CREATIVE WRITING: CREATING SELF-CONFIDENCE ESCRITURA CREATIVA: PARA CREAR AUTOCONFIANZA

Developing teenage students’ self-confidence could be difficult. Their age, likes, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions are constant obstacles to learning a new language, even more, if they do not feel comfortable in their classroom. This article reflects on the implementation of creative writing and how other aspects as critical thinking, development of language skills, motivation, among others, can be improved while focusing on writing in a “funny way” based


INTRODUCTION
Fear, anxiety, embarrassment, shame, and even anger, are the most common feelings among teenage students of EFL. The pressure of the people around them and the desire of being "good enough" make them feel insecure when they have to share an answer of any activity. Some of them are brave and apologize, explaining the reason behind their silence, but most students feel afraid and prefer to sit quietly, letting their thoughts fly around and, in the worst cases, allowing them to be true.
In their research, Xia & Xu found that "students tended to experience negative emotions including anxiety, boredom, guilty and helplessness when they were in a negative CE (classroom environment) characterized by perceived negative teacher feedback, unsatisfied autonomy, tense competitiveness, poor teacherstudent relationships, low textbook quality, high teacher expectation, and ill-structured teaching design" (as cited in Li, Huang, & Li, 2020). This scenario is common in different schools, it does not change if they are private or public, or even from another country; there are always these feelings that start to look more like obstacles than any other thing. Henter (2014) explains that when a student starts to develop a negative attitude towards their language learning, it will make it harder than it should be because the student sees some barriers that him/she created. Therefore, the teacher's responsibility is to help our students break them without teaching the lessons needed.
This article addresses three main parts. The first one talks about the students' attitude towards EFL in terms of beliefs and perceptions. The second part relies on the benefits of creative writing from a broader perspective that goes beyond the teaching of English. Finally, the third part shows how having a friendly environment will help the students feel more comfortable and develop their language skills.
These three ideas reflect the importance of how students need to be listened to and how creative writing could help them express themselves.
Also, this paper will show other aspects that need to be considered in any class, referencing personal teaching experience and additional research designed about the areas of concern. In the end, it will give some recommendations about the classroom environment and creative writing that could be applied in the classroom to make them more enjoyable and comfortable.

WHERE IS THE MISTAKE?
Secondary graders demonstrate fear, shyness, anxiety, shame, or anger when completing or participating in English classes. Some of them have had the encouragement or the trust to say that they have had "bad teachers," as they call them, who treated them in a wrong way, or who did not have enough patience with them.
Being empathic with students is essential, "putting pressure on students can only discourage them, especially when a teacher must develop students' speaking abilities" (Henter, 2014). Sometimes in a rush to see students with an advanced level, it is forgotten that not all feel comfortable sharing their progress in public. Not necessarily because they are shy, but because they are introverted or prefer to see their partners' work to understand if their work is well done or any other possible situations.
In this way, teachers need to find the balance  and good attitude" (Oroujlou & Vahedi, 2011).
It is necessary to be careful with the classroom environment; factors such as the relationship with the students and teaching will affect how students feel and believe. Changing those thoughts later will be complicated.
In other cases, students feel more comfortable when the activities are written rather than spoken.
After all, they have the opportunity to share their feelings and thoughts more freely because they do not need to read them aloud. Harmer (as cited in Tütüniş & Küçükali, 2014) affirms that creative writing allows students to express better than oral activities, they feel most comfortable.
In addition, they have the opportunity to develop their ideas better. Therefore, considering these conditions, integrating creative writing activities in the classes helps them feel comfortable, showing a better attitude.
It is essential to look for writing exercises that elicit students' attention, especially those focused on the content rather than the grammar or spelling. Hence "Those activities that are good for language acquisition are usually perceived by acquirers as pleasant, while those activities that are not good for language acquisition are not consistently perceived as pleasant, and are often perceived as painful.", (Krashen, 1994).
Activities such as start a story from a sentence, change the final of any story, write the exact text from the perspective of any other of the characters of the story, or create a character or object based on a name, will help students to change their attitude towards the English language.
On the one hand, they do not see it as a monster whose purpose is to make them suffer. On the other hand, students have started to see it as something more valuable than just learning grammar. Even though it is essential, it is necessary to change the belief that students will be English teachers. They need to know English for communication purposes; keeping this in mind, they will realize it is functional. Therefore, they will feel more motivated to learn it. According to K rkgöz (as cited in Fithriani, 2021), creative writing develops different areas in terms of language such as fluency, grammar, vocabulary, discourse, and creativity while the right side of their brains is working out. Therefore, there are different advantages to teaching English writing differently.
Once those students find another kind of external motivation beyond a grade, it is necessary to look over the stories they will share. Writing is not just for developing a skill, but to express and communicate with others and compare ideas or opinions that students sometimes keep for themselves because they consider them "not important" or "not useful."

THE WORLD INSIDE THEIR HEADS
Teachers need to keep the reminder that students are more than just students. They  and any other situation that happens inside, and as well, sometimes they are not able to share it with someone else, in this way, through writing it is possible to understand themselves better.
As follows, creative writing allows the student to explore the world that they have inside their head.
Let them recognize themselves, their abilities, their insecurities, and in the same way, work with them, improving not only in their English skills but also in their lives: "by writing on that page, we are creating another version of time; we are playing out a new version of existence, of life even." (Morley, 2007 A study conducted in a Colombian private English-teaching institute by Ávila (2015) showed that his 11 students could face the English language in another way. He applied action research and used nine different creative activities to develop student's oral and written production. Thus, creative writing promotes a great variety of activities that allow the student to be in contact with the language, realizing that it has more functions than those usually taught in a classroom. One of the studies made by Amado (2009)  progress. Bearing this in mind, teachers should not forget that letting students work at their own pace, taking little steps with the groups, will bring them further than pushing them all at once.

MIXING NEEDS
Teenager students need empathy and space; they need to feel understood, treated with patience, and they need to be supported. Sometimes it is forgotten their internal processes, their development, and the changes they are facing.
In this stage of their lives, they are trying to understand the world again differently. Teachers · 1 1 7 · their effort to improve (Henter, 2014 andTok &Kandemir, 2014). An environment where their partners help them improve, practice, and correct will increase their confidence towards the class, and it will happen if the situation is the opposite.
Dai (as cited in Tok & Kandemir, 2014) says that "creative writing course allowed students the freedom to explore different aspects of their lives; their language proficiency improved. It has not only changed students' attitudes towards writing but also helped them grow and know each other better". Creative writing is not only practical to make the classes "funnier," but it also allows the students to develop their skills, self- This is especially significant when English is not seen as important to the student's immediate needs, other than to pass exams." (Oroujlou & Vahedi, 2011). It is not a secret that most of the students see the English language as a subject to make them "suffer," instead of something that they will need in a future for travel, study or Finding an equal distribution between these needs is vital; developing creative writing activities makes it possible to create a space where students feel engaged in the environment.
In addition, the complex decision-making could be less elicited by giving them opportunities where teachers' thoughts and actions will not be confronted.

PROPOSAL FOR TEACHERS
First of all, "language learners are not only communicators and problem-solvers, but whole persons with hearts, feelings, beliefs, identities" (Oroujlou & Vahedi, 2011 Secondly, developing creative writing activities will help our students focus on language differently beyond grammar rules. "Students writers need to be given opportunity to write based on their expressive needs which allow the authentic, meaningful, personal expression to be a the center of literacy instruction" (Fithriani, 2021 considering evident factors are significant steps that need to be celebrated. The following graphic briefly shows the main aspects to consider inside an EFL class to boost self-confidence.

CONCLUSION
Teachers need to know how to keep the balance between the student's needs and their own needs: develop the language, with its skills, should be as necessary as taking care of their worlds because, in the end, they are willing to find a guide that makes them feel confident enough about themselves, not only as students but also as human beings. Even though this role is usually built inside the family, sometimes it is missing, so giving them a helping hand "just in case" could make the difference.
Teenage students are human beings before developing any other role. They have emotions, make mistakes, and are constantly growing up, which makes them vulnerable and doubt Creative writing • Develops writing skills.
• Allows communication in a different way.

Classroom environment
• Involves students and teachers. Creative writing allows students to express their internal worlds, develop their language skills and improve their confidence and imagination. It also lets the teachers get additional information about the classroom that sometimes is ignored or taken for granted; it helps the teachers work jointly with their knowledge and heart. It lets them achieve a curriculum and get into contact with their students. The best of all, get a collection of fantastic stories that all the world should read one day.