Creative writing for language learners (and teachers)

participation in these activities. I have written short
novels, stories and poems with my students. During peer
editing and feedback sessions they enjoy pronouncing my
efforts Yucky and Weird, often with sound reason. This
helps create the democratic atmosphere which is such a
big part o f language motivation in the classroom. 
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2018/4/25
Creative writing for language learners (and teachers) | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creative-writing-language-learners-teachers
11/18
Alan Maley
Alan Maley
replied on 30 December, 2009 - 10:09
PERMALINK
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6235)
KEEP SMILING
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Dear Zai, Sorry for the delay in acknowledging your
posting. I can see why 'guilt-free' might r aise a smile,
if not q uite a grin! But a s we both know, 'guilt-free'
doesn't m ean they can do what th ey like! As you say,
teacher participation is a must. it p uts us all on the
same level, and opens up the atmosphere in the most
amazing way. All the best f or 2010. Alan
replied on 29 December, 2009 - 12:14
PERMALINK
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CREATIVE WRITING: A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
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Dear bloggers,
I felt I should add some more information about a small
Creative Writing project w hich my Malaysian colleague, Dr
Jayakaran Mukundan, and I have been involved in for the
past 7 years. If nothing else, this shows how something
practical can be achieved in the area of CW. The ‘Asia
Teacher-Writers Project’ is, we believe, interesting for a
number of reasons. It i s a grassroots / bottom-up
initiative. Participation is entirely voluntary and the project
is independent o f institutions. It i s also predicated on the
principle of ‘small is beautiful’ (Schumacher 1974). There
is no ambition to effect s weeping, large-scale changes,
such as the many failed government i nitiatives which litter
the educational landscape. It h as a local focus with no
global ambitions. It w orks, if it w orks at a ll, through
persuasion at th e personal level, and through the
commitment o f a small number of individuals. Small
phenomena can nonetheless have large effects, as Chaos
Theory teaches us. (Gleick 1988)
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2018/4/25
Creative writing for language learners (and teachers) | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creative-writing-language-learners-teachers
12/18
However, it i s also significant b ecause it i ntersects in
important w ays with some currents of contemporary
professional concern. The role of the NNS continues to
preoccupy scholars of the spread of English, as does the
development o f English as an International Language, no
longer the sole property o f the metropolitan countries (
Rubdy and Saraceni 2006). This project i s intimately
linked with such concerns. It p romotes the notion of NNS
teachers able to find their own place and their own idiom
in this rapidly-changing global movement. The project
also reasserts the importance of the place of affect
(Arnold 1999), of visualisation (Tomlinson 1998, 2001) ,
noticing (Schmidt 1 990), personalisation, Multiple
Intelligences (Gardner 1985), motivation (Dornyei 2001),
authenticity, extensive reading (Day and Bamford 1998),
the teaching of expository writing in a second language,
and creativity i n general (Boden 1998, Carter 2004)
The project s tarted in 2003 with a small workshop in
Bangkok. Teacher/writers from a number of Asian
countries gathered to discuss the desirability of writing
creative materials in English for students in their
countries. A collection of papers was the outcome (Tan
2004), together with some stories which were also
eventually published by Pearson Malaysia (Maley and
Mukundan 2005).
This first e vent w as followed by workshops for roughly the
same (but e ver expanding pool) group in Melaka (2004),
Fuzhou (2005) and Hanoi (2006), Salatiga (2007),
Kathmandu (2008), Ho Chi Minh City ( 2009) and Jakarta
(2009). Each workshop produced poems and stories
which were published by Pearson Malaysia (Maley (ed)
2005, 2006, 2008), as well as another volume of papers
(Mukundan 2006)
As already noted above, the group is noteworthy for being
independent o f any institutional support, and is entirely
voluntary. Financial sponsorship was obtained from
Assumption University, Bangkok in 2003, from Pearson
Malaysia in 2004, from UBCHEA and Hwa Nan Womens’
College Fuzhou in 2005, from The Open University Hanoi
in 2006, from local sponsors in Salatiga and Kathmandu,
from :Pearson and the Open University i n Ho Chi Minh City,
and from SEAMEO in Jakarta.. Each year, a volunteer takes
on the responsibility fo r organising the workshop in a
different v enue in Asia. Plans are already afoot f or
another workshop, in Nepal in 2010.
The rationale and objectives of the group can be
summarized as follows. The group operates in the belief
that NNS teachers are not o nly capable of but are also
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2018/4/25
Creative writing for language learners (and teachers) | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creative-writing-language-learners-teachers
13/18
uniquely well-placed to write literary materials for use by
their own and other students in the Asia region. By virtue
of the fact th at th ey share their students’ background and
contexts, they have an intuitive understanding of what will
be culturally and topically relevant a nd attractive for
them. What th ey all too often lack is the confidence in
their own ability to write interesting material. The group
operates to dispel this misconception.
The following rationale underpins the activities of the
group:
A belief in the value of creative writing in English for
teachers as well as for students.
A belief in the ability o f teachers in the region to
produce their own English teaching materials.
A belief that th ese materials will provide useful input for
promoting reading (and other activities) in English.
A belief in the value for professional and personal
development o f forming a closely-knit, Asia-wide,
mutually-supportive learning community o f
teacher/writers.
The objectives are:
To produce poetry and stories appropriate in level and
content f or use by Asian students of English at
secondary level.
To publish and promote these as widely as possible,
thus creating a wider awareness of the value of CW.
To develop materials and activities for the teaching of
creative writing.
To run creative writing conferences and workshops for
the wider teaching community w herever possible.
In this way, to boost th e self-esteem and confidence of
teachers of English in Asia.
The intended outcomes are:
A set o f stories for extensive reading and related
language work.
A set o f poems intended for language work, and to
stimulate creative writing by students.
A set o f teacher-generated creative writing activities.
Publications, website and conferences for teachers in
the region to raise awareness of the value of creative
writing activities.
In other words, the project a ims at th ree main audiences:
~ a small group of writers who produce the materials,
and in so doing develop
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2018/4/25
Creative writing for language learners (and teachers) | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/creative-writing-language-learners-teachers
14/18
professionally and personally. (The group hovers
around the 30 mark at p resent, which is ample.)
~ English teachers in the region at l arge who will use
the materials and hopefully go on
to develop their own in due course.
~ students of English in the region who will use the
materials, and will themselves 
produce texts which can be fed back as input to
other students.
So what, then, actually happens during the workshops? 
The procedure which has evolved organically is as follows:
~ a few months before the workshop, participants are
asked to submit a draft o f one or more short stories and
poems, and to prepare at l east o ne teaching activity
involving creative writing. These are submitted to the
organising group.
~ at th e workshop, participants peer-edit th ese texts.
They are then passed to the editor before being
forwarded to the publisher.
~ there are also input s essions when new ideas for
activities are shared. There are now a number of
published sources for such ideas (Koch 1990 , Matthews
1994, Rinvolucri and Frank 2007, Spiro 2004, 2007).
These ideas are then refined and collated for diffusion via
the website. Two handbooks of resources, for writing
stories, and writing poems, are also in preparation.
~ one day is set a side for a writing field-trip to an
atmospheric place. This may be a scenic beauty-spot, a
place of pilgrimage, or an outstandingly interesting site.