📘 Part 3: Creativity and the arts

This episode's vocabulary

Creativity (noun) – the ability to produce original and imaginative ideas or things. → Many companies value creativity when solving complex problems.

On the spot (idiom) – immediately, without preparation. → Teachers often have to make decisions on the spot in the classroom.

Express (verb) – to show what you think or feel through words, actions, or art. → Drawing helps children express their ideas visually.

Vocabulary (noun) – the set of words you know and use. → Young children may not have the vocabulary to describe their feelings.

Visual representation (noun) – a picture or image that shows an idea. → A diagram is a useful visual representation of the process.

Materials (noun) – substances or items used to make or create something. → The school provides different materials like paint, paper, and clay.

Showcase (verb) – to display something clearly in order to attract attention. → The exhibition will showcase students’ creative projects.

Novel (adjective) – new and unusual; not seen before. → The designer found a novel way to reuse cardboard boxes.

Convey (verb) – to communicate or make something understood. → Images can convey emotions more quickly than words.

Gravity (noun) – seriousness or importance of a situation. → The photos helped viewers understand the gravity of the disaster.

Muse (noun) – a person or thing that inspires an artist. → The painter’s partner became his main muse for many years.

Hand-eye coordination (noun) – the ability to use your hands and eyes together effectively. → Learning the piano can improve a child’s hand-eye coordination.

Inspiration (noun) – a sudden good idea or feeling that helps you create something. → Travelling to new places can be a great source of inspiration.

Cardboard (noun) – thick, stiff paper used to make boxes. → Children built a castle out of cardboard in the art class.

Newscaster (noun) – a person who presents news on TV or radio. → The newscaster described the situation in calm, clear language.

Brainstorm (verb) – to think of many ideas quickly, usually in a group. → The team brainstormed creative solutions to the problem.

Imaginative (adjective) – having or showing an active and creative mind. → The child’s imaginative story surprised the whole class.

Open-ended activity (noun) – a task with no single correct answer, allowing many outcomes. → Drawing is an open-ended activity that encourages creativity.

Artistic expression (noun) – the use of art to show thoughts and feelings. → Music and painting are powerful forms of artistic expression.

Creative outlet (noun) – an activity that allows someone to express creativity. → Playing the guitar gives teenagers a healthy creative outlet.

Download the full-resolution file from the attachments.

Questions and Answers

Maria: What kind of jobs require creativity?

Rory: I don't know really, but probably all of them to a certain extent, since all kinds of problems come up, even in the simplest jobs, and people need to make up solutions on the spot, and that needs people to get creative with what they have.

Maria: How does drawing help to enhance children's creativity?

Rory: I don't really know, I'm not a child psychologist, though I imagine it might let kids express their ideas more clearly, if they can show what they're thinking, if they don't have the vocabulary for the idea, then they can at least create a visual representation of it. Plus, you use different materials to draw in different ways, and that has to count for something as well.

Maria: What can we do to help children stay creative?

Rory: Apart from the whole drawing thing, I'm not sure. Maybe we could provide them with access to other materials to build things, and showcase their ideas in different ways. I've seen some pretty interesting and novel uses of cardboard boxes, so that might be an example of that.

Maria: Do you think pictures and videos in the news reports are important?

Rory: I've no idea, frankly. It's possible you don't. I mean, if it's a report on the radio, then you have to rely solely on the words of the newscaster, so it's certainly possible not to have them. However, it's easier to convey the gravity of the situation with pictures, at least in my opinion. I like seeing what people are on about.

Maria: How do artists acquire inspiration?

Rory: You'd have to ask them. I don't know many, or even any. At a guess, though, I'd say they sometimes see something interesting, or they have a person, a muse, I think it's called. It gives them their inspiration, though, how they act, or through how they act and move and speak. Aside from that, it's really hard to say.

Maria: Do you think children should learn to play musical instruments?

Rory: I mean, they should certainly be given the chance. I can't see a reason why not. It could help them develop their hand-eye coordination, or even just their coordination in general. And it's certainly something productive to do with your time.

Discussion

Maria: Yay! Thank you, Rory, for your answers.

Hopefully they were creative. And talking about being creative, I did something in each of them. I don't know if you noticed. I found different ways to talk about possibility, which is important if we are speaking in general, but it's important for IELTS to avoid overgeneralising.

Maria: For example, what's overgeneralising?

Rory: It just means like we're constantly saying how things are, like lots of present simple. So instead of saying, probably, all of them need to do something, it would be all of them need to do something. All of them, no exceptions. So by using probably, we soften this, we open up to possibility.In the same way, I said drawing might let kids express their ideas more clearly. But if we just say drawing lets kids express their ideas more clearly, always, all the time, then that might be generalising too much. Some people will not be very expressive when they are drawing.

Maria: Right, dear listener. So different jobs require creativity. If you work as an artist, you need creativity. This job needs creativity or requires creativity. And you can say that all jobs, to some extent, to a certain extent, require creativity. Because like all kinds of problems come up. So in different jobs, professions, we see different problems and different problems come up. They appear, they pop up. And even in the simplest jobs, people need to be creative, to make up solutions on the spot. Make up solutions, like create solutions, invent solutions, make up on the spot right away, you know, without any preparation. Bam, you make up a solution or you come up with a solution.

Rory: Or develop a solution.

Maria: Develop a solution, nice. Drawing helps children stay creative. So they're into drawing, doing something with their hands. And we could provide children with different materials to build things, like literally you give them paper, pasta, soft dough, I don't know, different wood, stones, and then the children create something. Also from food, you know, like uncooked food, like pasta, sugar, salt, but it's dangerous.

Rory: Oh, I thought you meant uncooked meat for a moment there. I was like, oh my God, don't make art from that. That will...

Maria: No, but like sometimes they give children pasta, you know, like uncooked pasta. Yeah, it's very nice.

Rory: That's okay. That's cool. But not uncooked meat.

Maria: Oh my God. No, no, no, no. Control what you're giving to your children, all right? So different materials, but safe. And you can say that I've seen novel uses of cardboard boxes. Like usually we give children paper, cardboard. Cardboard is this material, like paper, but it's harder than usual paper.

Rory: Thicker paper.

Maria: Like very thick, stiff paper, usually brown. And we have a cardboard box. If you order something online, you get it usually in a cardboard box. So you give cardboard boxes to children and you can see novel uses, novel uses, like new uses. How these boxes could be used, because children are super creative. We usually have pictures and videos in the news reports. So when you read something online, you see pictures, videos. It's easier to convey the information.

Rory: So, easier to provide the information to people. Maybe. I don't know. I think it's easier because if I can see a picture, then I understand what people are talking about. Or rather, I know what they are on about. If you are on about something, you're talking about it or discussing it.

Maria: Some questions could be about artists. And dear listener, it's important that an artist is someone who paints, draws, or makes sculptures. Okay? So, a painter, a person who draws or makes sculptures. An artist. Artists. Careful, you shouldn't confuse it with an actor or actors, right? So art, artist. And artists need inspiration. They need to get inspired. And the question is, how do they acquire inspiration? Acquire means how do they get inspiration? We acquire knowledge.

Rory: Acquire resources and money.

Maria: Yeah. We acquire wealth, for example, money, right? And we acquire inspiration. We get inspiration. How? And you just say, well, I don't know. I'm not an artist. At a guess, though, I'm guessing, but okay, at a guess, what can we do? Like a person might have a muse. Usually a woman. Muse. For example, Dali. Dali had his muse, Gala. So Dali had his Gala, who was his muse, his favourite woman.

Rory: Do we have one?

Maria: Uh-huh. Do we? Hmm. Hmm. I don't know. Yes, yes, we do. I don't know who and what, but yes, we do have a muse… But a muse is always a person, right?

Rory: I think so. At least, it's normally used to refer to a person.

Maria: Yeah, a person, or it could be an imaginary being or force that gives someone ideas. For example, when you feel in love, so you have this feeling of love inside you, like, ooh, and you get inspired. But you feel love towards a certain person, right? But this feeling, you know, of happiness, and you can say, oh, the muse has left me. I can't write an essay. Yeah, but that's a good question. How do artists acquire their inspiration? You can ask them, you know? Yeah, you can say that, okay, through personal life experiences, nature. So nature is a great source of inspiration. And also art, like music, literature, films. So when artists watch a film or listen to music or read something else, they can get inspired. Yeah, nature, actually. Everyday life, just personal experiences, emotions, and just meditation, daydreaming. So from their own life, artists acquire inspiration. A standard question about children and musical instruments. I don't know what IELTS people have with children and musical instruments, but this question is a very common one, you know?

Rory: This comes up a lot, yeah.

Maria: Should children play musical instruments? Yes.

Rory: They keep asking, hoping for the day someone will say, no, no, they shouldn't. They should be kept in cupboards.

Maria: And we say that it could be helpful to develop children's hand-eye coordination. What is it? Hand-eye coordination.

Rory: Oh, that's just the ability to understand where your hands are based on what you can see. So if you look at something, you can move your hand towards it effectively.

Maria: Yeah, like you have some visual input, you see something, and your hand movements. So how to control your hand movements, see things, and just their coordination in general. And also it helps children to spend their time productively learning something new. Oh, there we go. Crawford International University, 10 reasons why children should learn to play an instrument. Yeah, you can say like, children should be taught to play an instrument. Don't say musical instrument. It's fun. The first reason. Oh, yeah, that's a lot of fun. Yeah, that's true.

Rory: I mean, that's as good a reason as any.

Rory: Maria: What? Nonsense. Yeah, it is fun, but it's so frustrating and difficult and just annoying, which is, wow. Improved coordination, that's reason number two. So it improves a child's motor skills. So they're kind of like movements, right? And yeah, coordination reduced anxiety and depression. So playing an instrument reduces children's anxiety and depression. Are children depressed?

Maybe.

Maria: Creates responsibility, dear listener, right? So every instrument needs to be cared for. So guitars and pianos need to be tuned. That's why children learn responsibility. Exposes children to new cultures. Well, that's true. Different music, different cultures. Increases memory. When learning a musical instrument, children need to memorise music and finger placement, dear listener. So they memorise, remember, finger placement, how they place their fingers and where. Improves social skills. See if a child plays in a group, in a band, in an orchestra, they have to socialise. So now you know. Now we've covered it in a very scientific kind of way. Thank you very much for being with us. Stay creative, okay? Always make up different ways of solving things and come up with, you know, a variety of words and solutions, all right? And we'll get back to you in our new episode. Bye!

Rory: Bye!

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi