Pure poetry

My wonderful students deciding which of six poems they like best and why. I love their engagement with something that is alleged to be difficult.

The front deck is a fantastic place for teaching, especially on the very lovely Macclesfield canal where the boat moves through long tunnels of overhanging trees. They are interrupted from time to time by the canal’s elegant roving bridges – a clever design allowing the horses that used to pull the boats to cross from one side of the canal to the other without the ropes having to be untied and rehitched.

Arachne-spouse met us on the towpath and joined us for the last of the day’s driving into Marple where we all had a very late lunch and a non-boating afternoon: walking, reading, doing ‘homework’ (yes, I am setting and marking homework), shopping or, in my case, photocopying.

This evening another EFL teacher joined us to share the teaching for a few days.

(Macclesfield to Marple on the Macclesfield Canal. Map position is approximate.)