This is another activity which encourages random association. It is also another activity for which you can use the same picture cards or board as you did in the other ‘Forced Connections’ games (see previous blog posts). You will also need cards with abstract nouns (happiness, peace, sadness, love, anger etc.) written on them.
Another game to encourage remote connections is the Boasting game. You can use the picture cards or board you used for the last game (‘Forced Connections Similes – see last blog post).
This is one game to encourage remote connections, an important process in creative thinking (see the ‘Teaching Effective Thinking Introduction’.
This is probably the most well-known ‘creative thinking’ activity. You may know it as ‘The Alternative Uses Test’. Show the class a brick and ask them to think of ways in which it can be used. They need to come up with as many ideas as they can in, say, 5 minutes. There are no […]
This is my second blog post on promoting creativity in the classroom, following on from EAP Teaching Effective Thinking: Introduction.
The World Economic Forum identifies four capabilities 21st century students require: Critical thinking / problem solving Creativity Communication Collaboration These skills are sought after in the Arts, the Sciences, Business, Education, everywhere, really.
Another FutureLearn course in association with Cambridge University Press & Assessment. This one was really useful. It’s worth taking courses on online teaching regularly as everything online changes so quickly. The courses need to be updated regularly too. This one seems to be quite up to date although they do mention Edmodo at one point […]
This is a free British Council course. It’s different from the graded reader course as it includes poetry and how to exploit literature to work on all four skills. There wasn’t much that was new to me but I got some good example texts to use.
This is another short course by ‘Language Fuel’ and FutureLearn. It’s a good introductory course explaining Extensive Reading and giving practical ideas for using graded readers with students. I researched this as a resources creator at British Study Centre 20 years ago and the activities were similar. Update: Nik Peachey’s course on ChatGPT […]
This is a FutureLearn course created in conjunction with the National Yang Ming Chaio Tung University. It’s another very short, asynchronous course. It is more practical than ‘Unlocking the Creative Brain’, giving a lot of practical suggestions for utilizing the neurological processes involved in creativity.