Teachers can translate with their students short poems such as the one below. Then, if they have introduced their students to meter, they can have the students attempt to create their own poems (either individually or in small groups) using the original as a close model. If the students find this exercise too difficult, the teacher can scramble the words of the poem and ask the students to recreate the original by using the meter as a guide for their choices.
Catullus 70
Nulli se dicit mulier mea nubere malle
quam mihi, non si se Iuppiter ipse petat.
Dicit: sed mulier cupido quod dicit amanti,
in vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua.
