1. ACTIVITY LIST & THINKING TASK
Try out these activities & decide which ones help develop FLUENCY,
Marisa Constantinides, CELT ATHENS, GREECE
EMBEDDING CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS TRAINING INTO OUR EFL PRACTICE
FLEXIBILITY, ELABORATION, ORIGINALITY or more than one. Pls check
abstract for definitions of aspects of creatiivity or related blog post*
LIST MAKING
E.g. a. List as many uses as you can for ______ (e.g., an umbrella)
b. List as many unusual uses as you can for _____ (e.g. a chair)
c. Brainstorm as many ideas as you can on ____ (e.g. party preparations)
MULTIPLE RESPONSES
E.g. a. Problem-Solution: I hate my job - give me some advice
b. Speculation: The phone’s not answering - What could be wrong?
Mysteries unsolved texts - What could have caused them?
CONTRADICTIONS/BUILDING ON IDEAS
a. Yes, but….: E.g.
A B
I love coffee But I hate it
It's good for ideas But it's bad for your stomach
Caffeine helps me think But it destroys your nervous system
b. Yes, and…
Each person in a group or pair is obliged to build on the previous
speaker's idea by starting with "Yes, and…"
P REDICAMENTS
IATEFL 44th Annual Conference Harrogate 2010
a. Alibi game
b. Why were you ________? (E.g., cooking breakfast at midnight?)
c. Explain yourself! (E.g., You were seen gluing apples to a tree)
E XPANSION
E.g. a. Ask as many questions as you can (E.g. about headline prior to reading)
b. The Questions No one would ever ask!
c. Make up the facts about ______ (any picture/character, object, animal)
KEEP GOING ON
E.g. a. Keep asking questions (pairs or small group)
b. Keep making statements (as above) Or
c. Avoid asking questions
P ROBLEM SOLVING
E.g. a. Budgets (e.g. how shall we furnish our flat?)
b. Priority (e.g. summer holiday suitcase)
c. Layout problems (e.g. Seating guests at a dinner party)
I MPROVISATION
Groups of students are each given sets of cards with words or pictures & improvise a skit or story in which the
words are used. When they present their story or skit, opposing teams must guess which words they ’are
hiding’.
a. A SKETCH/SKIT e.g. Guess the situation - Hide the idioms/words/phrases
b. A STORY e.g. From a storyboard - From a List of Words or Pictures
c. ON A TOPIC e.g. Tell us About Game
D ESIGN AND I NNOVATION
Students create a new board game; a new way of getting to school on time; a front page, a new storybook, a
new system of revising for exams, etc.
Related Blog post
Apr il 1 0 2 0 10
* http://marisaconstantinides.edublogs.org/2010/04/13/the-art-of-being-creative/
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