Creativity and innovation

Introduction:

This lesson was devised to mark World Creativity and Innovation Day on 21 April. However, it can be used at any time of the year, as this is not specifically mentioned.

The lesson begins by looking at what is involved in being creative, trying to expand this beyond the usual areas of art or creative writing.The students then do a reading activity where they match headings to sections of an article. They then identify the synonyms which enabled them to do this task and focus on the idea of avoiding repetition. They read the text again and discuss which ideas they personally find most useful. The lesson finishes with a creativity task, followed by a final discussion.

Learning outcomes:

• Describe how a range of activities can be creative
• Develop reading skills by reading an article about creativity for gist
• Identify a range of synonyms to avoid repetition
• Discuss ways of developing creativity

Age and level:

13-17 (B2)

Time:

50-65 minutes (face-to-face teaching)
60-80 minutes (online teaching)

Materials:

The materials can be downloaded below. 

• Lesson plan for face-to-face teaching
• Lesson plan for online teaching
• Presentation
• Student worksheet

Lead-in (5-10 minutes)

• Show slide 2 of the presentation or write the following words on the board: cooking, playing football, doing a science experiment, writing a book, hairdressing. In pairs or small groups, students discuss the question: Which of the activities involve being creative? How? 
• Invite some students to share their thoughts. Establish that there are lots of different ways of being creative. For example, a footballer can be creative in thinking of new ways to play the game (or possibly some of them might be creative in pretending to be injured!). 
• Ask students if they think they are creative people. They can discuss in small groups. With more confident groups, invite students to justify why they think they are creative, or to describe an activity where they have been creative.

Task 1: Reading for gist (10 minutes)

• Tell students that they are going to read an article which offers some different ways to become more creative. Explain that they will have a time limit to read the article to practise reading for gist. If they have time, they could think about possible headings for the sections. 
• Show slide 4 of the presentation or hand out page 1 of the student worksheet and refer students to Task 1. Give students a suitable time limit to read the article. When the time is up, ask them to say one or two things they can remember. They can do this as a whole class, or in small groups.

Task 2: Reading to match headings (10 minutes)

• Explain that students will read the article again. This time, they should write the missing heading for each section. 
• Show slide 7 of the presentation or hand out page 2 of the student worksheet and refer students to Task 2. Read out headings 1-6 and check that students understand them. 
• If you are using the slides, show slides 7-9 and give a time limit for each one. Students write the correct headings in their notebooks (if using the presentation) or on the student worksheet. 
• Let students check their answers together, then check as a class. The answers are available on slide 11 of the presentation. 
• Answers: A Get your legs moving, B Daydream, C Think outside the box, D Have a good laugh, E Noise

Task 3: Vocabulary focus (15–20 minutes)

• Explain that students are going to look at the article again. This time, they should find words and phrases that have similar meaning to the headings of each section. 
• Show slide 13 of the presentation or ask students to read section A of the article on page 1 of the student worksheet. Ask them to find and note or underline words and phrases that have a similar meaning to ‘Get your legs moving’. Elicit the answers: go for a stroll, get out and about, go for a walk, stretch your legs. 
• Ask students to say why the author uses these, rather than repeating words (to add variety, make the text more interesting to read). 
• Option 1: If using the presentation, show slide 14 with the answers. Ask students if the suggestion would be useful for them. Invite them to say why. Repeat the process with slides 15-22: give students time to read each section and identify synonyms; elicit / show the answers; ask students to say if the ideas are useful or not and why. 
• Option 2: Individually or in pairs, students read the remaining sections on page 1 of the student worksheet and underline synonyms of the headings. Check the answers with the class. Ask students to say if the ideas would be useful or not and why. 
• Check that all students understand the meaning of each word or expression and can pronounce any trickier words, e.g. stroll, wander.
• Answers: 
• A: Get your legs moving, go for a stroll (a stroll is a relatively slow walk for pleasure), get out and about, go for a walk, stretch your legs 
• B: Daydream, stare into space, have a wandering mind (Possibly: not pay attention, though this has a more negative connotation) 
• C: Think outside the box, challenge things you’ve always done, think differently 
• D: Have a good laugh, have a chuckle (a chuckle is quite a small laugh), laugh out loud 
• E: Noise chatter (the noise of people talking), hubbub (a noise caused by a crowd of people talking loudly)

Task 4: Creativity task (10-15 minutes)

• Show slide 23 of the presentation or refer students to Task 3 of the student worksheet. Tell them that they are going to try a task to develop creativity. If using the presentation, give students some time to draw 18 squares on a piece of paper as shown on the slide. 
• Give students three minutes to turn each of the squares into a recognisable object, e.g. a present or house. 
• After three minutes, tell students to stop. Show slide 24 of the presentation or refer students to the three questions below the squares in the student worksheet. They discuss the questions in small groups. Invite some groups to share their thoughts. 
• Note that doodling is another suggested way to develop creativity, as well as the task being a test of creativity.

Homework

• Ask students to think of at least one more way of expressing the ideas in the headings. 
• Possible answers: 
• A have a wander / go for a ramble 
• B be lost in a fantasy / be lost in thought / be building castles in the air 
• C find a new way of doing something / think laterally 
• D shake with laughter / be doubled up with laughter (both quite strong) 
• E racket (a loud ongoing noise) / babble (a low noise of people talking)

Contributed by Rachael Roberts