Purpose: This paper, which originates in an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom activity in Hong Kong, aims to explore English learners' expressive and creative potential in writing by studying their work in the literary narrative genre. Design/methodology/approach: A group of upper secondary students (15-16 years of age) with limited…

Artworks that are circular in nature are often referred to as mandalas. "Mandala" means center, circle, or circumference. Mandalas are created in many cultures for a variety of reasons, most of which are related to self-expression, ritual, and religion. In this article, the author describes how her students created mandalas. She also provides…

As a result of the activities described here, that of making silhouettes, the students seem to come to know themselves a little more and teacher and students better understand the individual human needs and diversity within the class. (Author/CB)

Describes how having students draw both their own and a literary character's reality not only introduces students, quite painlessly and concretely, to a large number of literary terms, but also suggests that literature appreciation demands an imaginative extension into the life of another. (MM)

Describes a videotape exchange between students in a New York City school and a classroom of students in Charleston, South Carolina, explaining what the students learned about themselves and others from the personally-made tapes. (RB)

Suggests that if students are to become comfortable enough with poetry to freely write about it, they must first discover the poetry in themselves. Offers a composition-poetry method that allows students to experience poetry, analyze their writing processes, and synthesize all the information gained from doing and analyzing. (MS)

Describes a successful program of "contemplation writing," in which, through a counting technique and a music technique, children learn how to contemplate their inner experience, write about it, and discuss it. (SR)

Asserts that literacy can be seen as a dramatic set. Shows how this conceptualization makes sense of the central concerns of language programs and provides an explicit means for developing literacy. Notes that drama activities provide experiences across many linguistic registers. (RL)

Many students conceive of learning institutions as factories and of writing as the delivery of a predictable product. An excerpt from a typical student theme reflects the fact that much student writing is hardly more than an assemblage of cliches. Teachers can show students the stereotyped nature of typical student writing by constructing a…

Presents the idea that the teacher who constructs a learning program for a particular group of learners which is filled with materials and activities that stimulate deep personal feelings, making it possible for individuals to express personal reactions, achieves something close to true individualization. (Author)

Author describes her experience with first graders who had already been labeled as failures in kindergarten, and her employment of the experience approach to learning, which is a good way to build from where each child is and to provide success-oriented activities for everyone. (Author/DR)

The advantages of using journals in the college classroom are their versatility and their transferability to teaching at every level. Three types of journal writing are very effective in engaging students in purposeful, repeated writing: individual journals in which student and teacher maintain a written dialogue throughout the course; class…

Based on the idea that drama infuses the classroom with activity, imagination, language, and powerful learning experiences, this journal offers commentary and suggestions on classroom drama practices at the elementary level. The first section argues that drama motivates self-active learning and promotes language development, learning across the…

Creative dramatics can be used effectively by the elementary teacher to help motivate students to become involved in various language arts activities. Dramatic play, pantomime, story dramatization, imagination exercises, creative movement, improvisation, and other structured activities encourage students to relate new experiences to old. As they…

Presents a lesson plan explaining and providing procedures for a flippy theater project. Flippy theater is a series of drawings that illustrate a one-act play, presented on large individual sheets or canvas suspended from a pole hung between two uprights or held by two people. Includes an example. (MJP)