Creativity. Just creativity. So important for the student, as well as for the teacher. Thinking is creative. Otherwise it is not thinking.
We teachers have to teach our students to think, and not just knowledge. We should dedicate part of the class, or a school subject to thinking, as I had in the school where I taught in Jaén, south of Spain, 1993 through 2002. Or the whole class, better said, should be dedicated to thinking. That school subject had interesting topics and contents, of an interdisciplinary nature, this is, involving several subjects or areas.
Learning has to be creative. Otherwise it’s not learning. As well creativity is important for teaching. A teaching that is not creative is not teaching. Your teaching is creative, if you're reading this.
But let’s focus now on the student. He has to invent ways for learning. The ones which are okay with him. And they’re useful and helpful for real learning.
When learning and acquiring a second or foreign language, the student, if assisted by his teacher, will create the ways that are okay with real learning and acquiring. This is much of trying doing things and saying if they’re okay or not: this is okay with my learning, and that has to be discarded!
You could think all this is a bit difficult at everyday learning, but actually is what good students do. And it may be the exact ways you used when learning as a student. Successful students are aware they use learning strategies and they also know, and this is pretty important, that they’re good learners. / Photo from: IMG_0957 underground sailingvoyage com