By: Nurul Ezzaty Mohd Azhari
SERDANG, June 6 - Music has been one of the most essential learning tools from the beginning of time because of its attractive ability in capturing students’ attention and interest in learning.
Dr. Shamsudin Othman, a lecturer from the Department of Language and Humanities Education, Faculty of Educational Studies (FPP), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), said that teaching without the element of music can be a little dull because music reinforces appreciation, this includes the learning of poetry.
"Music is an education. So today we can see that if we read poems rigidly, students show little interest and appreciation. But, when we turn these poems into songs, they demonstrate a greater sense of appreciation.
"Actually, in the context of education, since primary school, students are exposed to rhythmic poetry, delivered by teachers. For example, the two-part traditional Malay poems have their own intonation or song”.
"Teachers had already been singing and dancing in the classroom to teach poetry, and this is an element of rhythmic reading," he said during the Poetry Recitation Programme in conjunction with Teachers’ Day 2023 at Dewan Putra PKPP, Kompleks Mahasiswa, UPM, recently.
He further stated that the teaching of poetry in secondary schools needs to be diversified in an innovative and creative way so that students continue to appreciate poetry, and it does not become a forgotten genre in the future.
“These young people of the 20th century are not interested in poetry, perhaps they are unaware that they are applying the world of poetry. For instance, teenagers these days do not express “I love you” to someone they like, but they send short messages like “You are the spirit in my prayer.”
"Even the pickup lines that people often use are actually the language of poetry because of their flowery and simple expressions that reflect poetry, and this resonates better with the souls of teenagers.
