Reference Guide for Using Pattern Poems to Teach Language Skills I

A great tool for teaching ESL students, as well as any young learner just developing their language skills, is through pattern poetry. Teaching writing using these types of poems can help students to learn a wide variety of skills, such as alphabetization, vocabulary, grammar, and composition. The following is from a reference guide that I often use in my own classroom for teaching skills via pattern poems. I've found it a very handy tool and hopefully you will, too!

Alphabet Poem

An alphabet poem is a way for students to create a list of objects or thoughts and reinforce alphabetization skills, too. The list must be done in alphabetical order with the items corresponding to the letter of the line. Here's an example:

A is for the apple of my eye.
B is for the bananas in my cupboard.
C is for the cantaloupe on my plate...

Cinquain Poem

A cinquain is a five-line poem used to describe something. This form of poetry has a very defined pattern that makes use of different parts of speech, such as nouns, adjectives and verbs. Here are the rules for the pattern and an example:

Line 1 - One word, which is both the title and subject of the cinquain.
Line 2 - Two adjectives to describe the subject.
Line 3 - Three action words, verbs, to express action of the subject.
Line 4 - Four words to describe how the author feels about the subject.
Line 5 - One word that can be either a synonym for the subject or simply a repetition of the first line.

Minnesota
Wintery, white
Skiing, snowshoeing, hiking
Beautiful northern star
Minnesota

Diamante Poem

A diamante is similar to a cinquain, except for a couple of things. It, too, describes a subject, but it has seven lines instead of five. The ending, however, is an antonym of the subject rather than a synonym. The poem is called a diamante because of the diamond shape it makes when centered on the paper. Here are the rules of the diamante pattern, followed by another example:

Line 1 - One word, which is both the title and subject.
Line 2 - Two adjectives to describe the subject.
Line 3 - Three participles, using the endings -ed or -ing related to the subject.
Line 4 - Four nouns, the first two related to the subject and the other two related to its antonym.
Line 5 - Three participles, like in line three, relating to the antonym.
Line 6 - Two adjectives to describe the antonym.
Line 7 - The antonym.

Elephant
Majestic, huge
Grazing, running, playing
Giant, beast, nuisance, rodent
Scurrying, lurking, sniffing
Shadowy, tiny

Mouse

These three types of poems are great for teaching valuable language development skills. Whether it's teaching someone who's just beginning to learn English or youngsters who are in the language development stage, theses pattern poems are good tools for a teacher. Stay tuned for more...

Sources:

Holmes, Vicki. "Writing Poetry: Using pattern poems for Language Acquisition." Unknown.