Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen

I love chocolate cake.
And when I was a boy
I loved it even more....

 DO YOU LOVE CHOCOLATE CAKE TOO?
Michael Rosen, the poem's author, used to be the happiest boy in the world when his mum made chocolate cake.

Here you have the entire poem:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/chocolate-cake/

• After reading the poem compile the written representations of sounds, in other words, the onomatopoeias. Can you guess what is the meaning of each one? For instance surprise, happiness, sadness... 

• LISTENING ACTIVITY to be done in class: in this video Michael Rosen is telling a story based on his poem. Some adjectives, nouns and verbs are missing in your give outs. Try to fill the gaps listening carefully to Michael Rosen.

• WRITE A CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE, you can ask your relatives or event invent your own new recipe! Remember the necessary ingredients, the steps to be followed and the time needed.

These activities seem perfect to present poetry to students. Specially this poem is not a typical one so students can prove that not all poems use rhymes. Moreover Chocolate Cake can be read easily and student's don't have to invest a lot of time to approach this poem.

The first activity I propose is a classification of onomatopoeias appearing in the text. I find it very useful since students aren't used to hear these elements of the speech. Many of them may be unaware of them until they go to an English speaking  country and establish a real contact with language. 

Secondly, the listening activity is designed to achieve two aims. On the one hand students are going to hear Michael Rosen uttering the onomatopoeias with whom they have previously worked. On the other hand, they will see the interpretation that the author gives to his text, that's to say, how he brings the poem alive. Therefore, there are other important points in the listening activity, apart from filling the gaps.

Finally, students are asked to do some writing stuff. They have to write a real or an invented recipe of chocolate cake. Some tips are given to help the student. Depending on the students' age I would show some examples of recipes for them to have a sort of guideline.