CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION IN THE SECONDARY CLASSROOM

There has been great interest in the last decade regarding such aspects as motivation and creativity. Since Sir Ken Robinson stated in 2006 in a Ted Talk that schools kill creativity, teaching experts have become more and more involved in developing trainings, textbooks and programmes to enhance motivation and creativity. One of such courses was part of the Comenius training offer, namely: "Creative Activities and Motivating Materials in the Secondary Classroom".

During this course I had the chance to work, among others, with two exceptional teacher trainers, namely Mark Skipper, author of Advanced Grammar and Vocabulary from Express Publishing as well as Graham Workman, whose website and materials represent a great resource for the English teachers.

1. CREATIVITY

Neurological studies have shown that the right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for creativity whereas most of the school's activities are more organised for the left hemisphere. Creativity requires a certain state of consciousness and the possibility of forming new neuro-cortical connections and for such connections specific activities are required: brainstorming, mind maps creation and very importantly, a certain degree of freedom.

During the Comenius course in Portsmouth we also discussed about Task-based Learning (TBLT), an approach which puts the task in the centre of the teaching process and not the skills or the practice. Thus, the students are also encouraged to find new elements that would help them to achieve their tasks. The more complex the tasks, the more creativity is required and in TBLT many of the tasks are related to getting final products such as a speech in front of the classroom or a flyer, a brochure or a poster.

It seems that people learn a language much faster if they are required to be creative because they will focus less on language competence and more on performance. Both Mark and Graham used a lot of humour during their activities because humour changes the brain's neuro-chemical production and allows people to access their creativity.

Children acces their creative levels with greater easiness than adults and teachers need to allow them to express their own vision more. English classes represent a wonderful opportunity for creativity and Graham encouraged us during the course to adapt the materials in the textbooks for our purposes. Sometimes teachers are afraid to select or adapt the textbook materials or imagine that they need to do a lot of research in order to prepare a creative lesson. In reality, in

order to have a creative lesson, teacher should firstly allow their creativity manifest. The best materials are real-life ones as students can relate to and in English teaching there are some of the finest materials.

During the training the teachers played the roles of the students and I personally enjoyed the games a lot, as well as the debates and the role-play and discussions about the book. Moreover, I found very refreshing those activities during which we could move in the class and later on, my students confirmed that they found them invigorating. Some teachers expressed their fear that such activities may turn the English classroom into a chaos yet I can confirm that as long as the students get clear instructions on what they need to do and about the end product, they will do their best.

2, MOTIVATION

It is such a task to keep students motivated, especially when we are dealing with teenagers. If at the beginning of the school year they all seem motivated and interested in learning and getting good results, this motivation and enthusiasm seem to wear off after a month or two.

How can we keep our students motivated all year long? When they are encouraged to set for personal goals. In the context of the new National Examinations, namely the Competency Test, the interest of the students seem to have dramatically fallen, since the evaluation in English go to level B2 at most and the evaluation in English is not part of the average grade of the Baccalaureate examination. Not to mention, the fact that it is enough to be present in order to pass the exam, is not a motivator factor either.

Therefore, the only truly motivated students are those who go to universities abroad, apply for the Police Academy or study to become translators or English teachers. For the past few years it has been a great challenge to me to keep the other students motivated to improve their level, and only by encouraging them to sit for Cambridge exams did I manage to make them increase their motivation to improve their level.

At the same time, students are motivated to use English in real-life situations and the activities such as debates or projects keep them interested in the English classroom. Students, and people in general, will stay motivated only if they constantly see the connection between what they learn and their environment, as well as the benefits the task fulfilment would bring to their lives. I connect all activities to real-life topics teenagers are interested in like work, money, love,

opportunities, entertainment etc. I encourage them to find such connections and they become so eager to express their opinions that they are no longer afraid of the errors they may make.

Even the grammar activities are connected to real-life topics, and our textbooks are already very well organised and have a variety of texts that could be exploited from all points of view: grammar, reading, discussion or vocabulary. At the same time, students should be aware of the fact that having good grammar is a mark of style and good education and is highly regarded in academic and business areas, especially in the international environments.

In conclusion, creativity and motivation are key aspects in learning and if we want to achieve great results we need to find the strategies to enhance both. We are fortunate to teach a subject that will always be highly regarded, yet, in the current context, students might find difficulty in getting interested and it is up to us to help them.