CREATIVITY AND MOTIVATION IN THE SECONDARY CLASSROOM

There has been great interest in the last decade regarding such aspects as
motivation and creativity. Since Sir Ken Robinson stated in 2006 in a Ted Talk
that schools kill creativity, teaching experts have become more and more
involved in developing trainings, textbooks and programmes to enhance
motivation and creativity. One of such courses was part of the Comenius
training offer, namely: "Creative Activities and Motivating Materials in the
Secondary Classroom".
During this course I had the chance to work, among others, with two
exceptional teacher trainers, namely Mark Skipper, author of Advanced
Grammar and Vocabulary from Express Publishing as well as Graham
Workman, whose website and materials represent a great resource for the
English teachers.
1. CREATIVITY
Neurological studies have shown that the right hemisphere of the brain is
responsible for creativity whereas most of the school's activities are more
organised for the left hemisphere. Creativity requires a certain state of
consciousness and the possibility of forming new neuro-cortical connections
and for such connections specific activities are required: brainstorming, mind
maps creation and very importantly, a certain degree of freedom.
During the Comenius course in Portsmouth we also discussed about Taskbased Learning (TBLT), an approach which puts the task in the centre of the
teaching process and not the skills or the practice. Thus, the students are
also encouraged to find new elements that would help them to achieve their
tasks. The more complex the tasks, the more creativity is required and in
TBLT many of the tasks are related to getting final products such as a speech
in front of the classroom or a flyer, a brochure or a poster.
It seems that people learn a language much faster if they are required to be
creative because they will focus less on language competence and more on
performance. Both Mark and Graham used a lot of humour during their
activities because humour changes the brain's neuro-chemical production
and allows people to access their creativity.
Children acces their creative levels with greater easiness than adults and
teachers need to allow them to express their own vision more. English

classes represent a wonderful opportunity for creativity and Graham

encouraged us during the course to adapt the materials in the textbooks for
our purposes. Sometimes teachers are afraid to select or adapt the textbook
materials or imagine that they need to do a lot of research in order to
prepare a creative lesson. In reality, in order to have a creative lesson,
teacher should firstly allow their creativity manifest. The best materials are
real-life ones as students can relate to and in English teaching there are
some of the finest materials.
During the training the teachers played the roles of the students and I
personally enjoyed the games a lot, as well as the debates and the role-play
and discussions about the book. Moreover, I found very refreshing those
activities during which we could move in the class and later on, my students
confirmed that they found them invigorating. Some teachers expressed their
fear that such activities may turn the English classroom into a chaos yet I
can confirm that as long as the students get clear instructions on what they
need to do and about the end product, they will do their best.

2, MOTIVATION

It is such a task to keep students motivated, especially when we are dealing

with teenagers. If at the beginning of the school year they all seem
motivated and interested in learning and getting good results, this
motivation and enthusiasm seem to wear off after a month or two.
How can we keep our students motivated all year long? When they are
encouraged to set for personal goals. In the context of the new National
Examinations, namely the Competency Test, the interest of the students
seem to have dramatically fallen, since the evaluation in English go to level
B2 at most and the evaluation in English is not part of the average grade of
the Baccalaureate examination. Not to mention, the fact that it is enough to
be present in order to pass the exam, is not a motivator factor either.
Therefore, the only truly motivated students are those who go to universities
abroad, apply for the Police Academy or study to become translators or
English teachers. For the past few years it has been a great challenge to me
to keep the other students motivated to improve their level, and only by
encouraging them to sit for Cambridge exams did I manage to make them
increase their motivation to improve their level.

At the same time, students are motivated to use English in real-life situations
and the activities such as debates or projects keep them interested in the
English classroom. Students, and people in general, will stay motivated only
if they constantly see the connection between what they learn and their
environment, as well as the benefits the task fulfilment would bring to their
lives. I connect all activities to real-life topics teenagers are interested in like
work, money, love, opportunities, entertainment etc. I encourage them to
find such connections and they become so eager to express their opinions
that they are no longer afraid of the errors they may make.
Even the grammar activities are connected to real-life topics, and our
textbooks are already very well organised and have a variety of texts that
could be exploited from all points of view: grammar, reading, discussion or
vocabulary. At the same time, students should be aware of the fact that
having good grammar is a mark of style and good education and is highly
regarded in academic and business areas, especially in the international
environments.
In conclusion, creativity and motivation are key aspects in learning and if we
want to achieve great results we need to find the strategies to enhance both.
We are fortunate to teach a subject that will always be highly regarded, yet,
in the current context, students might find difficulty in getting interested and
it is up to us to help them.