Workshops
PERFORMANCES
I am available for performances/poetry readings, commissions, collaborations and conferences. Please contact me for details, and to discuss ideas for projects and residencies.
SCHOOLS
I am available for workshops, performances and INSET. My workshops, based on the approach described in Jumpstart Poetry in the Secondary School, are designed to get everyone writing poems, whatever their ability.
Because of my experience as an English teacher, I know what works in the classroom, and how poetry can be integrated into the curriculum. My INSET courses demonstrate how to get young poeople writing poems and thereby improve their writing in all genres, how writing poems can improve students’ appreciation of poetry, and how it can provide an opportunity for creativity.
I am happy to discuss individual requirements, including writing in genres other than poetry, sessions on reading poetry and other literature, and sessions geared towards examinations.
For primary schools I can devise workshops and schemes of work to fit into ongoing themes, such as space or the rain forest, and I can provide sessions on writing poetry in different subjects.
I can also give advice on raising the profile of poetry in school, publishing pupils’ poetry, and entering it for competions. For more information about my approach to teaching poetry, including an argument for the importance of writing poems, see my introduction to Jumpstart Poetry in the Secondary School .
POST-18 STUDENTS & ADULTS
I can offer workshops in any setting, for experienced writers and for beginners. My worshops are lively, accessible, challenging and non-threatening – no one is forced to read back their work!
I can offer sessions for PGCE students (both primary and secondary) on writing poetry in the classroom.
I am also available for sessions on Creative Writing courses, both for undergraduates and MA students, including lectures on poetics and contemporary British and American poetry.
“the guru” – GUARDIAN
“passionate about poetry” – TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT
“Three years ago, every member of Years 10 and 11 [at Maharishi School] won or was runner-up in a national poetry competition.” – STUART MACONIE, Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North (Erbury Press, Random House, 2008)
“The work that Cliff Yates has done for poetry with children, and for children with poetry, is exceptional and heartening. He is at once expert and inspiring – always proving how necessary it is to recognise that ‘creating’ is a vital part of ‘educating’” – ANDREW MOTION
“Cliff Yates is an absolutely remarkable workshop leader and teacher of poetry whose own pupils have consistently won prizes in poetry competitions for young people. His book ‘Jumpstart’ is essential reading for teachers wanting to use poetry to inspire and amaze – and his own poetry is wonderful too. Cliff is one of the best in the country working as a writer in schools. Highly experienced as a teacher, he can inspire staff as well as pupils through workshops which get to the heart of what writing is all about. I recommend him for work with almost any age, from primary to adults.” – CHRIS MEADE, Director of if:book & former Director of the Poetry Society
“Cliff Yates is a uniquely inspiring writing tutor, with a fund of lightly-managed knowledge, insight and experience. He is an amazing teacher and one of our very best poets.” – PETER SANSOM
“In this country, Cliff Yates is the foremost teacher of poetry in secondary education. Whether he is working with teachers or students, Cliff’s teaching unlocks the poet that all of us possess – even if we never knew it. I cannot imagine a secondary department not wanting a visit from Cliff” – PIE CORBETT
“Cliff has magical effects on student writing. Get him into your school if you can! His enviable track-record of mentoring prize-winning poets speaks for itself” – CHRIS WARREN, Word Chef (Director), Teachit
“Cliff Yates is a regular and welcome visitor to Malbank School. He brings with him his unbounded enthusiasm for poetry and his conviction that all students have something to say and the ability to write it down. His own quirky and cleverly crafted poems always go down well with his audiences no matter what age and he has a battery of tricks and strategies to make a poet out of anyone – even the teachers!” – LEE WILKINSON, English teacher and Head of Performing Arts, Malbank School and Sixth Form College
“I’ve been running an annual series of workshops by visiting poets at the Manchester Grammar School for several years now and Cliff Yates has led three each year. His sessions have always been a brilliant combination of fun and productivity. He brings to them a highly polished armoury of exercises and a great deal of experience of what works with different ages and types of pupil. Even more importantly, he has a gift for striking up a rapport with these pupils, bringing them to an imaginative boil and releasing their creative energies to an unusual degree” – EDMUND PRESTWICH, Manchester Grammar School
“Jumpstart’ is the best aid to the teaching of poetry since Sandy Brownjohn’s work of the 1980s” - GORDON WILSON in ‘The Teacher’
‘Cliff was an annual visitor to our PGCE Secondary English course, and it’s hard to encapsulate in a few lines the numerous benefits that our trainee English teachers (and their pupils) gained from his visits. He involved trainees in a stimulating and creative approach to poetry reading and writing, and he became a real favourite with trainees, who invariably highlighted his session as amongst their favourites, in end of year course evaluations. We asked Cliff to deliver his session early in the trainees’ course, so that we could emphasise the crucial part played by creative, active approaches in English teaching and learning. Many trainees used his ideas on placement, with real impact on pupils’ engagement and development.’ – CAROL EVANS, former Course Leader, PGCE Secondary English, Edge Hill University
‘The International School of Bern spent an inspirational three days with Cliff Yates. Cliff’s teaching experience and love of poetry really came to the fore. All the high school students were transformed into poets. Cliff encouraged everyone to put pen to paper giving students, from the shyest to the most flamboyant, confidence in their creativity. Cliff’s workshops are so inclusive, teachers were amazed by the poetry their students produced given the prompts and support Cliff provided. I don’t hesitate to recommend Cliff. He was also really easy to host!’ – JILL VAN NIEKERK, International School of Bern, Switzerland
“Cliff Yates offered a terrific session to my undergraduate and postgraduate students of poetry. Engaging, thought-provoking and very funny, Cliff entertained us with a selection of poetry from across his career before answering questions about his life, work and influences. My students were energised and inspired by his visit and we hope to invite him back!” – Dr Scott Thurston, Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, University of Salford
