Slam Poetry Incursion

Students in Stage 4 English began Term 3 with a project titled, ‘Speaking Out.’ In this project, students will be looking closely and critically at poems, more specifically, poems that bring to light some of the real world concerns that surround us today.

As an entry event to the project, a poetry workshop was organised for the students on Tuesday, 30th July. The workshop was run by Pola Fanous, the 2018 Reigning Slam Poet Champion for NSW. Pola performed some of his poetry to the students and discussed with them the art of spoken word and why he uses poetry as a means of expression. Pola had even written poems for the students which explored his ideas on some issues he believed were real world concerns.

His performances demonstrated for our students that poetry is indeed, a beautiful and artistic representation of a person’s passions, hopes, desires and concerns. It was clear from the workshop that poetry is not meant to just be written, but to be heard.

Pola’s performances and insights into poetry were an invaluable experience for the students who will move into their own study of poetry. Our students will study poems that explore the concept of justice and look at compiling a portfolio of writings based on the poetry.