Tao of teaching English as a Second Language

Raoul Izzard

Let us dig deeper into teacher lore:
“Elicit what pupils do not want to know:

torn postcards undated, unseen kiss and tell
lips overdue on library loan, love hearts

erased from the Puritan’s Kama Sutra.”
“Life is a once lived experience relived

in fifty words in written timed exams.”
“You are living language in the class so make

the Earth your desk, the moon your lamp, a tree
hollow your bed then sleep on it for the night

is an orthodontist conference in Wichita, full
of illicit glances, misplaced key cards, and

room numbers inked on the napkins of the heart.”
“The fig tree leaf resembles the human hand,

as the new language does the cuckoo, only
seeming its true bedfellow, mother tongue.”