Modern approaches to teaching English as a foreign language are designed to actively

involve the students in the process of learning so that the primary goal of acquiring
communicative competence is achieved. Thus, the teacher’s main task is to organize
the English classes in such a way that they are more interactive.

Poetry enlivens the lesson by offering a new, unexpected perspective on the English
language. Before selecting a poem which could help reinforce some grammatical topic
in an interactive way the teacher should take into consideration several aspects, such
as:
 the students’ level of proficiency;
 the way the poem can be adjusted to the students’ communicative needs;
 the degree to which the poem will help to assimilate the new material;
 the socio-cultural background provided by the poem;
 the aesthetic value of the poem.
The following lesson plan might be of use while focusing on the indefinite pronouns. The
lesson does not overtly state the grammatical topic. Yet, students will be encouraged to
apply the indefinite pronouns in their interaction. As to the selected poem, Emily
Dickenson’s "I’m Nobody" (See Appendix.), it gives the opportunity to see another way
of perceiving one’s identity. This might lead to the students’ reconsideration of their own
identity. The students will also learn some basic information about the author of the
poem, about her values and ideas.

 Intermediate

Aim
 to develop students' fluency
 to reinforce the use of indefinite pronouns in genuine verbal interaction
 to enhance creative thinking
 to develop literary awareness

Focus
 reading
 writing
 listening
 discussion

Materials
 the poem "I'm Nobody" by Emily Dickenson
 a biographical note about Emily Dickenson

Warm-up: Who are you?

1. Write on the blackboard the question: “Who are you?”.
 2. Ask your students to define themselves in terms of the indefinite pronouns and
explain why they have chosen namely that pronoun (e.g. I’m somebody because
I’m a human being).
3. Let them realize what the indefinite pronouns stand for.

Pre-reading
Activity 1

1. Divide the students into pairs.

2. Distribute to each pair the scrambled lines of the poem so that they don’t see
them.
Then there's a pair of us — don't tell! To tell your name the livelong day

Are you nobody, too? How dreary to be somebody!

I'm nobody! Who are you? They'd banish us, you know.

To an admiring bog! How public, like a frog

1. Ask each pair to pick up two lines and imagine a situation where they can use it
in a conversation.
2. Tell them to act it out.

Activity 2

1. Ask the students to look at the lines again. Group those who have picked up the
same lines together.
2. Challenge them to guess what the poem might be about.
3. Invite a representative from each group to write the hypothetical themes at the
blackboard.

Reading
Activity 1

1. Ask the groups to unscramble the lines.

2. Tell them to read their versions.
3. Give them the original version and discuss it. Ask them if they agree with what
the author says. Dwell upon the “Somebody/Nobody” interplay in the poem.

Activity 2

1. Let them decide in groups what the best way to read the poem is (for example,
should they be serious, careless, scornful, funny, etc. while reading it?).
2. Ask them to read the poem in the chosen way.
Activity 3

1. Divide the students into pairs again and ask them to do the following assignment.
Replace the words in italic with their antonyms and speak about the character's
personality. Is she 'nobody' or 'sombody'?

The Story of Nobody

Once upon a time, there lived an old girl in Amherst, Massachusetts. She came from
an unknown family, who had been uninvolved in the political life of the country. She
chose the role of a recluse, basically always leaving her hometown. Her public life still
remains a solved mystery. That is why so many assertions about her personality have
appeared ever since.

She is thought to have been desperately in love with the unhappily married Reverend
Charles Wadsworth. This love inspired her to stop writing poetry, though most of her
poems were published posthumously. Understood by others, she was thought an
eccentric for talking to other people through notes and letters and accepting to
see everybody. Her predilection to dress in black was also believed an oddity.

Her unprolific work generated a lot of controversies at the beginning.

The last publication underwent minor changes. It was criticized a lot. In 1955
her changed poems were published. Then she was recognized as America’s
most unoriginal poet, the one who heralded modernism. And her memory remained
alive ever after.

1. Disclose the poet's identity (add the details you think are most significant in Emily
Dickinson's life)
2. Ask them if the above story helps them better understand the poem.
3. Draw their attention to what they have previously put down at the blackboard and
see if their suppositions were correct. Let them think of the new ones.

Post-reading
1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being “Somebody” and then of
being “Nobody”.
2. Organize a mini-debate. Divide the class in two. One of the groups will have to
find arguments to the statement: “One should always aspire to be Somebody”
whereas the other to the affirmation: “Sometimes it is good to be Nobody”.
3. Invite the spokespeople of the groups to come in front of the class and defend
their position. Let the other students decide who is the most persuasive of the
two.
4. At the end ask each student to say one line they memorized from the poem.
5. Come back to the question you asked your students at the beginning of the
lesson: “Who are you?”. See if their answers differ.

Suggestions for Home Assignment

 1. You could challenge your students to look for other poems/songs where the
authors use indefinite pronouns. Ask the students to compare them. (There is for
example Langston Hugh’s poem “To Be Somebody”)
2. Let them make a top ten list of “People Who Strived to Be Somebody” and say
what their accomplishments are.
3. Ask them to write a page in a diary under the heading “I’m Somebody’ or “I’m
Nobody”.

References
 Emily Dickenson’s I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Appendix
I'm Nobody

By Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), Complete Poems (1924)

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!