ACS Doha celebrates the power of poetry

Over 30 students from all grade levels prepared for their first live reading in front of teachers and families, in what has become an annual event over the years. Led by Hani AlRefo, head of Arabic and Islamic Studies, these poetry nights encourage students to familiarise themselves with not only poems in their own language, but also poems in different languages that are recited without translation to emphasise how poetry itself is melodic and can be enjoyed much like music. During the evening, there were several discussions about international poetry and its characteristics in different languages, cultures, and how it evolved over time. This included readings from several students in their mother tongues, showcasing the diversity of ACS’ student body of 70 different nationalities. Students were encouraged to either write and recite their own poems, or to share readings by famous poets such as Emily Dickinson, Max Ehrmann, Nizar Qabbani and Mohamed Darwish. In addition to the poetry reading, students were asked to draw a picture that uniquely summarises the meaning of Emily Dickinson’s poem, Hope. “The study of poetry and language provides students with an excellent opportunity to further develop and perfect their skills in reading, comprehension, and public speaking. It forms the essential pillars of the IB Learner profiles to be inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective, which is what ACS Doha strives to develop in each of our students” stated AlRefo.