TEACHING CREATIVE WRITING AS MEANS OF PRODUCTIVE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the topical issue of teaching creative writing to high school students in Ukrainian schools. Based on the analysis of foreign and Ukrainian studies, the authors of the paper clarified the concept of «creative writing», outlined its fundamental difference from academic writing as a component of a foreign language curriculum and its importance in the process of teaching English. The article provides a definition of creative writing and outlines its fundamental separate status in relation to academic writing. It is emphasized that, according to many scholars, creative writing is defined as the author's self-expression. Creative writing is subjective in nature; it involves the author's non-standard thinking; encourages recourse to imagination, the possibility of realizing non-standard thinking, feelings, ideas. It is also noted that there are a lot of different types of creative writing, that can be classified as fiction or non-fiction. This work also outlines the prerequisites for teaching creative writing. These are: intensive reading of works by prominent writers, poets or screenwriters, as well as bloggers and speechwriters; the need to involve students in observation outside of school, heuristic conversations, etc. It is noted that such a process is natural for the development of a child's language, and is also a way of reflecting on the information received. The study provides examples of various techniques for teaching creative writing, which involve such aspects as: writing an individual essay after visiting emotionally stimulating locations; creating a short story with minimum of words; writing a poem based on the Japanese poetry of Haiku, writing an address to oneself in the future, continuing a story with a given beginning, etc.