{"id":7214,"date":"2015-08-15T00:16:04","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T23:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.org\/wordpress\/?p=7214"},"modified":"2015-08-15T00:16:04","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T23:16:04","slug":"creativity-ideas-for-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2015\/08\/15\/creativity-ideas-for-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"Creativity ideas for classes – An #ELTchat summary (17\/6\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summary was written by James Taylor (@theteacherjames).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The chat topic was inspired by moderator Marisa\u2019s webinar for the British Council called \u201cCreating Creative Teachers\u201d (watch it here<\/a>). Marisa kicked the chat off with the obvious question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nSo what would say makes a practice activity creative? \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

and some discussion followed in defining creativity in this context:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nFUN can be one parameter #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nFun is not a parameter but I think it’s one of those ingredients you cannot do without! \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nAlthough humour in itself is a creative expression of language, isnt it #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nAnother is that Ss r practicing the same skill but they don’t feel they are repeating themselves because the activity is different #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nRT @Marisa_C Although humour in itself is a creative expression of language, isnt it #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\n@naomishema so repetition without regurgitation maybe? \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nRT @Marisa_C @naomishema so repetition without regurgitation maybe? YES! #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI found that a good way to judge if an activity was creative was whether it had ONE correct answer only \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SueAnnan<\/span><\/td>\nTrying something new #eltchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nI’m not sure that I completely agree with that one, @Marisa_C \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nLike for example a substitution drill – one correct answer \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nbut a situational prompt is more creative – more generative – can produce multiple answers #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nYou can practice grammar creatively and still have only one answer. Creative doesn’t imply higher order thinking skills. #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI think it does – it does involve higher order thinking skills – one of the definitions i’m afraid \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\n@FabianaLCasella yes they can – it will be short bursts of talk and perhaps not in context (a disadvantage) but yes #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI think that many holistic activities are creative – e,g, projects, creative narratives – making a video play etc \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Erhan_Gulsen<\/span><\/td>\nCollaborative speaking and writing practices let the SS hone their creative skills, I think. They should feel they are producing. \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nbut it’s more difficult to find creative stuff for your more controlled stages \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\n@Erhan_Gulsen As long as it’s a challenging task and not just a simple activity e..g. “find someone who….” \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nI was coming at the Q from \u00a0POV of a special ed T who needs 3 find 10 diff. ways 2 practice diff. btwn much\/many before ss get it. #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Erhan_Gulsen<\/span><\/td>\nAnd, speaking and writing ostensibly require higher order thinking skills #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The chat then moved onto some practical activities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI 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 \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nMore controlled than say ‘take these photos – combine them and make up a story” #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\ni wanted to share the book which just came out with you all – its choc-a-bloc . with new ideas <\/span>http:\/\/t.co\/zsOf2AOkP9<\/span><\/a> \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nThe chapter I wrote in this book makes a reference to Bloom and some of the things I mentioned are explained in more detail there \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nwe have 2 teach these skills explicitly while teaching Lit in English. George Elliott 4 comparing” Somerset Maugham 4 Inferences… #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nAn activity `I mentioned for teachers – now for learners – it’s called ‘predicaments’ but you can also call it ‘accusations’ \u00a0\u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\ne.g. ‘you were seen sticking knives & forks in your front lawn at midnight” Why? \u00a0Best excuse wins \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nor if u want to use it to practise the past continuous ‘ why were you cleaning your car with a toothbrush?” \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Some issues with uncooperative students were discussed…<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nWhat do YOU do with the ones who won’t play along? Imaginative activities raise some people’s hackles #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nDo you mean it’s just this kind of activity they would not participate in or just generally all kinds of productive activs? #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI would discuss the aims of the activity and negotiate their participation probably – though with careful prep I must confess… #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\n… that I have never had to do something like that \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nthe flights of fantasy kind – toothbrushes & forks in gardens. Some ss won’t go with such things. speaking from experience. #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nsome are awesome at it! \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nget them to write their own predicaments then – fine if they pooh pooh these ones too – make their own \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

…before the chat ended with some more activity ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\ni like to play scenes from films without sound and get them to imagine the dialog \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\ngo with your instinct – try out things but chuck out what doesn’t work \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\ncreating film dialog is huge hit with my ss – of course we don’t have to worry about turning off the sound, LOL! #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI 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 \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nI remember one activity that ALL my ss adore – it’s collaborative writing – you can do it with stories or with fairy tales #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nEveryone begins a story with a character or two – choice of setting, country, clothes, whatever then they begin to write \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\npapers change hands after every 3 mins or so \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marisa_C<\/span><\/td>\nSs read what other people wrote and continue for a bit – have never seen such intense curiosity to peer read\/evaluate!!! \u00a0#ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
naomishema<\/span><\/td>\nSometimes doing adlibs first can get the creative juices going – the results are so hilarious that it’s inspiring #ELTchat<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The full transcript of the chat can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summary was written by James Taylor (@theteacherjames).   The chat topic was inspired by moderator Marisa\u2019s webinar for the British Council called \u201cCreating Creative Teachers\u201d (watch it here). Marisa kicked the chat off with the obvious question: Marisa_C So what would say makes a practice activity creative? \u00a0#ELTchat and some discussion followed in defining…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}