Vol 05 No 2 TESL Reporter

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leaching english as a second language
vol 5 no 2
1aie ll

hawaii

winter 1972

v TESL and Creafdive r cr eatfiiv e
by aikhard via r ea r c
once we earn our academic degrees and take our places in front of our own classes we all too often forget what we really are children in adults clothing we have carefully concealed our innate desire to play under a thick veneer of facts figures rules

drama

their way to the surface with such thoughts as whats wrong with my class today why isnt johnny reading

regulations and teaching theories the creative talents in each of us are carefully and neatly packed away luckily they are not dead and from time to time they find

COVTEVTS NN
resl
FESL and creative drama ESL

by richard via

page

1

carefree english by wallace W smith pronoun roonoug chart r no un by alice C pack

richard via professional stagemanager on broadway for such plays as two for the seasaw the miracle worker sound b of music hello dolly what makes sammy run how to succeed in business without really trying and jenny directed Road show productions of the miracle roads ho worker and the sound of music and took hello dolly to japan for the state department he became interested in drama as a means of teaching ESL and returned as a fulbright scholar to japan for five months and remained for five years he is currently a fellow with the cultural learning institute at the east west center Honiollulu hawaii h or o u

ae

page 4 page 8

A TESL game connecting clauses page 14 l ion

be fun and an exciting experience has been demonstrated most definitely by dr eloise ay t hay es of the university of hawaiis college of education in her seminar creative drama and the english class this seminar was part of the east west centers culture

take heart fear not fair maiden or brave hero help is on the way th aetacchin g can t t ea hi n

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learning institute training program for teacher trainers in the field of teaching english to speakers of other languages participants in the project were professional people from colleges and universities in asia and the pacific islands the first meeting of the six session seminar was a mixture of embarrassment fun annoyance and wonder dr hayes admits she was not prepared for such a mixed group speaking a variety of languages and with widely diverse cultural backgrounds on the first meeting she found it necessary to reject some of her initial plans and substitute others 1 I was in a state of shock most of that first session first they came early before we had a chance to make the dingy room a bit more cheerful with music on the record player flowers and some wall charts here we were in a state of confusion to begin with the ladies from thailand spoke so softly that they were almost impossible to hear the japanese gentlemen spoke firmly but hardly at all Mi r rn n i sns is the miccooeseana and indeed everyone 1 eyed me with considerable reserve I collapsed into a chair giving up my original ideal of getting acquainted through action and gasped tell me about yourselves before long however we were on our feet in drama movement it is difficult for all of us to step out of the protective armor of academia and these teachers were no exception there were grumbles about the childishness of sitting on the floor and being a round or angular shape or moving in slow motion and concern for their teacher image when they were asked to be monkeys in the peddler and his caps there were also questions about the usefulness of the seminar and whether to continue with it since attendance was not cumpulsory yet everyone returned the o next week even though the time 7 9 on was wednesday evenings somewhat inconvenient for the group now lets jump ahead five weeks to the final session and look at just a portion of that exciting evening there was a circus and it was more than acting or playing it was alive and real grown men and women replete with degrees had freed themselves to be children again merle evans circus band record backed up a

japanese korean micronesian

herd

of

elephants trained by a chinese remedial reading expert two lovely thai ladies added grace charm and daring to the tightwire act that featured a reckless daredevil from samoa two rare bald tigers went through their paces under the control of the philippines first female wild animal trainer and there were clowns and of course the audience which each act became as it finished its performance bertha would you read this its crazy and in an educational journal too if youve just made such a comment please read on for further explanation of what took place dr hayes had managed to crack the academic shell and release enough creativity from each individual so that he was able to recapture certain aspects of being a child again to let his emotions and imagination soar without bounds and then to realize that his own students could experience the same thing if given the opportunity help had arrived to prove that teaching could be fun and not a dull routine and that creative activities work in any class whether its the the history class the reading class geography class or spelling dr hayes turned this group of mature foreign teachers into an elementary school class and gave them the same activities that her ten and eleven year olds receive she led them through relaxation exercises such as becoming an ice cube a firecracker a candle or taking giant steps about the room and walking like a teeny tiny all activities were somehow correct for each person because of their individual differences individuality and self expression were fostered on the other hand they were taught a simple hand hula which required them to mimic the teacher the laughter and chatter after each exercise helped transform what was a mixed group into a cohesive one working together

then came the meat of each session in the form of a story folk tale or poem As a
group they would play each part recalling their own past experiences and feelings first with body talk then with sounds and finally by adding words the next time through the parts were divided among the group with each choosing the part he wanted to play then the whole story was acted out it is of

page 3

especial interest to note that dr hayes always used movement and sound before spoken language because she feels that dialogue preceded by movement and sound is far more meaningful the last thirty of forty minutes of each two hour session was devoted to an evaluation the discussion produced comments such as 1 I like the absence of competition it has really changed my views mimicking sounds seems a good way to have intonation practice m its a pleasant way to learn vocabulary sound and movement help us to

sirtuattwn al taa ion appy4pow pproach
0 0

teaching
A group of students had just completed a successful year in the classroom with memorized dialogues practice situations etc and were now in austria on a semester abroad program they had just settled into their hotel when one of their members who had gone ahead of the rest raced back into 1 the lobby 1 I did it 1 did it I did it he I explained breathlessly someone stopped me right out in front of the hotel and asked me where to find the post office just like I dialogue six 1 told him how to find it he thanked me and drove off they were right we really can communicate in german

understand 1 I would enjoy teaching like this through their newly won freedoms the participants were able to express themselves with facility both verbally and physically to become real participants rather than mere observers they lived in new situations and experienced dealing with them intuitively they were learning through experience rather than from a textbook or a lecture the circus is now in winter quarters and the performers have returned to their various countries where they have very special roles to fulfill but in dr hayes seminar they discovered their real selves again with this reawakening and armed with new techniques they will be able to fit that special role knowing that they are not just another copy out of the mold letters from the participants bear this out

another student asked him where he had told the stranger the post office was to be found just like the dialogue straight ahead
two blocks then turn to the right suddenly he sttopppedfforget the dialogue s op ed o rg just where was the post office

BOOK REViIEW vm
robert C lugton editor toward a cognitive approach to second language acquisition no 17 language and the teacher A series in applied linguistics
of readings which critically d diolongg a d i nu examine audiiolliinguall and cognitive approaches in language learning these
A new book

field teachers are not required to wade through masses of technical terms and data to understand the authors of the readings

readable papers with an emphasis on methodology are up to date and are worthy of study by the serious teacher in the ESL

alice

C pack