Creativity ideas for classes – An #ELTchat summary (17/6/15)
This summary was written by James Taylor (@theteacherjames).
The chat topic was inspired by moderator Marisa’s webinar for the British Council called “Creating Creative Teachers” (watch it here). Marisa kicked the chat off with the obvious question:
| Marisa_C | So what would say makes a practice activity creative? #ELTchat |
and some discussion followed in defining creativity in this context:
| naomishema | FUN can be one parameter #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | Fun is not a parameter but I think it’s one of those ingredients you cannot do without! #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | Although humour in itself is a creative expression of language, isnt it #ELTchat |
| naomishema | Another is that Ss r practicing the same skill but they don’t feel they are repeating themselves because the activity is different #ELTchat |
| naomishema | RT @Marisa_C Although humour in itself is a creative expression of language, isnt it #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | @naomishema so repetition without regurgitation maybe? #ELTchat |
| naomishema | RT @Marisa_C @naomishema so repetition without regurgitation maybe? YES! #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | I found that a good way to judge if an activity was creative was whether it had ONE correct answer only #ELTchat |
| SueAnnan | Trying something new #eltchat |
| naomishema | I’m not sure that I completely agree with that one, @Marisa_C #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | Like for example a substitution drill – one correct answer #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | but a situational prompt is more creative – more generative – can produce multiple answers #ELTchat |
| naomishema | You can practice grammar creatively and still have only one answer. Creative doesn’t imply higher order thinking skills. #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | I think it does – it does involve higher order thinking skills – one of the definitions i’m afraid #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | @FabianaLCasella yes they can – it will be short bursts of talk and perhaps not in context (a disadvantage) but yes #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | I think that many holistic activities are creative – e,g, projects, creative narratives – making a video play etc #ELTchat |
| Erhan_Gulsen | Collaborative speaking and writing practices let the SS hone their creative skills, I think. They should feel they are producing. #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | but it’s more difficult to find creative stuff for your more controlled stages #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | @Erhan_Gulsen As long as it’s a challenging task and not just a simple activity e..g. “find someone who….” #ELTchat |
| naomishema | I was coming at the Q from POV of a special ed T who needs 3 find 10 diff. ways 2 practice diff. btwn much/many before ss get it. #ELTchat |
| Erhan_Gulsen | And, speaking and writing ostensibly require higher order thinking skills #ELTchat |
The chat then moved onto some practical activities:
| Marisa_C | I liked this activity – T dictates a part of a story and pauses asking Ss to complete part of it – S read each other’s stories #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | More controlled than say ‘take these photos – combine them and make up a story” #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | i wanted to share the book which just came out with you all – its choc-a-bloc . with new ideas http://t.co/zsOf2AOkP9 #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | The chapter I wrote in this book makes a reference to Bloom and some of the things I mentioned are explained in more detail there #ELTchat |
| naomishema | we have 2 teach these skills explicitly while teaching Lit in English. George Elliott 4 comparing” Somerset Maugham 4 Inferences… #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | An activity `I mentioned for teachers – now for learners – it’s called ‘predicaments’ but you can also call it ‘accusations’ #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | e.g. ‘you were seen sticking knives & forks in your front lawn at midnight” Why? Best excuse wins #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | or if u want to use it to practise the past continuous ‘ why were you cleaning your car with a toothbrush?” #ELTchat |
Some issues with uncooperative students were discussed…
| naomishema | What do YOU do with the ones who won’t play along? Imaginative activities raise some people’s hackles #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | Do you mean it’s just this kind of activity they would not participate in or just generally all kinds of productive activs? #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | I would discuss the aims of the activity and negotiate their participation probably – though with careful prep I must confess… #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | … that I have never had to do something like that #ELTchat |
| naomishema | the flights of fantasy kind – toothbrushes & forks in gardens. Some ss won’t go with such things. speaking from experience. #ELTchat |
| naomishema | some are awesome at it! #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | get them to write their own predicaments then – fine if they pooh pooh these ones too – make their own #ELTchat |
…before the chat ended with some more activity ideas:
| Marisa_C | i like to play scenes from films without sound and get them to imagine the dialog #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | go with your instinct – try out things but chuck out what doesn’t work #ELTchat |
| naomishema | creating film dialog is huge hit with my ss – of course we don’t have to worry about turning off the sound, LOL! #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | I think it’s true that we all have our fave activities – these chats are about putting more things on our menu IF WE LIKE THEM #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | I remember one activity that ALL my ss adore – it’s collaborative writing – you can do it with stories or with fairy tales #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | Everyone begins a story with a character or two – choice of setting, country, clothes, whatever then they begin to write #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | papers change hands after every 3 mins or so #ELTchat |
| Marisa_C | Ss read what other people wrote and continue for a bit – have never seen such intense curiosity to peer read/evaluate!!! #ELTchat |
| naomishema | Sometimes doing adlibs first can get the creative juices going – the results are so hilarious that it’s inspiring #ELTchat |
The full transcript of the chat can be found here.
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