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Learning how to write in English is important
for many language learners, particularly those who are studying at colleges and
universities. Writing is essentially a creative process and good writers must learn to
communicate their ideas clearly to an unseen audience. This takes a lot of practice.
However, L2 language learners have traditionally learned to write by completing
fill-in-the- blanks exercises which focus on accuracy rather than on the composing
process. Creative writing, on the other hand, gives learners practice in composing and
complements more traditional approaches.
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Although the ability to produce error-free
writing is desirable, this article describes activities that focus on communication and
self-expression. Learners will be encouraged to write if writing tasks motivate them and
keep them interested.
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First, here is a way of writing short
collaborative narratives that can be finished in one lesson. To prepare, I get one sheet
of paper for each student and at the top of each sheet I write an opening sentence. I mix
traditional openers like, "Once upon a time an old man and an old woman were living
together," with action style beginnings such as, "I woke at dawn and immediately
saw the gun in her hand." More bizarre opening lines are also good, e.g., "Julie
was the loneliest carrot in the vegetable garden." Remember to keep things in the
realm of action; the main point is for the students to be able to continue the story
easily.
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When I've finished writing the opening
sentences, I give the students a single sheet of paper each and tell them to read the
sentence that I've written and then to write a sentence of their own to continue the
narrative. When they've done this, they pass the paper to another student who will write
one more sentence before passing it on. The students soon get absorbed in writing the
narratives which often start to take unexpected twists and turns: The lonely carrot that I
mentioned earlier was unhappy because of a failed relationship with another vegetable. She
soon fell in love with the gardener, married, and had some interesting children.
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When the students have finished, I collect the
narratives and check that they are understandable. Then in the next lesson, I read the
narratives aloud; I've always found that the students get really absorbed in listening to
their own writing.
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Narratives based on pictures of people
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Pictures are a good starting point for writing
narratives. One method that I use, adapted from Sion (1985), is to collect about twenty
photographs of people of different ages from various magazines. I then tape these to the
blackboard and tell the students that they should choose a picture of one person and try
to write a narrative imagining that they are that person. They have to concentrate on
details like job, hobbies, whether single or married, children, and so on. I also tell
them to avoid describing the person's physical appearance and to use first person singular
pronouns throughout.
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After they have finished writing they take
reading their imaginary autobiographical narratives out loud while the other students have
to look at the blackboard and guess which of the people is "talking." As there
is no description of physical features, the students have to listen closely to try and
identify the right person. Using the first person helps to make the narratives sound
authentic and convincing.
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This activity emphasises the importance of
writing as communication because any lack of clarity means that the listeners will not be
able to recognize the "speaker." It combines writing and listening. To make the
second stage more exciting it's also possible to divide the students into teams and award
points for each person correctly identified.
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The term "spontaneous prose" was first
used by the writer Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) to describe his own writing. I'm using it here
to refer to an activity where participants write without using any visual model of writing
to guide them; instead, they begin writing after listening to music and poetry. The idea
is to try and induce a specific mood and then to use this as a stimulus; the emphasis is
on free expression.
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I've used this technique as part of a writing
program for Japanese English teachers. At one session we listened to a recording of a
Langston Hughes poem and some mellow jazz; as the music continued in the background we
began our writing. One of the teachers wrote this:
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It's raining outside. It's cold. It's late
afternoon. Maybe rain will turn to snow before dark. An old lady is standing by the
window. She feels melancholic without knowing the reason. She tries to remember happy
memories which will make her forget her melancholic mood. She succeeds in remembering
them.
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She was ambitious in her younger dreams. She had
many dreams. She believed dreams would come true if only she made the effort. But life is
not so simple as she imagined when she was young and ignorant of the real world. She was
disappointed and exhausted many times. Gradually she forgot her dreams and came to
compromise with her situation as it was. She tried hard to avoid experiences and live
safely rather than hazard a venture to get something she really wanted. Time passed by
calmly until recently.
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But in these days, she doubts if her way of life
is really right, of course she is not unhappy, she has a nice husband and two sons. But
she sometimes feels there is a vacant space in her mind. She can't get rid of such
feelings. Now she gets to know the reason why she gets to feel so.
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She realises that it's because she didn't
struggle with the hardships of the real world. She notices that hardships are not what she
should run away from but what she must overcome and that is the only way to realize
happiness in her mind. Therefore she makes up her mind never to run away from risks from
now on. She thinks it may be a bit late for her to accomplish something fully. She,
however, will not care whether she is successful or not. What she wants now is only to do
her best in every situation until death calls on her some day.
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As a follow-up activity, the students read each
other's work and commented on it. As for the writing that I've cited, we focused on words
and phrases that conveyed the feeling of sadness. Our purpose was to be encouraging and
supportive; we looked for things to praise and avoided any direct comment on
irregularities of syntax and spelling.
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In another session we took a stroll around a
nearby bamboo forest with notebooks in hand. We made a note of all our sensory
experiences: sights, sounds, smells, etc. Then we returned to the classroom for an
impressionistic writing session.
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Writing poetry can appear to be a difficult task
for students who may have struggled to understand English classics. Traditional poetry is
often tightly structured and sometimes requires a knowledge of poetic devices such as
alliteration, assonance, and rhyme. In addition, some students feel that poetry is too
"intimate" and requires them to disclose personal feelings. Boys may find poetry
rather feminine. Some students may have had experience writing poetry in L1.
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To deal with these concerns, I first explain
about free verse. Poetry doesn't always have to be organized into iambic pentameter or
rhyme and scan perfectly. In fact, any short, simple piece of self- expression can be
called "poetry" as long as it is organized visually into the shape of a poem.
Also, poetry can be about anything; just about any topic is suitable. Motorbikes are as
good as flowers.
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There may still be a reluctance to get started.
To get things moving, I have tried reading my poems to the class. I've also written a
couple of verses in Japanese and read these out to amuse the students and let them know
that grammatical accuracy is not the target.
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Here are two poems written by Japanese high
school students:
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LIFE OF MOSQUITO Sky is big
and I'm small People hate me Why ? I fly as strongly as I can Seeking for blood
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I AM THE WIND I am the wind I
take your thoughts away I am the wind I take your secrets away I am the wind I take your
troubles away I am the wind I am the wind to change your future
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Here are two minimal Haiku style poems written
by Japanese teachers:
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Under the cherry tree the warm
breeze brought many sounds In the bamboo forest I startled a butterfly a flash of colour!
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The procedure I've suggested involves getting
the students to write poetry without first giving them any specific written examples. The
reason for this is that some students feel that model poems are "superior"
writing and may try to imitate them without thinking for themselves. In general though,
I've found that they are capable of writing interesting poetry when they are free from
worry about whether their English is "good." It has been easier for them to
write their own poems than to have them interpret poetry written by someone else. This is
because interpretation can only be done after translating. Some poems have difficult
vocabulary, unusual word order, and use various poetical devices that may make accurate
translation difficult.
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In this article I have argued in favour of free
creative writing activities with a minimum of teacher control. For more structured writing
activities see Carroll (1992), Khan (1993) and Rogers (1996). Changes in recent years have
brought more attention to the composing process. Writing has come to be seen as a process
of exploration and an opportunity for learners to develop confidence in using language. In
addition, creative writing gives learners a chance to experiment freely with language and
helps develop an efficient composing process. This can be further strengthened and used in
a wide variety of alternative writing tasks.
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- Carroll, D. 1992. Poets who don't know it: Teaching grammar through Haiku. English
Teaching Forum, 30, 1, pp. 54-55.
- Khan, M. 1993. Poetry in motion-A technique in writing. English Teaching Forum, 31, 4,
pp. 41-42.
- Rogers, P. 1996. The poetry sausage machine: Creative writing as a teaching strategy.
English Teaching Forum, 34, 3-4, pp. 90-91.
- Sion, C. 1985. Recipes for tired teachers. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.
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Stephen
J. Davies is currently working at Toyama College of Foreign Languages, Japan. He
has been teaching English in Japan for seven years. |
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