{"id":33160,"date":"2026-03-11T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/?p=33160"},"modified":"2026-03-10T15:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T19:21:20","slug":"why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Use Poetry with Older Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Aled Harris<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more than a decade, I\u2019ve been teaching English in China. During that time, I\u2019ve worked with pretty much every age group\u2014from kindergarteners to university students, and one thing I\u2019ve noticed is that older TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) classes generally lack a useful tool that can allow student to express themselves, play with language, and learn to truly enjoy English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That tool is poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-woocommerce-memberships-member-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce-info wc-memberships-restriction-message wc-memberships-message wc-memberships-content-restricted-message\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3>Subscribe to Keep Reading<\/h3>\r\n<p>\ud83d\udd11 You\u2019re one step away from unlocking premium content.<br>\r\nSubscribe now for as low as $5.99 and get full access!<\/p>\r\n<p><a class=\"btn\" href=\"\/product-category\/subscription\/\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><small>If you\u2019re already subscribed, please <a href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/my-account\/\">Log In<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\t\t    <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poetry is not some niche subject to be avoided with older English-language learners. On the contrary, it\u2019s a versatile and powerful tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":853,"featured_media":33411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2950,2985,2915,3122],"tags":[3035],"class_list":{"0":"post-33160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-classroom-perspectives","8":"category-esl-and-ell","9":"category-reading-and-literacy","10":"category-writing","11":"tag-poetry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why You Should Use Poetry with Older Students - TEACH Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Poetry is not some niche subject to be avoided with older English-language learners. On the contrary, it\u2019s a versatile and powerful tool.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why You Should Use Poetry with Older Students\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Poetry is not some niche subject to be avoided with older English-language learners.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TEACH Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/teachmag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-11T12:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Poetry_X_2400px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aled Harris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@teachmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@teachmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aled Harris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Aled Harris\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8b4be432a2f9066a2098c1c437ec0f7\"},\"headline\":\"Why You Should Use Poetry with Older Students\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T12:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/\"},\"wordCount\":1569,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Poetry_Web_1920px.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Poetry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Classroom Perspectives\",\"ESL and ELL\",\"Reading and Literacy\",\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/\",\"name\":\"Why You Should Use Poetry with Older Students - TEACH Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/why-you-should-use-poetry-with-older-students\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Poetry_Web_1920px.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T12:30:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8b4be432a2f9066a2098c1c437ec0f7\"},\"description\":\"Poetry is not some niche subject to be avoided with older English-language learners. 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