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few errors as possible. In order to avoid errors the students wrote very cautiously, using a very
simple language and clichés [2, 87p].
Many teachers will admit to being uncomfortable teaching writing in the first place: while
teacher education programs spend hours upon hours on teaching reading, they spend far less time on
teaching writing, and thus teachers may have no preparation for this work at all. Students, too, can
easily grow frustrated as they are asked to write more and are assessed more thoroughly on their
writing than ever before, but don‘t see a reward for their work. More writing, as we all know, is not
necessarily better writing. And thus, students didn‘t express themselves completely as they would
want; therefore, the lack of creativity was felt.
The problems of teaching writing are extremely essential. The growth of requirements,
submitted to the written speech of the students, great potential of creative writing to improve the
level of acquisition of foreign language speech, the lack of exercises designed to teach creative
writing determine the relevance of the research topic.
Creative Writing is associated with ―freedom, fantasy, imagination, playfulness, making the
familiar strange, generating language‖, etc., most teachers of English will resort Creative Writing to
either as a separate subject or as part of a larger subject called EFL, is in line with the Learner-
centred teaching approach. It stimulates students‘ imagination and originality helping them to feel
the thrill of expressing their own ideas in forms which are different from the usual writing tasks.
When writing creatively students feel free to choose the audience they want to address to. In this
way they liberate themselves from the constraints imposed on by their only reader, the teacher, who
thinks that he/she has to do one single thing: to assess the correctness of the linguistic form used.
Having certain audience in mind, student-writers can identify the particular context which will
determine the form (poetry, prose, drama) and style of pieces of writing. In their book ‗The Inward
Ear‘, Alan Maley and Alan Duff make clear the idea that creative writing ‗is not just writing
something down.‘ On the contrary, creative writing is a process, the writer is redrafting and
reformulating ideas until he gets his/her message conveyed. In fact, ‗the writer does not know what
his/her writing will be until the end of the process‘ [5, 83p].
Creative writing can be used at any stage of learning. First, the teacher can offer to the
students of various types of supports in the form of visual and auditory visibility: objects, pictures,
photos, audio texts, songs, instrumental music, videos, and graphics visibility: the instructions,
poems, stories, ready-made samples of written speech.
As the Chinese proverb says: ―A thousand of teachers, a thousand of methods‖, we, too,
believe that every teacher makes his or her own contribution to teaching doing it more unique.
There exist a lot of exercises for writing in textbooks and in manuals. But a set of activities coming
step-by-step is absent; smooth transition from one task into another is needed to get a product which
presents the creativity of the student. That‘s why several methodological resources are studied and
thus a series of creative tasks are designed due to the creative writing technology.
Teaching writing was a matter of recommending a logically ordered set of written tasks and
exercises, and that good writing conformed to a predetermined and ideal model. This is due to the
product and process approaches which occupy an important place in methodology.
There are at least two approaches in the teaching writing:
1) focus on the process of generation of a written text – writing for learning (process);
2) concentration on the result of writing activities - writing-for-writing (product) [6].
We must always be aware that on which we focus: the learning process of the writing or on the
product writing, do we want to teach students various genres of written messages, or to teach their
creative writing. Creative writing implies expression of students' own thoughts in a foreign
language in connection with a suggested situation or a topic within the linguistic material previously
assimilated in speech and reading. Students may write different types of essays, letters, postcards,
journals, descriptions, book reviews, poems, summaries, applications, resumes, etc. While learning
to write students may experience some difficulties. For example:
- Students can't select proper words as their vocabulary is poor;
- The inappropriate or colloquial vocabulary is used;
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- Students are unable to write in a paragraph form;
- Fear of making grammar errors makes the writing process slow and unsuccessful,
- Students can't use their personal experiences as a basis of writing a sequence from personal
and concrete to impersonal and abstract [7].
So, to inspire students the techniques of applying photographs, guided writing, shared writing,
process and product approaches were used, think aloud methods, critical thinking, extra writing
techniques during implementing creative tasks such as: creating riddles, composing essays, writing
stories, composing drama, improvising scenes, etc.
The following activity set was composed in order to have some fun. This lesson was
conducted after we had passed the theme ―Animals in danger‖ with students. It was not an ordinary
dialogue making up, but a drama with a tableau on the background. Before this activity was set, the
students consolidated all new words, they knew a lot of information about animals in danger, their
sphere of inhabitance, what they like to eat. So, the students were got prepared for this kind of
activity.
Activity #1: ―A Talk to Animals‖ [8]
The aim: to write a drama (dialogue)
Objectives: to develop students‘ writing abilities, to consolidate students‘ new vocabulary, to
develop students‘ creative thinking, to develop students‘ speaking habits and to improve their
pronunciation.
Materials: pictures of animals, a poster with a new vocabulary, cards, worksheet.
Procedure
I Pre-writing stage:
1. Warm-up: For this activity the teacher prepares several cards (Name, Lives in, Colour,
Food). Then he gives the cards out saying to choose one animal picture and to fill them.
2. Mind map: The teacher sets a task to brainstorm the themes for conversations with those
animals the students has chosen.
He starts: ―Imagine that you have an ability to talk to animals. What would you talk about?‖
The students will write them on the board one by one, while the teacher guides.
Possible themes were formulated:
- Problems of the animals‘ inhabitance;
- People‘s treatment of animals;
- Friendship;
- Preference of the animals for foods;
- Different troubles the students get in; etc.
3. The first draft: The students have to choose one of these themes for the first drafting. The
time is given. The students write their first draft.
4. Editing: The students exchange their works for peer-correction. After the works are returned
with grammatical improvements.
II While-writing stage: The teacher gives students worksheets for free imaginative writing,
while they extend their ideas from drafts.
III Post-writing stage:
1. Reading: The students read their works in front of the class, if there are mistakes they must
be corrected immediately. After all students have read their works the teacher and all of them select
the best works for further dramatization.
2. Acting out: As for this activity the tableau is needed, it can be given for a home assignment.
Students are given their roles. So they are divided into groups. Each group prepares their own
dialogues. They are given task to bring all necessary things for a decoration of the background
scene. At least the students must learn their roles in the drama by heart. The dramas are shot with a
camera.
3. Dramas are included into portfolios.
This activity is the best one in free writing because the students enjoy making and improvising
little scenes. All of the students took active parts. And their writing abilities were improved.
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