And hello, I'm Rob.

Now Rob, how creative are you?

Very creative, I think.

Creativity is in my bones!

Look at this wonderful script that I wrote and

we're presenting right now.

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.

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?

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

c) Balloon Girl

I can see the picture in my head –

so I think it's c) Balloon girl.

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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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'.

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?!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Right, well, let's get back to talking about

the creativity of Banksy now.

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

c) Balloon Girl

And I said c) Balloon Girl.

I know it was a girl and a balloon.

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!

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.

Then we mentioned legitimately –

which describes doing something fairly

and reasonably.

Next we heard the expression 'redress the balance'.

This means to make things fairer and more equal.

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!

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.

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.

Bye bye!

Hello.

This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

If you browse through a library, you'll

find a variety of different books, from

fiction to crime to romance.

And if you walk through a city you'll see a

variety of people of different ages, body

shapes, skin colours and genders.

In this 6 Minute English, we'll be hearing

about an unusual library where the books

are people, made of flesh and bone instead of paper.

It's called The Human Library and the

'books' are individuals who have faced prejudice –

which means an unreasonable dislike

of certain types of people.

Readers may borrow these 'books', who

are people from all walks of life, for a thirty minute conversation.

The book titles are

short and to the point - titles like 'transgender',

'former criminal' or 'immigrant'.

The human books are volunteers, and

visiting readers are encouraged to ask

those awkward or embarrassing questions

they've always wondered about.

This means the Human Library needs to

be a safe space – a place where people feel

protected from danger and harm.

It's a fascinating idea but before we find

out more, I have a question for you, Sam.

The Human Library started out in Denmark

but soon spread across Europe and the world.

So how many countries have a Human Library now?

Is it:

a) 75?

b) 85?

or, c) 95?

Well, everyone likes to hear a story –

so I'll guess, c) 95.

OK, Sam, we'll find out if that's right

later in the programme.

The first Human Library was founded

in Copenhagen by Ronni Abergel.

Here he is telling BBC World Service programme

People Fixing the World about the

inspiration behind his original idea:

We don't have time on the street to stop

and get to know everyone, so we drop

people in little boxes… so it's instinct that's

guiding us, and we never get beyond the

instinct if we don't get to know the person…

so in our library, we recommend sitting down

and meeting some of the people that you

normally might actually not feel interested in

sitting down with because there's something

about them that you may feel a little bit

uncomfortable about.

You learn tremendously

not only about them, but also about yourself.

When we meet someone new, we often already

have ideas about what they are like.

Ronni says we put someone in a box – an expression

meaning to judge what kind of person someone

is based on their appearance or on a limited

understanding of who they are.

He recommends meeting people who you

wouldn't usually spend time with, even if this

makes you feel uncomfortable – feel slightly

worried or embarrassed in a social situation.

So the main idea of the Human Library is

to challenge the assumptions and stereotypes

that we all have about other people.

Ronni uses social media to find volunteers

who are willing to talk about their lives at

public meetings, which anyone can attend.

As the Human Library spreads around the

world, more money is needed to keep the

project going.

This mostly comes from hosting

events for private companies,

including famous businesses like Google.

Transgender volunteer Katy Jon Went is

a regular host for the Human Library's business events.

Listen to this clip of her

introducing the project to a group of Dutch

businessmen from BBC World Service

programme, People Fixing the World:

When we're in the workplace or on

social media, what we often find is we're

walking on eggshells around diversity

and difference, and many people don't

want to get it wrong, quite understandably.

The important thing to remember is that

you can ask them anything – they're never

going to make to feel wrong for the question

you ask today, which is an incredibly rare offer.