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
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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/creativ
ethinkingcontents.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?
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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
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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.