Technology-Enhanced Creative Writing
As I came across these questions after posting my video I thought I'd have a go at answering them, just in case I'd missed something.
What do you expect to gain from this module? Can you write three objectives?
a) Develop my creative writing skills
b) Gain a better understanding of the importance of creative writing for learners and teachers
c) Develop a passion for creative writing and transfer this to my students
2) Have you ever used creative writing in your teaching? Can you think of an example? What was your experience?
I have used creative writing with my learners but results have been unsatisfactory for me. By this I mean that not all students managed to complete the task or language production was simple and uninspiring. Some examples are the use of pictures as prompts to create stories, acrostics of students' names and a 'I have a dream speech. The speech worked well though and gave me the opportunity to find out what mattered to my students.
3) Have you ever used technology-enhanced creative writing activities in your teaching? Can you give us an example? What was your experience?
I have used google docs for collaborative writing with teenagers but language production was limited and I felt that pen and paper would have been more productive. let's say that my experience of creative writing with digital technology is limited.
4) What do you think are the benefits of using creative writing in foreign language teaching? In your opinion and experience, which levels benefit more from using creative writing? Why?
What do you expect to gain from this module? Can you write three objectives?
a) Develop my creative writing skills
b) Gain a better understanding of the importance of creative writing for learners and teachers
c) Develop a passion for creative writing and transfer this to my students
2) Have you ever used creative writing in your teaching? Can you think of an example? What was your experience?
I have used creative writing with my learners but results have been unsatisfactory for me. By this I mean that not all students managed to complete the task or language production was simple and uninspiring. Some examples are the use of pictures as prompts to create stories, acrostics of students' names and a 'I have a dream speech. The speech worked well though and gave me the opportunity to find out what mattered to my students.
3) Have you ever used technology-enhanced creative writing activities in your teaching? Can you give us an example? What was your experience?
I have used google docs for collaborative writing with teenagers but language production was limited and I felt that pen and paper would have been more productive. let's say that my experience of creative writing with digital technology is limited.
4) What do you think are the benefits of using creative writing in foreign language teaching? In your opinion and experience, which levels benefit more from using creative writing? Why?
As I have already read the article by Alan Maley (Creative Writing for Language Learners (and Teachers, 2009), I am cheating here, but I will try to be faithful to my pre-Alan-Maley view.
It feels fairly obvious to me now that creative writing is beneficial for language learning and it surprises me how overlooked it is in EFL teacher training courses. It is usually associated with young learner classes and almost ignored with adults. EFL adult courses are obsessed with exams and preparing students for the real world and work in which creativity is undervalued. Also, writing is often relegated to homework in order to maximise time for speaking in class. However, I find that most students do not complete their writing for homework, perhaps it's because the tasks are too expository.
