Perspectives: English lessons can foster creativity in students
Having had the privilege of working in Hong Kong schools as a native English-speaking teacher (NET) for nearly 16 years, I have witnessed an upsurge in creativity since electives such as short stories, poetry and songs, drama and popular culture were introduced in Hong Kong secondary schools during the 2009-2010 academic year.
School-based Assessment (SBA) was inaugurated at about the same time. I have found that my local English teacher (LET) colleagues have responded well to all these changes which have formed part and parcel of the 3+3+4 reforms in Hong Kong schools.
The net result has been a freeing up of the English language syllabus. From my point of view, as well as from those of many NET and LET colleagues, this has been a very positive development. It has improved Hong Kong students' accuracy and appreciation of the English language.
A quiet revolution has been taking place in Hong Kong classrooms
One salient feature has been that NETs and LETs have been able to work cooperatively in order to try to fire up the students' "right brains" - the side of the brain that researchers such as Roger Sperry have found to wield a marked influence on our emotions, intuitions and all-round creativity.
The right hemisphere of the brain had traditionally been neglected in favour of the "left brain" of linear order and mathematical organisation.
In this fashion, a quiet revolution has been taking place in Hong Kong classrooms. NETS and LETs have been joining forces to liberate young minds, and English-language teaching has become more interesting and relevant as a result of it.
It is almost as if, together, we have absorbed the lessons of Lisa Baumgartner's transformational learning theory (2001), whereby far-reaching changes can be induced in the student learners.
But so much for the theory. How might creativity work in practice in Hong Kong schools?
Let me state at the outset that I am fortunate in having LET colleagues who are open and creative themselves.
They have, by dint of their own examples, fostered an imaginative learning atmosphere in the classroom.
Earlier in the year, we had a dilemma in our Form Five English syllabus planning - how to make social issues such as global warming, which had all been dutifully listed in our textbooks, meaningful for our students? How would we establish an emotional connection?
A solution was to use films to help establish that emotional link. We chose the listed social issue of divorce, and investigated popular films which had prominently featured divorces. (1979) seemed promising, but we found the extracts which portrayed the family breakdown to be rather too harsh. But extracts from the comic film (1993) offered a more light-hearted view.
Robin Williams' work in that film was tinged with pathos, and our students received serious messages about the pain of family splits.
To really reinforce these messages before SBA oral discussions were attempted, we split each quite large Form Five class into groups of four. An outline of a scene was provided, and students had to write lines and act as a family under threat of divorce, assigning themselves the roles of parents or children.
Our students surprised us with the depth of feeling in their short three to five minute scenes. Formerly mute students expressed "real" emotions about the suffering caused by divorce, frequently in eloquent English.
Individual students excelled in expressing independent ideas, belying the image of spoon-fed, learn-by-rote Hong Kong education.
This small example is typical of what we are achieving every day in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools. New English syllabi and a fruitful NET/ LET partnership are starting to unlock Hong Kong students' hidden creative potential.
Perry Bayer is a committee member of the Native-English Speaking Teachers Association
