Practical Ways To Foster Creativity PDF

Excellence in Education
PRACTICAL WAYS TO FOSTER CREATIVITY IN THE ELT

CLASSROOM
TRINITY COLLEGE WORKSHOPS 2016
LOLA THOMSON-‐GARAY

The challenge in the second language classroom is the limited level of the
second/foreign language when trying to apply acOviOes that trigger and foster
creaOvity. However, students of any age come to the classroom with great
creaOve potenOal. The laRer creates the opportunity for teachers to come up
with creaOve acOviOes that develop higher order thinking skills in their students.
These acOviOes develop two types of skills:

Cogni've skills: hypothesising, quesOoning, observing, comparing and
contrasOng, and imagining, among others.
Metacogni've skills: reflecOng and evaluaOng.

FOUNDATIONS OF CREATIVITY

1.  CreaOvity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There is always something that
sOmulates the generaOon of people’s original thinking.
2.  CreaOve thinking arises from the emoOonal quality of children’s
engagement and involvement in an acOvity. This leads to a state of flow in
which children’s aRenOon is focused on a personalised goal and they feel
moOvated to achieve a parOcular creaOve outcome.
3.  Students need a framework in which to develop creaOve thinking skills, and
which delimits the scope of an acOvity and allows sts to focus on their
ideas.
4.  CreaOvity gives the opportunity to play with ideas freely and
spontaneously.
5.  CreaOvity involves disciplined thinking, curiosity, aRenOon to detail, and
effort.
6.  CreaOvity is fostered by the development of a growth mind-‐set, in which
students (children) are encouraged to believe that they can improve their
performance and achieve beRer outcomes.
7.  Rather than insisOng on language accuracy and correcOng every mistake,
students should be encouraged to use and acquire language in a natural,
creaOve and memorable way.
Big C and small c of crea'vity

Crea%ve learning outcome, Crea%vely construc%ng and

students create content communica%ng meaning in

everyday interac%on

Making videos, creaOng Gesturing, miming,
posters and presentaOons, reformulaOng
giving opinions, creaOng
riddles, creaOng poetry and
stories.

The seven pillars of crea'vity

All about me acOviOes
Student selfies


Crea%ve games
JUMP TO THE BOARD, WRITE.

1. Divide the class into two groups/teams.
2. Sts sit on the floor (2 rows). Students name their teams.
3. Divide the board into two halves (one per team). Assign a points monitor, and
one student that will rub the sentences/words off the board (usually the one at
the front of the line)
4. Assign a number to each of the students in the teams.
5. Student 1 from team A will play against student 2 from team B.
6. Sit at the back of the room. Have a set of flashcards prepared (vocabulary
items or structures that need revising)
7. Place two pieces of chalk on the floor (in front of you).
8. Start the game: Show a flashcard. Give students a minute to check if they
remember the word/phrase/structure. They can whisper to each other what the
vocabulary item is, and check on spelling (in the same team). When you see they
are ready, call out a number. E.g. 5.
9. The 5s in both teams have to grab the piece of chalk and jump to the board to
write the word(s)/phrase/structure, etc. correctly.
10. When ss finish wriOng the word, they have to jump back to you and say it
out loud (to check on pronunciaOon, etc.).
11. Give a point to the team that finished wriOng first, and correctly. The rest of
the group can help the person who is wriOng on the board.

E.g. To revise compara5ves and superla5ves, show 2/3 flashcards and an
adjec5ve. Students have to write a sentence.

To emphasize collaborative

learning.
To revise/consolidate vocabulary
items and structures.
To work on spelling.
To tire them out J
CHANGE SEATS IF YOU

(To learn how to play as a whole class, to introduce and revise structures, to
work on pronunciaOon, to give lower-‐ability students the opportunity to talk)
1. Sit students in a circle (no tables).
2. On the board: write the structure you want them to revise, or you want to
introduce.

went to the cinema yesterday
Change seats if you ate pasta + last week
saw a movie..etc. last weekend
last summer…etc.

3. You start, stand in the middle of the circle and say: E.g. “Change seats if you
went to the cinema yesterday” Students get up and change seats, you sit down
and one student is leh without a seat.
4. Now it is that student’s turn to say: “Change seats if you ate……”, and so on.
5. Encourage students to change the verbs and the objects (pasta, tennis, etc.)
and the Ome expressions.

STOP!
(To revise spelling of words and vocab, to introduce new vocab, to emphasize
collaboraOve learning)
1. Divide the class into groups of three. Mix the abiliOes.
2. Give students 1 hand-‐out with a grid on it (one per group). They can draw
their own, too.

Total Name Place Animal Colour Object Verb Adjec%ve

Points

3. Write a leRer on the board.
4. Students have to complete the grid with words starOng with that leRer.
5. When one group finishes, they have to shout: STOP! Everyone stops and starts
comparing the words they wrote.
1. If a word is repeated 3 Omes or more (3 groups have wriRen the same word),
the group gets 25 points for that word.
2. If a word is repeated twice, the group gets 50 points.
3. If the word is repeated 0 Omes, the group gets 100 points for that word.
6. Students can ask you how to say some of the words they want to write in
English. Write the new words on the board (add them to your vocabulary bag *).

SNAP DRAGON
(To emphasize pair work, to encourage speaking in English in pairs, to encourage
creaOvity, to follow instrucOons, to revise language)
Make a Snap Dragon in class (one per student). You can make a big one for
yourself.
Ask children to colour the squares, and write quesOons/instrucOons, draw
vocabulary items, etc. under the squares.

1) Play as a whole class (TPR). Ask students to sit in a circle on the floor. Ask
them (or one student) to spell a word (e.g. window). Open and close the snap
dragon six Omes (window has six leRers). Read the instrucOon under the square:
“Clap three Omes”, and so on.
2) Play in pairs. Ask students to write quesOons, TRUE FALSE statements, draw
vocabulary items, etc. under the squares. Students play in pairs. E.,g.:
Student A: Say a word.
S B: sharpener
S A: S-‐H-‐A-‐R-‐P-‐E-‐N-‐E-‐R (spells the word and open and closes the dragon nine
Omes) Choose a colour.
S B: blue.
S A: (Reads out the message/quesOon, or shows the picture under the blue
square. Student B has to answer, and they take turns).

VOCABULARY BAGS
Keep the labels with new vocabulary from previous lessons in a bag or envelope.
(to consolidate vocab, for conOnuous evaluaOon, to encourage independent
learning skills).
1) Play BINGO. (groups of three) Ask students to take 9 words from the bag, and
to place them on their desk. Give them a couple of minutes to remember the
meaning of the words. Meanwhile, take a note of the words. Ask them to place
the word cards in a 3X3 arrangement. Start the BINGO game. Give the
definiOons of the words, students have to guess the word, and flip the word card
over. You can also make a drawing on the board to illustrate the meaning, or
spell it.
2) Odd one out. (group work) Ask students to take 5 words out of the bag, and
choose the odd one. They will try to find similariOes among the words.
3) Classifying. Ask students to classify the words into categories: acOon words,
nouns, vocabulary sets, adjecOves, etc.) When working with adjecOves ask
students to find the opposites.
4) Make a word search for the other team. (group work) Ask students to take 8
words out of the bag. Give them a 10X10 empty grid. They have to make a word
search exercise for the other group. Ask them to draw pictures at the boRom of

the page to illustrate the meaning of the words. They can also write a list of the
words the others have to find.
5) Make a crossword. Same idea as above, but in this case, students have to
write the definiOons of the words as clues. Start with a word that serves as a
base:

6) Miming and guessing games: Pair work.

HOPSCOTCH
(To revise vocabulary, to pracOce number sequences)
1) Use tape to make hopscotch squares in a row on the floor (squares from 1 to
8).
2) Place a flashcard in the top leh corner of each square. (use blue-‐tack)
3) Students take turns throwing the bean bag onto one of the squares.
4) They jump and hop, and “on the way back”, they have to pick up the bean
bag, and say the word, make a sentence, etc. (according to the flashcard).
5) Everyone counts together while one student is jumping. Swap the flashcards
for other ones if necessary.

CAN I HAVE…?
(To revise vocabulary, to pracOce funcOonal language)
1) Divide the class into two teams.

2) Give students A an envelope, and a list of the objects they have to put in their
envelopes (one per child).
3) Give students B picture cards.
4) Students B stand in different places around the classroom. Students A walk
around the classroom asking for the objects from Students B.
5) Student A has to ask student B for an object.
6) PracOce and model before the game starts. Write the language on the board.

S A: Can I have a pencil, please?
S B: Sorry, I don’t have a pencil.
S A: Can I have an apple please?
S B: yes, here you are!
S A: Thanks! (and so on)
**You can use the word cards in the vocabulary bags, and ask students to draw
the picture cards.
** Make sure there are enough picture cards for everyone.

FORFEIT
(To recall familiar vocabulary, to carry out small tasks, to develop self-‐
confidence)
Forfeit cards are cards that include instrucOons to revise any language the
children know. E.g. Count from 80 to 100, name eight animals that live in the
jungle, etc.
1) Ask the children to sit in a circle. Divide them into pairs.
2) Place the FORFEIT cards face down in the center of the circle.
3) Start the game by naming a lexical set: e.g. animals. Write one word from the
set in a small piece of paper. Students take turns to say a word that belong to
the lexical set. E.g. crocodile, snake, etc. As soon as a pair says the word you
have wriRen on the paper, you shout FORFEIT!
4) Ask the pair to take a FORFEIT card, read the instrucOon out loud and carry
out the task.
5) The pair then chooses the next lexical set, and the game starts again.
6) The winner is the pair that has the largest number of FORFEIT cards.
ENCHANTED FOREST
(To listen and follow instrucOons, to give direcOons, to build up trust and
cooperaOon)
1) Divide the class into pairs.
2) Remind the class of the funcOonal language to give direcOons: go straight on,
stop, turn right, turn leh, etc.
3) Ask one pair to come to the front, and assign them roles of traveller, and
forest guide. Ask the rest of the pairs to move away from their desks and
“freeze” as if they are trees in the enchanted forest.
4) Blindfold the child who is the traveller.
5) The object of the game is for the forest guide to direct the traveller through
the enchanted forest without touching the trees.
6) If the traveller touches the tree, the pair are out. Then, they become trees,
and another pair has a turn being the traveller and the guide.
7) You can have two pairs play at the same Ome. You can also ask the “trees” to
move around and to change posiOon.

ALPHABET CARDS
(To pracOce spelling, to revise vocabulary)
1) Divide the class into pairs. Students can play this game siqng on the floor.
2) Give each pair a set of the alphabet cards.
3) Ask the children to use the alphabet cards to make words (set a Ome
limit-‐5mins):
a. As many words as they can from a lexical set. E.g. animals, colours, etc.
b. The past simple form of irregular verbs.
c. The characters of a story.
d. Show a picture card, students have to make a word.
e. Make irregular plurals.
f. PLAY ANAGRAMS:
i. Students work in pairs, and make up three/four words. They
scramble the leRers to create anagrams.
ii. They leave the anagrams on their desks.
iii. Ask the students to move to the next desk (clockwise), and
unscramble the words the other pair have created.

MAGIC EYES
(To recall vocabulary items)
1) Draw a grid on the board:

2) Place a word card in each space. E.g. You can use the words they have just
learned in a chant.
3) Memorize the words as a whole class.
4) Take off the words from the board, and check if they can remember the
sequence.

STORY-‐TELLING
1) STORY WHISPERS: (Aher reading the story and working on comprehension
and vocabulary)
a. Materials: two copies of a simplified version of the story (one per
team), two copies of the same text with the sentences cut into strips, flashcards
of the parts of the story.
b. Divide the class into two teams. Ask them to sit in a line on the floor.
c. SOck a copy of the story at the back of each line.
d. Place a set of cut-‐up sentences which tell the story in jumbled order at
the front of each line.
e. The child at the back read the first sentence of the story, and whispers
it to the next child in the line. When it gets to the child at the front, he/she
selects the correct sentence from the cut-‐ups and places it in order on the desk.
Then he/she goes to the back of the line, and start the process again.
f. When the game is finished, the teams compare the cut-‐outs in order
with the text (at the back of the line).
g. Follow up: comprehension quesOons.
2) COVERING KEY WORDS WITH STICKY NOTES (to recall vocabulary and
informaOon in the story).



Using quesOons effecOvely – reading comprehension
HOTS


7: Cri%cal Reflec%on

Websites
• www.oxfordowl.co.uk
• www.mindomo.com
• www.screencast-‐o-‐maOc.com
• www.quizlet.com
• www.creaOvitygames.net
• www.storybird.com
• www.teacherspayteachers.com
• www.classdojo.com
• www.prezi.com
• hRp://www.exquisite-‐minds.com/
• hRp://www.discoveryeducaOon.com//free-‐puzzlemaker/index.cfm?
campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle

Bibliography
• A. Maley & N. Peachy. CreaOvity in the English Language classroom.
• C. Read. 500 AcOviOes for the Primary Classroom – Macmillan books for
teachers.
• D.Davies, D. Jindal-‐Snape, C. Collier, R. Digby, P. Hay A. Howe. CreaOve Learning
environments in educaOon – a systemaOc literature review.
• H. Soodmand Afshar, H. Rahimi. ReflecOve thinking, emoOonal intelligence, and
speaking ability of EFL learners: Is there a relaOon?
• D. Piffer. Can creaOvity be measured? An aRempt to clarify the noOon of
creaOvity and general direcOons for future research.
• C. P. Dwyer, M. J. Hogan, I. Stewart. An integrated criOcal thinking framework
for the 21st century.
• J. V. WhiRaker. Fostering children’s reasoning and problem-‐solving.

I hope you enjoyed the session!

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Excellence in Education

PRACTICAL WAYS TO FOSTER CREATIVITY IN THE ELT

FOUNDATIONS OF CREATIVITY

Big C and small c of crea'vity

JUMP TO THE BOARD, WRITE.

CHANGE SEATS IF YOU

Total Name Place Animal Colour Object Verb Adjec%ve

Using quesOons eﬀecOvely – reading comprehension

7: Cri%cal Reﬂec%on

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