Creative Ways Starting to Teach Creative Writing in The English Language Classroom Teaching Materials from the Literature Department of the British Council [...]... Compare the results to Wendy Cope’s The Uncertainty of the Poet’ 5 Discuss the form of the poem in the light of the painting it refers to (Surrealism) Variation: Give students the list of words that make up Wendy Cope’s poem The Uncertainty of the Poet”: 1 a, bananas, be (vb), fond, I, of, poet, very Ask them to form a sentence or sentences with these elements, the shorter and simpler the better Then... Matthew Francis on the BBC broadcast If the extension is included, the result may well lead to a love or hate poem 1 The class is divided into groups of four to five students In groups they brainstorm experiences they really dislike 2 Then they try to connect them to the five senses It is important that at the end of this stage there is at least one experience related to each one of the five senses 3 Then... completing the phrase “when I think of summer…” They present these associations briefly to the other group members 2 Now they take a card They re-phrase the sentence “when I think of summer…” with an expression that includes or refers to the sense of perception on their card 3 Extension/Variation: They try to express a sensual perception in connection with the word on their card by describing the sight,... develop on the creative processing rather on the product of the end result so the students must be able to overcome the fear of all the difficult elements in a text and come to familiar territory of language, literature and of culture that is present within the text and this will give them the confidence to delve deeper and to explore in a much more confident manner and there are many levels in which they... in The English Language Classroom 1 Sitting in a circle, each student writes an adjective, noun, etc as specified in the left-hand column of the cue sheet and pass the paper on 2 When all the blanks have been filled in, they fold the paper along the dotted line 3 They turn the paper over and complete the second part of the simile with a phrase that should ideally be somewhat unusual/surreal Then the. .. told orally to the rest of the group Creative Ways Starting to Teach Creative Writing in The English Language Classroom 1 Working with the broadcast NOW LISTEN TO THE BROADCAST AND THINK ABOUT THESE QUESTIONS THEN WORK THROUGH THE ACTIVITIES THE TEXT OF THE BROADCAST IS INCLUDED AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER Why does it make sense to combine reading of (literary) texts with trying to write them? (Script... programme we’ll be unravelling the meaning of the word ‘text’, that’s T E X T – and finding out how an understanding of its meaning can help students to create written work of their own 5 Each year the British Council s Oxford Conference offers teachers valuable time out from the classroom – and a chance to exchange ideas and tips on classroom approaches This year the theme was From Critical Reading to Creative... Professor Robyn Bolam of St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill and Professor Rob Pope of Oxford Brookes University – they took up the idea of encouraging students to interact with a piece of writing quite literally Together they’ve developed an activity that involves using a piece of cloth as a way of alerting students to the texture and feel of writing A piece of writing, like a piece of material, is carefully... can use the same metaphor for writing some types of poems where the idea or a formal element (rhyme, an initial letter) running through the text may be the warp and the lines we form around them are the weft Warm-up WEAVING A TEXTILE STORY Objective To establish the idea of weaving a text Organisation Pair work, then groups of four Material One piece of fabric per pair (ideally they should come from two... and 9? What about the final two lines? 3 Adopt the voice of the poet, but instead of telling us about his mistress, make him address her directly How would the poem change? Do the same from the mistress’s point of view What could a dialogue between the two of them be? 4 What about the poet being female and describing/addressing a male lover? 5 Imagine an activity that you spend a lot of time and energy . the form of the poem in the light of the painting it refers to. (Surrealism) Variation: Give students the list of words that make up Wendy Cope’s poem The Uncertainty of the Poet”: 1 Ask them. Department The British Council 11 Portland Place London W1B 1EJ hilary.jenkins@britishcouncil.org Published by the British Council. © The British Council 2001. This teaching pack is based on materials developed. Creative Ways Starting to Teach Creative Writing in The English Language Classroom Teaching Materials from the Literature Department of the British Council