CHANNELLING CREATIVITY

Stepping back into International Turkish Hope School's main auditorium on November 3, a few short months after graduation, was a trip of nostalgia. Only this time I was there as a trainer for The Daily Star (TDS) and United International University (UIU)'s joint initiative: "Imagine – Write Creatively". I was there along with Naziba Basher, also from with TDS, and Sharmin Sultana, Assistant Professor at UIU.

This was one of the biggest Imagine workshops with almost 200 students all clad in the uniforms I was all too familiar with for 10 years. When respected Vice Principal, Yavuz Koca, came onto the stage it was truly an inspirational moment as he reached out to his students with his motivating speech. 

"You are the shapers of the world and as global citizens, you have a responsibility towards the betterment of society. Journalists and writers from The Daily Star are here today to enlighten you about the impact of print media and the written word," he said.

Following the Vice Principal's words, Professor Dr. Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman, Pro Vice-Chancellor, UIU, spoke very highly of TDS and UIU's combined efforts in creating a workshop to help students strengthen their imagination. Moreover, he expressed his well-wishes that the workshops continue to progress even further.

It was incredible to see how interested the students were in understanding and appreciating the elements of creative writing. While the students initially felt they were simply being dragged from one classroom setting to another, as the workshop progressed over the course of the following two hours, they realised how different and refreshing it was from other such programmes, and we were able to engage and interact with them through various games and activities.  

Starting with ice-breaking sessions and progressing by trying to gather what the students already thought were key elements of writing fiction; we were pleasantly surprised that the students had successfully identified the aspects of creative writing we would be focusing on: characterisation, setting and plot. Very early on, the quick wit of Turkish Hope students became apparent. 

Through the workshop, we discussed the three main parts of creative writing through interactive means. We opened up ways for students to talk and respond to us while giving them the freedom of saying what came to mind. This allowed for a platform with no wrong answers and it was something that students warmed up to in the process of learning.  

Soaking up the information throughout the event, Tasmim Ina said, "I'll be giving my O Levels in about a year and Section C of the English Language B paper focuses on creative writing. Therefore, I think it will also help in getting better grades." Rafidudin Ahmed Akhlaque added, "I'm pretty sure a lot of us didn't know about all these varied methods of writing until this event."

Anisha Kamal, a diligent participant, said, "I learned how to be more creative and how to turn that creativity into writing properly. I really enjoyed how different the workshop was from our regular classes." What really was the highlight of the event for me was when Ishrath Rawshan Chowdhury said, "This makes me want to write better and be more inventive. I found it to be very inspirational."

After the end of the session, Giuseppe Cacace, Head of English Language in the Boys' Section, came onto the stage to express his thoughts on the workshop. "Turkish Hope is known for its achievements in science and analytical teaching, so the focus is kind of shifted off creativity. I am very happy that this event is based solely on my subject. I feel like whether the students go into engineering or business, they are going to need this kind of creative intelligence."

The whole experience was tremendously gratifying because it allowed us to tap into issues students have when trying to experiment with ingenuity. Furthermore, me having been in the shoes of all the students present, I could relate to their experience and their level of responses made me believe that our workshop made a definitive impact.