Creativity in the English classroom My career in ELT has been characterized from the beginning by the many Business

English classes I had to teach. Today, the majority of my students are rofessionals see!ing to olish the English they need at the "or! lace. #n admirable goal, but often it translates to just another after$hours fi%ed a ointment on an already over$burdened diary. In this scenario, it "ould seem creativity must give "ay to racticality. &o"ever, from my e% erience, creativity is not something that must be discovered or racticed, but uncovered. #s I soon found out, cor orate em loyees have a vast amount of !no"ledge "hich is business oriented, but also sur risingly humanistic' from (L) techni*ues to crafty negotiation tactics and eo le management s!ills.

+ne of my favourite activities, that both nurtures my creative strea! and hel s uncover my students, creative resources, involves getting students to teach each other ractical business s!ills they are articularly good at. To get them going, I rovide a model of my o"n' using a collage of ictures -e.g. Internet memes and ca tioned images. as a visual ro , I resent my ten ti s for being a successful time manager. It,s a good intro, as students al"ays have something to say about it and it gives them an idea of "hat they,re meant to do ne%t. # fe" e%am les of "hat my students came u "ith after"ards include Long Term )lanning in /0 easy ste s and (egotiation 1 The Mind Ma . Last year, for Christmas, "e decorated our English Meeting 2oom "ith framed co ies of my students, "or!. They still say they find it very ins iring.

Continuous )rofessional 3evelo ment Continuous )rofessional 3evelo ment -C)3. is defined across many rofessions as a systematic a roach to learning "hich ensures that com etence in a given field is develo ed and achieved through constant e%tension of !no"ledge, s!ills and ractical e% erience. C)3 can therefore include both formal 1 or structured and informal 1 or self$ directed ty es of learning activities. C)3 is a conce t that has been built on three core beliefs' learning is continuous, regardless of age/seniority4 learning is seen as a rere*uisite for professional competence in one,s chosen field4 develo ment goes beyond the initial formal training one receives at the beginning of one,s rofessional life4 the main aim is to improve personal performance and boost career rogression. #s learning is the sister$conce t to teaching, it ma!es sense to tal! about C)3 for teachers' learning, from the oint of vie" of the learners, is not an abstract notion, "hich can remain unchanged by social, cultural or technological changes and advancements. It is then arguably the duty of the teacher to !ee u "ith the constant evolution of the scientific theories behind learning and of the a roaches and methods to teaching. It is doubly im ortant for language teachers to do so, as the "orld around us is mar!ed by radical changes in the "ay "e communicate "ith each other, often across hysical and cultural distances. The career ath of a language teacher invariably begins "ith an initial training or *ualification -most often at university, but no"adays also occurring in the rivate sector 1 e.g. Teaching 5no"ledge Test or the Certificate in Teaching English to 6 ea!ers of +ther Languages. and continues "ith "or!ing lace training. In this conte%t, rofessional develo ment refers to harnessing formal -e.g. "or!sho s, traditional courses and conferences. and informal -e.g. "or!$grou s, eer evaluation, self$evaluation. o ortunities "hich are meant to dee en rofessional e% ertise.

In 2omania, the educational la" sti ulates that rofessional develo ment ste s should be ta!en at least every 7 years. &o"ever, a significant number of teachers have not ta!en art in any rofessional develo ment rogram for years. +ne "ay to address this issue "ould be to develo a nation"ide data base that "ould enable the relevant authorities to !ee trac! of teachers, C)3. #nother challenge of im lementing a C)3 rogram for teachers is the reduced level of a"areness of C)3 o ortunities in cities other than the university hubs. This situation is *uite visible in annual teaching conferences, most of "hich are generally attended by the same grou of eo le. #gain, a centralised data base -e.g. an official "eb age "hich can be accessed by teachers and relevant rivate and ublic institutions ali!e. of formal o ortunities for rofessional develo ment "ould hel overcome this challenge. #lso, informal "ays of gaining insights into develo ing one,s com etence in the field could be addressed by "ebminars on the same 8official C)3 "eb age,. Lastly, one main challenge is not necessarily related to the lac!ing technological infrastructure, but to the resistance to change sho"n by teachers of a s ecific seniority. In an educational system that still bears the mar!s of communist authority$orientated classroom ractices, C)3 is often consciously ignored. 2esearch has sho"n that aside from the im act on cognitive s!ills determined by age, lac! of motivation is another factor that influences this henomenon. Conse*uently, an incentive scheme im lemented consistently for teachers in the ublic sector could hel rectify the situation to a certain e%tent.

Challenge It is "idely acce ted that there are t"o inter$related rocesses that are re*uired for effective listening' to $do"n and bottom$u rocessing. The former relies on bac!ground !no"ledge in understanding the meaning of a message, "hile in the latter com rehension is vie"ed as a rocess of decoding. The revalence of one rocess over another should not be a matter of debate, as the to ic of an utterance cannot be identified "ithout some minimal decoding and the relevance "e of the utterance cannot be a reciated "ithout some minimal use of conte%t. &o"ever, this does not al"ays translate into our teaching ractice. Early on "e teach our students to ma!e use of their re$e%isting !no"ledge and information rovided by conte%t to aid them in listening com rehension, the idea being that lo"er level students do not osses the linguistic com etence to ma!e use of bottom$u s!ills. Ideally, once the ability to e%tract a 8general meaning, from a te%t is sufficiently honed, students can begin to ma!e use of bottom$u rocesses to reach ne" levels of understanding. But, by follo"ing the more orthodo% a roach to teaching listening, even at higher levels, the transition never ha ens and the students become over$reliant on the conte%t or ma!e oor use of it "hen they are confronted "ith a conflicting bit of bottom$u information. Tas!' Thin! of the last listening lesson you taught. 9as it a lesson only on ractising listening s!ills or did you only use the recorded te%t to introduce a bit of language: 9hat "ere the ste s you "ent through "ith your students: Is this "hat you usually do "ith your students "hen ractising listening s!ills: 3id you students encounter any roblems: If yes, "hat "ere they: 9hy do you thin! students had those roblems: &o" did you address the issues: 9ere you successful: -Be honest "ith yourself;. 3id the students feel you "ere successful: 3id they learn something ne": (o" ic! u the courseboo! you,re currently "or!ing on "ith your students and fast$ for"ard to a listening scri t a fe" units ahead.

2ead the scri t or listen to the recording and thin! of some "ords or hrases that students might have difficulties "ith. 9ould they have difficulties "ith the meaning: +r "ith the "ay the "ords or hrases are uttered in fast s eech: &o" "ould you thin! to hel students "ith the roblems you identified: &o" "ould you "or! that in the usual "ay you teach listening s!ills: 2eflection' The methodology teachers often em loy during listening lessons involves testing com rehension and then moving on to "riting or s ea!ing &o"ever, "hat such a routine fails to do is to factor in the process of listening, the how (do students listen:) and the why (can they hear the right ans"er:). +nly "hen "e start noticing that, by relying heavily on the conte%t of the utterance, "e inadvertently romote 8bad, habits associated "ith less s!illed listeners -e.g. conte%t addiction, a enchant for total com rehension etc.., are "e forced to go bac! to the dra"ing board and re$evaluate our rocedures.

Conse*uently, my goals here are to discuss ho" hel ing students to decode the s eech signal is a relevant rocess that com lements meaning building and that using a bottom$ u a roach to listening can hel our students become better listeners and "ean them off a misleading over$reliance on conte%t.