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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

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Wax poetic

Recite a Scottish poem to build your speaking confidence. Which poem’s your favourite?
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • A4 paper
Scottish poetry
PDF – 141.3KB
Download Scottish poetry

Before you begin

  • You might want to think about the groups in advance – make sure anyone who struggles to read has plenty of support.
  • It’s up to you whether you want to add some of your favourites to the poems we’ve suggested (or just use your own instead). Why not see if the young people have any favourite Scottish poems? Whichever poems you use, print them off so there’s enough for everyone.

Start in teams

  1. Everyone should split into poem teams.
  2. The person leading the activity should explain that it’s easier to memorise a poem if you divide it into pieces. It’s a bit like eating your dinner – you can’t do it all at once, you need to cut it up first.
  3. The person leading the activity should give each group a poem.
  4. Each group should recite the poem together – they could all say the whole poem, or they could take it in turns to remember one line.
  5. Each person should choose one line and work really hard to remember it. They may want to say it out loud over and over again, or find a rhythm that fits the words.
  6. The person leading the activity should reassure everyone that very few people can remember things perfectly right away. It’s OK for it to take a bit of time and effort – everyone should keep going and encourage their friends.

Draw what you see

  1. The person leading the activity should give everyone pens and paper.
  2. Everyone should draw one picture to represent the line they’re trying to learn. If they can think of something funny, it might stick in their memory better. For example, if there’s a line about an owl in a tree, drawing a giant owl in a tiny tree might be more memorable.

Act it out

Everyone should think about an action that represents the line they’re trying to learn. For example, if the line talks about still waters, someone might stand completely still to attention while making the sound of water.

Take it home

It’s up to you whether people take the poems home. Some people might want some extra time to practise, or a bit more support from the grown ups at home, but it won’t work for others. You know your group best, so choose what works for them.

Recite the poem

Each group should work together to say the poem out loud. Each person should say the line they learned.

Reflection

This activity was all about developing skills like memorising and speaking in front of people. It’s OK if some people found this tricky – not many people can remember things straight away. Some people may have found talking in front of people a bit scary, and that’s fine too. Everyone who gave it a go should feel really proud of themselves! Which way of memorising did people find the easiest? When else might people need to learn things? Perhaps at school, or information such as addresses or song lyrics. Was anyone really good at saying their bit out loud? What made their speaking great? People might think about being clear, being loud enough, and being still.

This activity also needed everyone to work in a team. It might’ve seemed like a very big task for one person – how did working in a team make it easier? People could think about how everyone had different skills to share, how people encouraged each other, and how dividing up the task made it easier for everyone.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

It’s up to you how long the poems are and how many people work together on each one. It’s also OK if different people remember different amounts – it might be equally challenging for one person to learn a single line and another to learn a whole verse.

It’s OK if people don’t want to say the poem in front of many other people; they could do it separately to a smaller audience (or just a leader).

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Cubs Thistle Award
Beavers Creative Activity Badge

Why not ask the young people to choose poems? We’ve included a few to get you started – you don’t have to stick to this list, but even if you do they could still choose which one to learn.