Exploring Creativity Through Writing: A Handbook for Teachers

The book explores the nature of human creativity and its importance in education with reference to past and ongoing work on creativity theory. It aims to direct the attention of teachers to the need for creativity in education by dispelling the mystique surrounding it, and the feelings of inadequacy or apprehension it may evoke in educators, particularly in the Asia region. The book offers an introduction to creativity in writing: the rationale for including it in language programmes, the benefits it can bestow and the results it can produce – as well as dealing with common objections to it. It divides creative writing into two major sections – poetry and stories, followed by a copious set of varied classroom activities. For each activity, a standard format is adopted to offer teachers maximum support in implementing the procedures, including supplementary comments on each activity. It is distinct for its accessibility and clarity, its abundance of practical and ready-touse classroom activities and its unique combination of theoretical underpinnings and practical implementation. This book will be useful to students, pre-service teachers and researchers who are new to the teaching of English Language, both in the Asian context and in the wider world. It will also be an essential companion to practicing in-service teachers and Teacher Trainers to further sharpen their concepts and skills.

Table of Contents:
List of Boxes vii Foreword viii Acknowledgements ix PART I Introduction 1 1 Introduction 3 2 Creative writing in language teaching 25 PART II Creative Writing: Poetry 35 3 Introduction 37 4 Form-based activities 40 5 Language-based activities 63 6 Working with models 92 7 Free-expression activities 113 8 Reflections on creative writing by teachers 140 PART III Short Stories 143 9 Short stories 145 10 Warming up 150 11 Plot 160 12 Setting 168 13 Character 180 14 Dialogues 195 15 Point of view 204 16 Time 209 17 Titles and the twist in the tail/tale 219 18 Reflection on writing stories by students 223

About the Author :
Alan Maley has been in the field of TESL for over 40 years. After being at the University of Leeds he worked as an English Language Officer with the British Council for over 25 years. He has been active in the field of publishing for many years, especially in the area of resource books for teachers. At present he is working on a study of the phenomena of repetition and reformulation in language teaching. Sharoon Sunny has been a teacher trainer and English language educator since 2004. She has worked in India and the United States with early years learners, adolescents and adults. Her research has led her to explore creativity in the English language classroom where she uses self-regulated strategy-based writing instruction to support student writing. She currently teaches at Azim Premji University in Bangalore.