Hold These Before You Leave

Counting the steps you've taken
Realizing you're out of the chamber of secret
I've been loving you like forever
But nothing to lose when you look at my eyes
telling me how much you want to share
your feeling this time
your love for her who has come back

my ears seem hearing your heart's beating
and my hands shake while you're touching
so, hold these before you leave
ensure me that we're out of reaching
baby, hold these tight before leaving

I remember when you drove your car
in the highway you put your eyes on me
I captured it, the best moment of us

Capture it...before you leave

Send It to Recycle Bin

Aku masih berkutat dengan perasaan dongkol yang beberapa jam yang lalu mencekikku begitu kuat. Ya. Beberapa jam yang lalu aku melihat gadis itu lagi. Gadis yang kuanggap sebagai parasit yang telah meluluh lantakkan pohon durian hingga pohon itu tak lagi berbuah. Mungkin pohon duriannya terlalu nyaman bersama sang parasit hingga enggan untuk berbuah, meski acap kali berbunga. Ya... benar-benar sempat berbunga.

Gadis semampai itu memang cantik. Tapi entah mengapa, sejak pertama kali aku berkenalan dengannya aku merasa tidak klop dengannya. Memang seiring berjalannyaa sang waktu, hal itu terbukti. Benar terbukti karena ego ku untuk tidak mau memahami dia, gadis ABG.

Gadis itu tadi berdiri di sebelah kiriku, memegang beberapa lembar kertas, lalu membacanya dengan perasaan dongkol yang coba ia tutupi dengan komat kamit bibir sensualnya. Mimik wajahnya sangat terlihat masam. Matanya sayu memancarkan kedongkolan hati yang belum bisa erupsi. Badannya yang berdiri loyo mencerminkan amarah yang melelahkan. Aku tahu, saat itu akulah penyebab kedongkolan hatinya. Dan aku berkilah... ini impas.

"Raise yours!" katanya dengan lagak jutek.
" It's over." jawabku tak kalah jutek.

Ia pun pergi dengan kedongkolannya, kembali ke tempat pertama tadi ia berdiri. Aku tahu, dia bertambah kesal dengan sikap sengakku yang reflek muncul. Tak apa. Bagiku, ini impas. Impas, seperti dulu ia pernah membuatku dongkol dengan mengambil fireworks ku dan menghabiskannya dalam satu malam.

Aku tahu. Dongkol itu melelahkan. Dan aku bangga bisa membuat gadis itu lelah dengan kedongkolannya. Tapi, akupun terciprat...terciprat dongkolnya. Sejujurnya, aku merasa bersalah pada gadis itu. Tapi sudahlah... just send it to recycle bin.

I Don't Care

I don't care if he comes as Casanova
I care of him as a good man
I don't care if he comes like Nik for Lau
I care of him just because I know
he has a reason to choose
what he wants, what he needs
I don't care when those girls get closer
I care of what he does
I know there must be a reason
and I know... Arjuna knows it.

A Comparison of Stylistics Elements of the Poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Death be Not Proud” by John Donne

A.    Introduction

Analyzing poem is a part of literature study which is interesting to do. A poem is analyzed by looking at the elements of it, such as diction, tone, mood, figures of speech, sound patterns, and symbols; those elements are called stylistics elements of poem.  In this essay, the writer takes two poems by two different poets to be analyzed based on the stylistics elements. Those poems are “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Death be Not Proud” by John Donne. Before proceeding any further, the first thing that must be discussed first is the background of the poets.

Emily Dickinson is an America’s poet whose poems are famous in literature study. She was born in Massachusetts and she attended one year of college at female seminary in South Hadley. According to Reuben (2012), Emily Dickinson did not continue her study in the second year at the seminary because she was homesick and unhealthy. After deciding not to continue her study at the seminary, Emily Dickinson always spent her time alone in her room and wrote many poems. On the other side, John Donne is an English poet whose poems are also famous in literature study. He was born in 1572 in London. Moreover, he existed in the era of Queen Elizabeth as a poem writer besides his main job in politics. He was married but in 1617 his wife died in childbirth. After the death of his wife, John Donne became a priest and he still wrote many poems (Smith, 2012).

Even though Emily Dickinson and John Donne are from different era and background, their poems titled “Because I could Not Stop for Death” and “Death be Not Proud” have some similarities in the stylistics elements. Both of the poets talks about death and personify death as written in the poems. Besides that, their poems are kind of lyric poems; poems which are created to share feeling. It becomes the reason why the writer is interested to discuss about those two poems by Emily Dickinson and John Donne which are created in different era. This essay will try to compare the stylistics elements of the poems based on the diction, tone, mood, and figures of speech.

B.    Diction, Tone, and Mood

Diction is the word choices that the poets use in order to reveal the tone of the poems (Fruhauf, Kelly, and Johnstone, 2006). Moreover, tone refers to the mood of the poems in the whole part. Tone affects the atmosphere of the poems and influences the readers’ emotional response or feeling while reading the poems (Drew, 1959:73). Tone can be furious, ironic, melancholy, religious, thoughtful, joking, indifferent, sarcastic, sentimental, earnest, enthusiastic, fearful, tortured, joyful, vengeful, serious, affectionate, forgiving, mocking, and many others (Kennedy and Gioia, 2002:21).

Diction, tone, and mood can be analyzed by looking at the poems and understand what the poets want to convey by writing the poems. Emily Dickinson, as cited in Kennedy and Gioia (2002: 386), wrote the poem titled “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”:

Because I could not stop for Death—

He kindly stopped for me—

The Carriage held but just Ourselves—

And Immortality.

We slowly drove— He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility—

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess— in the Ring—

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—

We passed the Setting Sun—

Or  rather—He passed Us—

The Dews drew quivering and chill—

For only Gossamer, my Gown—

My Tippet—only Tulle

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling on the Ground—

The Roof was scarcely visible—

The Cornice—in the Ground—

Since then—‘tis Centuries—and yet

Feels  Shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity—

While Emily Dickinson wrote “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, John Donne, as cited in Kennedy and Gioia (2002: 446), wrote the poem titled “Death be Not Proud”:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

From both of the poems, the diction, tone, and mood of the poems are a bit different.  Both of Emily Dickinson and John Donne use the word “death” in their own poems. However, the tone and mood which is created in the poems because of the word “death” are different.  Emily Dickinson, in her poem, interprets “death” as positive mood which refers to respect and reverence, while John Donne interprets “death” as negative mood which refers to disgust and contempt. Fruhauf, Kelly, and Johnstone (2006) stated:

Both Dickinson and Donne obviously choose to have death as their subject, but each has a decidedly different attitude toward their subject, or tone, in their poem. These attitudes are revealed by their careful word choice or diction. Note that Dickinson employs words like kindly and civility to convey her tone of respect and reverence. Donne, on the other hand, uses phrases like slave to Fate and with…sickness dwell to convey his disgust and contempt.

Diction, tone, and mood are parts of stylistics elements in poems that can be analyzed by understanding the specific words which are used in the poems and the content of the poems. Emily Dickinson exposes the word “death” as positive connotation while John Donne exposes it as negative connotation.

C.    Figure of Speech: Personification of Death

In general, figures of speech are expressions that suggest more than the literal meanings in the poems. Kennedy and Gioia (2002:119) said, “A figure of speech may be said to occur whenever a writer, for the sake of freshness or emphasis, departs from the usual denotation of words.” Moreover, figures of speech usually are not meant as the literal meanings but they imply more than what the poets say on the surface in their poems. In daily language or everyday speech, figurative language represents one thing in terms of another. It may describe an action or a feeling by comparing it to something else. Furthermore, the use of figures of speech makes the poets write their poems more imaginative. Figures of speech in the poems, according to Kennedy and Gioia (2002:122), consist of simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole.

Based on the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, the figurative language which dominates in the poem is personification. Personification is a part of figurative language that attributes human characteristics to other objects such as animals, things, and abstract ideas (www.chaparralpoets.org). The personification of death in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson can be analyzed from each stanza. In the first stanza, “Because I could not stop for Death— He kindly stopped for me.” The Death, in the first stanza, is personified because the “death” does activity that a person usually does; that is stopping. In the second stanza, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste. And I had put away. My labor and my leisure too, for His Civility“, it is clearly stated in the second clause “He knew no haste” and the last phrase “for His Civility”. Moreover, in the forth stanza in the first line “Or rather—He passed Us—“also shows the personification of death in Emily Dickinson’s poem. Emily Dickinson conveys the death as a welcome relief, a blessed way to heaven and immortality (Melani, 2009); this also supports the previous writer’s statement that death in Emily Dickinson’s poem refers to positive connotation.

Similar to Emily Dickinson, John Donne also personified the death in his poem “Death be Not Proud”. In the first line of his poem, that is “Death be not proud, though some have called thee”; in this line John Donne tells that the death has feeling like human. Then, in the next lines, John Donne points the death as the second person point of view, “you” in old English form, for example “Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so”. Furthermore, in the last line of the poem, John Donne writes,” And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die” which shows that the death can die as a person does. John Donne conveys the death as negative connotation; it can be proved in some lines of the poem as cited in Kennedy and Gioia (2002: 446):

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

In those parts, John Donne shows that the death is like a slave to fate which is like a game for men. Men cannot control the death, but it comes like when they are gambling; it is not sure when it will come. In a simple way, John Donne sees death as something frightening in human life. That is why it is said that John Donne creates negative connotation of the death. Schaper (2012) tries to explain the negative connotation of the death in John Donne’s poem:

Death as deemed a slave, a unique trope, one, which the poet fashions with wit and wisdom. Fate is far greater the force than the end of life, which menaces many men. Chance is a game, a mere trifle, a toy that men gamble with, whether ending their fortunes or their lives. Kings put evil rebels, madman, and threats to the state, to death… Death is not even a scavenger, but a frustrated element pushed to the limit.

           

In a simpler way, based on the personification of death, Emily Dickinson and John Donne have different ideas. Emily Dickinson sees death as a good thing or bless while John Donne sees it like an unwanted thing in this world. However, both poets attribute human characteristics to abstract thing, death.

D.    Conclusion

In summary, the poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Death be Not Proud” by John Donne have same theme which is talking about death. Those poems are also categorized as lyric poems because both of them have purpose to share feelings. However, the diction, tone, and mood of the poems are a bit different.  Both of Emily Dickinson and John Donne use the word “death” in their own poems. Moreover, the tone and mood which is created in the poems because of the word “death” are different.  Emily Dickinson, in her poem, interprets “death” as positive mood, while John Donne interprets “death” as negative mood. Furthermore, both Emily Dickinson and John Donne personify the death in their poems.

References:

Drew, E. (1959). Poetry: A Modern Guide to Its Understanding and Enjoyment. New York 17, NY: Dell Publishing.

Fruhauf, K., Godwin, B., & Johnstone, L. (2006). Students Handbook: A Student Guide to Success on the Board-wide Examination. Retrieved from http://www.ocdsb.ca/med/pub/ocdsb_publications/eng_4u_exemplar_handbook.pdf

Kennedy, X.J., & Gioia, D. (2002). An Introduction to Poetry. New York: Longman.

Melani, L. (2009, February 25). Emily Dickinson. The Biography of Emily Dickinson. Retrieved from http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/dickinson.html

Reuben, P.P. (2012). Chapter 4: Emily Dickinson. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. Retrieved from http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap4/dickinson.html

Schaper, C.A., (2012, July 25). Poetry Analysis: ‘Death be Not Proud’ by John Donne. The Epoch Times. Retrieved from http://epoch-archive.com

Smith , A.J.(2012) . Biography: John Donne . Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-donne.

Reducing Fillers in Public Speaking for EFL Learners

Introduction

Public speaking or delivering a speech in front of public in a good way is really important in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) class. The EFL learners should realize that the way people speak or present in front of public will affect the audience whether to pay attention or ignore the speech. One of the challenges for public speakers that the EFL learners have to know is using fillers while speaking. Normally, public speakers use fillers to give time on their own to think of what they have to say while delivering speech. However, using too many fillers while delivering a speech in front of public will reduce the credibility of the speakers (Mitchell, 2009). On the other words, the speakers seem not credible since the way of they deliver speech does not ensure the audience to trust. As the bad effect, the audience will not believe in what the speakers convey. This essay sees that it is a fact using fillers in public speaking and it is important to reduce them. Based on the problem of using too many fillers in public speaking, this essay will try to discuss the solution of reducing fillers while delivering a speech in front of public for EFL learners.

 Public Speaking and Fillers

Public speaking is one of subjects in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) that the learners should master. This subject is related to the speaking skill which is important to be mastered since speaking is one of the aspects that should be developed in EFL class. Public speaking is not easy to do. Morita and Adams in Shu-Hui and Cadman (2009) said, “It is well known that giving oral presentation or public speaking in English is not a simple matter of learning language and following instructions; rather, it is a skill requiring complex sociolinguistic as well as cognitive understandings, especially for learners of English as Foreign Language.” It means that there are some rules that the learners should understand before delivering speech in front of public.

One of the rules of public speaking that must not be avoided is the use of fillers. The writer defines fillers as moments of silence during delivering speech. Fitzhugh (2011) defines fillers as dreadful sounds and words that speakers usually use to buy them time when they cannot think of what else to say while delivering a speech. Fillers can be in a form of words, such as uh, um, and well. Furthermore, there are still a lot of example of common fillers that the speakers usually to say. Fripp (2012) lists some common fillers which are listed in this table below.

Um	Right	Okay	Like	Hmmm
Uh-huh	cool	yeah	Really	Uh
All right	Is that so	I mean	Basically	That’s interesting
Good answer	You know	I hear you	Seriously	This means
I’ve heard of that	I know	Surely not	Well	So

Public speaking and fillers are two things which are hard to be separated. The speakers, in this case are EFL learners, tend to use fillers when they do not know what else to say while they are delivering speech. It might be caused by the condition of the speakers, for example, when the speakers are lack of preparation of what to say and when the speakers have not been ready to speak in front of public. Those conditions potentially lead the speakers feel uncomfortable and nervous while standing and trying to deliver a speech.

The Importance of Reducing Fillers

It is annoying for most listeners when listening to the speakers who speak with too many fillers. Caffrey (2012) gives some examples of speaking with too many fillers:

            Example 1: "I… um… wanted to… um… talk today about… uh… the marketing report for the fourth quarter."

Example 2: "Do you, like, want to hear, like, a story about what happened?"

Example 3: "Um… This book was very important for a long time, know what I mean? The author was heralded across the continent, know what I mean? It was an exciting time… do you know what I mean?"

Based on the examples above, fillers most occur at the beginning of utterances or phrases. Corley and Stewart (2004) said, “Hesitation phenomena such as fillers are most likely to occur at the beginning of an utterance or phrase, presumably as a consequence of the greater demand on planning processes at these junctures.” It is also clear from the examples that speaking with too many fillers makes the point that the speakers want to convey is hard to grasp by the audience. It is not a problem if the speakers use fillers but not too often. Speaking with too many fillers will reduce speakers’ credibility in conveying message orally in front of public (Genard, 2010). As EFL learners, the speakers need to deal with all conditions that potentially lead them to use fillers. As the positive effect, they can deliver a speech well and make the audience understand everything they convey. Below are some ways that the EFL learners can do to reduce the use of fillers in public speaking.

How to Reduce Fillers

1.     Cover a pause while speaking. Pause in public speaking is good things. The EFL learners should use the pause wisely or not too long.  Pause is better to allow audience to reflect on the important point the speakers have just made. Genard (2010) said, “A presentation or speech without pauses is like a 100-car freight train going by at a railroad crossing: it’s endless and boring. Listeners need a mental rest now and then. Pauses accomplish that.” While doing a pause, the speakers should think of what else they have to convey quickly. So, it must not take a long time for a pause. Consequently, the learners need to practice delivering speech and avoid using fillers; As EFL learners, they need to practice it more.

2.     Take a breath. One way to avoid using fillers while speaking is taking a breath. It is related to the use of pause since while taking a breath means that the speakers use a pause. It will give the speakers time to think of what they have to say. By doing this, the audience will not feel annoyed than doing fillers (Fitzhugh,2011).

3.     Practice with tape recorder or video camera. Another thing that EFL learners can do to practice how to be public speakers who do not use too many fillers is practicing with tape recorder or video camera. Since speaking fluently is a matter of habit, the speakers need to practice a lot. Practicing with tape recorder or video camera will be helpful to improve the skill of being good public speakers. First of all, the learners need to deliver speech and record their own speech. Second, they need to look back at what they have done, do they know whether they still use a lot of fillers or not. If they still use a lot of fillers, they need to practice their speech more by recording until they are lack of fillers in their speech (Latz, 2008).

4.     Have a practice with friends. Practicing speech with friends will also helpful for the learners to deal with the problem. Each of the learners can warn each other whenever one of them use fillers many times in their speech. Genard (2012) said:

“Have a practice session in which a friend or colleague helps you with the problem. The person should listen to you speak while giving an auditory cue each time you use your favorite vocal filler — tapping on the table, ringing a small bell, that sort of thing. Each time you hear the cue you must stop and start that sentence over. Personally, I would try the first two options before undertaking this one, because you might find it too frustrating. And for goodness sake, don’t choose a member of your family to do this exercise with!”

However, the removal of using fillers is a gradual process. The learners can start to avoid using fillers by making a conscious effort to not use vocal fillers during delivering speech. The more they practice, the more effort they do, the more result they get. Eliminating verbal fillers needs to be a conscious process. EFL learners’ effort to eliminate fillers from the entire speech will work as well as their good practice (Kitagawa, Watanabe,& Kumaki, 2009).

 Conclusion

Public speaking and the use of fillers cannot be separated from EFL learners. EFL learners need to know how to deliver a good speech as one of their competence skills in EFL class. Covering a pause while speaking, taking a breath for a while, practicing with tape recorder or video camera, and having a practice with friends are some easy ways to help EFL learners deal with the problem. In brief, those ways can be done by the EFL learners to improve their skill in public speaking without or less fillers. Decreasing fillers cannot be done in an instant way; it need process and time since it is a matter if habit. In conclusion, the more practice will lead the EFL learners to be a good in public speaking.

References

Caffrey,A. (2012). Removing Unnecessary "Fillers" from Your Speaking. Retrieved from http://www.publicspeakingexpert.co.uk/removing-unnecessary-fillers-from-your-speaking.html

Corley, M. & Stewart, O.W.  (2004). Hesitation disfluencies in spontaneous speech:

                                The meaning of um. Rettrieved from http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/martinc/offprints/cs_llc.pdf

Fitzhugh, S. (2011). Avoiding Filler Words or Sounds. Retrieved from http://crystalteatoastmasters.org/2011/11/public-speaking-tip-sheet-1-avoiding-filler-words/

Fripp,P .(2012). How to Improve Your Public Speaking – Remove Filler Words. Retrieved from http://www.fripp.com/blog/how-to-improve-your-public-speaking-remove-filler-words/

Genard, G. (2010). Like, Eliminating “uh’s,” “um’s,” and Other Vocal Fillers. Retrieved from http://www.publicspeakinginternational.com/articles/bid/64697/Like-Eliminating-uh-s-um-s-and-Other-Vocal-Fillers

Kitagawa,A., Watanabe,A.,& Kumaki, H. (2009). A Path to developing oral proficiency: Speaking rate, silent pauses and fillers. Retrieved from http://paaljapan.org/conference2011/ProcNewest2011/pdf/poster/P-1.pdf

Latz, J. (2008). How to Reduce Filler Words. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Reduce-Filler-Words&id=4409595

Mitchell, O. (2009). How to Eliminate Filler Words. Retrieved from www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/

Shu-Hui, Y & Cadman,K. (2009). EFL learners’ connection with audience in oral presentations: The significance of frame and person markers. Retrieved from http://www.tesol.org.au/files/files/97_Yu.Cadman3.pdf

Discussing Learning Activities Based on Multiple Intelligences (MI) for Creative Writing Class for University Students

Creative Writing is a course which is usually being related to the use of language that is a part of verbal-linguistic intelligence. In some students’ paradigm creative writing is like only using verbal-linguistic intelligence in which students are expected to play words by choosing diction as good as novelist or poets. However, creative writing is more than choosing words to make a good writing. It is interesting to discuss more about creative writing since there is still a paradigm that writing is always related to verbal-linguistic intelligence. Actually, creative writing can be related to all of the intelligences. Moreover, creative writing for university students needs an approach which can lead the students to create better quality of writing than in the level below. It is interesting to write about the activities that university students can do for their creative writing class. This essay will try to discuss the most appropriate approach to creative writing course by focusing on some learning activities in creative writing class for university students based on Multiple Intelligence theory.

Creative Writing and Multiple Intelligences

According to Steven Mintz as cited in Teaching Creative Writing, columbia.edu, creative writing class gives students opportunities for self-expression and catharsis (any good ways to express emotion).  It can allow them to record emotions in words and explore human interactions, and then transfer it into a form of writing. Besides that, creative writing is not determined only on verbal-linguistic ability but also all of the potential abilities that the students have. Creative writing gives freedom to the students to explore their abilities deeper in order to create a good writing which is also creative.

One of some approaches that can be used appropriately in creative writing class is Multiple Intelligences. Multiple Intelligences (MI) refer to a learner-based philosophy that characterized human intelligence as having multiple dimensions that must be acknowledged and developed in education (Richards, 2001; p.115). To implement MI theory the lecturer activates the 8 intelligences that the students have. These are short descriptions of the 8 intelligences, including:

Linguistic Intelligence: Linguistics Intelligence refers to the ability to use language to express particular feeling (Campbell, 2004:p.2).

Logical - Mathematical Intelligence: According to Howard Gardner (as cited in Teaching and Learning through Multiple Intelligences by Campbell, et.all., 2004:p.31 ), logical-mathematical intelligence related to mathematical calculations, logical thinking, and problem-solving.

Spatial Intelligence: Spatial Intelligence reflects the ability to enable one to perceive imagery and imaginary (Campbell, 2004:p.93).

Bodily – kinesthetic Intelligence: Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence shows expertise in using one’s whole body to express ideas and feelings (Armstrong, 2009).

Musical Intelligence: Musical Intelligence refers to the ability of sensitivity of pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone (Campbell, 2004:p.127).

Interpersonal Intelligence: Interpersonal Intelligence is related to the ability to interact and understand other people (Armstrong, 2009.

Intrapersonal Intelligence: Intrapersonal Intelligence refers to the ability to understand oneself, such as awareness of inner moods, intentions, motivations, temperaments, and desires (Armstrong, 2009).

Naturalist Intelligence: Naturalist Intelligence reflects to the ability to observe patterns in nature, identify and classify natural objects, and understand natural phenomena (Campbell, 2004:p.219).

Learning activities based on MI

Creative writing course in university level has objective to enhance students’ creativity and express it in a form of writing with good language development. This course needs supporting approaches in order to reach the objective so that the students can be optimal in developing their ability in learning creative writing. As mentioned above, Multiple Intelligences takes important role in the process of enhancing the creativity of the students. Howard Gardner, as cited in Campbell’s book, 2004, noted that creativity can be expressed through all the intelligences. Students need to use their eight intelligences to explore their world and maximize their creativity (Campbell, 2004; p.2). Moreover, Multiple Intelligences approach proposes not to look language as limited to linguistics perspective only, but also look and combine all aspects of communication (Richards, 2001; p.117).

As the lecturer of Creative Writing class, it is essential to recognize this issue because by recognizing the lecturer can decide the most appropriate activities for the class. Moreover, the lecturer is expected to give students opportunities for the creative exploration of their individual interests and talents in order to make a creative writing. In making activities, the lecturer has to understand that the intelligences work together so that some of the activities focus on more than one (Sólmundardóttir, 2008: p.8). In this essay, the writer provides some activities based on MI theory which can be applied in creative writing class. Those are:

1.      Free writing journal

A simple thing that the lecturer can do in the class in giving the students opportunity to do free writing. As the mechanism, the lecturer starts by providing a general topic to the students, for example: personal feeling, bad day, interesting place, and so on.  Then, the students are asked to develop the topic in a form of writing in a limited time. In the particular limited time, the students write anything comes to their mind related to the topic. In this activity, coherence and accuracy are not really important so that the students only need to share their idea on a piece of paper (Goldberg, as cited in Sloane, 2010).

Free writing is the most effective and easy way to create a journal of writing because it gives students freedom to writing anything comes to their mind in a particular time (Elbow, 1973). According to Mary Lieske in her journal titled Free Writing Exercises, as cited in Castle.ieu.edu, the main point of this activity is not to generate something worth handing in but it is simply to generate something from general ideas to specific points which the students want to work with. Free writing also has benefits for the students to feel comfortable with writing, to discover thing they want to write about, and feel that writing is fun (Elbow, 1973). This activity, actually, related to the verbal-linguistic intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence; it is because, besides facilitate the students to put words based on their thinking, the students also have opportunity to explore what they feel in the particular time and express their feeling in a form of writing. Therefore, free writing activity is appropriate to start creative writing in order to develop students’ idea to write (Lea, 2011).

2.     Finding story in a song and writing a critical thought

The second activity which can be applied in creative writing class is finding story in a song since every song has its own story which is conveyed to the listeners. This activity, actually, has objective to help students use their senses in understanding meaning which is provided in a form of song (Heather, 2000). As the mechanism of this activity, firstly the lecturer provides a song in the class and asks the students to listen and pay attention to the message by using all their senses. After listening, the students are divided in a small group to discuss the story in the song and retell the story in their own words in a form of critical writing. Therefore, the students need to analyze the story, for example, from what point of view the story is made, what conflict inside, what resolution provided in the story, how the story ends, and so on. On the other words, students can listen to a song and give a brief summary of its storyline or theme in group and they might also contrast the cultural assumptions in the song with those from their cultures (Campbell, 2004: p.139).

Actually, this activity is related to the musical intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligence. While listening to the song, the students use their senses to feel the atmosphere of the song which is related to intrapersonal and musical intelligences. Then, while they make analysis of the story, they use their logical thought to recognize the plot of the story in the song; it is related to logical-mathematical intelligence. After that, while they make a critical writing about the song, they use their verbal-linguistic to decide the diction so that the writing is easy to understand. Moreover, through song the lecturer can improve the students’ language skills. A song can serve as an excellent tool in helping students to strengthen their written language skills, for example giving background idea of what they want or they have to write (Campbell, 2004: p.138). In brief, the activity above is good for creative writing since it guides the students in developing critical thinking in order to make their good writing in their level.

3.     Field trip, observing nature, and class compilation project

The third activity that can be applied in creative writing class is having a field trip. According to Hughes and Moore (2012), a field trip brings classroom study alive for students and helps them remember and relate to what they have learned. Moreover, it provides rich resources that can rarely be approximated in the classroom. It also helps the students to connect their personal lives to the world. The purpose of this field trip is to help the students finding inspiration outside the class. As the mechanism, the lecturer makes simple field trip program for making class final project of creative writing. First, the lecturer asks the students to make a group of 6 to 8. In that group, the students are assigned to have a field trip in the particular weekend and try to find inspiration by observing nature in order to write something, for example, poems, short stories, song lyrics, flash fiction, and so on. Second, in the field trip, they are allowed to take pictures in order to document the situation and condition in the location which might be their inspiration. Finally, the students are assigned to make a creative writing based on the inspiration that they have got and submit the writing to be collected as class compilation.

A well-planned field trip offers meaningful learning experiences for many students, particularly when the trip is integrated with areas studies in the classroom (Campbell, 2004: p.87). The field trip becomes the general activity in which included other activities inside it. On the other hand, as with any type of educational program component, field trip should be designed around specific educational objectives (Myers and Jones, 2004). The activity, actually, fulfill the purpose and objective of the field trip in specific area of study. Those activities also related to naturalist, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily-kinesthetic, and linguistic intelligence

Implication and Conclusion

Those activities above are made by combining some intelligence. Furthermore, the activities are good and appropriate to be implemented in creative writing class for university level. Moreover, students have all of the intelligences that will be very helpful to develop their creativity. An intelligence cannot stand alone, that is why the activities above are related each other. The lecturer must consider that creative writing is simply related to linguistic intelligence but to implement as the learning activities the lecturer is suggested to consider all of the intelligences. For the students, they need to recognize that creative writing is never simply descriptive or imaginative but it also involves ideas, themes, questions, and arguments. On the other words, it has purpose to express thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than to simply convey information (Steven Mintz). Therefore, it is good to implement Multiple Intelligence theory in creative writing class for university students because it will help the students to create a good quality of writing as appropriate as their level.

References:

Armstrong, Thomas. (2009). Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. United States of America: ASDC Publications.

Campbell, Linda, et.all. (2004). Teaching and Learning through Multiple Intelligences. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc.

Elbow, Peter. (1973). Writing Without Teachers. Retrieved October 8^, 2012 from http://nzr.mvnu.edu/faculty/trearick/english/rearick/exposwrt/Elbow%20Learning%20Without%20Writing%20Teachers.pdf

Forest, Heather. (2000). Storytelling Activities and Lesson Ideas. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://www.storyarts.org/lessonplans/lessonideas/index.html

Hughes, Langston and Christopher Moore. (2012). Teaching Strategies: Field Trip. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://www.learner.org/workshops/tml/workshop6/teaching3.html

Lea, Amber. (2011). Journal Writing Tips: The Benefits of Free Writing. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://www.writingthroughlife.com/journal-writing-tips-the-benefits-of-freewriting

Lieske, Mary. (_____). Free Writing Exercises. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://castle.eiu.edu/~writing/freewritingexercises.pdf

Mintz, Steven. Teaching Creative Writing. Retrieved October 3, 2012 from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/pdfs/creative_writing.pdf

Myers, Brian and Linda Jones. (2004). Effective Use of Field Trips in Educational Programming: A Three Stage Approach. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc054

Richards, Jack C. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sloane, Paul. (2010). Free writing: A Method for Unblocking Creativity. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://www.bqf.org.uk/innovation/2010/02/22/freewriting-a-method-for-unblocking-creativity/

Sólmundardóttir, Anna S. (2008). The Multiple Intelligences Theory in English Language Teaching. Retrieved October 9, 2012 from http://skemman.is/stream/get/1946/1485/4473/1/adal_adal.pdf