Does the C Group Have a Future?

Alan Maley, UK

Alan Maley has been involved with ELT for over 50 years. He has lived and worked in 10 countries worldwide, including China and India. He is a prolific author. He is a founder member of the Creativity Group (The C group). In 2012 he was given the ELTons Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a regular contributor to HLT Mag. E-mail: yelamoo@yahoo.co.uk

As I prepare to retire from involvement in ELT, and along with that to withdraw from any leadership role in the C group, it seems timely to look back at what the \C group has managed to do so far, and to examine what would be needed to keep up the momentum.

Since it was launched at the IATEFL conference in Harrogate in 2014, the group has a number of significant achievements to its credit. We have had special numbers on Creativity in English Teaching Professional, EJALELT special number and HLT Mag, (where we have a dedicated column also), we contributed significantly to the two British Council publications (Creativity in the English Language Classroom, 2015, and Integrating Global Issues in the Creative English Language Classroom, 2017); we have collaborated with IATEFL SIGs (Lit SIG and GISIG) at annual conferences, members have made significant contributions to IATEFL conferences in Birmingham (2015), Manchester (2016) and Glasgow (2017) – with an impressive flier (courtesy of Pilgrims); we have collaborated with MATSDA conferences and Oxford Brookes University, members have run conferences with country associations in Macedonia, Greece, France, Malta, etc.; we have set up a scholarship, now in its third year, with co-sponsorship from Pilgrims and JALT, we have sent featured speakers to the JALT conference in Japan for the past 2 years; and we have an active and attractive website where members can share what they are doing,… and so on. Above all, I think it is true to say that the C group, with its slowly growing global membership, has begun to make a small dent in the consciousness of teachers worldwide, and to put Creativity on the map.

At the outset, we decided against becoming a formal association with all the bureaucratic trappings that would entail. Instead, we have preferred a loosely-structured group of committed professionals with shared ideals. But this kind of voluntary, distributed responsibility is predicated on the assumption that members will take individual initiatives for the activities of the group. Unless this happens, we are left with a largely passive membership waiting around for someone to tell them what to do…Not a very creative scenario!

It has been suggested that we seek out a more formal affiliation, such as becoming an IATEFL SIG. This would have the advantage of providing a degree of administrative and financial support. The main disadvantage would be that C Group members would then need to become members of IATEFL, thus incurring membership fees. Nonetheless, it may be worth exploring further how the group could benefit from support form a larger organisation.

Whatever is decided as to structure, if the Group is to continue to grow, both in size and in the scope of its activities, I think members are going to have to take on more responsibility for specific aspects of our activities. The following is a first stab at specifying roles and what they might entail:

1. C group Co-ordinator. Main job, to make sure everyone else is doing theirs, and generally give a steer to old and new initiatives, to keep people in touch with each other and with what the group is doing and to give a sense of direction to the group. This would be time-consuming, so I would suggest this should be on a rotating basis for a maximum of 2 years at a time.
2. Web-manager. To maintain the website, manage the blogs, Facebook etc. and to be in touch with the membership as and when necessary with mailings to share important information. To organise on-line events such as webinars as appropriate. Also to handle registration and induction of new members. This is a key role.
3. New memberships (UK and overseas.)
   We may need to streamline the system for publicising the C Group and for enrolling new members. The present system relies on the web manager but arguably, we need a dedicated memberships’ secretary to chase new active members around the world.
4. Publications co-ordinator. To actively seek out opportunities for C Group and C group members to publish in professional publications, including special numbers of journals, collections of papers, etc. This role would also include links with publishers, and possibly setting up C Group publications of our own, such as a C Group Newsletter or Journal.
5. Public Relations co-ordinator. To publicise the C Group with outside organizations and seek out ways of collaborating with them in projects of mutual interest. Examples for a hit list would include: The British Council, English UK, Cambridge English, the ELT publishers, IATEFL including SIGs and Associates, Teachers’ Associations overseas (eg. APPI, FAAPI, BrazTESOL, TESOL Greece, TESOL France, etc.). Ministries of Education, large language school chains (IH, Bell, NILE, Pilgrims, etc.), organisations teaching other languages (eg. Instituto Cervantes, Alliance Francaise, Goethe Institut, Confucius Institutes, etc.).
6. Scholarships. To source funding for the C Group scholarship to IATEFL and organise publicity, and selection procedures.
7. IATEFL Conference coordinator – to collect, collate conference contributions and work with Jim Wright at Pilgrims to produce the flier. To liaise with IATEFL over booking the room for the Meeting. To publicise the meeting and arrange for a chair person.
8. Events co-ordinator. To actively seek out opportunities to collaborate on running local C Group events, webinars, involvement with overseas associations, etc.

So the answer to the question in my title is ‘Yes, the C group does have a future – but only if everyone is willing to contribute actively to the group.’ So ultimately, the decision lies with you, the members of the C group. I wish you good luck.