LUCRARE METODICO-ȘTIINȚIFICĂ PENTRU OBȚINEREA GRADULUI DIDACTIC I Coordonator științific: Conf. univ. dr. TITELA VÎLCEANU Candidată: IONESCU M…. [302830]

[anonimizat] I

Coordonator științific:

Conf. univ. dr. TITELA VÎLCEANU

Candidată:

IONESCU M. CRISTINA – LUCIANA (ANDREI)

[anonimizat], DÂMBOVIȚA

Seria 2017 – 2019

UNIVERSITATEA DIN CRAIOVA

FACULTATEA DE LITERE

A REFLECTIVE APPROACH TO DEVELOPING CREATIVITY

WITH A2-B1 LEARNERS

Coordonator științific:

Conf. univ. dr. TITELA VÎLCEANU

Candidată:

IONESCU M. CRISTINA – LUCIANA (ANDREI)

[anonimizat], DÂMBOVIȚA

Seria 2017 – 2019

ACORD

Subsemnatul(a),_______________________________________________________________, prof./conf./lect.univ.dr.__________________, la _____________________________________, specializarea__________________________, sunt/[anonimizat] I, elaborată de _____________________________________________________, profesor/învățător/educator la Școala_______________________________, localitatea_______________________________, județul________________________________, cu titlul_________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________.

[anonimizat],

DECLARAȚIE DE AUTENTICITATE

Subsemnata IONESCU M. CRISTINA – LUCIANA (ANDREI), [anonimizat], Dâmbovița, declar pe propria răspundere că lucrarea cu titlul “A Reflective Approach to Developing Creativity with A2–B1 Learners”, având coordonator științific Conf. univ. dr. TITELA VÎLCEANU, a fost elaborată personal pe baza studierii bibliografiei de specialitate, a experienței personale și îmi aparține în întregime. [anonimizat], [anonimizat] a fi citate și fără a [anonimizat] o reprezintă alte lucrări ale candidat: [anonimizat].

Data, Semnătura candidat: [anonimizat],

[anonimizat] a foreign language is very useful and important as its role is connected to the development of society. English has become a global language which has determined the need of language teaching and learning throughout the world.

One of the most important requirements of modern education is that of educating individual learners to develop their ability to think and act freely and creatively. Developing students’ creativity is a permanent concern for teachers.

[anonimizat]. This increases the value of the teacher's actions that guides learning and stimulates learner's active participation in assimilating knowledge and developing skills. As a result, [anonimizat]’s [anonimizat], develop their communicative competence. Students must be able to process the information they receive. They should also have the ability to transfer content according to their needs and different contexts.

[anonimizat] competence. It is based on techniques, strategies, methods and concepts, their aim being to manage and improve the communicative needs of the learners.

In Romania, the goal of ELT is that students should be able to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to be applied outside the classroom in unrehearsed communicative settings. This refers to transfer of learning which is very difficult to stimulate. Teachers should not only try to promote this transfer of learning but also to create an environment that stimulates and motivates learners. They should also use appropriate methods, strategies and techniques so as to develop students’ creative potential and to determine them to be active learners.

Statement of the problem

Creativity in the teaching process aims at developing creative capacity and critical reflection. By stimulating learners’ creativity and by applying modern and attractive teaching methods, the teacher stimulates the development of students’ cognitive, affective and attitudinal capacity.

The teacher should offer students a variety of activities that will help them develop reading, listening, speaking and writing skills in an integrative way.

The student who is challenged to create will be able to find solutions and adapt to a variety of contexts. That is why students should be taught creatively since the early years of studying a foreign language.

Research aims

This paper aims to develop a theoretical and applied framework, the goal being the development of creativity with A2 – B1 learners. It also aims to analyse the efficiency of creative methods and techniques in teaching grammar and vocabulary. At the same time, emphasis will be placed on streamlining the process of acquiring and developing reading, listening, speaking and writing skills, all of them embedded in communicative competence.

The aim of this research is to find ways of developing students’ creativity through using creative teaching methods, which boosts motivation and performance. The requirements of the curriculum and the level of the students will also be taken into account.

The use of a variety of creative methods and techniques together with the use of ICT in the English language classroom should lead to:

developing students’ creativity and originality;

stimulating their active involvement in dealing with tasks;

developing students’ critical thinking;

ensuring an interactive approach;

ensuring group cooperation and promoting learning through cooperation;

encouraging learners’ autonomy;

making use of knowledge, skills and abilities in an efficient way;

Research methodology

The research focus is on developing creativity with A2 – B1 learners. The research methods are both quantitative and qualitative. The former category comprises students’ scoring in diagnostic and achievement tests while the latter category is based on students’ keeping a diary of their experience as well as questions meant to identify learners’ needs and interests in English language learning.

The quantitative methods are aimed to identify the difficulties that learners encounter in learning English as a second language. They are also important to interpret data, plan intervention, initiate action and observe outcomes. The qualitative methods help monitor learners’ progress on a short or long term.

Corpus

The activities that are to be used with the two sample grades, are oral and written in nature, aimed to develop and fully exploit students’ creative potential.

The oral activities include: buzz group, debate, communicative games, role play, simulation, reconstruction etc. The written communicative activities vary from picture – story building, writing projects, reports, to writing letters, cards, advertisements etc.

All these activities are used to practise vocabulary patterns and grammar items as well as to develop students’ receptive and productive skills in an integrated way.

Research limitations and potential

The teacher has a great responsibility in teaching a foreign language. His/her role is to offer students the possibility to acquire new cognitive, social and constructive learning experiences based on cooperation and collaboration in order to face the requirements of the society.

The techniques and methods mentioned in this paper are intended to help teachers plan and conduct the teaching activities efficiently.

Learners usually have difficulty in learning a foreign language as it is sometimes hard for them to deal with grammar patterns and a variety of vocabulary items. Nevertheless, by using modern and creative methods and techniques that are learner – centred, students can easily cope with the requirements of the syllabus. Practising language through activities that stimulate their creativity, A2 – B1 learners will be more motivated and active, and will better master the use of English in real – life situations. Moreover, the steady use of these methods and techniques in the English classroom will lead to developing their speaking and writing skills represented by the communicative competence.

The integrative communicative approach to teaching and practising grammar patterns and vocabulary items will be further implemented in the following years for the other grades as well, so as to reinforce the development of creativity in both oral and written production.

In addition, the use of ICT in every English classroom is considered to be highly important as technology offers a wide range of resources that can be used for developing students’ creative potential and improving listening, reading, writing and speaking skills, taking into account that the meaningful purpose for which people use the language is communication.

Structure and organization of the paper

The paper is divided into four chapters, preceded by Introduction and followed by Conclusions.

In the first chapter, Creativity – definitions and roles, the concept of creativity is presented, as well as the importance of creativity in the language classroom. To communicate means to create new sentences. Thus, Communicative Language Teaching or CLT requires creativity and aims to make learners communicate efficiently by using linguistic and grammatical structures in given situations. The three sets of principles that help students acquire the target language are presented alongside the types of communicative activities and social interaction activities.

The second chapter – Bringing creative teaching into the classroom – deals with the importance of creativity in the curriculum and textbooks, the use of ICT in teaching a foreign language and techniques for developing creative thinking. In addition, the goal of speaking and writing is to communicate so learners should be creative and imaginative in dealing with tasks. Thus, examples of activities for developing creativity with A2 – B1 learners are also provided.

The third chapter – Teaching vocabulary and grammar creatively – presents ways and techniques to teaching and practising grammar and vocabulary creatively, as well as examples of activities and lesson procedures proposed to teach vocabulary and grammar in a creative way.

The last chapter – Researching creativity with A2 – B1 learners – is dedicated to classroom research. It describes and analyzes the applied research framework, focused on identifying the appropriate methods, strategies and techniques for developing students' creativity (A2 – B1 level) together with the development of the communicative skills and functional autonomy. Quantitative and qualitative research methods in collecting and analyzing data are used.

The last part of the paper presents the Conclusions derived from the theoretical and practical research as well as their application during the English classes.

CHAPTER 1

CREATIVITY – DEFINITIONS AND ROLES

Introduction to creativity

Creativity in the teaching process aims to develop the creative capacity and critical reflection. The role of the teacher is that of a mentor who cultivates and develops the potential of his students. By stimulating their creativity, by applying creative and attractive methods in the teaching process, the teacher stimulates the development of students' cognitive, affective and attitudinal capacity.

The modern language teacher aims to develop students' communication skills. It has to show a spirit of observation, imagination, creativity, to provide students with a variety of activities that will help them acquire reading, listening, speaking and writing skills in an integrative way.

Creativity develops when students are able to analyze the information they are offered, make new connections, come up with new ideas, and evaluate their choices. They need the freedom to express themselves without being judged. Creativity involves assuming the risk, translated by the courage to make mistakes and accept change. The student challenged to create will be able to find solutions and adapt to a variety of contexts.

So, creativity can be defined as the capacity of human thinking to assimilate information, overcome this level of information, find new solutions, and thus new ideas. According to Longman Exams Dictionary (2006: 347), creativity means – “the ability to use your imagination to create new ideas, make things etc.”

Creativity in the teaching process aims to develop the creative capacity and critical thinking. Creativity involves purposeful activities that suppose “thinking and behaving imaginatively” and thus generating originality, the outcome being “of value in relation to the objective”. (Horner and Ryf 2007: 1)

There are three types of creativity (http://www.adi.pt/docs/innoregio_creativity-en.pdf):

“combinational” creativity – that includes combinations of familiar ideas;

“exploratory” creativity – that involves new ideas based on “the exploration of structured concepts”;

“transformational” creativity – that includes the transformation of some dimension of the structure that leads to the generation of new structures.

1.1.1. Creative teachers and creative teaching

Learners should be involved in activities that motivate and encourage them to use their imagination and make links with previous knowledge, ask questions and respond in different ways. In order to do all these, teachers should act creatively. Creative teachers are generally open minded, have innovative ideas and are willing to try or apply different teaching strategies and methods; they aren’t afraid to take risks.

Creative teaching consists in the methods and techniques used by the teacher that focus on the learners’ interests in the learning material and determine students to find answers by themselves in a creative way. Creative teaching increases learners’ self-esteem, motivates them and prepares them for the future. Moreover, teachers should give learners the opportunity to take risks and thus build their confidence and develop their creativity. Learning should be made more effective and interesting by using imaginative approaches as well as engaging activities in the classroom that will develop learners’ capacity for original ideas and action. In addition, the teacher should be flexible and adapt to different learners’ needs and learning contexts. On the other hand, learners should be encouraged to be original. They should express their feelings, try to find answers by themselves and formulate their own ideas. Then they should evaluate their responses to see if they have value.

It is very important for teachers to develop their students’ creative thinking (the generation of new, useful and productive ideas) as well as students’ divergent thinking (open – ended ideas generated by open – ended questions).

(https://courses.lumenlearning.com/educationalpsychology/chapter/creative-thinking/)

Indicators of creative thinking

According to Chris Horner (2007: 2), when students are being creative, they are likely to:

Brainstorm ideas and solutions to problems;

Synthesize these ideas and communicate them in original ways;

Discover or experiment new and interesting things;

Ask questions;

Express different points of view;

Explore ideas, anticipate and overcome difficulties;

Respond to ideas in surprising ways;

Make unusual connections;

Use imagination to achieve an objective, see new possibilities;

Focus on ideas, outcomes and action.

Creative students should be curious, risk-takers, flexible and adaptable, they should feel comfortable with ambiguity and a variety of answers, they should be original, imaginative and motivated.

Thus, the student should be placed at the heart of the curriculum and the teacher should be imaginative and creative in facilitating learning. Moreover, the teacher has a crucial role in this respect as he/she should permanently involve students in their learning, provide feed-back all the time, adjust and modify his/her teaching, taking into account the results of the assessment and determine students to assess themselves, be aware of their results and understand how to improve the teaching process.

Feed-back is an information the teacher gives students, telling them how well they are doing, or help them to improve their answers. It can be immediate or delayed (during the activity or after the activity). Feed-back does not mean a reward or a comparison between a student’s work with another. The teacher should listen to the student, ask questions so as „to understand what stage of learning he/she is and to modify the curriculum to meet his/her individual needs” (Horner and Ryf 2007: 4). In order to do this, teachers should make their teaching attractive for students and adopt communicative teaching methods that emphasize functional and situational language use and involve them in activities such as stimulation and role-play that determine students to use their imagination and think creatively. (Horner and Ryf 2007: 5)

Creative teachers find different ways to work creatively with their students, thus the student motivation increases, which in turn leads to increasing the teacher motivation. Xerri (2016: 46), uses the following cycle:

Figure 1. The Creativity Cycle

Teacher Motivation Creativity

Learner Motivation Growth

Engagement

1.1.2. The importance of creativity into the language classroom

Creativity is important in the language classroom because:

when using different creative activities teachers can develop a sub-skill of using the language: thinking creatively;

teachers can make students master the language by using comprehension strategies such as miming and drawing;

it is easier for students to learn if they are allowed and encouraged to be creative;

by creating something of value, they will be more motivated and inspired;

self-esteem is improved when using creativity in the classroom;

working and learning in a creative way will lead to co-operation and genuine communication;

varied and enjoyable tasks enrich classroom work;

creative thinking is a very important skill that plays a crucial role in real life.

(https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creativity_language_classroom)

1.1.3. Ways of promoting creativity into the classroom

There are many ways teachers can bring creativity into the classroom. Some of them are the following: (http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/30-things-you-can-do-to-promote-creativity-in-your-classroom/)

including creativity in the learning process: showing students ways of solving a problem and encourage them to come up with creative solutions;

choosing the most effective strategies;

developing creativity as a skill;

giving assignments that suppose divergent and convergent thinking;

creating a supportive environment;

encouraging students to ask questions;

allowing room for mistakes; if they aren’t wrong they will never come up with original ideas;

motivating students; encouraging them to be curious;

integrating art, music and culture in the process of teaching;

working on groups; using a collaborative creative thinking model;

In order to be creative, students must have imagination, they must be disciplined and self-motivated, they must collaborate and be aware of their responsibilities.

In addition, in order to promote creativity in the classroom, teachers should be creative. First of all, they should have a solid knowledge base because without knowledge, imagination is not productive. They should be confident and responsible of how well their students learn, they must help them succeed, develop their self-confidence and focus on them as individuals. Moreover, creative teachers must be familiar with a wide range of strategies and techniques in order to be creative when designing tasks and activities. Creative teachers should be ready to take risks, they should be innovative, flexible and imaginative. They design learner-centred lessons by personalising the content of the lesson and make connections with learners’ life experiences. They can even adjust their teaching during lessons. Creative teachers must be reflective; they must reflect on their own practice and find new ideas and activities suitable for their students. At this stage getting feed-back from learners is very important.

Creative teachers use technology into the classroom. This leads to developing imagination and divergent thinking. Learners must be encouraged all the time to take risks or to engage easily in problem-solving discussions. They must be motivated all the time, encouraged to collaborate. The teacher must use activities that highlights learners’ talents and that are connected to their world.

Communicative Language Teaching

To communicate means to create new sentences. Communicative Language Teaching or CLT requires creativity and aims to make learners communicate effectively by using linguistic and grammatical structures in given situations. The aim of the CLT is to develop learners’ ability to take part in different communication situations either spontaneous or meaningful, in different contexts, on different topics with different people and heaving different purposes. (Alothman 2012: 15-16)

CLT focuses on functional and situational language use and includes communicative tasks that require students to generate new ideas or to take part in role-play tasks or simulations in which they must use their creativity and imagination. The outcomes of such tasks depend on the learners’ creative abilities. For learners who are not creative, it will be difficult to perform such tasks and this will influence the development of the second language learning. That’s why a foreign language class should offer students the opportunity to be creative. Learning a new language supposes interacting, taking part in divergent activities that require imagination and creativity. (Alothman 2012: 15-16)

According to Alothman (2012: 16) creativity in the language classroom can be considered a process that has three levels:

Firstly it involves manipulation of the components of the target language;

Secondly it includes cultural and situational appropriateness of the domain, i.e. communicative competence;

Thirdly it involves the use of the target language to provide new ideas that involve creativity;

Littlewood (2002: 1) states the fact that CLT pays special attention to functional and structural aspects of the language.

1.2.1. The socio-cultural turn

It is stated that classroom activities should offer the learner the opportunity to use the target language for meaningful purposes paying special attention to the tasks performed and the messages created by the learner rather than on the language structure and its correctness.

When using the language creatively, learners can make errors which is a normal aspect in the process of learning a foreign language. At this stage correction is unnecessary and unfavourable. Moreover, it is advisable for learners to highly use the target language.

Effective language teaching takes into account the needs and interests of the learner while in the effective language learning process the learner is responsible for his or her own progress. In CLT there is an increasing use of language in the classroom and there is also tolerance to error.

According to Grenfell and Harris (1999: 21) in CLT there is:

authenticity of language: authentic materials (realia) are used in the classroom. These materials are useful and motivating for the learners;

spoken and written language are dealt with separately and they require different teaching techniques;

practice vs. real language: in the classroom there is meaningful interaction in the foreign language.

The post-communicative turn

Jacobs and Farrell (2002: 7-11) explain the paradigm shift which underlines eight major changes in the ELT:

Learner autonomy: classroom instruction is learner-centred, learner autonomy is encouraged and self-assessment skills are developed.

The social nature of learning: attention is placed on learning the foreign language, on cooperation rather than competition;

Curricular integration: English is connected to other subjects. Thus, meaningful contexts will be created to facilitate learning;

Focus on meaning: learners are exposed to meaningful content which is the main stimulus of learning;

Diversity: when designing lessons, teachers should take into account learners’ age, personality, learning styles, linguistic proficiency, interests, needs and type of motivation;

Thinking skills: critical and creative thinking skills are developed;

Alternative assessment: traditional forms of assessment such as multiple choice, reading comprehension questions, error correction exercises etc, are complemented by new forms of assessment such as interviews, portfolios etc.

Teachers as co-learners: Teachers learn along with students, the learning process being a life-long one.

These essentials of the paradigm shift are interdependent. This is shown in the figure below by Jacobs and Farrell (2002: 11)

Figure 2

1.2.3. Communicative competence

According to Savignon (2002: 1) the main goal of the CLT is the communicative competence which refers to expressing, interpreting and negotiating meaning, taking into account the psycholinguistic and sociocultural aspects in the process of acquisition of a second language.

Communicative competence means the ability to use language in different social contexts and to notice the sociolinguistic contexts and appropriateness. According to Savignon (2002: 8-10) communicative competence has four interrelated components:

Grammatical competence which refers to recognising the lexical, morphological, syntactical and phonological features and use them in the formation of words and sentences.

Discourse competence which deals with using words or phrases to form different texts such as messages, postcards, poems etc. By identifying isolated words or sounds one can discover the overall meaning of the text. The process is called bottom-up. On the other hand, the process called top-down refers to understanding the meaning of the text which leads to the interpretation of isolated words and sounds. Both processes are crucial for the communicative competence.

Sociocultural competence which deals with understanding the social context in which language is used.

Strategic competence which represents constraints, difficulties or strategies the learner uses in an unfamiliar environment.

Savignon (2002: 8-10) represents the four components in an “inverted pyramid” as in the figure below:

Figure 3

Communicative competence also means (Richards 2006: 3):

to know how to use language for different purposes;

to know when to use the formal or informal speech, spoken and written communication;

to know how to produce texts of all types;

to know how to use a variety of strategies in order to maintain communication.

1.2.4. Classroom activities; the role of the teacher and the role of the learners

Teachers must identify students’ needs, interests, learning styles and strategies; they must help them become independent. Teachers can play the following roles: (Weimer and Lockhart 1996: 99-100), (http://www.academia.edu/3379993/Teacher_Roles_in_Learner-Centered_ Communicative_EFL_Instruction)

information-gatherer: teachers must collect information about their students, analyze their behaviour, interactions, constrains and so on.

decision-maker: teachers should have various materials, plan flexible learning experiences, a variety of activities, goal-setting in order to respond to learners with different English levels, different backgrounds, interests and needs.

motivator: Teachers should motivate students to learn English. They should arouse students’ interests in the language by designing interesting lessons. Moreover, teachers should stimulate intrinsic motivation by creating a pleasant atmosphere, having a good relationship with the students, making lessons interesting, personalising the learning process, promoting learner autonomy.

facilitator of groups dynamics: teachers organise tasks logically and use different types of grouping (individual, pair, small group, large group work) to encourage types of learning.

provider of opportunities for communicative and authentic language use. Teachers provide students with materials such as: video clips, newspaper extracts, photographs, pictures, maps, charts and so on, in order to help them understand and use authentic language. Teachers can also bring different objects or invite native speakers if possible.

counselor: teachers help learners feel secure and overcome difficulties.

reflective practitioner and researcher: teachers must do a lot of research in order to improve their knowledge and develop professionally; they must also understand the context in which the teaching process and the learning process take place. They must improve the quality of teaching and learning.

“Teacher autonomy involves ideas of professional freedom and self-directed professional development.” (http://www.academia.edu/3379993/Teacher_Roles_in_Learner-Centered_ Communicative_EFL_Instruction)

Learner-centred teachers are always there for their students; they offer them advice and guidance, the real focus being on students and on what they are doing. Teachers are like guides. “Guides show people the way, and sometimes they even go along, but guides do not make the trek for the traveller.” (Weimer 2002: 77) Students are supported and guided to communicate with each other in order to construct knowledge in a meaningful manner.

With CLT the focus is on controlled activities such as drills, memorization of dialogues, role-plays, project work, pair work and group work. The teacher is facilitator and monitor. He/she must facilitate language learning. (Richards 2006: 4-5)

Taking into account that the aim of the CLT is to develop fluency in the foreign language, learners should be engaged in different communicative activities in which they should be able to negotiate meaning, work, collaborate, correct misunderstandings and avoid breakdowns in communication. (Richards 2006: 14)

According to Richards (2006: 14) activities that focus on fluency reflect the natural use of foreign language and require interaction and meaningful communication. Moreover, language use is linked to context and the production of language may not be predictable. In addition, different communication strategies are used, the main aim being to achieve communication. On the other hand, activities that focus on accuracy reflect the classroom use of foreign language, with special attention on the correctness of the language. There is no practice of language but of small samples of the language and meaningful communication is not required.

In learner-centred classroom the teacher should guide and facilitate learning. A good teacher always finds ways to activate students, he/she knows when to remain silent and when to watch because it is known that learning supposes discovery and invention. A good teacher facilitates learning in different contexts. He/she always designs activities that engage learners. His/her role is to connect students and resources, their focus being on the learning process.

In a learner-centred environment, students can’t be “taught”. Teachers help them to learn. Teachers’ role is to encourage and motivate students to learn and develop their skills. Students are tasks performers. They can work individually, in pairs, in small or large groups while the teacher monitors them and then gives them feedback. Students interact with the teacher in a whole-class activity; they are responsible for their own behaviour and learning. The learner-centred environment offers students autonomy; they also become active seekers of knowledge; they use the learning opportunities they are offered, they look for other ways of learning and if they can’t succeed, they ask their teachers for help and guidance, not for ready answers.

When working in pairs or groups students should talk only in the foreign language. Teachers gives feedback on their work focusing on the mistakes and asks the class to suggest corrections. Corrections can be considered positive and viewed as a way to do better in future activities. At the end of the activity students should also be encouraged and praised. (Jones 2007: 25-27)

Thus, in a learner-centred environment, students will learn new skills such as discovering how to learn independently, do some research and asks questions. Nevertheless, they must learn how to collaborate and communicate with the other members of a group. Another important skill is that of metacognition or “thinking about thinking” that involves using “high-level thinking skills” such as evaluating or analyzing.

All these skills together make students responsible for learning.

(https//:study.com/academy/lesson/student-roles-in-a-learner-centered-environment.html#lesson)

1.2.5. Teaching by principles

According to Brown (2000: 54-71) there are three sets of principles that help students acquire the target language:

Cognitive principles:

Automaticity

Meaningful learning

The anticipation of reward

Intrinsic motivation

Strategic investment

Affective principles:

Language ego

Self-confidence

Risk-taking

The Language – culture connection

Linguistic principles

The Native Language Effect

Interlanguage

Communicative Competence

Automaticity – efficient learning involves a gradual movement of “the control of a few language forms into the automatic processing of a relatively unlimited number of language forms.” (Brown 2000: 56). The learner moves gradually away from focusing on form in order to speed the processing of the language.

Meaningful learning – in all of our lessons the material is relevant, interesting, challenging so that the learners have long-time retention and applicability in real-life world.

Anticipation of reward – students expect to get some kind of reward out of learning. It can be tangible or intangible, short – term or long – term. The teacher can also encourage students to reward each other.

Intrinsic motivation – the learner feels the behaviour itself is the reward since he/she enjoys and desires it. Students generally perform a task because it is useful, fun and challenging.

Strategic investment – students invest time, effort and attention in developing strategies to learn, comprehend and produce the language.

Language ego – being developed by the second language learner can make him/her feel fragile and it can cause inhibitions, defensiveness and fragility. A second language also develops a new way of thinking, feeling and acting.

Self-confidence – Learners think they are capable of accomplishing tasks. This is an essential factor.

Risk-taking – learners should take calculated risks in attempting to use the language. They must be willing to attempt, produce and interpret the language. They must take the risk of being wrong. Teachers should create an atmosphere that encourages students to try out the language, make the tasks neither too easy nor too difficult and respond to their attempts positively.

The language – culture connection: when a language is taught, teachers also teach its complex system of cultural characteristics, customs, values, ways of acting, thinking and feeling. Language and culture are interconnected. Knowing all these, learners will adapt easily to a new cultural context and the second – language learning will be successfully acquired.

The Native Language Effect – the native language can either interfere or facilitate second language production and comprehension. Teachers should consider errors an important step that students make in understanding the system of the target language and appropriate feedback should be provided. Teachers should also try to persuade students to think in the second language as this usually helps to minimize interference errors.

Interlanguage – learners pass through different stages as they progress. Successful interlanguage development is partially the result of utilizing feedback from others. Teachers should be tolerant to interlanguage errors and make students realize that errors are “indicators of developing aspects of the new language”. (Brown 2000: 67)

Communicative competence – to develop communicative competence, instruction needs to point towards organizational, pragmatic, strategic and psychomotor competence. This is the most important principle as communicative competence is the goal of the language classroom.

In order to achieve communicative goals, attention should be given to language use and usage, to accuracy and fluency, to authentic language and contexts. Moreover, special focus should be on students’ need to apply classroom learning to different contexts in the real world.

1.2.6. Types of communicative activities

“In communicative language learning, classroom activities must be done in a communicative way.” (Littlewood 2002: 16-17)

The teacher’s purpose is to prepare students for communicative activities and thus he/she should provide students the necessary linguistic forms and the relations between these forms and meanings.

According to Littlewood (2002: 16-17) communicative activities provide “whole-task practice”, they increase the level of motivation because the learner is engaged in communication with other learners and they “allow natural learning”. Moreover, they can create a context which supports learning. Communicative activities can improve the relationships between the learners and the teacher and among learners.

In communicative activities the teacher designs the activity and creates a situation. Then, the students must interact in order to arrive to a conclusion. The teacher must make sure that the students understand what they have to do in the activity. He/She can also give examples. The activities should be designed and adjusted according to the level of learners, their linguistic and creative abilities. During the activity students may not be interrupted by the teacher if it isn’t necessary. Any intervention may not let students be fully involved and may “hinder the development of communicative skills” (Littlewood 2002: 17). If there are students who can’t/don’t understand the task, the teacher can offer advice, guidance and help.

In addition, when learners are performing the task, the teacher may not remain a passive observer but he/she can monitor the strengths and weaknesses of his/her students and transform all these in their learning needs.

Moreover, the teacher may discourage learners from using their mother tongue when it is difficult for them to speak in the target language. The teacher should also identify the most important errors and correct them in order to prevent them to become fixed in the learner’s vocabulary.

According to Littlewood (2002: 20), there are two types of communicative activities and should be performed by communicative language learners. These are:

– functional communication activities

Communicative activities are needed in the classroom to emphasize the functional aspect of communication. When exchanging information learners should use the language they know in order to get meanings effectively. Thus, the teacher should design the activities in their real context so as the students to become aware of the fact that the second language can also satisfy their real communication needs.

– social interaction activities

As Littlewood states (2002, 20), “the competent speaker chooses language which is not only functionally effective but also appropriate to the social situation he is in”. The meaning should be conveyed effectively, with special attention paid to the social context. The language produced by the speaker should be appropriate to the different contexts. The learner should be aware of the fact that the “society is the main application field of the language” and that the teacher must relate the classroom activities to the social interactions.

Functional communication activities can be divided into four main groups: (Littlewood 2002: 22-45).

Sharing information with restricted cooperation

Sharing information with unrestricted cooperation

Sharing and processing information

Processing information

The activities presented below are adapted. (Littlewood 2002: 22-45)

Sharing information with restricted cooperation

In this type of communicative activity simple patterns of interaction are produced. It can contain yes/no questions; the learner is able to elicit information. The teacher can specify some language structures that can be used and thus, the activity may become a communicative form of controlled language practice.

Examples of activities:

Identifying pictures

This activity should be done in pairs. Student A has a set of 4 pictures which are very similar but have a number of different features. For example, the pictures all show a classroom but differ in the colour of the furniture, the number of desks and chairs, the position of teacher’s desk etc. Student B has only a copy of one of these pictures. Student A must find out which of the pictures student B is holding by asking questions about it. Example of questions: What colour….?, How many…….?, Where……? The level of difficulty of this activity can be determined according to how easily describable the distinguishing features are.

Discovering identical pairs

This activity can be done in groups. Four pictures are given to four students. The fifth student has a duplicate of one of the four pictures. He/She must question the others in order to find out who has the picture which is identical to his/her own.

This activity can also be done with the whole classroom. It can be presented in different forms such as: a wanted person, a stolen object, a detective enquiry, find your partner etc.

Discovering missing information

Student A has a table containing information about the distances between various towns with some missing information. Student B has the same table except that different items of information have been deleted. Student A and B has to question each other in order to complete his/her own table.

This activity can also be done using pictures. Such activities can be used as a follow-up activity.

Sharing information with unrestricted cooperation

In such kind of activities learners are allowed to become fully cooperative. The above examples can be used here too, but, this time, learners can ask more complex questions, they can describe the picture, ask for or offer suggestions, help each-other, ask for clarification and so on. Learners must develop their communication skills, use feedback, reformulate messages in order to cope with more difficult tasks. Together they must overcome obstacles, produce positive relationships and have a positive attitude towards the foreign language.

Besides the previous examples that can be reconsidered, there are other examples of activities:

Communicating patterns and pictures

Student A is given a number of shapes. He/She arranges them into a pattern. Student B has the same number of shapes. They must communicate with each other so that student B reproduces the same pattern as A.

Instead of patterns each student can be given a picture to be communicated to a partner.

Following directions

Both students A and B have identical maps but student A knows where the exact location of a building is. Student A must direct B to the correct location.

In such activities the interaction between learners is more creative and unpredictable. Thus, they will develop their communicative skills. Moreover, they will tend to make grammar errors that the teacher will use as indicators of what is needed to be learnt. The focus of these activities is on “meanings to be communicated” for specific purposes.

Sharing and processing information

In these activities learners share information, discuss and evaluate it in order to solve a problem. In such activities learners should be prepared to express complex ideas, agree or disagree, negotiate and explain.

Example of activities

Reconstructing story – sequences

The teacher can cut up a picture-strip story in a separate pictures. One picture is given to a student. The students mustn’t see each other’s pictures. The students in the group must discuss and decide on the original sequence of events. Then they must reconstruct the story.

On the one hand, in this activity students need a language for description and narration and, on the other hand they need the language for discussion.

The same activity can be done with a printed story that can be cut into paragraphs. Each student must summarise the section and answer possible questions asked by the others. Then the whole group must discuss in order to reconstruct the story.

This activity motivates students practice making summaries.

Pooling information to solve a problem

Student A has a map of a city showing places of interest. Student B has a list of opening hours for these places. Together, they must decide on four places they want to visit and make an itinerary that enables them to visit the places chosen during a day, taking into account the fact that they can spend one hour at each.

Processing information

In these types of activities students know all relevant facts. They have to discuss and evaluate these facts in order to solve a problem. They can work in groups or in pairs.

Example of activities:

Learners are supposed to imagine that they are going in a 3-day trip in the mountains. Each person can carry only 10 kilos. In groups they must decide what things they will take from a given list and they must justify their decisions.

Another possible activity would be to make an itinerary for two days in London. They must take into account the needs and interests of each member of the group.

Unusual situations can also be used. For example, a thief stole from a bank in London, last night. Students should spot the thief, taking into account that three people saw him in Trafalgar Square. Where can he be and why?

In such activities learners should analyze the information given, express their opinions, justify them, argue and persuade the others in order to solve the problem. Learners are free to interact and use foreign language in communicating with the others. They become more and more involved in the activities. They can agree or disagree or interrupt without offence. They can learn new words, become creative and develop easily their communicative skills.

The teacher should encourage students experience various communicative needs in different situations similar to the real world under well-established social conditions.

1.2.7. Social interaction activities

Social interaction activities add a “clearly defined social context” to the functional activities. Thus, activities should be designed according to the real-life situations where language plays a very important role and it is a form of social behaviour. The teacher should consider the classroom “ a social context for language use” and prepare learners for different social contexts by designing activities based on real-life situations. Moreover, learners should be able to transfer the structures and skills they acquire during classroom interaction to different real-life situations. (Littlewood 2002: 43)

The author (2002: 45-64) explains four approaches that refer to the “classroom environment as a social context for foreign language use”:

Using the foreign language for classroom management

Using the foreign language as a teaching medium

Conversation or discussion sessions

Basing dialogues and role-plays on school experience

Using the foreign language for classroom management

This approach refers not only to planned activities but also to the classroom management and practical problems that arise. There are teachers that tend to use the mother tongue when organising the classroom in order to make sure that learners understand what they have to do. Teachers should provide learners with the language needed for classroom routine and use the foreign language in learning activities, although this means sacrificing valuable time for foreign language use.

Using the foreign language as a teaching medium

This approach refers to the fact that learners should be taught another subject in the foreign language. Researchers state that in bilingual schools, students reach a high degree of proficiency in the second language without any formal instruction. Students who are taught two or three subjects in the second language will also have a higher level of proficiency.

On the other hand, individual teacher can have one lesson every week to teaching geography, history, literature or cultural background related to the foreign country. Learners will be engaged in purposeful communication and will be provided with useful knowledge.

Conversation or discussion sessions

Conversation or discussion sessions help learners develop their communicative abilities. Teachers should provide opportunities for learners to make them express their interests, opinions, describe experiences and so on. Furthermore, introducing a new topic for discussion, bringing materials and giving the necessary instruction will help learners interact without the teacher’s presence. The teacher must act as a co-communicator; he/she must guide and stimulate the learners during the interaction.

Basing dialogues and role-plays on school experience

The purpose of foreign language activities is also to help learners cope with the problems that appear in their environment. Thus, every discussion about homework, marks, conflicts should be discussed in class in the foreign language. These discussions may lead to role-playing and to dialogues composed by the learners themselves.

This approach exploits for foreign language learning, the communicative needs being stimulated by the learning environment.

Discussion is used which leads to developing the learners’ communicative competence.

Taking into account all the above mentioned we can add the fact that real world offers a great variety of patterns of interaction where learners have to use more complex structures (formal and informal language) in order to be involved in difficult social relationships. That is why the teacher should offer learners a variety of possibilities for communicative interaction.

Example of activities:

The activities presented below are adapted after Littlewood (2002: 45-64)

Simulation and role – playing

Learners imagine a situation that can occur in real life. This can be a simple or a more complex one according to their level. They are asked to behave as if the situation really existed, act as themselves or adopt a simulated identity.

Simulations and role – playing are techniques used for “organising, controlled, pre-communicative language practice”. (Littlewood 2002: 50) Moreover, being involved in such activities, learners should create the interaction themselves and identify with their roles. In addition, they must focus on the communication of meanings rather than practice of language. In such activities, the more control the teacher has on the activity the less creative the students are.

Control Performing memorised dialogues

Contextualised drills

Cued dialogues

Role – playing

Creativity Improvisation

Figure 4

These activities involve simulation but they differ from the point of view of teacher – control and learner – creativity. In performing memorised dialogues creativity is at minimum while teacher’s control is at maximum. In contextualised drills the teacher predetermines the sentences and the learner creates them. In cued dialogues the teacher’s control and the learner’s creativity are equal as the teacher has control over the meanings and not over the language. In role – playing activities the teacher exercises control only over the situation and the learner’s role but in this case the learner created the interaction.

Example of activities:

1. Role – playing controlled through cued dialogues

Learner A and B will have the cues on separate cards. Each learner must listen to his partner and then formulate the answer.

2. Role-playing controlled through cues and information

Student A: You want to book a room for 7 nights in a hotel at the seaside. You call the receptionist of the hotel and:

Ask if there is a double room available for 7 nights between 1st and 7th of August;

Ask about the price of the room;

Ask where you can park the car;

Say you don’t want to have breakfast included;

Student B: You are the receptionist of a hotel at the seaside. You receive a phone call. You have a double room and a single room vacant for the period 1st – 7th of August. The price of the single room is £10.50 and the price of the double room is £16.00. Breakfast is £2 extra per person, per day. There is a free car park behind the hotel.

3. Role-playing controlled through situation and goals.

Student A: You want to buy a motorbike from a second-hand shop. You see one that you like and ask the salesman about the price, how old it is and whether there is a guarantee.

Student B: You are the motorbike salesman. You see a customer that is looking at a motorbike in your shop. You offer to help him/her. The motorbike is four years old, its price is £1.250.00 and the firm offers two months guarantee.

The teacher can give students a picture of the motorbike or can bring a toy motorbike in order to add realism, make students be more eager to communicate and avoid misunderstandings about its appearance.

4. Role-playing in the form of debate or discussion

Learners can work in groups of four. They are a group of people who want to help street children in their town. They start collecting money, clothes and food from the local people. After they have finished doing all these, they must discuss and reach a conclusion.

Student A: Your name is Jake Adam and you are the headmaster of a school in your town. You think that you should gather all the street children and give each child his/her part of money, clothes and food.

Student B: Your name is Anna Foster and you work at the local bank. You think that the clothes and the food should be given to children but the money should be used for building a centre for these children where they will be taken care of.

Student C: Your name is Mary Jenkins and you are a doctor. You think some of the money should be spent on vitamin pills and other treatments children might need.

Student D: Your name is Tom Barrymore. You are the mayor of the town. You feel you should contact a charity organisation. They know better how to help these children. You add the fact that people working in the Town Hall will also give the street children a sum of money.

This is a problem solving activity with strong social constrains.

5. Improvisation is another type of role-playing activity which requires less control of the teacher. Students are given the situation and a stimulus, then, they can interpret in any way they wish.

Example of activity:

You are a visitor in London and you meet an old friend living there. Ask him what is worth visiting and what activities you can do there.

There are many examples of activities through which the teacher can give learners opportunities to practice the foreign language in different social interactions. The teacher should take into account the fact that these activities should be complex and should offer them independence in order to increase learners’ linguistic competence.

Through the activities that the teacher designs, he/she should aim to develop the communication skills and has to maximize efficiency. The activities should resemble real situations because learners should be prepared to use their communicative skills. Moreover, the teacher should offer learners a high degree of communicative involvement and ask them to simulate roles that they are likely to adapt in real life.

All of the activities presented above develop both learners’ communicative skills and their creativity.

CHAPTER 2

BRINGING CREATIVE TEACHING INTO THE CLASSROOM

2.1. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CECRL) is a document published by the Council of Europe in 2001 which defines the levels of mastery of a foreign language according to what you can do, in different areas of competence. These levels are currently the reference in the field of language learning and teaching.

It is a “guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across  Europe  and, increasingly, in other countries”. (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, Council of Europe 2001: 1)

The Common European Framework provides a “common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks etc. across Europe.” (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, Council of Europe 2001: 1-2). It mentions what learners have to learn in order to use language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to acquire and develop so as to act efficiently. The cultural context is also covered. The levels of proficiency are defined; they allow progress to be measured at each stage of learning.

The Common European Framework (CEF) is meant to overcome the communication that may arise from different educational systems in Europe and barriers of communication among professionals. It provides the means that are necessary for teachers, teacher trainers, examiners, ensuring that they meet the real needs of the learners.

In the Common European Framework there are stated some general measures. The most important of them refer to the fact that:

the teacher should take into account the needs, motivations and resources of learners when teaching the second language;

the objectives should be realistic and should be defined as explicitly as possible;

appropriate methods and materials should be developed;

suitable forms and instruments for the evaluating of learning should be used.

Moreover, at all the educational levels should be introduced the best methods and materials that will enable different types of students to acquire a communicative proficiency appropriate to their specific needs. Methods of modern language teaching should be promoted. These will “strengthen independence of thought, judgement, action, combined with social skills and responsibility.” (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, Council of Europe 2001: 3)

2.2. The importance of creativity in the syllabus and textbooks

Creativity is considered to be an integral part of the learning process that helps young learners and children to be successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. Creativity is a required skill that should be encouraged and developed within the agreed syllabus.

The modern language syllabus focuses on language skills, the contents that have to be taught, are subordinated to skill development. Values and attitudes are prioritized over the topics to be discussed which are included in the methodological suggestions, together with the elements of construction of communication and the communicative functions that have to be taught. Today, there is only one national syllabus, the teacher having the opportunity to choose among several textbooks. Even if in the textbooks, the lessons have different titles, they focus on the same thematic universe, communicative functions and language. (Vizental 2008: 125)

School syllabus focuses on creativity and innovation and their application in the classroom. Teachers are required to use creativity when teaching a foreign language. English textbooks implement notions such as interpersonal, intercultural, social and civic competences and promote Cultural Awareness, inventiveness and innovation.

The opportunity of having several textbooks for the same subject and year of study, together with the possibility and freedom of the teacher to choose one of them according to the level of the class and the content of the textbook, creates a real chance for the democratization of the school and for the application of the principle of respecting the age and individual peculiarities of the learner. The presence of alternative textbooks is a sign of the normalization of the educational system towards the democratization of the educational act.

Textbooks were and are absolutely necessary because neither the teachers nor the students are the same. Thus, textbooks are an important means of informing. Moreover, the individual differences (different abilities, different interests, even different types of "intelligences") lead to the need for information and to the necessity of textbooks in the educational system.

Between traditional and modern textbooks, differences have always been seen as follows:

Traditional textbooks present a rigid selection of contents resulting in a rigid set of information for broad, academic treatment; the presentation of the information has a standardized, closed, universally valid and self-sufficient interpretation; information is an end in itself; it provides a learning mode that involves memorizing and reproducing and it is a mechanism of forming ideological knowledge.

Modern textbooks provide a permissive selection that results in a variable set of information in which the teacher and the student have creative space; the presentation of information is made in such a way so as to allow for alternatives and open interpretations. Information is a means of forming skills, values and attitudes; it provides a way of learning that involves understanding and explanation and it is a mechanism that stimulates critical thinking.

Clearly, a certain textbook is found at the limit of some of the delimitations stated above, the teacher having the chance to choose the most suitable option for himself and for the students he/she teaches.

The freedom of the student, teacher and parent to choose from a variety of textbooks is not only efficient but also very educational; this is the first step towards active education. The information presented in the textbooks allows alternatives and openings. At first sight, traditional textbooks are a fixed set of information that addresses concepts in an ample, academic way, and the information is presented in a single, rigid, self-sufficient, and universally valid interpretation. Moreover, these traditional textbooks put too much emphasis on memory and reproduction, and they do not stimulate students’ critical thinking and creativity too much.

By contrast, alternative textbooks offer more freedom to both the teacher and the student. The content is presented in such a way that stimulates learners’ creative thinking, and leads to the formation of attitudes and values. In the authors' view, memorizing and reproducing does not matter, but understanding and explanation.

We must not forget that the school textbook must be the main source of information and documentation, but also the most important and agreeable tool for learners. It has been demonstrated that because of the modern teaching methods based on alternative and auxiliary textbooks, children will be able to easily carry out various professional activities and integrate into society as the information presented in modern textbooks allows alternatives and open interpretations which help students form certain skills, values and attitudes.

Creative learners can engage more easily in different communication situations, in free discussions on varied topics, and thus make easier use of the knowledge already acquired. Communication is what makes the classes dynamic, stimulating the students and motivating them. To make communication more effective, students need to develop creativity.

Alan Maley, a Professor of English, states: “Creativity is necessary for survival … Creativity helps us to adapt to change and since the world is constantly changing, more and more creative solutions will be needed.” (https://www.britishcouncil.ro/blog/activity-practice)

The content of the curriculum encourages both the creativity of teachers and students through continuous exercise. Alternative textbooks are distinguished by a variety of content. However, they are sometimes deficient in the tasks that require students to creatively exploit the texts. That is why the teacher is the one who has to come up with work tasks, topics of reflection, questions that ask the student to analyse, compare, interpret and create.

Textbooks contain varied tasks that involve various activities such as: creative activities (painting, story writing), problem solving (jigsaw, crossword), role-play, replying to a message, e-mail etc. Communication plays a very important role, because, when performing a task, learners engage in interaction, reception, production or mediation. Tasks are “real-life” and they are chosen according to the learners’ needs outside the classroom. Such tasks may include reading a report and discussing it with the classmates, asking for help, agreeing or disagreeing, describing an event or a person, commenting on something, delivering a public lecture etc.

There are also pedagogic tasks that are indirectly related to real-life tasks and learner needs but their aim is to develop communicative competence. “Communicative pedagogic tasks aim to actively involve learners in meaningful communication.” (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, Council of Europe 2001: 157-158)

Classroom tasks are communicative and they require learners to comprehend, negotiate and express meaning in order to achieve a communicative goal.

In textbooks there are also practical activities that can be done in the classroom. They allow children to form opinions and find their own voice. They provide them with a safe space in which they are free to build their identity and to figure out how to find their own place in the world. Art can be a safe environment for expressing emotions, making easier for children to express themselves in this way than through words.

Learning a language can be difficult; certain children may experience problems, lose confidence in their own abilities, and feel overwhelmed by the amount of information that is unknown to them. However, unlike the general language learning process, practical activities end with a finished product, which gives the child a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. If a child enjoyed work, if he/she feels proud of it and wants to keep it at home for months, the chances for him to remember his lesson and associated vocabulary are much higher.

Through practical activities, children can be presented with different cultures, different perspectives, and different opinions. Like reading, these activities allow children to explore and understand the world not only through their own eyes but also through the others.

In the development cycle many of the reference objectives, learning activities but also the proposed content, aim at exercising the creative capacities of students. The activities to be carried out will aim at making the English-language communication skills more efficient for learners, by developing their creativity and streamlining the process of acquiring and developing reading, listening, speaking and writing skills.

2.2.1. Creativity in English textbooks for A2 – B1 learners

All English textbooks include reading, writing, listening and speaking exercises, that suppose inventiveness and imagination. For example, the Snapshot Pre-Intermediate and Snapshot Intermediate textbooks for A2 – B1 levels can encourage students learn a foreign language and develop their creativity by:

stimulating learning and broadening students’ horizons;

capturing and keeping students’ interest with authentic locations, characters and situations;

keeping students engaged and motivated;

exploring language through topics and ideas relevant to students’ level;

providing an easier way for students to learn grammar by boosting their innate ability to make strong, memorable and visual connections;

offering enjoyable and easy-to-follow lessons designed to engage learners from the start;

being dynamic with the help of photos, dialogues, texts, magazine articles that make the lessons be lively, motivating, engaging and up-to-date;

containing songs, stories and attractive activities that allow students to talk about themselves;

providing listening, reading, writing and speaking activities aimed to develop students’ receptive and productive skills;

containing two-level exercises and projects which enable students to express themselves creatively and successfully. There are also cross-cultural awareness sections focusing on culture and wide-angle on the world.

In addition to the above mentioned the grammar syllabus is staged in a logical way while the vocabulary syllabus is carefully controlled. Students do not have to cope with unexpected or unnecessary words or structures.

Learners can also monitor their own progress because the textbook encourages learner’s independence. There are also pair and group activities that promote interaction. A Teacher’s Book and a Language Booster can be added to this textbook. The Teacher’s Book focuses on multiple intelligences, cross-curricular and home/school connection activities. The Language Booster is a workbook with a Grammar Builder and a Test Generator. This is a complete package for a successful teaching.

Here are some adapted examples of items that these textbooks offer:

Writing exercises:

– You are on a trek in Nepal with your friends. Write a story with the title “Mobile phone saves girl”.

– In your notebook, write conversations for the following situation: your parents have bought you a video camera. There’s a problem: it doesn’t record sound. You take it back to the shop.

You: Explain that the video camera doesn’t work. Show the receipt.

Assistant: Ask what the problem is.

You: Explain the problem. Ask the assistant to test it.

Assistant: Agree that there is a problem.

You: Ask what they will do.

Assistant: Offer to replace it or give a refund.

You: Say what you want.

– Write a project about a famous monument, building or place in your country and find pictures to illustrate it. (Where is it situated? When was it built? What does it look like? How was it built?, Why was it built?)

Speaking exercises:

– Think about a strange experience you or someone you know has had.

Note down phrases you can use to describe:

– the people. Cold, piercing blue eyes

– the place. Old, wood-panelled, French café

– the actions. He fleetingly touched my hand

Elaborate on the events to make an interesting story. Use a variety of past tenses. Tell your story to another pair.

– Work in groups. Discuss the questions:

What do you think would be the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a business while you are still a teenager?

If you could run any business of your own, what would it be and why?

Listening exercises:

– Listen to eight people talking about their jobs.

Which job is each person talking about? How do you know?

What does each person like and dislike about their job?

What job would you like to have?

– Listen to someone giving instructions. In what situation would you expect to hear them?

Reading exercises:

– Read the extract about the different roles people take on in group activities (the challenger, the expert, the judge, the innovator, the diplomat) What type of team member do you think you are?

– Read the adverts and decide what type of people would be the most likely to apply for each one?

Projects

– Prepare a display or a website to present your school. Discuss about what information and pictures you should include. The list of topics that you should make, might include:

– welcome to the school;

– meet the staff and the students;

– a typical day;

– interesting school activities;

Design who is going to prepare the visual and written material for each topic.

– Write a short report about crime amongst young people in your country. In your report you should include: four main causes of youth crime and four recommendations to help solve the problem.

Group work activity

In groups discuss about your ideal school. Your agenda might include: the size of classes, the timetable, the amount of homework, the choice of subjects, school tests and public exams, security in school, decorations and equipment in the classroom.

The teacher plays a very important role in the classroom. He/She has to design creative learner-centred tasks by using creative methods and attractive materials and include in his/her teaching modern equipment such as computers, tablets, CD players, interactive boards etc. All these will make classes more attractive and will motivate students in learning a foreign language.

2.3. The use of ICT in teaching a foreign language

Information and Communication Technologies are a set of tools and resources used to communicate, store, create, disseminate and manage information. With the help of ICT, education has progressed. The access to ICT tools for teachers and students provide an interesting and mutual communication while teaching and learning. Teachers can use ICT when teaching, taking into account that for each lesson there are a lot of available materials on the internet, such as youtube videos, on-line movies, powerpoint presentations, workshops, webminars. Using ICT in classroom creates an interest among students and causes to change their habits of learning. Students will get complete understanding of the topics. This will also increase the level of confidence of students. The role of technology is very important in English language teaching because technology motivates the learner and provides enjoyable activities. The use of various multimedia tools help learners use different learning styles and develop creativity and critical thinking. They make learners acquire and practise the language skills and some of them promote collaborative learning. They also provide examples of the target language and culture. In addition, the National Curriculum and the Framework require imaginative teaching that can also be possible with the help of ICT tools.

When using ICT learners have the chance to write stories or different articles and can complete tasks easily because technology improves creative potential. They can also use digital cameras and software that can give them creative opportunities for studying the language. They can create their own material, their websites and they can even become more creative in doing their tasks.

In his/her turn, the teacher can use media texts, such as films or part of films in order to teach a literary text or to practise different grammar structures. Moreover, by integrating forms of technology in the classroom, teachers can make teaching and learning more effective. Practical work, for example can be very enjoyable and developmental. Teachers also use computers to “encourage talk, to facilitate collaborative writing and to stimulate a wide range of cooperative lessons.” (Goodwyn and Branson 2005: 113)

Benefits of using ICT in the classroom

with the help of ICT teachers can improve their teaching and students’ learning. Teachers can prepare high – quality innovative resources in advance of the lesson.

students become more interested in the subject they are studying. Teachers can use technology to teach the same things in new ways. Thus, students will be motivated to learn. Technology can encourage active participation in the learning process.

students may have a better knowledge retention;

each student has a different learning style and different abilities. Technology makes learning more effective for everyone;

collaboration is encouraged. Students can practise collaboration skills by getting involved in different on-line activities;

students can learn useful skills through technology. These skills will help them in the future. Modern learning involves solving complex problems, developing creativity, critical thinking and communication, improving motivation and productivity.

technology helps teachers improve their teaching and keeps students more engaged. In addition, technology helps teachers save time which can be used for working with students.

ICT equipment can be used to give students creative freedom. They can work in groups and make presentations for other groups. ICT can also be used for role play and simulation. This requires “high – level demands on oral skills”. (Goodwyn and Branson 2005: 115)

computers can be used for applying different techniques in the classroom such as Magic Roundabout and Jigsaw. The Magic Roundabout technique allows students to move from computer to computer and “write stories in a range of genres, using paper and screen as composition media.” (Goodwyn and Branson 2005: 116) It is very productive in generating discussion. Jigsaw activates participation and discussion. Students can be asked to write the opening of a story then press Return until the text disappears. After that the students are asked to write the ending. At the end they must bring the beginning and the ending together and write a passage in the middle. This activity supposes variety and stimulation, oral and written language, team-work and collaboration.

Nowadays there are many possibilities of using video in the classroom. In order to make the work relevant and engaging there are a few steps that have to be taken into account (Scrivener 2011: 376):

the video should be kept short;

the material should be exploited;

when it isn’t necessary for students to look, the teacher should blank the screen;

the video should be used as a starting point for communicative activities, for writing, or for introducing different topics for discussion.

A very important role in the English classroom plays the smart board which is an interactive white board. It can be connected to the laptop, computer or tablet. It is very useful because it can engage students, provide interactive opportunities that a traditional whiteboard or blackboard can’t. It makes lessons more varied and can give students a more active role in the lesson. The teacher can use interactive whiteboards when teaching as well as different materials in order to teach the lesson interactively. The teacher can use links and hypertexts creatively. Quizzes also stimulate students’ engagement with the subject. There are applications such as Kahoot, Plickers or Quizziz that can be installed on the mobile phone. The teacher makes multiple choice questions, projects them on the whiteboard and with the help of the mobile phone students press the button for the correct answer. All the answers are shown on the whiteboard. Students can see where they were wrong. A time limit can also be set. Students who have the most points are the winners. They can also work in groups, create their own questions and use these applications with other groups. Using a whiteboard or a projector and a computer is necessary.

On the other hand, students can work in teams and create their own presentations that can be visually attractive and dynamic. Whiteboards are also used for semi-competitive activities such as computer ‘snap’ game that can be adapted for almost all the topics in English. They can also be used to experiment and focus discussion. In the classroom the teacher can make use of the CD player, the projector, the tablets. The textbooks have interactive CD/educational software that can be used during the lessons in order to make them more attractive and to actively engage learners.

ICT plays a very important role in the classroom. It allows teachers to be more creative when preparing lessons and enables them to create a dynamic and stimulating environment for the students while motivating them in efficiently communicating with the others and developing their creative skills.

Techniques for developing creative thinking

Here are some of the well-known techniques that can develop creative thinking and can be used with A2 – B1 learners (https://www.scribd.com/document/4592659/Techniques-for-Creative-Thinking-Robert-Harris):

Problem Reversal

When dealing with this method, the teacher asks learners to state a given problem in reverse. Positive statements are changed in negative statements.

Example: If the learner is dealing with issues when having lunch in a restaurant, he/she must think of ways he/she could provide a bad service to customers. Other ways of dealing with this technique:

doing what everybody else doesn’t;

change the direction or location of your perspective;

turn defeat into victory or victory into defeat;

The Six Universal Questions

A mind map can be used with six universal questions that can be asked by a human. The six questions are: What? Where? When? How? Why? Who?

Lateral Thinking

Lateral thinking refers to a “set of systematic techniques used for changing concepts and perceptions and generating new ones when dealing with a problem.” (https://www.scribd.com/document/4592659/Techniques-for-Creative-Thinking-Robert-Harris)

Lateral thinking involves finding many possibilities instead of only one.

The Six Thinking Hats

It is a method used for group discussion and individual thinking which involves six coloured hats. It is associated with the idea of parallel thinking. The six metaphorical hats can be put on or taken off by the one who is thinking about the problem.

The White Hat refers to analyzing the facts and the information available.

The Red Hat is associated with emotions, feelings or intuition. The thinker can express his/her feelings on the subject.

The Black Hat is the hat of discernment. It is used to identify reasons, to be cautious, practical and realistic. This is a very valuable hat.

The Yellow Hat is used to identify benefits. When using it, the thinker sees the bright side of the situation and thinks about the situation in a positive way.

The Green Hat is the hat of investigation, change and provocation. The thinker thinks creatively and finds alternatives.

The Blue Hat refers to thinking about the subject itself, seeing which is the goal and managing the problem. Technically speaking, the blue hat is related to metacognition.

The Discontinuity Principle

It refers to disrupting the thought patterns so as to force the thinker find new ways of dealing with a situation. For example, when thinking about free-time activities one should try to go to different places that he/she normally goes to, read different types of books, watch a TV program that he/she wouldn’t normally watch or try sports that he/she wouldn’t normally practise.

Forced Analogy

This method is very useful for generating ideas. The learner has to compare the problem with something else and get new ideas. Thus, the learner can develop new insights and find new solutions. Example of forced relationships: coloured pencils and the relation between a mother and her child, factories and shops etc. The teacher may use objects or pictures to help students generate ideas.

Imitation

Imitating is considered to be the first step in generating new ideas. Learners generally imitate but they also want to be original and thus creative.

Mind Maps

This method consists in note-taking and generation of ideas by making associations. A mind map contains the main idea which is generally written in the centre of the page. Then, in all directions starts an organized structure which is composed of key images and key words. Mind maps help the learner organize information. The main features of the mind map are: organization, key words, association, clustering, visual memory and involvement. When making a mind map one should use colours, symbols, arrows etc. Mind maps help the learner be very creative, generate new ideas and associations so as to make connections visible.

Storyboarding

This method facilitates the creative – thinking process. When ideas are put up on storyboards, the learner begins to see interconnections and generate ideas. The learner becomes creative when he/she is aware of the problems, identifies elements, makes guesses, formulates hypothesis and tries to find solutions.

Lotus Blossom Technique

This method helps the learner create higher quality ideas, find innovative ways and solve problems. It starts off with a central idea – a concept to be explored or a problem to be solved – and expands outwards with possible solutions or related ideas.

Steps to follow:

the problem to be solved should be entered in the central box;

the learner should brainstorm solutions, ideas and write them in the boxes surrounding the central box.

each of these solutions should be used as the central themes of eight lotus blossom for the surrounding boxes;

related ideas should be brainstormed so as to fill in the eight boxes surrounding each of the new central themes;

The process can be continued. At the end there will be generated new ideas related to the original problem. An evaluation of ideas will take place.

DO IT Technique

The name of this technique comes from the following abbreviation: Define – Open – Identify – Transform. The learner has to define the problem, try to find many possible solutions, identify the best one and transform it into action. This technique accelerates the creative – problem solving ability and seeks for ideas or solutions for the problem.

Brainwriting

This method is also called 635 Method and its aim is to stimulate creativity. It consists of six participants that have to write 3 ideas within 5 minutes. The participants swap their worksheets during six rounds. As a result, many ideas will be generated in a short period of time.

Freewriting

This method is an opportunity for learners to write freely in a given period of time. Steps:

preparing for writing. Students need paper and a pen.

setting up the task

freewriting. Students are asked to write freely ideas related to the task. They should not correct or change what they have written.

post-writing: Students write their names and the number of words on the top of the page.

This technique allows students to be creative and generate ideas that they not normally think about in the conventional linear framework of writing.

Brainstorming is an activity that can be done in large or small groups. It encourages students to focus on a topic and contribute to a free flow of ideas. The brainstorming activity can start by a question or a problem or by introducing a topic. Then students can express possible ideas or answers. The opinions are accepted without criticism. All the ideas are written on the board. They are examined with the whole class. (https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/brainstorming)

Brainstorming is useful because students can express ideas and they listen to what others say and thus, they adjust their previous knowledge or understanding, accommodate new information and increase their level of awareness. (https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/brainstorming) The purposes of the brainstorming are:

students’ attention is focused on a particular topic;

a flow of ideas is generated;

learners take risks in sharing their ideas;

students’ knowledge and abilities are valued and accepted.

Creativity in writing and speaking

Listening and reading are considered to be receptive processes while speaking and writing are generative processes. They have a complementary relationship as each of them can stimulate the other one.

Language use is thought to be a creative act. By giving learners creative tasks, the teacher determines them to think creatively. By teaching students creatively, the teacher will help them retain the information for a longer period of time. Some of them may not keep in mind the information if they are not allowed to be creative. Being given the chance to create something of value, students will be motivated, inspired or challenged. In addition, creativity improves their self – esteem. Creative work leads to better communication and cooperation. Students express themselves creatively either in speaking or in writing.

Creativity in writing

Writing is a very important skill as it facilitates the acquisition of communicative competence. There are three types of writing: (Vizental 2004: 245)

functional writing: advertisements, CVs, formal letters etc.

academic writing: essays, reports, compositions etc.

creative writing: diaries, informal letters, stories, poems.

Creative writing makes possible for students to play with the language and experiment it. Creative writing is engaging and motivating and it helps students see the language as a communicative tool, with focus on meaning, not merely on a linguistic system.

Students must see writing as having a real communicative purpose for a real audience. The teacher must help and guide them in developing the writing process. He/she must also support and motivate them as well as polish what they have written. What can learners do for an effective writing?

On the one hand, they should be careful when choosing the required vocabulary, grammatical structures, they should have a high degree of accuracy because they must not provide an ambiguous meaning. In addition, they must be organized when developing information, ideas and arguments.

On the other hand, the teacher has to guide the students to go through the following steps when writing their work: first they need to have a plan, organize their ideas, compose the description and revise it. Students should be given time for writing. The teacher should design activities so as to support and guide them.

In the classroom students can work individually or in groups. In both of the cases they should be creative. Brainstorming is very useful as it helps students produce lots of ideas from which they can choose the most effective. The overall structure can be decided on and a representative of the group writes the text according to a planned structure of sentences, words and the right way to link ideas.

Students have always found writing imaginatively difficult. They think that creative writing is a “painful and demotivating experience, associated in their minds with a sense of frustration and failure.” (Harmer 2001: 260) The teacher should encourage them. The creative writing should be built up bit by bit. Students should start with phrases and sentences before writing the whole composition.

Students become more creative if they work in groups or in pairs. Thus, they can generate more lively ideas, they are more motivated and group discussion is encouraged. They can create better texts, review and evaluate them better. Using the computer can also help them develop their creativity in writing. Sending or receiving e-mails, for example, may stimulate and motivate them. The information, the pictures that they find on the internet related to a given topic can make them generate many creative ideas.

The teacher must design creative tasks so as to determine students think and write creatively. The stages of the writing process are the following (Hedge 2005: 17):

Communicating: the teacher is the one who creates contexts and tasks for classroom writing. He/she should make students be aware of the fact that “the style of writing differs according to the purpose of writing”. (Hedge 2005: 17)

Composing: students make plans, generate ideas and bring them together. They write a draft of their work.

Crafting: at this stage, students are helped to write paragraphs in a coherent way, using appropriate vocabulary and grammar patterns.

Improving: the quality and the clarity of the message should be improved. Students should revise their work and edit it in the final form.

Here are some adapted examples of activities for each of these stages: (Hedge 2005: 37 – 130)

Communicating

Internet greetings

Level: A2

Time: 30 minutes

Aim: – to write messages to other students using the internet;

Preparation: The teacher prepares for the lesson a list with the names of all the students in the classroom, their birthdays, their e-mail addresses, seven computers with internet connection, websites for generating birthday cards and some examples of birthday messages.

Procedure: The teacher identifies the student who has the nearest birthday and elicits some birthday messages from the other students.

In groups of four they choose a birthday card and write a message for their mate.

The teacher shows them how to create a birthday card and send it by e-mail.

Type of interaction: student – student, teacher – student, student – teacher

Composing

Cubing

This is a technique through which a topic is considered from six points of view. Six ideas are generated around a given topic.

Level: B1

Time: 40 minutes

Aim: – to consider a topic from six points of view;

Preparation: The teacher prepares a cubing with six explanatory notes. These notes should include: describing the topic, comparing it, analysing it, associating it, arguing for and against it and applying it.

Procedure: Students are asked to work in groups and go through the six points. They should interpret them in relation to mobile phones. The teacher elicits ideas and writes them on the board. Thus, students will have enough ideas so as to write an essay about mobile phones.

Type of interaction: teacher – student, student – student

Crafting

Time sequencing in a story

Level: B1

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to write a story using time adverbials for sequencing;

Preparation: The teacher makes copies of a cartoon story for each student.

Procedure:

Warm –up: The teacher asks students: Have you ever enjoyed reading cartoon stories? Why?

The teacher explains students what the thought and the speech bubbles are and the fact that the caption at the top of the picture contains information related to time sequence.

Students are asked to skim through the picture sequence, to get an overall impression and think of how the story can be constructed. Ideas about the characters and action is elicited. Students can work in pairs or in groups and brainstorm ideas of how the story can be constructed using some prompts below the cartoons.

Ideas for the captions are also elicited and written on the board. The teacher corrects the language.

Students are asked to write up the story individually. They should think of a title for their story and pay attention to the time sequence.

Type of interaction: teacher – student, student – student

Improving

Writing in a group

Level: B1

Time: 40 minutes

Aim: – to encourage revision through discussion;

Procedure: The teacher asks students to work in groups of for and prepare a piece of writing related to a description of a place. Ideas for content are brainstormed with the whole class. Each student will write his/her section but they will also check the other’s drafts, helping with revisions. Finally, they will put the sections together and make changes to ensure coherence and cohesion of language.

Other activities that require creative writing

Activity 1, Level B1

Write a newspaper advertisement offering a job to students who are willing to work during their summer holiday. (Students can work in groups)

Activity 2, Level A2

Imagine you are on holiday at the Six Flags theme park near Los Angeles. Write a postcard to a friend describing your ride on ‘Superman the Escape’. (The teacher can help students by giving them a short description about the theme park and ‘Superman the Escape’).

Activity 3, Level A2

Write a diary entry for a lucky or unlucky day. Say what happened and how you felt.

Activity 4, Level B1

Write a short magazine article called ‘Mobile phones for teenagers: yes or no?’. In your article you should include the following linkers: consequently, admittedly, nevertheless, although, whereas, however, on the one hand … on the other hand.

Creativity in speaking

The ability to speak fluently supposes knowledge of language features and the ability to “process information and language on the spot”. (Harmer 2001: 269) Speakers must be coherent and convey the right meaning according to the context. In addition, in order to make progress in the acquisition of the target language and to become communicatively competent students need to be able to use language spontaneously and creatively.

In order to develop the communicative competence through speaking, students should be helped in developing a repertoire of vocabulary and expressions that they will use in role play and topic-based situations. At the beginning, students tend to reproduce and imitate basic language patterns that will help them in future communication situations. The teacher must help them use the target language creatively and develop the necessary skills for independent language use in classroom. This can be very motivational for students.

Appropriate activities can be communicative tasks and improvisation activities. Communicative tasks are meaning – focused activities that involve conveying information and determining learners to use the linguistic means in order to work towards a well-defined outcome. Negotiation of meaning and communicative interaction is promoted. Learners are exposed to a meaningful input, they receive feedback on the language that they produce and they can also produce a modified output. Communicative activities determine the learner to speak “at the limit of their oral skills and contributes to their creativity in finding new ways of expressing meaning.” (Becker and Roos 2016: 17) They can also explore new language and develop their communicative competence.

Open – ended improvisation activities stimulate the creative use of the target language. These activities involve active and spontaneous interactions that simulate real – life facts. Learners who become more experienced with improvisation activities gain more confidence and increase their creativity.

Another important thing is engaging students in drama activities which can lead to a positive impact on language acquisition. These activities improve fluency, articulation, vocabulary and spontaneity and increase students’ motivation and confidence.

To become communicatively competent, students should be provided with activities that allow them to interact, make use of imagination, creativity, curiosity. In order to develop creativity in speaking the teacher should design activities according to the level of the students. These activities can be divided into three categories: (Becker and Roos 2016: 21-24)

reproductive language use: saying rhymes, singing songs, retelling stories, scripted acting, dialogues, role plays, guided information – gap. These activities are for beginners.

creative language use: information – gap activities, story skeletons, gapped songs, chants, rhymes.

creative and productive language use: picture differences tasks, opinion – gap tasks, non-scripted storytelling, role – play and improvisation tasks. Learners perform independently, they are creative, they anticipate and plan. At this level, students tend to make errors as they have reduced support and freedom to use the language. Therefore, the tolerance to errors should be high. Feedback is given after the learners complete the tasks. Suggestions for further improvement are also made at the end of the activity.

Examples of activities:

Activity 1: Level B1

Time: 30 minutes

Aim: – to practise past tense simple and present perfect simple in speaking;

Procedure: The teacher selects a scene from a movie. Students must watch it with the sound off. They are assigned roles by the teacher. In groups they must act out what they think is taking place. They must take into account that they have to use past simple and present perfect simple in their dialogues. They must be creative and use appropriate vocabulary. They act out their dialogues in front of the class.

Type of interaction: student – student

Activity 2: Level B1

Time: 40 minutes

Aim: – to practise vocabulary related to health problems;

Procedure:

As a warm –up activity the teacher tells students that he/she is not feeling good then asks them for expressions that they can use when somebody asks them “How are you?”. The teacher writes the expressions on the board. The teacher tells students that he/she has health problems (an allergy) and elicits advice. He/She writes the expressions on the board.

Students work in pairs. Each student is given a list of health problems that they have previously learnt. The list given to student A is different from the list given to student B. Both of them has to choose a problem from the list and create a story about how they got that condition and how they feel. Their partner listens to the story and has to guess what the problem is. After that, they should give advice.

Type of interaction: teacher – student, student – teacher, student – student

Activity 3: Level: B1

Picture story using key vocabulary

Time: 20 minutes

Aim: – to use vocabulary items and grammar structures in speaking;

Procedure:

Students work in pairs. Each pair is given three interesting pictures and a number of six vocabulary items and two grammar structures. Each pair should build a story based on the pictures, items and grammar structures. Students have 7 minutes to prepare the story. It must be 2-3 minutes long.

They present the stories to the class while showing the pictures. The teacher writes down the major mistakes and corrects them.

Type of interaction: student – teacher, student – student

Other examples of activities that require creativity in speaking

Activity 1: Look at the headlines about people winning the lottery. What are the stories behind them? (Lottery winner too afraid to leave house/ Homesick lottery wife returns from Paradise Island etc.)

Activity 2:

Student A: Look at the information about the new films that are on this week at the cinema. Listen to your partner’s questions and use the information to answer them.

Student B: Look at the information about the new films that are on this week at the cinema. Ask your partner questions to find out more about the films.

Activity 3: You and your partner have very similar pictures. Look at them. Listen to your partner talking about his/her picture. Find six differences between the pictures.

Activity 4: Express your opinion on the following: It is better to have a small circle of good friends than only one best friend. Give arguments to support your ideas.

CHAPTER 3

TEACHING GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY CREATIVELY

Grammar and Vocabulary play a very important role when it comes to talking about learning a foreign language. Here are some common questions:

How can I provide the most relevant input for students?

How can I help students understand aspects of grammar?

How can I help students practise grammar?

How can I teach vocabulary more efficiently?

How can I teach vocabulary more efficiently?

What are the contexts where specific vocabulary items are found?

How can lexical items be formed?

Students understand grammar and vocabulary better if they are taught creatively. Creative activities used in classroom are motivational and they are leading to positive effects. In addition, creative activities will help students express their unique creative identity and use language in a creative way. Teaching creatively means using imaginative approaches in order to make learning more interesting, exciting, engaging and effective. Besides this, teachers should teach for creativity. They should use different methods meant to develop students creative thinking and behaviour.

Teaching Grammar creatively

It is believed that grammar is the most important issue in teaching and learning a foreign language. It is also one of the most difficult aspects when it comes to teaching it. Students generally can produce correct forms of language but make errors when they try to use grammar in context. Therefore, students do not develop the ability to use grammar correctly in oral and written interactions. Grammar should be taught in order to enable students to communicate properly, that is to use with accuracy different grammar structures in their everyday interactions.

How to teach grammar? In the traditional model, the form – focused instruction was valued, the structures being used out of context, in a non-authentic way. This traditional model relies on controlled practice and explicit knowledge. In the contemporary approach, the meaning- focused instruction (“fluency-first” pedagogy) highlights the natural use of language in different real-life communication settings, activated learner’s strategic competence and relies on automaticity and implicit knowledge.

There are three types of grammar activities (Scrivener 2011: 156):

controlled/ mechanical practice (repetition and substitution drills)

semi-controlled/contextualized/meaningful practice (students must relate forms to meanings so as to use grammar structures in real-life communication.

free communicative practice (the structures are used in authentic communication with a special attention to rule-governed behaviour.

Controlling factors in teaching grammar (Scrivener 2011: 156):

constant exposure to language in an important level of difficulty;

building of meaning-focused interaction;

opportunities for learners to identify and direct attention to grammar structure form, semantics or meaning and pragmatic conditions of their use before and while using the language.

The goal of grammar teaching is to enable learners to understand rules and uses so as to become efficient in communication. By using creative techniques when teaching or practising grammar, students will be more motivated and their self-esteem will increase. Creative methods will help them understand better grammar patterns and prove them that they can use these patterns in an original and entertaining way. New creative techniques can increase the retention of grammar items and give students a sense of mastering the new language.

On the one hand, practising grammar refers to following rules, writing patterns, following connections. All those are opposed to creativity. On the other hand, there are many methods that can be used for teaching grammar creatively. There are also many poems, stories and songs that can be exploited to provide opportunities for grammar practice in creative activities.

Teachers must take into account the fact that their students must have “exposure to the language”, they have to “notice and understand the items” that are going to be used, they have to “try using the language” in various and demanding contexts and, the most important, they have to remember the things that they learnt. (Scrivener 2011: 157)

In order to learn a grammar item, learners need to (Scrivener 2011: 158):

be exposed to language: The teacher should include reading and listening activities. The texts should be realistic and they should be a little above the language level of learners;

notice how specific items are being used. The teacher should use texts that contain many examples of the item that is going to be taught.

understand the form, the meaning and use of the grammar item/pattern. The teacher should make students pay attention on meaning and use by providing them with explanations, drills, games, etc.

try to use items learnt in a safe environment. Students should have opportunities to practise the new language.

use the new items in speaking and writing. Thus, students will have to make use of what they have learnt and communicate in different contexts.

remember the new items. The teacher should teach the new items in a creative way so as the students should be able to understand better. The teacher should also pay attention to how they record the new items. The teacher should also revise the new items many times, through different tasks.

Creativity in teaching grammar rules means understanding grammar patterns and rules and also practising them for pleasure. This will determine learners use it fluently and accurately when writing or speaking.

When teaching grammar, the teacher should follow the stages of the language awareness lessons as well as the stages of the creative grammar practice lessons. (Thornbury, Puchta and Gerngross 2007: 7-9)

The Language awareness lesson:

These types of lessons are divided into three sections:

discovery – this stage is learner-directed;

consolidation – this stage usually contains consolidation tasks;

use – this stage usually requires students to work with new items in ways relevant to them and their world.

The creative grammar practice lesson:

The stages of the creative grammar practice lesson are the following (Thornbury, Puchta and Gerngross 2007: 7-12):

lead-in;

presentation of the model text;

reconstruction of the model text;

text creation;

text sharing.

Lead – in activities. This stage is the warming – up stage. Everybody must be ready to work in the foreign language. Through the activity he/she uses, the teacher should develop awareness of and interest in the new topic. The known words should be brought back to mind and the new ones should be taught. Brainstorming is a basic lead-in activity.

Presentation of the model text. A model text shows both the written form of the new structure and its meaning/use/function. At this stage, students familiarize themselves with the model text. The text can be read or dictated. Students are actively involved in the construction of the text.

Reconstruction of the model text. At this stage, the teacher elicits from students the text presented earlier. Thus, students can use structures accurately in order to reconstruct the model text in spoken or written form. There are different ways of organising text reconstruction:

use of gestures;

pictures

written prompts

Text Creation. At this stage, the students create their own texts based on the new vocabulary or grammar patterns. They may also need a bilingual dictionary. Students can create their texts orally or in writing. Writing is generally favoured because they can be more creative, they can focus better on accuracy, they can reflect, correct, discard or add. If the text is created orally, the following steps should be followed. (Thornbury, Puchta and Gerngross 2007: 9)

the teacher should form pairs or groups;

each group should be provided with a cassette recorder;

the students should create the text orally and then, one of them should say it loud and the text should be recorded;

students listen to the recording of the text and if they spot any errors, they will make a new recording;

the teacher listens to the texts and comments on language correctness;

students will make a new recording after the teacher’s suggestions;

all the groups or pairs present their recordings to the class.

According to Gerngross (2007: 9-12) there are some basic techniques that help students to keep in mind grammar structures:

Silent time: Before starting a creative writing, students should have some time to think about the topic and access their creativity;

Reading out loud by the teacher. It is required that the teacher should read out loud the model text while students are listening with their eyes closed. Thus, they will have provided the right pronunciation and intonation. They will also remember the new grammar patterns.

Managing students’ reading out loud. Students should have adequate rehearsal in order to read out loud the text. The teacher should advise them to:

read the text silently and look for words they don’t know how to pronounce. They can ask the teacher or check the pronunciation with a dictionary.

“rehearse by reading the text sub-vocally”

read out loud, clearly and slowly, use pauses to make eye contact with the audience.

Correction as editing. This is a process whereby the teacher, the students themselves or other students read the written work and make changes. Then, a new version of that work can be done. Editing is important because it increases learner awareness. It can be done while students are writing or after they finish writing the text. Students will do their best in writing if they know that their work will be a “publication”.

Publication of the learner’s texts

a text – board is usually used to post the copies of students’ texts. They can also be displayed on the walls of the classroom;

students can read their texts to the class, they can share opinions about the others’ texts, they can find out new ideas and treat the others with respect.

students can collect their works in an individual journal and read them again when revising for assessment.

Anchoring. There is also a number of techniques that help learners remember grammar structures.

Learners anchor their own texts. After editing, students can be asked to memorise their own texts.

Learners anchor someone else’s text. The texts can be displayed on the walls of the classroom and students can be asked to choose one of them and memorise it. They copy the text in their notebook. The teacher collects all the texts from the walls and asks students to recite the texts that they chose to memorise.

Learners anchor other texts. Learners are asked to memorise as many texts as they can in a certain period of time (for instance ten minutes). In groups students will find out who can remember the most texts.

Learners anchor parts of texts. The teacher underlines in different colours words, grammatical patterns that wants students to remember. He/She asks students to walk round and try to keep in mind the underlined parts. Then, the teacher says a colour and all the students must say the words/patterns underlined with that colour. The students will say as many words as they remember.

Teaching grammar creatively – examples of activities

Structures of grammar become more complex according to the level of English that students have. Taking into account the curriculum for A2-B1 levels, here are some adapted examples of teaching grammar creatively: (Thornbury, Puchta and Gerngross 2007: 112-249)

Teaching Present Perfect Continuous

Level: B1

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to introduce present perfect continuous;

Stages:

Discovery

The teacher shows students two pictures. In the first picture there is a boy writing a letter and a clock showing the time (4:00 p.m.). The teacher asks: What is the boy doing? Students’ answer: He is writing a letter.

Then, the teacher shows the students the second picture. In this picture there is the same boy writing a letter but the time is 4:30 p.m. The teacher elicits the sentence: The boy is still writing the letter. The teacher asks: How long has he been writing the letter? (thirty minutes). The teacher asks for the full sentence. He has been writing the letter for thirty minutes.

Type of interaction: teacher – students

The teacher asks students to complete the following sentences:

1. Mona started listening to music at 7 o’clock. It is now 8 o’clock. So, she … (has been listening to music for an hour).

2. They started working in the garden two hours ago. They are still working in the garden. So, they …. (have been working in the garden for two hours).

Consolidation

The teacher dictates the following sentences:

My grandmother has been looking for her glasses for half an hour.

They have been playing tennis all day.

She has been cooking for an hour.

I have been thinking about this problem for at last 10 minutes.

The students must reconstruct the situations for the above sentences. They can work in pairs or small groups. After writing the situations they can exchange with other groups. The teacher asks students to read out their imaginative situations.

Use

The teacher draws on the board a man who is surfing/or a surfboard. Students must guess the activity. The teacher writes the questions:

Have you been surfing?

Have you been wanting to surf?

Students answer the questions.

The teacher asks students to ask him/her questions with how long. The teacher writes them on the board.

How long have you been surfing?

How long have you been wanting to do surfing?

Students are asked to do the same activity. They may use post – its to draw the symbol that represents a wish or a leisure activity. They can stick the post – its on their chests. Then, they circulate asking and answering questions about the symbols.

At the end of the activity the teacher asks students if they found someone with the same leisure activity/ wish.

Practising Present Perfect Continuous

Level: B1

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to practise present perfect continuous;

Stages:

Presentation of the model text

Students are asked to work in groups of six. Each student in each group receives a strip containing unjumbled words. They have to put the word in the correct order so as to form sentences. After they finish they must construct a meaningful text.

Example of text:

I have been living in this town for many years.

I have been dreaming of becoming a well – known doctor since I was little.

I think I’m going to fulfil my dream one day.

I am still young. I still have time.

I have always been dreaming of giving hope to people in need.

If there are weaker groups, they are asked to unjumble the sentences.

Reconstruction of the model text

The teacher gives students a worksheet with a model text. He/she asks them to memorise it, by reading it silently. Then, the teacher asks students to cover it and reconstruct it in writing, taking into account the following prompts:

I have been….

…have been…

…since…

…have always been….

After that, students are asked to compare what they have written, with the model text.

Text correction

The teacher tells students about a long – time dream of his/hers. Students are asked to work in pairs and take turns to tell each-other about a dream they have had.

The teacher asks them to write their texts based on the structure of the model text. He/She can help them by giving them the following structures:

I have been thinking to…

I have been hoping to…

I have been wanting to …

I have been dreaming of…

Teaching the structure “Going to”

Level: A2

Time: 50 minutes

Aims: – to introduce “going to”;

– to talk about intentions;

Stages:

Discovery

For this activity the teacher uses the Cuisenaire rods. These are small wooden rods that have different sizes and colours. They are used in different activities in the classroom to visually represent different areas of language. The teacher makes sure that students know the colours and the prepositions of place. The teacher tells the students to listen and watch. He/She says: I’m going to take the blue rod and put it on the desk. Then, I’m going to take a yellow rod and put it behind the blue rod. Then, I’m going to put the red rod between the blue rod and the yellow rod. Then, the teacher invites the students to do the same. The teacher draws attention to the language students have been using to announce their plans and he/she writes on the blackboard the sentence:

I’m going to take/put the A rod on/behind/between/near etc. the B rod.

At the end, the teacher draws attention to the fact that the structure “going to” is used to talk about intentions and plans.

Consolidation

The teacher gives the students a worksheet. Individually they have to match the sentences, then, in pairs, they have to compare them.

After checking the task, the teacher asks the students to read the sentences again then turn their papers over. He/ she divides the students in two teams and asks them:

Who is going to have a new computer?

What are Jennifer and Luke going to do?

Who is going to buy a new car?

There is one point allocated for each correct answer.

Use

The teacher draws the following chart on the board:

Then he/she fills in the chart with some notes representing his/her plans. The teacher asks students to read them and ask her questions about her plans.

Example of questions:

Are you going to go to Greece next year?

Who are you going to go with?

What are you going to visit there?

The teacher asks students to work individually and complete the chart for themselves. Then, they exchange the charts with their mates and ask and answer questions about it. Students work in pairs.

Practising the structure “going to”

Level: A2

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to practise “going to” for plans and intentions;

Preparation

The teacher prepares some flashcards on which there are written words related to daily activities.

Lead-in

The teacher reads them and mimes at the same time. Students are encouraged to do the same. Then, the teacher mimes, thus eliciting the words from the students.

Students are divided into two teams. They are asked to mime the action they see on the flashcard. Each student who mimes correctly scores a point. There will be a competition between teams.

The teacher writes on the board: You are going to….

He/She mimes some activities and elicits sentences such as: You are going to go to bed. You are going to have a cup of tea.

When students are familiar with the idea they are asked to come out and mime activities in front of the class. The other learners must guess what the student who is miming is going to do.

Broken promises

The teacher tells the class a situation in which he/she intended to do something but never did.

Last Monday I said to myself: “I’m going to make a cake for my best friend’s birthday!” But a few minutes later, somebody knocked at the door. It was my sister. She kindly asked me to take care of her daughter because she had to go to a meeting. So, I accepted and I didn’t make the cake.

The teacher asks students to think about similar situations and talk about them in groups of three.

Presentation of the model text

The teacher reads out the model text twice. The students must imagine a place that a person lives in. The teacher asks students what they have imagined: Is the boy’s room neat or messy? Does the room have a desk with many books? Does he have clothes on the floor?

Model text:

I’m going to tidy up my room because my best friend comes this afternoon.

I’m going to empty the rubbish and feed the fish.

I’m going to make the bed and do my homework.’

I said to myself but my friend came earlier and I didn’t do anything.

Text Creation

Students are asked to write their own texts using “going to”. The teacher allows them five minutes. Then they form groups and they read their texts to the members of the group.

Teaching the Third Conditional

Level: B1

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to introduce the third conditional;

Stages:

Discovery

Students are told two stories about a boy and a girl. They have to decide in which of the stories the man/woman is lucky/unlucky.

Here are the stories:

This is Stella. She wanted to catch a bus. Unfortunately, her mother felt very sick and Stella had to take care of her so she missed the bus. After an hour she found out that the bus was involved in an accident and everybody died.

This is Jim. He saw his grandmother off the train station. On their way, he noticed a very nice suit in a clothes shop but he didn’t have time to try it on because his grandmother was about to miss the train. On his way back he entered the shop but the sales assistant told him that the suit had been sold 10 minutes before.

The teacher establishes that Stella was lucky and Jim unlucky and ask students to say why. The teacher helps them formulate third conditional sentences. (If Stella had caught the bus, she would have died. If Jim hadn’t been in a hurry, he would have had the suit.)

The teacher points out the use of the past perfect simple in the if-clause and the use of past conditional (would + perfect infinitive) in the main clause.

The teacher asks questions about the two situations: What would have happened if Stella hadn’t missed the bus? What would have happened if Jim stopped at the clothes shop?

The teacher writes the answers on the blackboard and then removes a word at a time while asking students to repeat the sentences. Then, in pairs students must try to reconstruct and write them in their notebooks.

Consolidation

The teacher projects the following unjumbled sentences:

had/map/if/we’d/lost/good/wouldn’t/we/got/have/a.

I/hadn’t/met/party/wouldn’t/ Joseph/if/gone/have/the/met/to/I.

reward/they/if/I/me/caught/they/would/given/a/thief/had/have/the.

worked/he/he’d/bit/passed/exam/have/bit/harder/a/if/had/he/his/would have.

Students are asked to work in pairs and unjumble the sentences.

After that, they are asked to write a short situation that leads up to each of these sentences.

Use

The teacher tells the class a story about himself/herself where he/she was either lucky or unlucky and the events could have been different. Then, the learners are asked to provide an if – sentence as a conclusion. Here is the story:

Once, I had to be at the airport for my flight at 8 am, but my alarm didn’t go off and I overslept. I got dressed very quickly and ran out of the house. I couldn’t find a taxi and I took the bus but it got stuck in the traffic. When I finally arrived at the airport, I realized that I missed my flight. I had to pay 350 euros for another ticket for the next flight. While I was waiting, I went to buy a sandwich and a bottle of orange juice. I was so preoccupied with my difficult morning that I left the shop without paying and I was fined by the police. It took me an hour to go and pay the fine and unfortunately I missed my flight again. I went home and I decided never to fly again.

Students are asked to think about similar stories about themselves and to tell them to their neighbour. After that, their neighbour has to provide an if – sentence as a conclusion.

Individual students can also tell the class their neighbour’s story.

Practising The Third Conditional

Level: B1

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to practise the third conditional;

The teacher tells the learners a story (it can also be a folk tale or a fairy tale). Students are supposed to interrupt the teacher and ask them questions.

Example: The teacher tells students a story about a girl who moved to a new town and to a new school. At first, everything was ok, but then the girl’s classmates started to bully her.

Student: What would have happened if the girl hadn’t moved to a new school?

Teacher: If the girl hadn’t moved to a new school, she wouldn’t have been bullied by her classmates.

Then, students are asked to work in groups of three and each group member should tell a story. The others must each ask three questions in order to change the course of the story.

Each student must find a partner from the class to both tell the original story and the story that resulted from the questions asked in the group work.

Presentation of the model text

The teacher gives students a worksheet with a text. They have to fill in the gaps with the words in the box, in order to complete the sentences in the Third Conditional.

If Emma had set her alarm, she wouldn’t have _________ and if she hadn’t overslept, she would have _______ on time for her interview. If she hadn’t been in a hurry, she would have ______ the bus, but she decided to take the underground. If she hadn’t noticed that people on the train were looking at her strangely, she wouldn’t have ______ that she was wearing slippers. If she hadn’t been in such a rush, she would have _______ to put her smart black shoes on. She got off the train and rushed outside. It was raining. If she hadn’t been standing next to a big puddle, she wouldn’t have been covered with dirty water. If she hadn’t _______ her clothes dirty, she would have ______ to the interview.

Students are asked to read out their texts.

Text creation

The teacher asks students to write their own texts based on the model.

Follow up: Students present their texts to the class.

Other ways to teaching grammar

Scrivener (2011: 159) presents the model of teaching grammar as Present – Practise. It refers to the fact that the teacher “presents/introduces/clarifies/inputs” the grammar pattern and then moves on to practise stage, which is also known as production or as speaking or writing skills work.

According to Jim Scrivener (2011: 160) the structure of the “present-practise” lesson is the following:

Lead – in: At this stage the teacher usually presents the material related to the context and elicits idea from the learners.

Teacher clarification: The teacher elicits examples and explains the information.

Restricted output: Students do oral exercises to practise the items.

Restricted output: Students do written exercise to practise the new items.

Authentic output: Students use the items they have just learnt in communicative activities.

Sometimes another stage can be added to all these. It comes after the lead – in stage and it is called restricted exposure. At this stage, students can read or listen to a text and solve a set of tasks in order to get a general understanding of it.

Example of activity:

Teaching “used to”

Level: A2

Time: 15 minutes

Aim: – to introduce “used to”;

Lead – in:

Aim: – to establish the context;

The teacher shows students pictures representing a boy doing different activities. He/She asks students to tell him/her sentences about the boy and what he usually does. (Eg. He helps his parents in the garden. He rides a nice motorbike. He lives in a beautiful house.)

Elicitation:

Aim: – to establish the meaning of the target item;

The teacher adds a picture with a man, telling students that this man is, in fact, the boy they have seen in the pictures. Students have to imagine that they are in the man’s shoes and that they have to give an interview about their life.

The teacher elicits the sentences: I rode the motorbike in the past but not now.

The teacher models the example by herself: He used to ride the motorbike. Then, the teacher asks students to repeat this sentence (drilling). After that he/she elicits many other sentences: He used to help his parents in the garden. He used to live in a beautiful house.

A substitution table is constructed. Students write it in their notebook.

As described by Scrivener (2011: 163), the first stage – clarification or presentation – can contain three categories:

teacher explanation: the teacher tells/ explains the students;

guided discovery: the teacher help the students tell;

self-directed discovery: the students tell themselves

Instead of giving explanations, the teacher can create activities that will allow students to discover by themselves and have their own explanations. For the guided-discovery the teacher’s role is to select appropriate tasks, offer help and try to engage all the students. The teacher should ask questions that will guide and encourage learners to be aware of the language and think about it. Flexibility and imagination are very important at this stage. Possible questions for guided discovery:

Is that a noun?

Is this formal or informal?

Can you change this into the Past Perfect Simple?

What does Jim do every day?

For the self – directed discovery the teacher should leave learners experience by trying to use language by themselves.

Example of activity for teaching the structure “it’s too + adjective + to + verb”

Level: A2

Time: 15 minutes

Aim: – to get students produce as many sentences as possible using the structure “it’s too + adjective + to + verb”

The teacher uses flashcards in order to make students be aware of the characters and context. Then, he/she tries to elicit sentences that can be part of a dialogue. The teacher checks the mistakes and selects suitable sentences for a possible dialogue. Then he/she asks students to repeat them.

After constructing a dialogue, students must be able to remember it. This can be done through drilling. The teacher should help learners say the dialogue fluently. They must also have the right pronunciation and intonation.

As follow – on activities students can write the dialogue out, act it out or continue it.

Consequently, it is very important to teach students creatively. This encourages motivation and thus, active participation. Teachers should be imaginative in designing lessons because imaginative teaching increases creativity, concentration and develops critical and creative thinking.

Teaching Vocabulary Creatively

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. It is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime. Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in a sentence. Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word – learning strategies.

In order to teach vocabulary effectively, the following steps should be taken into account:

Learners should be exposed to a variety of contexts;

Reviewing and reinforcing vocabulary;

No more than 10-12 words should be presented at a time;

Learners should be actively engaged in learning tasks;

Learners should not only focus on words, they must fully understand what they are asked to do in the context of speaking/reading/listening/writing;

Computer technology can be used effectively in teaching vocabulary;

Creative activities can highly improve the process of acquiring new vocabulary.

In order to know a word, students should (Hadfield 2008: 45):

Recognize it in spoken and written form;

Remember it;

Relate it to a concept;

Use it in an appropriate grammatical form;

Pronounce and spell it correctly;

Use it with words it correctly goes with;

Use the new word in the appropriate level of formality;

Be aware of the word’s connotations;

In order to teach vocabulary, the teacher should (Hadfield 2008: 47):

use translation of the new word in the mother tongue;

use a synonym or a definition in the target language;

use pictures or objects (realia);

give a demonstration;

use drawings;

use the word part strategy (the teacher can break the word in parts and give students the meaning of all these parts and the meaning of the whole word);

use the word in different contexts to show its meanings.

Principles in teaching vocabulary

Rely on students’ prior knowledge and experience. Before teaching new words the teacher should introduce a thematic area.

Show not only form and content but also aspects of the nature of meaning and word relations (Hadfield 2008: 47):

– pronunciation and spelling

– denotation and connotation

– polysemy

– homonymy

– homophony

– synonymy

– style, register, dialect

– translation (students should be aware of the similarities and differences between the native language and the foreign language)

– chunks of language

– grammar of vocabulary

For doing all the above mentioned, the teacher should be very creative and find ways to clarify meaning without using the mother tongue. According to the learner’ s level of proficiency, there should be encouraged: discovery, guided – discovery, contextual guesswork (inferencing skills) and dictionary – building skills.

Criteria for vocabulary selection:

– coverage (learners should be provided with various meanings and uses of the form)

– frequency

– universality

– utility

Presentation techniques for lexis

The most common technique is presentation-practice. During the presentation stage the teacher should offer information, clues, pictures, realia, about the new items, then elicit the words from students. The teacher should check if learners have understood the meaning and usage of the new words and the way they are formed.

During the practice stage, the learners are asked to repeat the items and use them in speaking or writing activities.

Suggested ways students can begin to learn meaning (adapted) (Scrivener 2011: 189):

Never: The teacher draws a line and at one end he/she marks “never”.

Angry: The teacher mimes a facial expression.

Boots: The teacher mimes putting them on or taking them off.

Post office: A flashcard is shown to students.

Argue: Two students are asked to act this out.

Be over the moon: The teacher can tell students a short story that includes it.

Zebra crossing: Cuisenaire rods can be used to introduce this word to students.

There are many other ways in which the teacher can introduce new items: dictionaries, diagrams, short conversations, explanations, anecdotes etc. When presenting lexical items, the teacher should not only teach them as being isolated but also to use them in realistic sentences. When teaching vocabulary teachers take into account the following techniques/ ways of conveying meaning (https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/conveying-meaning):

realia (bringing things into the classroom);

pictorial representations (flashcards, wall pictures, charts, etc). These are used to explain the meaning of the new words.

acting and miming (Total Physical Response) – verbs can be associated to actions and emotions to gestures;

using opposites:

sense relations are generally used to teach meaning; concepts can be introduced with the help of mime or pictures by drawing attention to the contrasts in meaning;

general/specific meaning

sense relation – words can be explained by listing various items;

connecting words to a personal experience – learners can categorize words according to what they like/dislike, what is easy/difficult to remember and explain why;

explanation – the meaning of the word is generally explained to intermediate students;

grouping words by collocations – students can be taught to remember new words by joining them according to the words they are found with;

changing, stretching and limiting the meaning of a word function; for example, with metaphors the meaning can be exchanged while with idioms the meaning can become fixed;

semantic Maps-Teaching Multiple-Meaning Words

these are used to discover the relationships between vocabulary words;

semantic maps are active forms of learning as they build on prior knowledge;

they are graphic organizers that are organized around a word that represents a semantic concept; related words are clustered around this word according to a criteria chosen by the teacher or students;

translating the word into the students’ native language;

vocabulary games – these games help students remember the new words and because through games students have lot of fun, they assimilate the new words easier and for a longer period of time.

contextual analysis – means inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words by examining the text;

morphemic analysis – getting the meaning of a word by analyzing its morphemes;

dictionary use – the teacher should teach students about multiple word meanings and the importance of choosing the appropriate definition to fit a certain context;

using computer technology to help teach vocabulary – when teaching vocabulary, the teacher can use game-like formats, hyperlinks, online dictionaries and reference materials, animations or they can also have access to content-area-related websites

Teaching vocabulary creatively – examples of activities

In their book Introduction to Teaching English, Hadfield and Hadfield (2008: 49) present the structure of a vocabulary lesson as follows:

language focus

teaching focus

materials

presenting the target language

recording the target language

prectice activities

producing the target language

consolidation

Here are some adapted examples following the model (Hadfield and Hadfield 2008: 50-57):

Teaching “Crockery and cutlery”

Level: A2

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to introduce vocabulary related to crockery and cutlery;

– to practise vocabulary related to crockery and cutlery;

Resources: a poster of a kitchen, realia

Language: fork, spoon, teaspoon, plate, cup, saucer, knife, bowl, glass, teapot

Preparation:

The teacher can use a poster or flashcards. Students can be given worksheets with the poster as a picture.

Lead-in:

Aim: – to create a context for introducing the new words

The teacher arranges a desk and two chairs in front of the classroom. He/She puts a tablecloth, a plate, a fork, a knife, a spoon, a teaspoon, a teapot, a glass, a saucer and a cup on it and writes the name of the restaurant on the blackboard: The Tom’s kitchen. The teacher asks: Where are we? Then, he/she asks a student to come in front of the classroom. The Teacher and the student sit around the table. The teacher tells the students that they are going to have lunch.

Introduce the language:

to introduce the new items by using real objects and actions so as to make the lesson more interesting;

The teacher asks the student to pass him/her the items: Pass me the glass, please! Pass me the cup and the saucer, please. Etc.

Language focus:

to repeat and recognise the new items;

The teacher holds the items up and asks students to repeat them. Then, he/she writes the words on the blackboard. The teacher explains students that “k” from knife is not pronounced. He/She adds a picture of the table setting and asks the students to match the words with the items in the picture.

Check comprehension. In pairs students check how they have labelled the pictures. Then individual students go to the blackboard to label the items in the picture.

Practise the language. The teacher puts a number of items in a tray and asks students to look at the tray for thirty seconds. Then he/she asks the students:

How many cups are there in the tray?

Two cups.

No, there were four cups.

The teacher writes on the board what the students tell him/her.

There are four cups.

There aren’t any teaspoons.

There is one plate.

There are six spoons.

There aren’t five knives. (Here, the teacher explains students the plural of the word ‘knife’)

Students are encouraged to tell complete sentences.

The teacher shows the tray and asks learners to look at the items and say if they were right or wrong.

Use the language.

Aim: – to practise words related to crockery and cutlery;

The teacher gives each student a copy of the poster representing a kitchen and an envelope with a number of items. They have to stick the items on the picture, anywhere they like. When they have finished, they are asked to work in pairs and find the differences between their pictures.

Example: In my picture there is a knife on the floor.

In my picture there aren’t any knives but there are four teaspoons on the table.

The teacher goes round the class while listening to the learners.

As a feedback he/she writes the errors on the board and asks the students to correct them.

Consolidation. The learners are asked to write a description of their pictures. Then the pictures are pinned on the walls of the room. The teacher hands out the descriptions to the learners. Each learner gets a new description. They go round the class and look for a picture that matches their description.

Teaching adjectives for describing behaviour

Level: B1

Time: 50 minutes

Aim: – to introduce vocabulary related to adjectives for describing character;

to practise vocabulary related to adjectives for describing character;

Resources: board, flashcards, word cards of the new adjectives, pictures of men and women from magazines.

Preparation: Students are asked in advance to bring pictures of men and women from magazines and photos of their family.

Lead – in:

Aim: – to create a context for introducing the new words;

The teacher shows students pictures of his/her family. The teacher asks them who they think the people are. After that, he/she tells their names and writes them up on the board.

Introduce the language

Aim: – to introduce the new items using pictures and examples so as the students to understand the meaning of the words.

The teacher sticks on the board the photos of his/her family. Then, he/she starts describing each member. Students have to match the descriptions with the pictures.

Example of description:

My father is an engineer. He is hardworking and efficient. He is busy all the time. He likes travelling, watching action movies and playing golf. My mother in a teacher. She is very organized and tidy. She loves children very much. I have got twin brothers. Their names are Liam and Jake. Liam is very sociable and likes spending time with his friends. He is very funny and energetic. He has a strong personality but can be a bit selfish. He is also very messy. Jake is very quiet, serious and shy. But he is a very nice person. He is unselfish, kind and tidy.

Check comprehension. The teacher checks if students have matched flashcards with the names of people and the descriptions. The correct names are written under the flashcards. Some word cards are given to students. The teacher repeats the descriptions and they have to come to the board to put the card under the right picture. The teacher explains the words as he/she goes through the answers.

Language focus. The teacher gives a list of words. Students have to match the opposites. If they don’t know a word, the teacher explains it to them using simple words, structures or examples.

Students are asked to repeat the words.

Language focus. Students are asked to create a mind map in order to record the vocabulary. The teacher gives them a part of it and they have to complete it.

Practise the language. The teacher asks students to describe their families. Students work in pairs. They describe the family to each other. Family photos are used. At the end of the activity the learners are asked to provide more words they thought of. They add them to the mind map.

Practise the language. Students work again in new pairs and describe their family to a new partner.

Use the language. The teacher gives students pictures of men and women from magazines. The students discuss about the people in the pictures.

Consolidation. Students write a description of their picture. Then, the teacher numbers the pictures and pins them up round the room. After that, he/she collects the descriptions and gives them out at random. Students should go round the classroom and find the picture that matches their description.

Other ways to teaching vocabulary

When teaching vocabulary teachers may choose to design tasks that include listening/watching and reading. The main advantage is that learners meet the new items in realistic contexts. Before working on the text, the teacher may design some activities to pre-teach vocabulary.

Examples of pre-teaching tasks (Scrivener 2011: 195):

matching words with pictures or definitions;

checking the meaning of the words in a dictionary;

brainstorming words related to a certain topic;

discussing a topic;

filling in sentences with words from a given list;

eliciting words from students after showing them definitions or illustrations;

During reading or listening work when students ask for the meaning of the new words, the teacher can offer them brief explanations or translations. After the listening or reading phase, the teacher can ask students questions related to the new lexical items.

Example of questions:

Can you find the opposite of this word?

Can you guess the meanings of these words?

Find synonyms in the text for the following words.

Find words in the text related to adjectives describing behaviour/ jobs/ etc.

Find multiword items.

Why is this word used here?

Lesson procedures proposed to teach vocabulary and develop creativity

(Scrivener 2011: 197)

A brief adapted lesson procedure

Title of the lesson: Types of shops

Level: A2

Aim: -to introduce items related to different types of shops;

-to practise these items in various exercises;

Pre-teach lexis. The teacher uses flashcards and elicits the following items: newsagent’s, butcher’s, baker’s, greengrocer’s, fishmonger’s, bookshop, chemist’s, department store, florist’s, jeweller’s. Students practise pronunciation

Written practice of lexis. Students are given worksheets showing pictures of different shops and the names of shops. They have to match the words with the pictures.

Oral practice of lexis. Students work in pairs. They are asked to think about the last time they were in a shop and tell what they bought. They are also asked which is their favourite shop.

Reading to find specific information. Students are given a worksheet containing a text about the advantages and disadvantages of going shopping in different types of shops. They are asked to answer 10 questions in which they should include the names of shops that have just been taught.

Further lexis work. When they have finished doing the exercise, ask them questions to focus them on the new items.

Communicative activity. In small groups students role play dialogues in different shops. One student in each group is the sales assistant and the others are the customers. They buy different products from the shops. The teacher can use things that students can find in different shops. He/ She can put the things on the desks and this can make students more creative in role playing their dialogues.

CHAPTER 4

RESEARCHING CREATIVITY WITH A2 – B1 LEARNERS

In this chapter the applied research is described and analyzed. It is focused on identifying the appropriate methods, strategies and techniques for developing students' creativity, A2 – B1 level, together with the development of communicative skills and functional autonomy.

The aim of this research is to find ways of developing students’ creativity through using state-of-the-art teaching methods which stimulate thinking and imagination, as well as the development of communicative competence.

The level of creativity in the English classroom will be identified. A selection of methods, strategies and techniques aimed to develop students’ creativity will be made, taking into account the requirements of the syllabus and the psychological profile of the student.

The teaching activities to be carried out in this research will aim at making the English language communication skills for A2 – B1 learners more efficient not only by developing creativity but also by streamlining the process of acquiring and developing the four skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing.

Taking into account the research cycle proposed by Nunan (2006) in his book Action Research and Professional Growth, there are 8 steps to be followed:

(http://www.tesol.org/docs/default-source/new-resource-library/symposium-on-english-teacher-development-in-efl-3.pdf?sfvrsn=0)

Cycle 1:

Problem identification

Preliminary investigation

Hypothesis formation

Plan intervention

Initiate action and observe outcomes

Cycle 2

Identification of follow – up puzzle

Second hypothesis

Second round action and observation

4.1. Problem identification

It has been noticed that 7th grade pupils have difficulty in being creative when it comes about speaking and writing. In addition, they find very hard keeping in mind the vocabulary items and understanding the grammar structures, as well as using grammar and vocabulary for communicative purposes.

4.2. Preliminary investigation

At the beginning of the school year, sample grades are selected to carry out this research, namely the 7th A (class size: 19 pupils) and 7th B (class size: 15 pupils)

PRE – TEST design and administration

Pupils were administered the following test to detect their level of proficiency, focusing on grammar and vocabulary awareness as well as their level of creativity in writing. The following tasks made up the 50 – minutes integrative test:

1. Circle the correct answer:

I usually……………. to work by bus.

go b. goes c. am going d. going

The child……………. a cartoon right now.

watches b. are watching c. watch d. is watching

…………………they……………… football in this moment?

do….play b. is ….playing c. are …. playing d. does ….. play

He ………………. on Sundays.

don’t work b. isn’t working c. doesn’t work d. aren’t working

He ……………….. his mother yesterday.

didn’t work b. work c. worked d. doesn’t work

………she …………making a birthday cake yesterday afternoon?

were…making b. did….make c. was …making d. made

If you complain any more, I …………..you a really difficult job.

Give b. will give c. am giving d. gave

Unless you ………. to bed before midnight, you won’t wake up in time for work.

don’t go b. won’t go c. will go d. go

I would buy a new car if I ……..enough money.

Have b. had c. will have d. hadn’t

I would try surfing if I ………… younger.

were b. was c. am d. are

2. Read the following test and choose the correct word for each space:

He is the hero!

Jack, …………… (1) is seven years old, is a hero after helping his little sister and mother when the house was ……………(2) fire. He quickly rang……………(3) an ambulance and the fire brigade and he ………………(4) the emergency services what had happened. He woke his mother up and took his sister out …………(5) the house. He also telephoned his father …………….(6) work and then his grandparents to explain what he had ………….(7).

The fire brigade came and the firefighters put …………(8) the fire. An ambulance man told his mother: ‘It’s ………………(9) that a young boy of seven knew the right number to …………….(10) And he was able to give us the correct information. Because of Jack’s quick thinking, we were able to get there immediately.’

A. which B. who C. that D. whose

A. on B. in C. at D. –

A. to B. off C. with D. for

A. said B. talked C. told D. spoke

A. on B. of C. off D. –

A. in B. at C. on D. by

A. done B. made C. acted D. worked

A. in B. off C. out D. up

A. pleased B. fine C. clever D. great

A. put B. dial C. hit D. set

(Adapted from ESOL Examinations, Cambridge Preliminary English Test 4, 2003, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 54)

3. You were at the supermarket yesterday and you lost your wallet. You think that another person took it. Look at the picture and write your story. Use the following lexical items: cash register, shop assistant, trolley, credit card, cheap, expensive, thief, wallet, change, receipt, pay, customer.

Marking scheme

Total: 100 points

10 points granted

Item 1: 25 points – 2.5 points/correct variant

Item 2: 25 points – 2.5 points/correct variant

Item 3: 40 points

range of grammar structures – 8 p

range of lexical structures – 8 p

organisation – 12 p

impact on the reader – 12 p

Note: Test takers will lose points as follows:

0.20 points penalty/major mistake:

grammar: wrong modal, wrong tense, disagreement

vocabulary: totally inappropriate word in context, gap

style and register – adequate level of formality

0.10 points penalty/minor mistake:

grammar: wrong article, wrong preposition, wrong connectors

vocabulary: inappropriate word in context

0.05 points/spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Data interpretation

The grades awarded to students in the 7th A at the pre-test were the following:

The average test score of grade 7th A is 7.11.

The grades awarded to students of the 7th B at the pre-test were the following:

The average test score of grade 7th B is 6.16.

4.3. Hypothesis formation

The use of modern methods, strategies, techniques stimulates students’ creativity and determines an increase in fluency, originality that help them better understand the grammar patterns and the vocabulary items. The cognitive, affective and attitudinal capacity of students will be stimulated as well. Developing creativity with A2 – B1 learners will also lead to the development of their communicative competence.

4.4. Plan intervention

The teacher will exploit a variety of methods, strategies, techniques to increase students’ interest in the target language, stimulate and develop their creativity, motivate them and make them be active learners. The teacher will adapt the lesson plans to train students to be creative in oral and written communication. Students will also be taught the fact that in order to be successful learners the teaching – learning process should be a mixture of classwork and self-study.

4.5. Initiate action and observe outcomes

Data collection and interpretation is based on the students’ keeping a diary of their experience (qualitative research method) as well as on statistics deriving from students' scoring in diagnostic and achievement tests (quantitative research method).

The oral activities include: communicative games, simulation and role play, reconstruction, debate etc. Written communicative activities vary from writing reports and advertisements, story reconstruction, exchanging letters to writing journals, etc.

Activities

Oral activities:

1. Game: Who, What, Where, When.

Level: A2

Time: 20 minutes

Aims: – to develop a wide range of vocabulary items;

– to practice different types of tenses;

Procedure:

Students work in groups of four. The teacher has prepared four categories of cards with who, what, where, when. Each member of the group chooses a card from a different category. Each group ends up with a who, what, where and when card. They must make up a story based on their cards. They have 7 minutes to think about their stories.

When each group have developed their story either tell or act out it for the rest of the class.

The teacher gives them ideas for the four categories:

Who: an alien, a firefighter, a dinosaur, a tiger, a strong man, an astronaut, etc.
Where: desert, farm, yard, mars, moon, school, under the sea, etc.
What: can’t stop dreaming, in a strange place, won the lottery, lost a diamond, etc.
Where: past, present, future

Type of interaction: student – student

The teacher checks the major mistakes.

2. Choose your own adventure

Level: A2

Time: 15 minutes

Aim: – to practice second conditional in reading and speaking

Procedure:

Students are supposed to imagine themselves as being the main character of a story. They are only one person that takes different decisions in different situations.

The teacher gives students some sheets of paper with a text which is part of a story called “Find the treasure”. Each student has a number written on the sheet.

In the story there are many questions in the second conditional. Students must answer them using the second conditional and choose an answer. They must also motivate their choice and anticipate what is going to happen. They will face two or three options, each of them leading to more options and then many endings. The options are represented by the numbers that students have.

Type of interaction: student – student

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE – FIND THE TREASURE

3. A slice of American Pizza

Level: B1

Time: 20 minutes

Aim: – to practice vocabulary related to food;

Procedure:

The teacher asks students if they have been to a pizza shop before. They may have already seen one on television or in a movie, or have visited one themselves. After that he/she asks them imagine that they are in a pizza shop in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles and they get a slice of American pizza.

The teacher asks students to create the pizza shop.  Students stand up and begin moving desks and chairs around in order to turn the classroom into a pizza shop. This can also be done before class. The teacher brings in empty pizza boxes and aprons.

The teacher gives out the scripts. Some students will be workers, others will be diners at two or three tables and some will enter the shop for a quick slice and soda. The teacher gives each student a script to serve as a rough guideline during the role play. Students can also change roles and practice different communication throughout. For example, the worker would ask questions and the customer will explain what they want. A lot of improvisation is allowed during the activity.

The specific vocabulary was taught before. This includes words such as: slice, pie, red sauce, pepper flakes and fountain soda.

4. Time Traveller’s Wife

Level: B1

Time: 30 minutes

Aim: – to practise second conditional sentences;

Procedure:

The teacher asks the students: ‘If you had the chance, would you like to travel in time?

Then she asks them to watch two short videos with the sound off. In groups they should choose one of the characters, imagine what they are talking about and role play the dialogue in front of the class. They must choose only one of the videos.

In the second part of the activity the teacher gives students some worksheets on which there are written questions related to the videos.

Students watch the first segment of the movie with the sound on.

Here are the questions:

What happened in the segment?

If you were in the boy’s shoes, would you go back in time? Why? /Why not?

If you travelled in the past, would you change anything about it?

Students watch the first segment of the movie with the sound on.

Here are the questions for the second part:

If you could go back in time, would you make a person like you?

Would you do what he did if you were the main character of the movie? Why? / Why not?

Would life be better or worse if people could travel in time?

For the first five questions pupils answer individually. For the last question they should work in pairs. They should provide evidence to support their claims.

Written activities

1. Writing an advertisement

Level: B1

Time: 15 minutes

Aim: – to practise typical expressions found in advertising;

Procedure:

The teacher projects some examples of advertisements. Then, he/she shows students some familiar objects that he/she has brought into the classroom. Students work in pairs. They should choose one of the objects and advertise it. They can support their ads with images from newspapers or magazines

Type of interaction: teacher – student, student – student

2. Giving directions

Level: A2

Time: 25 minutes

Aim: – to create an audience and the need for clear and coherent writing;

– to be able to give directions in given situations;

Preparation:

The teacher gives students copies with a street map.

Procedure:

Student are divided into pairs. Each student is asked to locate a place on the street map which represents his/her imagined home. The student’s partner should not know about this location. One partner in each pair has to write a letter to the other one. The letter should be an invitation to a party and it also includes directions to his/her home. The directions can be given with reference to a landmark marked on the map.

Each student dives the letter to his/her partner to trace the directions on the street map and find the destination.

3. Write a story

Level: A2

Time: 15 minutes

Aim: – to practise past tense simple;

Procedure:

Students work in pairs. Each pair is given a set of pictures. They must write a story based on the pictures. After that, they present their stories in front of the classroom.

The teacher checks major mistakes.

Type of interaction: teacher – student, student – student

4. Writing a project

Level: B1

Time: 30 minutes

Aim: – to be able to use linkers when writing descriptions;

Procedure:

Students are asked to work in groups of four. They have to imagine they have invented a new item which is very useful for people nowadays.

They are asked to write a project to describe the item and show how it has improved the quality of people’s lives. They can also draw the item on their sheets of paper.

At the end of the activity they present their items to the class. A representative of each group is chosen.

The teacher corrects the major mistakes.

Annexes A and B display two lesson plans and worksheets that were used in the classroom.

4.6. Identification of follow up problem

After using a wide range of oral and written activities for teaching and practising various grammar patterns and vocabulary items, the effectiveness and efficiency of using these activities is critically examined.

POST – TEST design and administration

Put the verbs in brackets into the Past Simple or Past Continuous:

Yesterday we …………………………..……..…….(decide) to go to a restaurant for lunch.

She ……………………(study) English when she ……….………..…(meet) her husband.

We ……………….…….…(not/go) out yesterday because it ….……..…………….(rain).

My friends …………………………..…………..……..(play) tennis yesterday at 5 o’clock.

It …………..…(be) in June while we ………………(spend) a few days in the mountains.

……………..………..….you……………..…………… (wait) for me yesterday at 9 o’clock?

He ……………………………………………………………………………………..(phone) last week.

Fill in with a word that best fits in each space:

Advice for Exams

While you are studying for an exam, eat food that gives you (1) … Don’t eat (2) … or drink cola as sugar won’t help you study.

Find a (3) … place.

Be positive and relaxed.

Make notes on the (4) … points then cover them (5) … and try to remember all the information.

Take (6) … breaks to drink a glass of water or get some fresh air.

When the day of the exam comes give yourself plenty of time (7) … do everything: have breakfast but don't drink (8) … much; go to the toilet; arrive on time, and try not to get nervous.

In the exam, calm (9) … down and think positively.

Read the exam questions carefully.

Don't panic (10) … everyone around you seems to start writing furiously.

Finally, after the exam, don’t discuss about it as everyone else does. Remember that exams help you find out what you know, what you understand and what you can do.

(Adapted from https://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/tests/2_oclts3.htm)

3. You want to go to a party and take your best friend with you. He doesn’t want to go because he hates parties. This party has a special theme. You went to a similar one last year. Write him a letter persuading him to accompany you at the party and tells him what makes this party special. Write between 150-200 words.

Marking scheme

Total: 100 points

10 points granted

Item 1: 25 points – 2.5 points/correct variant

Item 2: 25 points – 2.5 points/correct variant

Item 3: 40 points

range of grammar structures – 8 p

range of lexical structures – 8 p

organisation – 12 p

impact on the reader – 12 p

Note: Test takers will lose points as follows:

0.20 points penalty/major mistake:

grammar: wrong modal, wrong tense, disagreement

vocabulary: totally inappropriate word in context, gap

style and register – adequate level of formality

0.10 points penalty/minor mistake:

grammar: wrong article, wrong preposition, wrong connectors

vocabulary: inappropriate word in context

0.05 points/spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Data interpretation

The grades awarded to students in the 7th A at the pre-test were the following:

The average test score of grade 7th A is 7.72.

The grades awarded to students in the 7th B at the pre-test were the following:

The average test score of grade 7th B grade is 7.02

4.7. Second hypothesis

7th grade pupils show less difficulty in better understanding and using various grammar patterns and vocabulary items for communicative purposes. With both sample grades main progress is related to an accurate use of grammar structures and lexical items that have been taught. Moreover, they have developed their creativity and improved their speaking and writing skills.

4.8. Second round action and observation

The use of modern methods, strategies and techniques aimed to develop students’ creativity together with the integrative communicative approach for teaching grammar and vocabulary will be further implemented throughout the last remaining year of secondary school so as to teach creatively other grammar patterns and vocabulary items and secure the development of creativity in both oral and written production. The teacher will continue to monitor and observe the pupils and use a long – term progress report as well as learner’s progress logs (self-evaluation of learning progress and attainment of goals)

CONCLUSIONS

The present paper is structured on four chapters. The first three chapters are theoretical while the last chapter is the research one.

Developing students' creativity to achieve performance requires a change of vision in pedagogical practice based on: student-centred learning, promoting collaborative learning, using creative strategies to stimulate creativity, involving students in concrete situations of communication, solving problems.

The aim of this paper was to develop a theoretical and applicative framework, the goal being the development of creativity with A2 – B1 learners. It analyzed the efficiency of creative methods and techniques in teaching grammar and vocabulary with emphasis on streamlining the process of acquiring and developing reading, listening, speaking and writing skills, represented by the communicative competence.

There were found a variety of ways for developing students’ creativity through using creative teaching methods which stimulate thinking, imagination and creativity. The requirements of the curriculum and the level of the students was also taken into account.

Moreover, the use of a variety of creative methods and techniques together with the use of ICT in the English language classroom lead to: developing students’ creativity, originality and critical thinking, stimulating their active involvement in dealing with tasks, ensuring group cooperation, encouraging learners’ autonomy and promote learning through cooperation, making use of knowledge, skills and abilities in an efficient way;

The techniques and methods mentioned in this paper help teachers plan and conduct their activities efficiently. Students easily develop their speaking and writing skills together with the communicative competence. They have a better understanding of grammar structures and vocabulary items that can be used in creative tasks and real – life situations.

After doing the research, the following conclusions were noticed:

the use of a variety of modern methods and techniques leads to increased learning efficiency;

the use of learner-centred methods accelerates the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities and contributes to the development of all psychological processes;

learner – centred methods have an increased efficiency in activating the student in the process of learning;

the use of modern methods and techniques together with the use of technology into the English classroom leads to developing students’ creative potential and originality;

the use of creative teaching methods in the classroom determines an increase in students’ school performance and creates a favourable environment for the development of their personality.

The ELT methodology is learner-centred. When designing activities, the teacher takes into account the learner’s profile (learning styles, needs, interests, type of intelligence etc), the classroom good practices and school policies that enhance the development of language competence and personal growth as well as the learner as an active user of English in real-life situations.

The aim of this paper was to develop creativity with A2 – B1 learners. The problems identified were that students find difficulty in understanding grammar patterns and vocabulary items as well as to use them creatively in different contexts. Moreover, there was identified a need of developing creativity with productive skills. Thus, we analyzed an array of activities for the development of communicative competence, focused on speaking and writing but also integrating different language skills. These methods have contributed to a real progress in the rapid acquisition of knowledge, the development of creativity and in streamlining the process of acquiring and developing reading, listening, speaking and writing skills, represented by the communicative competence

Consequently, we could consider the carefully selected activities as success measures. The objectives proposed at the beginning of the paper have been achieved and the research hypothesis was validated. The research is very important because it helps teachers improve their teaching methods and strategies. Moreover, with an array of activities that can be applied into the classroom, the teacher can easily motivate students, make them be active learners, develop their creativity in dealing with tasks and improve their production skills.

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ANNEXES

ANNEX A

LESSON PLAN

SCHOOL: Petresti Secondary School

GRADE: 7th (L2)

LEVEL: Pre-intermediate

TEACHER: Andrei Cristina – Luciana

LESSON: The First Conditional

TYPE OF LESSON: Grammar lesson (Lesson of communication of new knowledge)

TEXTBOOK: Snapshot, Pre-intermediate

Unit 11: Unless I get to bed,…

TIME – 50 minutes

COMPETENCES

2. Producing oral messages

2.1. Making affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences

3. Understanding written messages

3.3. Extracting specific information from a text to solve a simple task

AIMS

At the end of the lesson students will be able to:

elicit information about the First type of Conditional sentences;

identify the first type of conditional sentences;

3. use the First Conditional correctly in different exercises;

4. talk about possible situations and their consequences in the future;

SKILLS

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Writing

TECHNIQUES

dialogues

group work

observation

explanation

pair work

lockstep

RESOURCES

overhead projector

flipchart

whiteboard

notebooks

handouts

TYPE OF INTERACTION: teacher-students, students-teacher, student-student

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS

– if there are any problems the teacher will clarify them

ACTIVITIES

Appendix 1

Count on Me

Bruno Mars

Listen to the song and fill in the blanks with one of the following words:

If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea,
___________ the world to find you
If you ever ________ yourself lost in the dark and you can't see,
I’ll be the light to guide you

Find out what we're made of
When we are called to help our friends in need

You can count on me like one two three
I'll be there
And I know when I need it I can count on you like four three two
You'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Whoa, whoa
Oh, oh
Yeah, yeah

If you’re tossin' and you're turnin' and you just can't fall asleep
I'll sing a song
Beside you
And ______ you ever _________ how much you really mean to me
Everyday I ____________ you

Ooh
Find out what we're made of
When we are called to help our friends in need

You can count on me like one two three
I'll be there
And I know when I need it I can count on you like four three two
You'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Oh, oh
Yeah, yeah

You'll always have my shoulder when you cry
I'll never let go
Never say goodbye
You know you can

Count on me like one two three
I'll be there
And I know when I need it I can count on you like four three two
And you'll be there
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah

Oh, oh
You can count on me 'cause I can count on you

Vocabulary:

toss: to move about restlessly; twist and turn

’cause = because

tossin’ = tossing

turnin’ = turning

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

THE FIRST CONDITIONAL

EXERCISES

Read the letter and fill in the blanks with the right form of the verbs:

Dear Alice,

Thanks for your letter, it was great to hear your news. I’m very busy at the moment because my exams start next week. If I _____________1. (get) the right grades, I _____________2. (start) my university course in September. But if I _______________3. (do) well enough in them, I ____________________4. (be able to) go to that university. So, I’m working hard.

Thanks for inviting me to come and stay with you during the summer. I________________5. (do) it if the flights __________________6. (be) too expensive. I’m planning to get a job for a few weeks and I _________________7. (save) enough money to come if I ______________8. (find) one. It ___________________9. (be) a pity if we _____________10. (see) each other, so I’ll do my best.

Other news? Well, the weather’s terrible here at the moment. If it____________________11. (improve), I think I_________________12. (go) mad! I hope you are OK. If you __________________13. (write) to me again soon, I _________________14. (reply) as quickly as I can.

Keep in touch!

All the best,

Sarah

II. Match the following sentences

III. Fill in the blanks with the right form of the verbs:

1) If she ______________ (not hurry), she ______________ (miss) the bus.
2) If I ______________ (not feel) well tomorrow, I ______________ (stay) at home.
3) If I _____________ (can get) a ticket, I _____________ (go) to the concert.
4) We _____________ (buy) this car, if we _____________ (have) money.

5) Jonny ________________(may/play) football tomorrow if the doctor_____________(say) his leg is fine.
6) If you _____________ (cook) dinner, I _____________ (wash) the dishes.
7) We _____________ (go) to the park if it _____________ (be) sunny.

8) If I ______________(arrive) early, I___________________(may/might/ go) to the party.

IV. Pretend you are a parent who wants his or her kids to have a good behaviour when they go to their grandparents on the weekend. Write a note to your kids. Offer them some pieces of advice for good behaviour. Use First Conditional sentences.

Appendix 4

The First Conditional

100 feet

I. Match the conditions and the consequences:

Conditions:

1 – She passes the 100 perimeter space.

2 – The alarm continues for more than 3 minutes.

3 – She breaks out the house arrest rules.

4 – She has any violation.

5 – She attempts to remove the electronic ankle bracelet or temper with the base unit.

6 – They get a blackout or something.

Consequences:

( ) A signal is automatically sent and a car is seen immediately.

( ) She goes back to jail.

( ) It adds automatically 10 years to her sentence.

( 1 ) The alarm is activated.

( ) An alarm automatically alerts the police.

( ) The base unit still works.

II. Now rewrite the pairs of sentences using the first conditional:

Ex: 1 – If she passes the perimeter, the alarm will be activated.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

ANNEX B

LESSON PLAN

SCHOOL: Petresti Secondary School

GRADE: 6th (L2)

LEVEL: Elementary

TEACHER: Andrei Cristina – Luciana

LESSON: Household jobs

TYPE OF LESSON: Vocabulary lesson (Lesson of communication of new knowledge)

TEXTBOOK: Snapshot, Elementary

Unit 11: Do I have to?

TIME: 50 minutes

COMPETENCES

2. Producing oral messages

2.2. Integrating new words in sentences

2.3. Making simple sentences about himself/herself/people/activities having verbal or visual support.

3. Understanding written messages

3.3. Extracting particular information from a short text containing known lexical items

AIMS

At the end of the lesson students will be able to:

1. know a variety of words related to household jobs and use them correctly in exercises;

2. identify the words related to household jobs;

3. make simple sentences with the words related to household jobs;

4. make short dialogues using words related to household jobs;

SKILLS

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Writing

TECHNIQUES

dialogues

group work

observation

explanation

pair work

RESOURCES

overhead projector

poster

whiteboard

notebooks

handouts

TYPE OF INTERACTION: teacher-students, students-teacher, student-student

ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS

– if there are any problems the teacher will clarify them

ACTIVITIES

Appendix 1

HOUSEHOLD JOBS

Write each verb phrase under the corresponding picture:

Do the washing 2. Clear the table 3. Do the vacuuming 4. Do the shopping 5. Do the washing-up

6. Do the cooking 7. Make the bed 8. Do the cleaning 9. Do the ironing 10. Tidy up

Appendix 2

HOUSEHOLD JOBS

1. Listen to the text and make a list of all the jobs which Lucy and Marcus do to help their mother.

Answer true and false:

Lucy tidies her bedroom every day.

Marcus posts Mum’s letters.

Lucy’s mother thinks that housework is a waste of time.

Lucy cleans the bathroom once a week.

Marcus never waters the plants.

Lucy does the ironing every day.

Lucy’s mother doesn’t mind doing all the cooking.

Appendix 3

Household Jobs