Creativity in Teaching English Reading and Writing

The Royal Thai Distance Learning Foundation with support from the

American Embassy RELO Office and TOT

Overview of Series

• 6 sessions, every 2 weeks• Session 1: Poetry• Session 2: Haiku and other poetry forms• Session 3: Short short stories• Session 4: Forms of story creation• Session 5: New (and old) American music• Session 6: Wrap up and “Poetry Slam”

Overview of Session #1

• What is creativity?• Key ideas in reading and writing

teaching theory• Experiences with poetry• Implications for your own teaching

What does creativity mean to you?

• First, write for one minute. How would you describe “creativity”?

• Then, discuss with a partner to see their response and to compare.

• We’ll hear some of your responses in the whole group.

Creativity Resources

• “Flow” - Mihály Csíkszentmihályi• Social Creativity - Alfonso (Monty) Montuori• Lateral Thinking / Parallel Thinking – Edward De

Bono• http://www.folj.com/lateral• http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/

creativethinkingcontents.html• http://www.paulsquiz.com/

free_quiz_questions/other_trivia_quizzes?Lateral_Thinking_Quiz_2/

A Sample Challenge

• Mr. and Mrs. Jacks have five children. • Half of them are boys. • How is this possible?

One Response. . .

• The other half are also boys.

Another Challenge

• A window cleaner is cleaning the windows on the 25th floor of a skyscraper when he slips and falls. He is not wearing a safety harness and nothing slows his fall, yet he suffers no injuries. Explain.

Response?

• He was cleaning the inside of the windows.

Outside of the box

What is inside the box?

And what is outside?

•Why is this an important idea?• How does this relate to your

work as teachers?

Creative thinking activity

• Each of you have 2-3 common office objects. • Think of a way to use them together that is

completely new – that has never been done before?

• Think “outside the box” (e.g. imagine you are at a park or the zoo or on an airplane – and not in an office.)

Concepts to inform the teaching of reading and writing

• Schema theory. Schema building. Schema activation.

• Top-down and bottom-up processing.• Process writing and product-oriented

writing.

How does schema theory work?

• Michael Jackson• Barack Obama• Susan B. Anthony• Robert Frost• Madonna• Marti Anderson

Try it out

• Choose one name. • Brainstorm with a partner everything

you know about that person.

Schema Activation

• This is finding out what you already know about a topic – before reading or writing anything about the topic.

Schema Building

• Now think of 5 questions you would like to ask this person. • And/or. Think of where you

might go to find out more about the person. Books? Internet?

A Thai Poem

• Some clues• Poet: Sunthornpoo• Phra Apai Manee• Think of schema activation• Predictions?

Translate

• With a partner, translate some or all of this poem. Some groups will share one or two lines.• What English vocabulary do you

need? • What is the meaning of this poem?

What is most important about it?

Translation?

• When is this useful?• When should it be avoided?• How does translation help to

serve schema activation and/or schema building?

A Poem by an American Writer

• Mary Oliver• The poem is titled “The Summer

Day”• What vocabulary might you

expect?• What topics?

Read the poem

• With a partner, read aloud the poem. Take turns reading one or two sentences each.• Discuss, using English and Thai, the

meaning.• What is the most important message

of the poem? Why do you think so?

Look at the translation

• What new interpretations can you make when you see the translation? • How does this help you understand

Oliver’s poem?

A cross-cultural perspective

• What does Sunthornpoo’s poem tell us about Thai culture?• What does Mary Oliver’s poem

tell us about American culture?

Implications for your teaching?

• What new ideas or perspectives are you taking away from today?• What will you try in your classes over

the next 2 weeks?• Be prepared to share next time.

Thank you!

• And see you soon. . .• Don’t forget to share your ideas and questions

on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com on the DLF and American Embassy RELO pages.