Creative Writing in EFL
What makes a series of sentences or utterances a text? Or
Criteria for
Textuality
1. They must make sense. (Sentences must be coherent.)
2. They must have a clear communicative purpose. (Function เชชน To thank someone)
3. They must be well-formed.
4. They must hang together. (They must be cohesive.)
5. They must be a recognizable text type. เชชน Ads, Fables, Letters, Notes, Textbooks, Haikus, etc.
The direct way is to have students memorize thse criteria, but it may not be the best way to do. Alternatively, EFL teachers can use haikus and mini sagas to help them develop their awareness of these qualities.
What is a haiku poem?
A haiku poem is a syllabic poem of three lines. The first line must have 5 syllables, the second 7, and the third 5.
For example The nature of life
Flashing brightly then fading Like a shooting star
Lin Lihua, China)
Here's another example: Sitting in the park
The blind man waiting Alone, in the rain
What is a mini saga?
A mini saga is a very short story. It must contain exactly 50 words. For example:
Stronger
Song is my friend. He thought he was faster than me in everything. One day, we visited a brothel. He said he needed no protection. Four years later he died of HIV. After the cremation, I threw his ashes into a river. I know he is always faster than me.
(Yongyuth Khamkhong) Here's another mini saga:
A Banana Grower
While visiting a small village along the Thai-Myanmar border province of Kanchanaburi, Thongdee helped a Karen man from going to jail. The acquitted man gave him a big plot of land. The man helped him plant bananas. The plantation was successful; he quit his job and became a banana grower.
(Janpha Thadphoothon)
Activities
Many Ways to Tell The Same Story
Aim: To practice writing using different genres
Rational: Texts are fluid and can be deconstructed. Students need to be made aware that texts can be recontextualized. In short, there are many ways to tell the same stuff.
Materials: pens, paper, brains Steps
1. Select a fable (can be any generic type of texts such as news articles or short stories)
2. Ask students to shorten it, making it as short as a mini saga --- exactly 50 words.
3. Correct their wording and grammar. Make sure that it is a mini saga! 4. Read and discuss.
5. Ask them to transform a mini saga to a Janpanese-style syllabic poem or haiku (5-7-5).
6. Read and share.
Example:
The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. (113 words)
The North Wind and the Sun (Mini Saga: 50 words)
The North Wind and the Sun decided to compete to see who was stronger. Whichever could make a man take off his cloak would win. The wind blew and blew, but the man wrapped his cloak tighter around him. Then the sun shone, and the man took off his cloak.
Haikunized Text
The Sun, not the wind (5)
Makes the man take off his cloak (7) Kindness triumphs force (5)
Note: You may choose to dramatize this fable.
Creating a Text (Story) from Words from Other Texts
There are stories within stories, texts within texts. Level: Pre-intermediate to Advanced
Aim: To create a story using words or phrases from the other story Rationale: There are stories within stories. Random words or phrases
from other stories such as short stories, textbooks, or lecture notes can help us create another story based on our imagination.
We can create a story based on the words or phrases we randomly selected from the other story.
Materials: Notebook or note pad, pencils or pens Procedure:
1. Randomly select words or phrases from stories or reading passages. For example, select every seventh word from the text. Set the target number, say, 10.
2. Construct a story based on the words selected. 3. Share the story with other students.
Variations
This activity can be modified to cover other skills.
Creating a Story from Photos/Pictures
Level: Beginners to Advanced Learners Aim: To create a story using pictures/photos
Rationale: A picture tells stories. There are stories within stories.
Pictures or photos are effective materials that can help students create stories and apply their imagination.
We can create a story based on pictures or photographs.
Materials: Notebook or note pad, pencils or pens, photos or pictures from printed materials such newspapers or magazines
Procedure:
1. Prepare photos or pictures.
2. Ask students to construct a story based on the stimuli (pictures) 3. Plots or words may be provided to support their writing
4. Share the story with other students. Variations
This activity can be modified to cover other skills.
Mini Saga Exercise: From Prose to Fiction
Shorten each of the two news snippets to exactly 50 words. Take out any words that are not absolutely necessary. Make it creative and interesting.
Boy gets 21 years in US jail
He is the youngest person to be accused of robbing a bank. A judge said Denote Moore, 13, had the “extremely aggressive” manner by pointing a handgun at bank officials last month. Moore was arrested within 30 minutes after hiding in a garage only a few blocks away from the bank. The teen said he ran away from home last week and was stealing to get money for food. (69 words)
______________________________________________________________________________ 100 Cats found living in one house
Nearly 100 cats were found living in a home in New Jersey. There was 2 feet of feces in one room. Police have to wear masks to help them breathe
through the stench of urine. The house owner was charged with improperly sheltering an animal. Police don't want to give any jail time because they realize this was simply a good deed that got out of hand. The police now have trouble finding people to adopt the cats. (78 words)
https://creativitiesefl.wordpress.com/
5 warm-ups
Warm up activities that get learners writing can be fantastic for getting the creative juices flowing while also giving a focused start to your lesson. A writing task at the start of class can be an effective way of leading into explicit grammar teaching or can just as easily be followed up with speaking activities. What’s more, many such activities are easy to adapt to be suitable for any type of learners, both adults and kids. Indeed, adding an entertaining element to writing activities will make them fun for everyone, as well as making them low pressure tasks which enable learners’ writing to flow freely. Here are five of my favourites.
1. If you had three wishes…
Ok, everyone in the world knows this classic set up: a genie has just granted three wishes to everyone in the class. Basically, this activity expands on the age old question of what you would wish for if you encountered your own genie in a bottle. Learners write as detailed a description of the three wishes they would want in whatever time you give them. To make them think and develop their language, encourage them to move beyond simply naming the wish to describing it in detail; they might also include their reasons for
wanting that wish. While they are writing, they will hopefully be asking for help with the new vocab they need to complete their writing, so be ready to monitor like crazy!
Where can you take this?
As we know, genies aren’t real, so this is a perfect way to go over the ‘unreal conditional’: ‘If I had three wishes, I would…’ Depending on what they know, you can teach this for the first time or look at how they’ve tried to use it in their writing – and error correct accordingly – if it’s a structure they already have knowledge of.
2. People profiles
This one needs a little bit of preparation, in that you have to cut out pictures of people from different magazines before class. If you like this activity, you might want to consider mount the pictures on card and laminating them for durability (I still have a set of pictures like this from when I did my CELTA course!). Basically, learners select a picture from the pile of images you place in the middle of the room and write about who the person is. They should make up the person’s name, background and what they are doing. This activity is fantastically simple but really helps in developing characters and helps get the creativity flowing. Another option is to take this writing
activity into the real world. Find a busy spot and pick out a person as the inspiration for the writing activity. Again, be ready to monitor and supply all those new and wonderful adjectives learners will need to complete their descriptions.
Where can you take this?
You can examine the new adjectives used by the learners. Alternatively – this is what I like to do – you can recycle the vocab in a game of ‘guess who’ in which one learner verbally describes a famous person to the rest of the class who have to guess who it is. Another thing you could do is extend the writing with a look at some common verb + gerund phrases; ‘what is the person good at doing?’; ‘What is this person interested in doing at the weekends?’
3. Looking at the world from different perspectives
Instead of writing from a human’s perspective, learners engage in a quick writing warm up from an animal’s perspective. They should write about, for example, a picnic from a bee’s point of view or about living in a zoo – or being hunted by humans if it fits – from a lion’s perspective. This helps
learners to move beyond their own view of the world and gets them to delve deeply into the topic assigned. Writing from the perspective of others can be a challenge. This activity approaches the task in an entertaining manner to practice the skill.
Where can you take this?
This is something I’ve done with great effect whenever there is a unit
involving the natural world in a course book. Such topics can initially be a bit dry or hard for learners to relate to. This task does such a good job of getting learners to see the situation from the animal’s point of view that they
become much more invested in the course book material.
4. The psychology ink blot test
We’ve all seen them: those ink blot pictures often used in psychology also can work well in writing. In terms of preparation, you need to find lots of different ink blot pictures (a simple Google search will uncover hundreds of such images). Alternatively, any abstract shape can work just as well for this writing warm up activity. Learners write about the ink blot describing what it is while being encouraged to write in as much detail as possible about the object in the picture.
Where can you take this?
The aim of this task is to encourage creativity in deciding what is seen in the picture and in the description of the object, therefore, this work really well as
a lead in to a speaking activity in which learners have to justify their reasons. Additionally, you could use this as an opportunity for teaching language for agreeing and disagreeing.
5. The writing jar
The preparation for this one is really simple: write individual words on small pieces of paper. It works best if you choose lots of different words that
purposefully wouldn’t go well together. Fill the jar (a mug or envelope would work just as well) as much as you feel necessary with words. You can take this a couple of ways at this point; 1) learners each pick three to five words from the jar, or; 2) you pick three to five words from the jar for everyone. The task is simple: learners must use all of the words selected in a quick story or paragraph. Fitting five vastly different words into one story requires a
creative approach to the writing warm up.
Where can you take this?
This is actually really good for examining the writing process itself, especially in terms of paragraph construction. You might want to showcase mind
mapping or the use of a graphic organizer as a planning tool, and then encourage learners to go through some sort of brainstorming and planning process before they start writing.
