Last weekend (6 Dec 2014), I had the pleasure of attending TEDxSouthBank as an audience member.
In the first session, we listened to the following incredible people perform, present, and/or talk about their ideas and experiences:
1. DigiYouth Arts
2. Shane Currey
3. Dr Bella Ellwood-Clayton
4. Liam Casey
5. James Dale
It was wonderful to be in the same space as these talented people. One particular session, the first speaker, really resonated with me.
Shane Currey talked about creativity, not just in arts, but in our lives. He mentioned that we need to nourish creativity, and, among other things, share this with others. Shane's talk made me realise that I had used creativity myself to get through a particularly difficult time in my own life. By creativity, I don't mean artistic creativity, but creativity I tapped into as an outlet to get away from my current situation, creativity I utilised to design and construct a language course, and creativity that gave me the ability to develop and adapt my paper-based courses into online teaching and learning tools.
It started in 2009, when, at age 34, I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer. This meant that I immediately had to stop working in what I consider to be one of the best jobs in the world (English language teaching), and undergo a rigorous regimen of treatments to remove the cancer and reduce the chances of my cancer returning. These included surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, and left me unable to work in a 'normal' job for a period of 9 months. Following that, I was on hormonal treatment for 5 years (2009 - 2014), during which time I barely had the mental and physical energy to work part-time.
When I wasn't completely incapacitated during chemotherapy and radiation treatment (and I did sleep a lot during this time), I spent many of my spare moments thinking about language teaching. When I had any amount of energy that wasn't being used for recuperation or exercise, I wrote the content and designed the sequence of lessons for a Band 7+ IELTS writing course.
To put the course together, I had to get creative in many ways: composing relevant, realistic, and meaningful essay topics; writing top-quality model essays that demonstrated important grammar and vocabulary structures; and illustrating how to organise an IELTS essay so that it could not only be read with ease but also responded to the essay topic appropriately.
Doing all of the above allowed me to continue to 'work' (unpaid, of course) and to think beyond my treatment. At the time, it was a means of escape from the here-and-now; to follow a pursuit that took me out of my physical body and physical location and into exploring my creative ideas and putting these to paper. Cancer treatment is all-encompassing of mind, body, and soul, so it was a relief to have something else to focus on when I could. It also took me into thinking about the future, allowing me to dream about the possibility of staying alive and continuing to help students reach their goals.
Halfway through my 5-month chemotherapy treatment, I was able to start delivering this new course to private students, which I adjusted and tweaked as I taught, making it exactly the way I wanted it. Once it was at a stage I was happy with, I decided to expand my creative and experimental streak and "have a go" at putting it online. I had started teaching myself how to use Moodle (an open source online learning management system) at the end of 2008, and this now seemed like the perfect time to try Moodle out with live courses and real students. It also meant that if I did die from the disease, then the idea of having created a continuing online legacy through which students could study - whether I was with them or not - was one that was appealing to me.
Fast-forward to Dec 2014: I have been lucky enough to have such excellent medical treatment that I can now report that I have passed the five-year "all clear" mark, which means the chances of the disease returning are low. (That's not to say I don't think about it on a regular basis.) My original Moodle-based IELTS courses have now become a core part of my website YES! IELTS and through this medium I can help students from all around the world successfully prepare for their IELTS tests. What was a creative outlet has become creative output. YES! IELTS has become my 'real' (paid) job; my business is profitable and things are continuing to look up for the future.
The creative diversion of building a course and a website helped me considerably during my treatment and continues to be part of my life today. I have always believed that we as humans are innately creative, and after listening to Shane's talk and reflecting on my own creativity and expression of this, I have been reminded that what he said is indeed true.
