Encouraging creativity in a foreign
language – teaching creative writing
at an international school
Stuart Crouch
International School of Düsseldorf
Today
• In this presentation, international school teacher,
librarian, and published author Stuart Crouch explores
the challenges faced by writers and teachers in the EAL
(English as an Additional Language) environment.
Drawing on his long experience working in
international schools in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the
Caribbean, Stuart shares ideas and strategies based on
his current Creative Writing class. How can technology
support and showcase writing, and how can class
reading be harnessed to improve writing? Stuart will
share examples of student work from the
brainstorming and planning stage through to the
polished and edited final copy.
Introduction – Stuart Crouch
• Teacher and Librarian
• Botswana, South Africa, Hamburg, Turkey,
Indonesia, Curacao, Berlin, Düsseldorf
• SHINE – children’s book
• Poetry Collection – Songs of Boyhood Memory
(Kindle)
• Skype author interviews with school groups
• Creative Writing teacher (6th to 10th Grade)
International School of Düsseldorf
• Large (for Europe) international school, 1080
students K-12
• IB World School all three programmes PYP,
MYP, DP
• 45 nationalities
• 27% English as first language
• 1080 students
First Language
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
(Dutch 6%)
English 27%
French 4%
German 23%
Japanese 12%
(Korean 5%)
Spanish 4%
Burning Questions
• How do we stimulate the work initially?
• How much do we check and correct?
• What are we aiming for?
• What role does home culture and language
play?
Mertin, Pat. Breaking through the
language barrier, John Catt Ltd, 2013
Quotes Hofstede (1980) four areas of deeper culture:
–
–
–
–
power distance (individual to authority)
uncertainty avoidance (anxiety and need for security)
individualism and collectivism (individuals and groups)
masculinity and femininity (assertiveness vs caring)
Pat’s Checklist:
– Simplify the language, not the content
– Give more time
– Use the ’10 to 2’ method - teacher talk for ten minutes and
student/group discussion for two to discuss what has been just done
– Differentiate
– +40 other points!
Activities this year
• After-school activity for 60 minutes after school on Monday
• Mixture of short writing cues
–
–
–
–
Set the scene with words with no letter ‘a'
Set the scene with one syllable words
Describe a sunset without using colour
All of these make the writer stop and think
• Story circles
• Line-by-line stories
• Longer projects
– Narrative poem
– Scary story
– Final personal project
EAL Challenges
• How much do students understand
discussions/instructions?
• How much differentiation is in a single group?
• What strategies can we use to illicit responses
that show understanding?
• How much pair work/ team work is
appropriate?
• How much teacher input is appropriate?
Stimulating Imagination - Story Circles
Using Stimulus Materials - Narrative
Poetry
Planning & Intervention
Individual Work & Group Work
Results Group Work Final
Based on Stimulus
Scaffolding - Pattern Poems
Pattern Poems 2
Surprises - Fold Over Stories
Word Choice - No letter ‘a’ stories
EAL Challenges & Solutions
•
•
•
•
A lot of differentiation needed – and freedom
Students need written cues not just spoken ones
Students need stimulus to get started – and time
Sharing:
– Using TV screen to share work
– Sharing their work – peer review
– Using the ISD ASA Blog
• Vocabulary is challenging, word use can be plain
• Students can be reticent in wanting to share work
that isn’t perfect (yet)
Writing Tools
• Vertical word poems
• Line-by-line stories - and cherry pick the best to
form one great story or setting
• Story circles
• Narrative poems using eBook stimulus
• Scary story
• The ISD ASA blog
• Final project in 7 sessions
• Vocabulary enrichment using a visual organiser
• a Visual thesaurus - visuwords.com
Conclusions for Next Year
• It’s partly about culture – not just language
• I would do more of the shorter, fun writing
exercises at the start of each one-hour session
• Trust is a huge issue – (student-student &
student-teacher)
• Showcasing work on the blog (anonymously)
was a success
• I will ask students for performance feedback
Contact
• Stuart Crouch
• crouchs@isdedu.de
• stucro@gmail.com
• Twitter
• @MrStuartCrouch
• http://isdcreativewritingasa.weebly.com
• Search for:
• Stuart Crouch SHINE on Amazon
• Stuart Crouch – Songs of Boyhood Memory on Amazon (Kindle)