HEAAADERLOGORIGHT

GENERAL ENGLISH · ENGLISH IN VIDEO · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A
WALK TO GET
CREATIVE
QrrkoD Scan to review worksheet

Expemo code:
18R9-J7JF-L4TK

1 Warm-up

Do you think you are a creative person? Why or why not?

2 Key vocabulary

Study the sentences below and match the underlined verbs to their definitions.

1. The creative process is iterative. You have to do things several times to get the result you want.
2. They needed a new direction for the website so much of the meeting was spent brainstorming.
3. The picture needed a lot of refinement before it was finished.
4. The novelty of the scenery on the trip soon disappeared, as the forest continued for hours.
5. He used a penknife to carve his name on the bench.
6. Simon didn’t break the window intentionally. It was an accident.
7. Owners should keep their dogs on a leash in the park.
8. Running on a treadmill is one of the most popular activities at the gym.

a. an activity to develop new ideas through discussion

b. an exercise machine for running or walking
c. a piece of rope, chain, etc. tied to an animal
d. cut into the surface of something such as stone or wood
e. making small changes to something to improve it
f. on purpose
g. repetitive
h. the quality of being new and unusual

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 1/4

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A WALK TO GET CREATIVE

3 Before you watch

You’re going to watch a talk about creativity and how walking can help improve it. In the clip, the
speaker talks about ‘appropriate novelty’. This means that for an idea to be creative, it must be suitable
for a particular purpose and no one else can have thought of it. You are going to do a task from the
talk. You have five minutes to come up with as many alternate uses for a key as you can - but they
must be realistic and original.

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 2/4

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A WALK TO GET CREATIVE

4 Checking understanding

Watch the talk again. Answer the questions below.

1. What idea for another use for a key was considered ‘creative’?

a. Scratching the side of a car.

b. A third eyeball for a giraffe.
c. Carving the name of a murderer into the ground.

2. What was a feature of the room that the treadmill test was done in?

a. It had windows on all sides.

b. It was windowless.
c. There were no other objects in the room apart from the treadmill.

3. What does the speaker advise people to do before they go for a walk?

a. Pick a problem to brainstorm.

b. Write down any ideas you already have about a problem.
c. Have a shower.

4. What does she suggest that you do while you are on the walk?

a. Reject any ideas that you think aren’t good enough.

b. Aim to have at least 10 ideas by the end of it.
c. Say your ideas out loud and record them.

5. What is her final piece of advice?

a. If you are struggling to come up with ideas come back to the problem later.
b. Don’t give up until you have found a solution to the problem.
c. Try other methods to be creative if walking doesn’t work for you.

5 Find the words

Find a word or phrase in the transcript which means.....

1. clear liquid that comes through your skin when you are hot (noun, P.00:13):

2. section (noun, P.00:13:

3. receive praise for (phrase, P.01:24:
4. an improvement (noun, P.02:24):
5. the conclusion that you can draw (noun, P.02:24):
6. appears suddenly (phrasal verb P.03:34:
7. something that holds back certain things (noun, P.04:35:

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 3/4

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A WALK TO GET CREATIVE

6 Talking Point

Answer the questions below in pairs or small groups.

1. Have you ever used the technique of going for a walk to help you be more creative? Do you think
it works?
2. What things help you to be creative? What methods do you use to come up with ideas?
3. Have you experienced the ’shower effect’ where good ideas come to you in the shower?

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 4/4

Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A WALK TO GET CREATIVE

Transcripts

3. Before you watch

00:13 The creative process – you know this – from the first idea to the final product, is a long
process. It’s super-iterative, lots of refinement, blood, sweat, tears and years. And we’re
not saying you’re going to go out for a walk and come back with the Sistine Chapel in your
left hand. So what frame of the creative process did we focus on? Just this first part. Just
brainstorming, coming up with a new idea. We actually ran four studies with a variety of
people. You were either walking indoors or outdoors. And all of these studies found the
same conclusion. I’m only going to tell you about one of them today.

00:51 One of the tests we used for creativity was alternate uses. In this test, you have four
minutes. Your job is to come up with as many other ways to use common everyday objects
as you can think of. So, for example, what else would you do with a key, other than to use it
for opening up a lock? Clearly, you could use it as a third eyeball for a giraffe, right? Maybe.
That’s sort of interesting, kind of new. But is it creative? So people came up with as many
ideas as they could, and we had to decide: Is this creative or not?

01:24 The definition of creativity that a lot of people go with is "appropriate novelty." For
something to be appropriate, it has to be realistic, so unfortunately, you can’t use a key
as an eyeball. Boo! But "novel," the second thing, is that nobody had to have said it. So for
us, it had to be appropriate first, and then for novelty, nobody else in the entire population
that we surveyed could have said it. So you might think you could use a key to scratch
somebody’s car, but if somebody else said that, you didn’t get credit for it. Neither of you
did. However, only one person said this: "If you were dying and it were a murder mystery,
and you had to carve the name of the murderer into the ground with your dying words."
One person said this.

02:12 And it’s a creative idea, because it’s appropriate and it’s novel.

02:24 They did the test twice, with different objects. Three groups: the first group sat first and
then sat again for the second test. The second group sat first and then did the second test
while walking on a treadmill. The third group – and this is interesting – they walked on
the treadmill first, and then they sat. OK, so the two groups that sat together for the first
test, they looked pretty similar to each other, and they averaged about 20 creative ideas
per person. The group that was walking on the treadmill did almost twice as well. And
they were just walking on a treadmill in a windowless room. Remember, they took the test
twice. The people who sat twice for that second test didn’t get any better; practice didn’t
help. But these same people who were sitting and then went on the treadmill got a boost
from walking. Here’s the interesting thing. The people who were walking on the treadmill
still had a residue effect of the walking, and they were still creative afterwards. So the
implication of this is that you should go for a walk before your next big meeting and just
start brainstorming right away.

FOOOOTERAPPENDIXRIGHT
Learn without forgetting! i
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A WALK TO GET CREATIVE

03:34 We have five tips for you that will help make this the best effect possible. First, you want to
pick a problem or a topic to brainstorm. So, this is not the shower effect, when you’re in the
shower and all of a sudden, a new idea pops out of the shampoo bottle. This is something
you’re thinking about ahead of time. They’re intentionally thinking about brainstorming a
different perspective on the walk.

03:58 Secondly – I get asked this a lot: Is this OK while running? Well, the answer for me is that
if I were running, the only new idea I would have would be to stop running, so ...

04:10 But if running for you is a comfortable pace, good. It turns out, whatever physical activity
is not taking a lot of attention. So just walking at a comfortable pace is a good choice.

04:22 Also, you want to come up with as many ideas as you can. One key of creativity is to not
lock on that first idea. Keep going. Keep coming up with new ones, until you pick one or
two to pursue.

04:35 You might worry that you don’t want to write them down, because what if you forget them?
So the idea here is to speak them. Everybody was speaking their new ideas. So you can put
your headphones on and record through your phone and then just pretend you’re having a
creative conversation, right? Because the act of writing your idea down is already a filter.
You’re going to be like, "Is this good enough to write down?" And then you write it down.
So just speak as many as you can, record them and think about them later.

05:01 And finally: don’t do this forever. Right? If you’re on the walk and that idea’s not coming to
you, come back to it later at another time.

05:10 I think we’re coming up on a break right now, so I have an idea: Why don’t you grab a leash
and take your thoughts for a walk?

05:19 Thank you.

FOOOOTERAPPENDIXLEFT
Learn without forgetting! ii
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

GO FOR A WALK TO GET CREATIVE

Key

1. Warm-up

Encourage a short discussion.

2. Key vocabulary

1. g 2. a 3. e 4. h 5. d 6. f 7. c 8. b

3. Before you watch

Put students into pairs or small groups. Give them 5 minutes to complete the task. Give a point to each group for
each idea that is realistic and original, i.e. no one else has thought of it.

4. Checking understanding

Students work individually. Get class feedback after you have showed the talk again.

1. c 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. a

5. Find the words

Students can work in pairs and then check with the teacher.

1. sweat 2. frame
3. get credit for 4. a boost
5. the implication 6. pops out
7. a filter

6. Talking Point

Monitor students’ conversations. Make a note of any typical errors and write up any useful language on the board.

FOOOOTERAPPENDIXRIGHT
Learn without forgetting! iii
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Maryan Te's lessons.