Penny Jane Bundy

Combining Drama Pedagogy with Digital Technologies to Support the Language Learning Needs of Newly Arrived Refugee Children: A Classroom Case Study

Although significant research has been completed that examines the effectiveness of process drama as a pedagogical approach for developing additional languages and further work has focused on the affordances of digital technologies within drama work, scant attention has been paid to the possibilities which a combination of these approaches might offer. Within this paper we identify these possibilities within a drama-based research project aimed at developing the resilience of newly arrived refugee children. In this series of lessons, the work focused specifically on the role of language as a key aspect of resilience. Based upon a playful, fantasy-based narrative involving a robot who arrives in an English-speaking community but is unable to communicate effectively, the drama and language work intentionally avoided the kinds of responses to resettlement and resilience that apply a deficit model or focus on the challenges of such experiences. Analysis of the data collected across the project reveals that the technology served seven key functions within the process drama. These functions related to language development, information provision, narrative development, identification and the creation of mood. The use of technology also generated opportunities for the children to have agency over their own learning and to create shared experiences with classmates and teachers.

Talking About Liveness: Responses of Young People in the Theatrespace Project

Abstract This paper draws on analysis of interviews with over 500 young people who attended theatre performances as part of the Australian TheatreSpace project. The paper focuses on one small but critical aspect of the larger project. Asked what they valued in a theatre experience, a significant number of young people spoke about liveness. The paper addresses the question: what are the key points/ideas about liveness that we can learn from listening to the young people? Our discussion includes a consideration of: the comfort or discomfort of presentness; performer vulnerability, risk and uncertainty; proximity to the live action; perceptions of realness; a sense of relationship with the actors; and intensity of engagement. A brief consideration of the implications for teachers and theatre providers concludes the paper.

Engagement and Liveness

Theatre offers a compelling experience for many young people. It engages the intellect, the emotions and the senses. It invites its audience to peer into the private worlds of others where emotions, ideas, relationships are laid bare. In response, engaged spectators claim that they experience more intense emotion than is available to them in their everyday lives. This chapter seeks to share with readers why many young people in the TheatreSpace study found their live theatre experiences to be intensely engaging. It begins with a general discussion of the presence and importance of emotion in the response of theatre goers. It then discusses the process of conceptual blending and its role in creating strong emotion for audiences at live theatre events. Following that the chapter offers insight into different types of audience response before considering four other characteristics of the experience of liveness that contribute to engagement: awareness of the audience, risk, realness and relationship.