How creative should we be? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English,

I'm Neil.

Rob: And hello, I'm Rob.

Neil: Now Rob, how creative are you?

Rob: Very creative, I think. Creativity is

in my bones! Look at this wonderful script

that I wrote and we're presenting right now.

Neil: You are what we could call

'a creative' - a noun which means

someone with a lot of

imagination and ideas. In our job we have to

create - or make - content that teaches

English creatively.

Rob: Creativity is becoming more

important for everyone. The World

Economic Forum forecasts

that by 2020, creativity will be in the top

three most important skills for future jobs.

This is particularly relevant for younger

people who will be entering the world of work

soon - and that's what we'll be discussing

today. But before we do, Neil, have you

created a question for us to answer?

Neil: Yes, and it's about the very creative

artist Banksy. He created a well-known

piece of artwork that has been in the

news recently, but do you know what it is

called? Is it... a) Girl with balloon, b) Girl

with red balloon or c) Balloon girl?

Rob: I can see the picture in my head - so

I think it's c) Balloon girl.

Neil: OK, and we'll find out the answer

later. But now back to our discussion

about creativity. Experts say that students

need to focus more on creativity to help

them get a job. That's perhaps surprising

in the UK, when some of our creative

industries - that's businesses that make

music, art and TV for example - are

world famous. We are creative people, Rob!

Rob: Of course, but there's not such a

focus on being creative in education now

and that might have an effect in the

future. It's something Bernadette Duffy, an

early years consultant, has been

discussing on BBC Radio 4's Bringing up

Britain programme. What does she say

we have been focusing

too much on in schools?

Bernadette Duffy: We focus on the things

that are legitimately important but we

teach them in a way that makes them

easier to measure. I think we need to

redress the balance that puts the focus

purely on gaining the skills and far far

more on actually using them in a creative

way because that's what's going

to make a difference for the future.

Neil: So Bernadette feels we teach skills

in a way that can be easily measured and tested.

She says we teach these skills

legitimately - which here means fairly and

reasonably. But she feels we don't teach

a creative approach to learning skills.

Rob: So we mean things like problem

solving. I guess, even tasks like data

inputting and preparing spreadsheets

can be approached creatively.

In any job, it's sometimes good to 'think

outside the box' or find new ways

of doing things.

Neil: Bernadette thinks we should move

away from just learning skills and start

using these skills creatively - she used the

expression 'redress the balance' which

means 'change things to make them

fairer and more equal'.

Rob: Well, here at the BBC we have to

creative. In fact, one of our values states

that 'creativity is the lifeblood of our

organisation'. Lifeblood here means 'the

most important thing to make

something a success'.

Neil: Rob, I can see creativity is in your

blood - but on an everyday level how can we

all improve our creativity - be more like you?!

Rob: Well, Neil, I'm no expert but

Innovation Manager, Nick Skillicorn is.

He's also been speaking to the BBC and

explaining what we can do to help

ourselves. What does he suggest?

Nick Skillicorn: On a daily basis, everyone

should take fifteen minutes of what I call

unfocused time - time that they're not

looking at any screen, time that they can

essentially get back into their own head,

slow down a bit, and start forming these

new connections between disparate ideas

that result in divergent new original ideas.

Neil: So we need free time to collect all

our different thoughts in our head - what

Nick calls disparate ideas to create new

and amazing ideas.

Rob: Disparate ideas are very different

ideas, all unrelated. And we need what we

might call headspace - that's when your

mind is in a good state and you can think

clearly. For me, I have headspace when

I'm lying in the bath or out riding my bike

- there are no interruptions.

Neil: Well, you certainly don't get your

ideas sitting at a desk, focusing on one

task - we all need some downtime to get

creative. But children going into school

now will grow up to do a job that doesn't

yet exist. And faced with the challenges

of AI, automation, green issues and an

ageing population, creativity

and imagination will be vital.

Rob: Right, well, let's get back to talking

about the creativity of Banksy now.

Neil: Ah yes, because earlier I asked you

which one of his well-known pieces of

artwork has been in the news recently?

Is it... a) Girl with balloon, b) Girl with red

balloon or c) Balloon girl?

Rob: And I said c) Balloon girl. I know it

was a girl and a balloon.

Neil: Not quite right, Rob. The artwork is

titled 'Girl with balloon.' This was recently

auctioned in London but amazingly

shredded in its frame as someone's

winning bid was accepted!

Rob: Wow, that's a very creative way to

destroy a picture! I will do the same with

this script soon but not before we have

recapped some of today's vocabulary.

Starting with 'a creative' - that's a person

whose job is to use a lot of imagination and

come up with new ideas, such as

someone who works in the media

or advertising.

Neil: Then we mentioned legitimately -

which describes doing something fairly

and reasonably.

Rob: Next we heard the expression

'redress the balance'. This means to make

things fairer and more equal.

Neil: We also talked about creativity being

the lifeblood of the BBC. Lifeblood here

means the most important thing to make

something a success. And I know

creativity is running

through your veins, Rob!

Rob: Thanks, Neil. We also heard the word

disparate, meaning very different and

unrelated. And we talked about

headspace, which is when your mind is in

a good state and you can think clearly.

Neil: Before we head off to find some

headspace, don't forget to visit our

website at bbclearningenglish.com

for more great learning English content.

That's all we have time for now.

Do join us again though.

Goodbye.

Rob: Bye bye!