting,” she added.
High school teacher ÂSarayu Ganesan said as students found English classes relaxing in comparison to heavier subjects, they did try to keep their interest alive through various means in class.
