JALT Meeting – May 2014 – Creativity in the EFL classroom: creating and adapting original material to the needs and interests of different students – Chris Sato, Windsor English School.This presentation was divided in two parts: an introduction and then a workshop. The first part explained the challenges of running a one-teacher school with all types of student: from young children to adults. Several examples from the US TV show “Mad Men” were used to illustrate the advantages and pitfalls of creativity, then an example utilizing original material was presented The second part drew on recent experiences of creating original materials, and adapting them to each of the classes. The audience was divided into groups and given a range of authentic stories taken from the Internet. Each group had to use their imagination to adapt the material to a learning experience for a specific class. The presentation ended with a lively Q & A session.
Reported by Stephen Shucart