Event

English Through Drama

Saturday, March 12th, 2005, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Speaker: Jill Christopher

The approach used in this workshop allows students to work together creatively, making group decisions. Every single student is part of the mini production. Although there has to be a teacher/director, he/she will act more as a collaborator and facilitator rather than as a boss. Each session should have a fun physical activity to help get the students warmed up. Usually a type of Physical Education activity begins the session. There should also be some sort of vocal activity to warm up their voices and give them a general sense of well being.

The main part of the session will be creative improvisation. Acting and miming scenes gives an unthreatening way of leading into spoken parts. Scenes such as shopping in the market or supermarket, going to the laundromat, the beach, birthday parties and so on are quite frequently chosen as the final production. The other option involves well-known fairy stories or folk tales.

In acting, it is always emphasized that an actor's tools are the body, mind and heart. The students need only bring themselves, and the wealth of ordinary every day experiences, which they have already lived or experienced..

Jill Christopher received her MA in TESOL from Columbia, TC, New York; her teaching qualifications from Sussex University in UK, a degree in French Language and Literature from Grenoble, France. She has taught in the UN School in New York, in international schools in Paris, France, Ankara, Turkey and in Tokyo, Japan. She presently teaches in the elementary section of a bilingual, multi-age school. She has given workshops in Europe, for ECIS and ASCD and in Japan for various organizations. Her one credit Master Course at Columbia University in Tokyo was well attended, where she has also given Public Seminars. The subject of the MA course was Teaching English using the Arts - an alternative approach. She uses Art, Drama and Poetry to teach ESOL and is interested in developing this approach. Prior to teacher teaching, Ms. Christopher worked for the UN and the UN Family throughout the world.

Organization: Teachers College Columbia University Japan (TC Columbia)

Cost: free, but please reserve by email to office@tc-japan.edu

Venue: Teachers College, Columbia University, Tokyo, Mitsui Seimei Bldg 4F, 2 21 2 Misaki cho, Chiyoda ku, (03)3221 9771 (5 minutes from JR Suidobashi Station)

Location: Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan

Contact TC Columbia

Teachers College Columbia University Japan Tokyo Office

Work phone: 03-3221-9771