Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning, Athens, Greece, 21 - 23 June 2018, pp.74
"Creativity in
the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language has been dealt with in terms of
classroom tasks using drama activities, games and songs in order to enhance
learners’ motivation and make learning more enjoyable (Richards and Cotterall,
2016). This workshop takes a broader view of creativity and argues that
creative thinking can be taught and exercised. It stresses the pivotal role of
the way we use our neurology emphasizing that we always create something first
in the form of a thought and that we can use conscious thinking strategies to
rewire our brains to achieve our goals in life. By way of introduction, this
workshop will first draw attention to our deep-rooted misconceptions such as
the lack of belief in one’s creativity and the belief that creativity is
originality (Dilts, 1990) which, sadly, have been brought about by the limited
way our rational minds have been educated. The workshop will then engage
participants in creative thinking activities using two conscious thinking
strategies: visualization and metaphor. First, the participants will experience
three kinds of visualization: simple visualization for relaxation and creative
visualization and the Disney Creativity Strategy for achieving both personal
and professional goals (Gawain, 1998). The second thinking strategy that the
participants will experience is the use of metaphor, more specifically creative
metaphors and metaphors for learning (Revell and Norman, 1999). This strategy
builds on the idea that making metaphorical comparisons between seemingly
unrelated concepts can be fun and provoke useful insights into one’s usual
patterns of thought."