TAO for creative teachers or teaching languages with a green hat and a clown nose

Abstract

Pablo Picasso said that all children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up. According to the genial painter the formal education kills the creativity of children. Then the least creative people probably become teachers and educators. In fact, this amusing and somehow provocative idea of Picasso has been studied from the perspective of various scientific theories and philosophical doctrines. The range of scholarly interest in creativity includes a multitude of definitions and approaches involving several disciplines. The potential for fostering creativity through training and education has been especially augmented by technology. However, one’s overuse of technology can become more a handicap than a way to promote the development of creativity in the classroom. This presentation examines the concept of creativity in the language classroom and, from personal experience, offers some tips to improve the educator’s teaching performance. The language teacher far from being a repeater of schemes, manuals and dictionaries must be an active agent that encourages students to learn and the one who learns from their students as well. Teachers who enjoy their work help their students to be motivated, energized and creative. The opposite of enjoyment and creativity is burnout, namely the state where nobody and nothing can spark any interest. When the classroom becomes a kingdom of rules, marks, discipline and nonsense it also becomes a kingdom of boredom.