Learning Poetry Develops a Child's Mind and Heart

How does one even begin to explain how crucial learning and understanding poetry is in a child’s life?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

You must remember reading these lines in your English textbooks when you were young and maybe studied in the best school in Baroda, right? Robert Frost, one of the most famous poets of his time, wrote the above-mentioned words. You learned about how to make a difference in the world through this poem, and sure enough, many of you might be able to do it as well.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why it has become ever so important for children to learn poetry:

• Building a Base for RSL Skills: The RSL here stands for Reading, Speaking, and Learning skills. Creating a base that helps them with gaining finesse over these 3 abilities can widen their horizons. Children need to learn how to read various types of texts, in the right flow and tone, which can be done through reading poems. While reading poetry, children tend to learn new and tough words that they might not find elsewhere, except for learning about them in the top schools in Baroda. Reading and pronouncing them the right way will help them create a seamless experience for sentence formation throughout their lives.

• Encourages Creativity: Poetry is one of those art forms that require a lot of thought process combined with emotions to jot down words. Through this form of expression, children can learn how to convey their emotions and reading various poems can connect them to the experiences of others and find meaning in life. Poetry changes the way we perceive life, and it is known to have a positive impact on our lives, especially children. When exposed to poetry at a young age, children learn how to creatively express themselves.

• Improving Vocabulary: Most of the poetry pieces that you would have read in school would include a little bit of rhyming here and there. These rhyming statements can help children with their listening skills and grasping power. Poetry teaches children about structure, grammar, and identifying parts of speech, which are crucial in regular conversations as well. Along with that, children learn how to use words in context and reference to the situation and the type of sentence that needs to be formed.

Best schools in Baroda consider the inclusion of poetry in academics is as important as sports and other activities.

• Social Learning: There are times when we see parents and even students focusing too much on the “use only brains” concept, which is not necessarily helpful. Poetry can help children in expressing in words the emotions they felt during a social event or an incident that affected them. For children who are not able to express themselves amongst people by speaking may be able to write powerful words that help them cope with various situations in life.

William Butler Yeats said this about poetry: "It is blood, imagination, intellect running together...It bids us to touch and taste and hear and see the world, and shrink from all that is of the brain only."

Parents who send their children to top schools in Baroda should now understand the importance of poetry and encourage their children to read and write poetry.

At Nalanda International School, Baroda, we encourage children to develop and maintain good values, ethics, punctuality, and provide the means for holistic development, for which poetry is often used in the curriculum. Since we have a strict ‘no tuition’ policy, our students are left with a lot of time on hand that can be utilized for various activities.