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Idris Esen Poem
Dry Facts Can Perform Juicy Acts
In the EFL community
all around the world
it’s an undeniable
and unpleasant reality that
no matter how well-motivated
you and your students are
no matter how real and acute
the need for learning
a language may be
no matter how well-equipped
the language center is
no matter how well-trained
your instructors might be
still, teaching a language
as a foreign tongue
in a foreign country
in a classroom environment
within four walls
is an artificial endeavor,
pure and simple.
Moreover, the minute the students
step out of the classroom
the little language environment
created in the room
is left behind,
lost and forgotten
until the next class.
Minds boggle at how lively,
how attractive,
how delightful and entertaining,
how effective and powerful
languages can be
at the hands of skillful comedians,
orators, actors, poets and authors
while they all become
utter bores, dry and irrelevant,
with chalk-and-talk-addicted
unimaginative, ordinary instructors
in the language classrooms.
Though language itself is dry
and teaching it mostly boring
the way you introduce it
may engage even the cynical students
if only you yourself believe
that teaching is acting.
Instructors must act
to attract and impact
never mind if students
react without tact
each act will surely get
a few shells cracked
“teaching is the art of changing the brain”
that’s a well-known
neurological fact.
Acting will deliver
student participation
a recipe for motivation
a remedy for alienation.
The target is communication
and retention, not full accuracy
nor perfection, and, please,
leave aside incessant correction,
which definitely leads to
disenchantment and rejection.
Value student participation
and production
encourage interaction
feed vocabulary in collocation
grammar, like medicine,
in the right dosage and proportion
and for God’s sake,
keep your chalk-and-talk
at a minimum fraction.
Remember, an ELT instructor is
a confidence booster
not an error-seeker
or hand-pecking rooster.
Who said ELT was
an educational roller coaster?
Nope. It’s more like a bread toaster,
which takes care of all on the roster.
Idris Esen, February, 2016, Istanbul
Copyright © Idris Esen | Year Posted 2017
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Idris Esen Poem
What a Way to Depart
Old and poor with frail health
below is the sum total of his wealth:
on the rusty iron bunk, a wicker mattress
on the dusty wall, the picture of an ancient actress
a worn-out blanket
a grimy winter jacket
and an antique tennis racket.
That’s not all
but all that’s worth the recall.
just before the final departure
in line with strange human culture
he threw all onto the matress
the picture of the actress,
the blanket,
the winter jacket,
and some more…
Except the tennis racket
he held it tight and close to his heart
what a way to depart
he burned them all
and couldn’t remember
what happened to the tennis ball.
There was no need
nor any one who’d care, to call.
No more nightmares to scorn and harass
the key to his locked room
rested way out in the tall grass.
Idris Esen, 22 April, 2013
Üsküdar/Istanbul
Copyright © Idris Esen | Year Posted 2017
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Idris Esen Poem
Dreams for Sale
Hey, this guy’s crazy, nuts and frail,
He says he’s got dreams for sale.
Maybe they’re hopeless, pale and stale.
He claims they’re gorgeous, wild and vibrant;
There’s no room or reason to quail.
I kind of hesitate to buy any,
‘cause I’ve already got so many.
Besides should I wish to sell them back,
What fool would give them a penny.
Idris Esen, Dec. 31, 2012, Istanbul
Copyright © Idris Esen | Year Posted 2017
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Idris Esen Poem
This Life
I can’t make head or tail of this life
with so many puzzles and riddles, it’s rife
enigma within enigma, intertwined with mysteries
tainted and misty yesterday, shrouded in twisted histories
Neither a sinner with a future, nor a saint with a past
scarred with vices and blessed with virtues
I seized a moment to pause and reflect, at last
but just when I started to have glimpses
sadly, I saw that the die had been cast.
Dec. 2012, Istanbul
Copyright © Idris Esen | Year Posted 2017
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