When it comes to English class, it’s generally a safe assumption that students will start by practicing English. Perhaps that’s why students were surprised when ETA Emilie Tomas had a different request. She asked students to redraw a simple shape on the board. Once they had finished, she revealed the challenge: each of them had to incorporate the shape into a unique doodle. At first, the students seemed hesitant. Just draw? Surely, there must be some catch. But as Emilie and her English co-teacher Mery Siallagan circled throughout the classrooms, they were quickly impressed with the student’s creativity. The simple doodle was transformed into the neckline of a dress, the roof of a house, or the cord of a landline phone. At each desk, masterpieces were taking form.

Next, students were asked to set their drawings aside to learn about passive voice. When it was finally time to return to their doodles, the students wrote descriptions for their creations (in the passive voice, of course!) and hung them all around the classroom. Finally, it was their turn to be art critics. They walked through the ‘exhibit’, admiring the sketches and correcting each others’ sentences in their own notebooks. It was so fun to see the students’ creativity on display. And because the students were proud of their drawings, they put a lot of effort into writing their descriptions too. Emilie would not be surprised to see many of her student’s work in a real art museum very soon!

Emilie Tomas is currently teaching at SMA Unggul Del in Laguboti, North Sumatra.