7.

1  Assessing creativity
Part A
A group is trying to solve a water-transportation challenge: how can people in a remote village carry water on foot from
a town well to their homes which are several miles away?
Here are their ideas. Decide if each one is an example of imitation, variation, combination, transformation, or original
creation.
Fabrice has seen kids pulling special backpacks behind them on wheels, and he creates
a large plastic container that’s like those backpacks: with wheels and
with an extendable handle.

Ewa imagines a large round tank of water that rolls on its side and can be pushed
like a lawnmower.

Svetlana suggests designing a large plastic container that has a handle on it.

Almir proposes they use a large plastic container, like the ones in water coolers.
People can carry it in their arms.

Mohammed decides that a backpack can be completely reinvented so that it can hold
water instead of other contents. This means drastically changing the materials and design
of the backpack.

Part B
Come up with as many different solutions to the five problems below as you can. In each case, decide which you feel is
the most creative approach.
1 Your school needs to cut its energy bills by thirty percent. How can it best do this?
2 Plan all the meals for a week for a family of four—on a very tight budget.
3 Three of your closest friends have been told they’re addicted to their smartphones. It’s having a negative effect on their
schoolwork and their relationships.
4 A new airport is going to be built near our town or city. Decide where it should go.
5 Your school is planning to create an app. The app needs to be realistic, but also to be of the most use to the highest number of
students. What should it do?

210  Photocopiable Communicative Activities Worksheets

7.2   I wish!

I wish I hadn’t said anything.

✂

I’d rather we had a shorter school day.

✂

If only we didn’t have to work to earn money.

✂

If only people were more sensible.

✂

I’d rather we took the train to the airport.

✂

I wish there was a chip you could put inside your brain to translate languages.
✂

If only I had known about my mistake sooner.

✂

If only young people had more of a say in government.

✂

I wish our country’s history had been different.

✂

I’d rather people gave me money for my birthday, not presents.

✂

I wish I had listened to my parents.

Photocopiable Communicative Activities Worksheets  211

• Give points for the corrections. Ask a different group for their
correction each time. If they are right, award a point. If their
correction is wrong, offer the sentence to the next group.
Answers
1 Correct
2 Correct
3 Correct
4 Correct – would here shows a habit in the past (=I used to
do it) and the second one represents an impossible now.
(=I’m not sure I would do it now, if I had the chance)
5 Correct
6 Incorrect – We don’t use would’ve to talk about the
imagined past condition (If I had known).
7 Correct
8 Correct – The feeling bad is about now because if the
person had / hadn’t done the action, the result would
have been the same.
9 Incorrect – Frequency adverbs usually go after the modal
and before the main verb.
10 Correct – It means that if I were you, I wouldn’t worry
because I am sure in the future everything is fine.
11 Incorrect – spend not spent (no simple past forms after a
modal)
12 Correct – should is also possible, but shall is fine/usual to
ask for a suggestion/agreement for an idea.
13 Incorrect – have been living (live is not a passive)
14 Correct
15 Correct
7.1  Assessing creativity
Aim To apply specific criteria and assess their own work
To participate in a fun, learner-centred test of creativity
Language Variety of vocabulary
Language for making suggestions and justifying decisions
Time Approximately 30 minutes
Preparation One copy of the worksheet for each pair
Procedure
• Explain that students are going to take part in a test of
creativity, but that first you want to establish the criteria by
which they’ll judge each other. Say that they will assess each
other’s ideas by grading them 1–5:
1 = imitation, 2 = variation, 3 = combination, 4 = transformation,
and 5 = original creation. Write these five key words on the
board and give students time to discuss in pairs what they think
each one involves.
• Get ideas from the class and then clarify that the criteria
involve the following:
• Imitation: The creation is the same or virtually the same as
something that already exists.
• Variation: It’s a slight change to an existing object. It’s
different, but still has the identity of the original object.
• Combination: It’s a mixture of two or more things, such
that it can be said to be both or all.
• Transformation: It’s a re-creation of something in a new
context. It has some characteristics of the original object, but
it cannot be said to still be that kind of object.
• Original Creation: It appears to have no obvious qualities
of pre-existing objects or ideas.
• Put students in small groups of three or four. Hand out the
worksheets and ask them to look at Part A. They should match
each person’s idea (Fabrice, Ewa, Svetlana, Almir and
Mohammed) to one of the five words on the board.
• Get ideas from the whole class and get students to explain
their ideas. Clarify the correct answers and explain why Ewa’s
idea was the most creative according to the criteria.
Communicative Activities: Teacher’s Notes  189
 Answers
Fabrice – combination: His idea is a combination of two
ideas: the large container for holding liquid, and the wheels
for pulling it around.
Ewa – original creation: Her idea is not quite like anything
else. It might be a combination of many things, but appears
to be an original creation. This could be said to be the most
creative idea.
Svetlana – variation: This is a variation on the kind of water
cooler container that Almir suggested. It takes a core idea
and changes it a little bit, but it’s still quite similar to the
original object.
Almir – imitation: This solution doesn’t offer anything new.
It is an imitation of something that Almir has seen before.
Mohammed – transformation: His object is more than just a
combination of a backpack and something else. It now has
water-specific purposes and has transformed what a backpack is.
• Next, keep students in their groups and ask them to look at
Part B of the worksheet. Tell them they need to come up with
as many different ways of tackling each problem as they can
within the time limit you set (about fifteen minutes). They
should write down their most creative solution to each
problem, and they can also draw a quick sketch if they wish to
use one in their presentation.
• When most students have finished, stop the task and put
different groups together. They should then explain their
solutions to each problem and assess each other’s idea (giving a
number 1–5) according to the creativity criteria discussed earlier.
Who has the most creative approach to each problem? Why?
• Get ideas from the whole class. See if you can all agree on
what the most creative approach is in each case.
Expansion
• Explain that students have decided the most creative
approaches to each of the five situations, but that these might
not be the best solutions. Get students to think of possible
problems with the creative approaches that they have chosen
and to suggest more effective alternatives, if they can.
• Get each student to think of one real-world problem they’ve
had to deal with. They share their problems in groups and
come up with creative solutions. Then each student should
explain what they actually did in each situation.
190  Communicative Activities: Teacher’s Notes
7.2   I wish!
Aim To provide more practice with a range conditionals
Language First, second, and third conditionals
I wish, If only, I’d rather
Time Approximately 30 minutes
Preparation
• Either: one copy of the worksheet for your use
• Or: a copy of one set of statements/strip for every group of
three to six students, cut up
• One blank sheet of paper for each group of three to six
students
Procedure
You can play this game either as a class team game or as
individuals in groups. In either case, the aim of the game is for
students to produce conditional sentences connected to the
prompt card.
Team game
• Put students into teams of up to six. Think about the make-up
of the teams and make sure more proficient and less proficient
students are distributed evenly. Ask them to think of a name
for their team and write them on the board.
• Explain the game. Read out one of the prompts and have
teams think of as many conditional sentences or wish
sentences that might go with it as they can in one or two
minutes. Read this out as an example: I’d rather we took the
bus. Give a couple of examples: If we take the bus, we’ll get
there quicker; if we take the bus, we won’t get so wet; if we walk,
we might be late; I wish/If only I could drive. Elicit other ideas
from students.
• Hand out a set of cards/sentences face down, in order, and a
blank sheet of paper to each group. Have students appoint a
secretary in their group to write down their sentences.
• Now do a practice round of the game. In their groups,
students pick a statement and come up with as many
responses as they can. After two minutes, ask students to
count how many responses they got.
• Find out which team got the most sentences. Write five
points on the board next to their team name. Having the
most sentences to begin with gives the team five points,
irrespective of correctness. This rule is important because
feedback will get very complicated otherwise. Plus, it will
encourage teams to think of as many sentences as possible
without worrying about accuracy, which in turn will produce
more sentences for challenges.
• Ask the team with the most sentences to read them out. The
other team(s) can challenge a sentence if they think it’s
grammatically wrong or there is no connection to the prompt
 statement. Each correct challenge gets two points. Add these
to the teams’ scores as you go along.
• You can now get students to go through the rest of the cards/
statements, discussing their responses and writing them
down. For each one, allow a time limit of about two minutes.
When all the cards/statements have been used, go through
students’ ideas in the same way as above.
Group game
• Put the students in groups of four or five. Place a set of the
cards/statements face down for each group.
• A student picks up a card and reads out the prompt. The next
student says a conditional sentence / wish sentence. If
everyone thinks it’s correct, the next person in the group has
to say a new conditional sentence based on the prompt, and
so it continues around the group until someone is challenged
on accuracy or relevance, or until they can’t think of another
sentence. The person who had the last “correct” sentence wins
the card and keeps it.
• If the first student gets a sentence wrong, then the player who
picked up the card gets to keep it—if they can think of a
sentence. Otherwise, it continues to the next person. However,
you probably don’t need to tell students this rule until the
situation arises.
• The player to the left of the person who picked up the first
card now starts, and they continue as above. The winner is the
person with the most cards.
Expansion
• Ask students to write their own wish / I’d rather sentences and
either add these to the pile at the beginning or use them to
play a new round of the game.
8.1   Said and done
Aim To provide further practice of reported speech
Language Reporting verbs and reported speech
Time Approximately 30 minutes
Preparation A copy of one set of scenario cards and reporting
cards for every group of three to six students, cut up
Procedure
• Organize students into groups of three to six. The smaller the
group, the longer the game will last.
• Hand out a set of scenario cards and a set of reporting verb
cards to each group. Ask students to divide the reporting verbs
equally among themselves.
• Explain the game. Students turn over the scenario picture from
the top of the pile. They take turns to say a sentence
connected to the drawing using one of their reporting verbs.
When the first student says their sentence, they discard their
card, and the play moves to the next student. If they can’t play
a card, the next person tries to say a sentence and so on. Keep
going until no one can say a sentence. The last person to
speak picks up the next drawing scenario and tries to say a
sentence, and the game continues like this. The winner is the
first person to get rid of all of their reporting cards.
• You can add another rule if you want: at any point in the
game, a player can challenge another student if they think
their sentence was incorrect. The player who is wrong picks up
a reporting card.
• As students are playing, circulate and help referee any
challenges. Also notice any errors or good examples to give
some feedback on at the end of the game if you want.
Fast finishers
They play the game again, especially if they haven’t used all the
picture cards.
Expansion
• Ask students to do a variation where they deal out the
reporting verbs and then choose one of the pictures to write a
story about using all their verbs.
• Students act out a role-play based on one of the cards for
the whole class. The students listening make notes and
report what was said in the role-play, in groups using the
reporting verbs.
Communicative Activities: Teacher’s Notes  191