For a few months now I’ve been working with one of our favorite students. His English grammar is nearly perfect, but he has great difficulty with pronunciation. Most of our lessons have therefore focused on reading very elementary texts that focus on sounds and syllables, but don’t offer much in the way of intellectual stimulation.

Finally last night, it hit me that poetry might be the way to go. It offers intense training on the sounds of English, along with something intellectual. For some reason I started him off on Walt Whitman, who is no doubt a great American poet, but who often uses vocabulary and constructions that are outdated by about 100 years. After the class I searched my book shelf and came across a collection of poems by Stanley Kuntiz, the 10th Poet Laureate of the United States.

So… Then I started thinking that a really great way to practice would be for students to not only be able to read great poetry, but also hear it read by a native English speaker. I got Teauna to read the poem, because everyone says she’s got the clearest voice.

Our resources are admittedly limited at this point, so the sound and quality of the below video of Teauna reading the poem may not be the best. Anyway, we hope that this, combined with the original text of Halley’s Comet provided below will help you work on your English pronunciation. Expect more of these in the future!

 

Halley’s Comet

by Stanley Kunitz

Miss Murphy in first grade

wrote its name in chalk

across the board and told us

it was roaring down the stormtracks

of the Milky Way at frightful speed

and if it wandered off its course

and smashed into the earth

there’d be no school tomorrow.

A red-bearded preacher from the hills

with a wild look in his eyes

stood in the public square

at the playground’s edge

proclaiming he was sent by God

to save every one of us,

even the little children.

“Repent, ye sinners!” he shouted,

waving his hand-lettered sign.

At supper I felt sad to think

that it was probably

the last meal I’d share

with my mother and my sisters;

but I felt excited too

and scarcely touched my plate.

So mother scolded me

and sent me early to my room.

The whole family’s asleep

except for me. They never heard me steal

into the stairwell hall and climb

the ladder to the fresh night air.

 

Look for me, Father, on the roof

of the red brick building

at the foot of Green Street—

that’s where we live, you know, on the top floor.

I’m the boy in the white flannel gown

sprawled on this coarse gravel bed

searching the starry sky,

waiting for the world to end.