ABSTRACT

In many Nigerian secondary schools, poetry classes are quiet, dull, and full of sleeping students. Teachers talk, students copy notes, and nobody understands the poem. This study shows how adding role play, improvised music, movement, and group participation can turn poetry into a lively, memorable lesson. The study was conducted at Eleyo High School, Ikere, using Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”. We used Geraldine Siks’ process concept structural approach, which means planning activities so every student joins in through perceiving, responding, imagining, improvising, communicating, and evaluating. The class became a chorus, with students clapping, stamping, and beating tables as drums. Local songs like Paul IK Dairo’s “Mo Sori ire” framed the poem. Key lines became repeated chants. After the lesson, students took a short test and scored an average of 60%, a big jump from past performance. More importantly, they were awake, laughing, and discussing the poem’s meaning. Dramatic methods work because they change attention from “voluntary”, forcing yourself to listen to “involuntary” listening because the activity is fun. The study recommends that teachers use what they have: hands, feet, tables, local songs, and semi-circles. You don’t need a stage or money. You need a plan that involves every child. When poetry has rhythm, movement, and group voice, it stops being abstract. It becomes a story students live. This helps them pass exams, but also builds self-discipline, imagination, teamwork, and confidence. For schools losing students from literature, drama is not an extra. It is the way back. The classroom should be a place of joy, not sleep. With improvised music and movement, poetry wakes up. And when poetry wakes up, students do too.