Whenever we have had children come for “tuitions” in English (usually on their parents’ initiative), we see that when the text books are opened, the children shut up. So our strategy is to convert everything into drawing classes, book-making classes, story reading/telling or drama classes. Then their involvement is complete, and all of us really enjoy the work. Since the stories and drawings are about their lives and themselves, it is all real and engaging.
You can see how engrossed they are in Sonati’s drawing of their drawing

But recently, it was Vignesh who wanted help for his English exam in college. Teaching Poetry to Vignesh made me write

Teaching Poetry

Preparing to teach Vignesh
Yeats and Blake
I wonder how to bridge the gulf
Surely, Poetry should be accessible
Why use three words when one will do?
But Yeats asks
Why use one word when three are sufficient?

Concord Guides and Navneet Question Sets
Prepare students for the exam
But not for the world
Where poetry is a refuge
From the daily battles

When Emily Dickinson 
Drives with Death
In his carriage
She drives children 
Away from poetry

But this nonsense starts early
With Rain, rain go away
Come again another day
In drought-prone Tamil Nadu's kindergartens

There are no easy answers
As Concord and Navneet
Would have us believe
But we could make a beginning
By saying
Poetry is not about answering questions
But about feeling feelings
About seeing images
About touching words
Poetry is to be read aloud
Above all, to be enjoyed