Here are 5 top tips for getting your teen learners writing creatively. You could even use our teen story collection to inspire them!
Why is creative writing important?
Creative writing in a non-native language can be a daunting prospect for both students and teachers, but can bring a multitude of rewards. So why should teachers think about using creative writing projects in their classrooms?
- Motivation – allowing students to express their own ideas and take the initiative in their language learning can motivate them to use English for something they are personally invested in.
- Increase confidence and self-esteem – Creative writing should be playful, so this can be a liberating way for students to write in English. Encourage them to take risks, and create a positive environment by focusing on creativity and exploration.
- A positive and balanced learning experience – Using the creative as well as logical parts of their brains students achieve a healthy balance in their language learning. Doing something different and creative can also make their learning experience more stimulating and enjoyable.
- Improve grammar and vocabulary – Teachers and researchers have seen significant improvement in students’ language skills, including reading and grammar, by using creative writing projects in the classroom.
5 Top Tips for creative writing
Here is some advice for bringing creative writing into the classroom:
1. Encourage creativity over perfect use of language and punctuation. Point out strengths more than weaknesses, and perhaps have focused areas of improvement rather than correcting every mistake. Peer review can help students to discover their more common and obvious errors, allowing teachers to focus more on the creative and narrative side.
2. Make it meaningful by letting students write about topics important to them that they are interested in, rather than giving them all a single topic.
3. Let them write about what they know. Their own experiences or those of their friends and family are great to draw upon if they have difficulty writing something made up. Later they might feel confident enough to write from the imagination.
4. Use drafts for longer stories or creative writing projects. By allowing students to start with a first draft you can remove some of the pressure and anxiety of writing in a foreign language. Emphasise that they should just try to write down their ideas first, without worrying too much about making it perfect. Then they can improve it and fix mistakes in the final piece of work.
5. Don’t forget the dictionaries! A perhaps obvious yet important point is keeping plenty of bilingual dictionaries on hand for when students need additional language to express their ideas. When students are motivated to actively seek out language with a clear purpose and use it in a meaningful context, they are more likely to engage and to learn, so this should be encouraged. If you have limited numbers of dictionaries at your school, the online Cambridge Dictionaries is free and easy to use.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, check out Louanne Piccolo’s activities for graded readers.