Creativity in the Classroom

The Chaptal lecture hall, Montpellier.

I recently had the pleasure of giving a lecture, to a group of novice (MEEF2) foreign language teachers in which we thought about what creativity means in the classroom. The lecture was very largely inspired by “Creativity and English Language Teaching: From Inspiration to Implementation” (Maley and Kiss, 2018) which provides a clear and detailed account of theoretical thinking concerning creativity in the language classroom, reflects upon how we might become more creative, not only as teachers but as individuals and provides a wealth of ideas and resources (see previous post).

Here is the powerpoint that accompanied the lecture: creativity

And a suggested Bibliography.

Before the lecture I handed out a questionnaire based upon an on-line survey that Maley designed for language teachers. I have yet to process the 43 replies I collected to find out how French-trained foreign language teachers define a creative teacher and a creative classroom as well as how their own teaching environment hampers or helps creativity. In the meantime a big thank you to my colleagues for answering the survey and lending me an ear.

 

ps. Jean-Antoine Chaptal (1756-1832) the comte de Chanteloup was a famous French industrial scientist. Thanks largely to a substantial dowry from his wife Anne-Marie Lajard, he established  one of the first modern chemical factories in France in Montpellier and he popularized the new science applying his knowledge and writing skills to a wide variety of subjects from pottery and paper to wines and Roquefort cheese.  He narrowly escaped being guillotened thanks to his technical knowledge concerning the refining of saltpeter that enabled him to rapidly supply gunpoweder to the armies of the Revolution. He died at the age of 76 and is buried at Père-Lachaise, his name engraved upon the Eiffel Tower.

pps. Quote of the week from an article in the Times Higher Education concerning peer reviewing:  “Another difference between senior and junior colleagues is that the latter are much more likely to take rejection personally, and to get upset. Whether this is because age results in the accumulation of wisdom, the denudation of the emotions or the acquisition of alternative forms of gratification remains unclear to me.”