Lesson Overview

“The Road Not Taken” is a very famous poem by American poet and author Robert Frost. In the ESL advanced Poetry lesson plan, students get to uncover the true meaning of this poem and learn more about its writer. 

This ESL Poetry lesson starts with a fun introduction of matching famous poets to their birth countries. Then, ESL advanced students need to practice their free conversation skills with a few discussion questions about poetry. The main focus of this ESL Poetry lesson is to give the students the opportunity to read and interpret the poem. But, first they learn more about the poet through an article and comprehension questions.

Next, ESL students have to debate about the importance of poetry in an engaging debate exercise. This ESL Poetry lesson also covers functional language as students learn the meaning of these common phrases and also answer questions related to them.

We know that poetry can be a tricky subject for students to interpret, but we believe that there is a place for it in ESL teaching. Students like to get creative and giving them a challenge is great! We hope that you enjoy this lesson and the poem - it’s a classic! Activities:

1. Warm up. 
2. The pros and cons of poetry. 
3. Poem vocabulary. 
4. The poem.
5. Video and poem discussion. 
6. Debate. 
7. Reading and exercises. 

Homework

This advanced ESL Poetry lesson plan has a writing and comprehension task. Students need to answer questions about a video interpretation of the poem. They also have to show their interpretation by writing a paragraph of its meaning and the significance it has for them. Activities:

1. Article.
2. Article and questions.