Your Creative English Mind - VWO 5

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Your Creative English Mind

(for Year 5)

Lesson Goals

When you have to write in any foreign language, your limited knowledge of it means it is hard to write texts that are not repetitive or simple, and this often makes what you write sound boring.  In this lesson we are going to help you experiment with English to develop the skill to write in it in a lively and interesting manner.  Although most of the writing here will be creative, it will help you to write your essays, reports and memos as well. 

Lesson Plan

This lesson consists of a few creative tasks to let you experiment with English.  It is the idea that you work alone, so that everyone creates their own answers, but of course, afterwards the answers will be shared so you can see what your classmates have done.   There are no wrong answers in this lesson, just answers that are original, but may have some grammar or spelling errors.

Task 1: Imaginary words

On the next slide, you will see three words.  These words do not exist in English, and therefore have no meaning.  It is up to you to write definitions for what you think each word might mean, depending on how it sounds to you.  

Example: Saccellet: a small animal that looks like a paper bag and crawls over the ground.

Create definitions for these 3 words:
Picatonic, Stacajot, Recladget

Task 2: Haiku (1)

A haiku is a small poem, originally from Japan, consisting of 3 lines: The first line has 5 syllables ("lettergrepen"), the second has 7.  The first and second line together usually describe something real.  The last line is also 5 syllables, and usually says something about someone's feelings or thoughts. 

The next slide gives two examples. 

Haiku (2)

   1    2       3      4 -5

The wind blows softly

   1 - 2   3    4        5 - 6    7

Against the hard wooden door.

1  2    3   4       5

I wish it were spring.

   1     2  3   4      5  

Don't try to stop me.

1  2    3 -  4  5    6    7        

I am headed for the goal.

 1    2       3       4   5

My team cheers for me.

Notice the syllable count. 5 syllables on line 1 and 3, 7 on line 2

Haiku (3)

The wind blows softly

Against the hard wooden door.

I wish it were spring.

Don't try to stop me.

I am headed for the goal.

My team cheers for me.

Notice the first two lines describe an action.  The last line describes a feeling.

Write two haikus about two different things, for example, nature, a place, a person, an activity.

Task 3: Found poetry

A "found poem" is one that is not created from nothing, but which is formed from an existing text.  For example, read the following article: 

If you're looking for a reason to care about tree loss, this summer's record-breaking heat waves might be it. Trees can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a recent study.

But tree cover in US cities is shrinking. A study published last year by the US Forest Service found that we lost 36 million trees annually from urban and rural communities over a five-year period. That's a 1% drop from 2009 to 2014.

If we continue on this path, "cities will become warmer, more polluted and generally more

unhealthy for inhabitants," said David Nowak, a senior US Forest Service scientist and co-author of the study.

Nowak says there are many reasons our tree canopy is declining, including hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, insects and disease. But the one reason for tree loss that humans can control is sensible development.

"We see the tree cover being swapped out for impervious cover, which means when we look at the photographs, what was there is now replaced with a parking lot or a building," Nowak said.

Making a poem from this test

The poem is made by selecting words and phrases from the text, in the order they appear, and using them to form new ideas.  The poem may be related to the topic, or it may not.  See the two examples. 

IF YOU CARE

If you care about trees,

this might be it.

Tree cover is shrinking,

cities become warmer.

Many hurricanes, fires, insects and disease.

The tree, replaced with a building. 

If you're looking for a reason to care about tree loss, this summer's record-breaking heat waves might be it. Trees can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a recent study.

But tree cover in US cities is shrinking. A study published last year by the US Forest Service found that we lost 36 million trees annually from urban and rural communities over a five-year period. That's a 1% drop from 2009 to 2014.

If we continue on this path, "cities will become warmer, more polluted and generally more

unhealthy for inhabitants," said David Nowak, a senior US Forest Service scientist and co-author of the study.

Nowak says there are many reasons our tree canopy is declining, including hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, insects and disease. But the one reason for tree loss that humans can control is sensible development.

"We see the tree cover being swapped out for impervious cover, which means when we look at the photographs, what was there is now replaced with a parking lot or a building," Nowak said.

Looking for summer

If you look for summer, 

waves might be it.

Low temperatures lost.

Our canopy is sensible.

Look at the photographs.

If you're looking for a reason to care about tree loss, this summer's record-breaking heat waves might be it. Trees can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a recent study.

But tree cover in US cities is shrinking. A study published last year by the US Forest Service found that we lost 36 million trees annually from urban and rural communities over a five-year period. That's a 1% drop from 2009 to 2014.

If we continue on this path, "cities will become warmer, more polluted and generally more

unhealthy for inhabitants," said David Nowak, a senior US Forest Service scientist and co-author of the study.

Nowak says there are many reasons our tree canopy is declining, including hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, insects and disease. But the one reason for tree loss that humans can control is sensible development.

"We see the tree cover being swapped out for impervious cover, which means when we look at the photographs, what was there is now replaced with a parking lot or a building," Nowak said.

Found Poetry: Your turn

On the next page, you will find a text.  Use it in the same manner to write a poem of similar length to the two above (25-30 words, 5-6 lines), using only words taken from the text.  The poem you write does not have to be about the same topic as the text.

"Despite months of persuasion, despite intensive media campaigns, despite discussions in various media we have not succeeded in convincing enough people to get vaccinated." Those were the words of former Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg last month as he announced the first nationwide vaccine mandate in Europe.

Now, Germany looks set to follow where Austria has led.

Others have made vaccines mandatory for parts of the population and imposed restrictions that increasingly

explicitly target the unvaccinated, as Europe battles the twin challenges of sharply rising Covid figures and plateauing vaccination rates.

Nearly one year into the EU's vaccination campaign, and with around one in three Europeans still unvaccinated, it is not so much hesitancy that European governments are now facing as outright opposition, with the danger that as governments get tougher so too will popular anger towards them.

Enter your poem here. Remember: 25-30 words, 5-6 lines. It does not have to rhyme. Everyone should have their own poem.

Task 5: Construct a story

You are going to look at a photo and write a short story with a beginning, middle and end, inspired by what you think has happened and what will happen.  As an example, see the next picture and the story that follows.

Jim saw Dave cycling down the busy street, and waved him down. When Dave stopped, Jim rushed towards him and shouted "where were you yesterday?" 

Dave, startled by Jim's anger, responded haughtily "what do you mean, where was I? Where were YOU! I stood on the corner of Broad St and Maple St for 30 minutes waiting for you!.
Jim growled "liar" at him, "I was there 10 minutes early and I waited 40 minutes for you".

Jim crouched into his fight-position, raised his fists towards Dave and was about to swing a punch, when he suddenly stopped and said "wait a sec. Did you say Broad and Maple? I thought we agreed on Broad St and Oak; I was sitting outside the cafe there".

When they both realized their error, the two friends shook hands, and went off for a drink.

And now, your story

Reflection: how will what you've done today help you to be more original when you write in English?