Author: Deb Avery | Published on 1 July 2023

 

Question: I don’t teach art – why should my classroom be creative? 

Answer: Creativity and imagination are vital for learning language.

There are many ways in which creativity can help learners develop language: 

  • Creativity allows learners to express themselves
  • Creativity helps learners solve problems
  • Creativity allows learners to take risks
  • Creativity brings fun and excitement to the classroom

Ways in which you can encourage a more creative classroom include: 

[bw picture of teacher drawing a picture on the board ]

  • Model creativity yourself (e.g. do routines like taking the register in different ways.)
  • Build a classroom climate that accepts everybody equally 
  • Build positive self-esteem (e.g. provide positive feedback)
  • Use activities that have multiple solutions
  • Offer learners choices (e.g. in terms of which activity they do, or how they do it)

How will you make your classroom more creative?

Glossary

Imagination: the act of forming a mental image of something not present

Model: Demonstrating so that learners understand what they have to do in a particular task.

classroom climate: classroom environment

self-esteem: how we value and perceive ourselves

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