CREATIVITY IN TEACHING

By Mehmet TUNAZ

By Mehmet TUNAZ

What is creativity?

• The act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality• Thinking, then producing

Difference between creativity and innovation?

• The production or implementation of an idea• Having ideas, but not acting shows imaginative personality.• Production, innovation.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

Why is creativity important in language classrooms?

• Language use is a creative act• Compensation strategies • Some people cannot learn at all if they are not allowed to be creative• Motivation, inspiration and challenged brought by creating something of value.• Creativity improves self-esteem • Genuine communication and co-operation through creative works in classrom.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

• Language use is a creative act: we transform thoughts into language that can be heard or seen. We are capable of producing sentences and even long texts that we have never heard or seen before. By giving learners creative exercises, we get them to practise an important sub-skill of using a language: thinking creatively.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

•Compensation strategies (methods used for making up for lack of language in a communicative situation e.g. miming, Creative drama, Games, Free drawing, drawing, paraphrasing used for getting meaning across) use creative and often imaginative ways of expression. Our learners will need these until they master the language.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

• Some people cannot learn at all if they are not allowed to be creative. They do not understand the point in doing a language activity for its own sake, for only practising the language without a real content, purpose, outcome or even a product.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

• My experience also taught me that most people become more motivated, inspired or challenged if they can create something of value, if they feel that in some ways what they do and how they do it reflect who they are.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

•Creativity improves self-esteem as learners can look at their own solutions to problems and their own products and see what they are able to achieve.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

•Creative work in the language classroom can lead to genuine communication and co-operation. Learners use the language to do the creative task, so they use it as a tool, in its original function. This prepares learners for using the language instrumentally outside the classroom.

By Mehmet TUNAZ

Are we, ourself, creative?

Have you ever found that you wanted to do something but you did not have the right tool / material to do it, and then you found some way of using another object / material and managed somehow?

Have you every changed an activity in your course book or a resource book to match the needs of a particular group you teach? YES? There you go, you are creative!

By Mehmet TUNAZ

• Consider opposites• Direct involvement with materials and processes• Think process rather than product • Self assessment of yourself

Thanks for Listening

By Mehmet TUNAZ