At the PanSIG Conference in Kyoto, at Kyoto Sangyo University, the LLL-SIG will hold the following forum:
Lifelong Playfulness: Creative Uses of Language In and Out of the Classroom
This forum will show the value of role play and performance for English L2 development inside and outside the classroom from the perspective of students and teachers. A professor of performance studies will demonstrate how students can perform plays created from their original scripts or adapted from published screenplays to enhance communicative competence as well as creative skills. Another will explore how teachers in a university intensive English program can prepare their students to get the most out of plays performed by community theater groups either on campus or in local theaters. A third will demonstrate how teachers can use their classroom experiences, as lifelong learners, to produce and direct their own work. And, finally, a former student of the other presenters, who is now an English teacher herself, will discuss the benefits and limitations of role-play and performance, not only for college students but also for adult learners.
The speakers will include:
Miki Tanaka
Michiyo Okawa
Gregory Strong
Joseph Dias
Individual contributions to the LLL-SIG Forum at PanSIG 2023:
Miki Tanaka
Title: From L2 Learner to L2 Teacher: Taking the Best and Giving Back
Affiliation: Currently working for a startup and teaching online
Synopsis: L2 English learners can experience classroom activities, including role-paying and performance, with pure enjoyment, without thinking too much about its contribution to the development of L2 Language and communicative competence. Now that the speaker is in a position of giving instruction herself, it became possible for her to see the activities from a different perspective. Besides creating a fun classroom atmosphere, in what ways do role-play and performance benefit students? In Miki Tanaka’s part of the presentation, she will reflect on her takeaways from the college English courses she took as a student, and discuss the benefits and limitations of role-play and performance—not only for college students but also for adult learners—from her new teacher’s point of view.
Bio:
Miki Tanaka is an English Instructor who holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Aoyama Gakuin University and a master’s degree in TESOL from Winona State University, USA. As a graduate teaching assistant, she taught Japanese and ESL in the USA. She currently teaches English to Japanese learners aged from 13 to 60. Her areas of interest are academic reading and writing, L2 identity, and English as an international language.
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Michiyo Okawa
Title: Teaching Creative Performances on Stage
Affiliation: Aoyama Gakuin University
Synopsis: The speaker will explain how she has organized students in her university Performance Studies classes to perform plays created from their collaboratively written scripts or adapted from published screenplays to enhance communicative competence as well as creative skills that can be considered as “a rehearsal for real life” (Boal, 1994). The pedagogical role of staged performances in teaching overall communication skills and competences for English majors will be explored. What follows is a summary of the teaching procedure: 1) Determine the theme or choose the screenplay, 2) Collect data from periodicals and websites, 3) Draft a script compiling research results, 4) Rewrite the script as it is rehearsed in the classroom, 5) Refine English translations with feedback from native speakers, 6) Further rehearse the play, experimenting with staging possibilities, 7) Give a public performance and generate a discussion among the audience.
Works Cited:
Boal, A. (1994). The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy (A. Jackson, Trans.; 1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203820230
Bio:
Michiyo Okawa is an Associate Professor of Performance Studies in the English Department at Aoyama Gakuin University. Her research interests include teaching English through drama as well as creating and staging ethnographic performances. She has been hosting Performance Festivals where undergraduate students give group performances on stage since 2003.
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Gregory Strong
Title: At Play in the Classroom – Students and Teachers
Affiliation: Aoyama Gakuin University (retired)
Synopsis: “Play” can be defined as “a dramatic performance,” “acting a part,” enjoying oneself through a diversion or amusement” as well as the opportunity for students and teachers to find their own voice through drama. Much has been written on the use of drama to teach language to students of different ages, interests, and varied language abilities (e.g. Angelianawati, 2019; Stinson & Winston, 2011) including research studies (i.e. Kumar, Qasim, Mansur, & Shah, 2022). This presentation will outline a number of classroom activities, provide a task framework and online resources for scripts, as well as describe how teachers can use their classroom experiences, as lifelong learners, to produce and direct their own work.
Bio:
Gregory Strong is a retired professor from the English Department of Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo where he co-directed the Integrated English Program. His extensive publications include academic research, biography, and fiction. His theatre pieces have been performed, most recently, Tom Thomson Is Missing for the 2022 Vancouver Fringe Theatre Festival.
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Joseph V. Dias
Title: Bringing Students to Plays and Plays to the Students
Affiliation: Aoyama Gakuin University
Synopsis: The speaker will show how teachers in a university intensive English program have been supported in preparing their students to get the most out of plays performed by community theater groups either on campus or in local theaters. Suggestions will be provided on how to connect these experiences and excursions to the curriculum by providing scripts and using a “reader’s theatre” approach to familiarize students with characters and plots. It has been found that students are particularly motivated to attend plays that their teachers have some involvement in as directors, actors, or supporting staff. Efforts to make English theater more accessible to English L2 audiences by the Kanto-based theatrical production companies Black Stripe Theater and Tokyo International Players will be explained.
Bio:
Joseph V. Dias coordinates the Integrated English Program in the English Department of Aoyama Gakuin University. His research interests include the assessment of international virtual exchanges and autonomy in language learning. Currently a reviewer for the JALTCALL Journal, he is also the coordinator of the Lifelong Language Learning SIG.
