POST FACTUM

COLANSKI WORKSHOPS IN MOSCOW

MCPU April 2001

I was lucky to be invited to take part in the Drama Workshops which were held by Robin Griffin and Mark Griffin (Colanski Project) at the Moscow City Pedagogical University during 18 – 20 April. The Colanski Project seeks to encourage the use of drama in the teaching of communicative language skills.
As Robin Griffin says, sometimes it is difficult to define the word drama. Drama is somewhat intangible. But through drama we can aim to increase the students’ self-esteem and self-expression by using a teaching method which emphasizes achievement. We can aim to increase self-confidence by providing students with direct experiences from which they discover and develop their own strengths. We also can aim to improve the student’s social awareness and interaction and a whole range of skills related to language learning.
My first meeting with the Colanski project was in 1998. Since then I have been a great fan of this method of teaching and, of course, I was happy that my students and I were able to take part in the Drama Workshops. Five groups from four schools in Moscow and one school in Obninsk were taught by Marc Griffin and four of his English students. Sometimes the groups worked together and sometimes separately. Their first task was to work in pairs. One of the pair was an artist and the other a “material.” The artist had to create the sculpture “Mother.” Then the artist became the “material” and the sculpture “Father” was created. The third sculpture was “Friend.” It was the first task and some children were shy, but after ten minutes of work all of them became active and their “sculptures” were very interesting and unexpected.
Then Mark Griffin began to speak with the children about the book “Little Prince.” I was very glad that absolutely all the children have read, or at least have heard about this book. Everyone started creating his or her own version of “Little Prince.” Each group thought up their own planet and their own spaceship. Then, the creations were shown to the audience. One group created a Planet of Singing Flowers. The other group on their spaceship went to this Planet as guests and asked questions. The citizens of the Planet showed them everything and told them about their planet. My students created a very interesting planet! It consisted of two parts – one was for rest and the other for fun. So, if you want to have fun, you can go to one part of the planet. If you become tired of having fun, you can go to the other part and have a rest. If you want something else, you can go to the other planet.
When all the planets were shown, it was said that the Little Prince was still sad. Of course everybody understood that he was lonely and had no friend. Children decided to create a “Friend machine” to make a friend for our Little Prince. I wish you could see this machine! Ten or twelve children were on the stage simultaneously making their own movements and producing their own sounds. It was a “Friend machine!” Each of them said what he was going to give to a friend to make him a real friend. Somebody gave him love while still other students gave him strength. Another students put into him a lot of jokes. One boy said he wanted to give this friend some sadness because if a person can’t be sometimes sad and can’t understand sadness, he can not be a “real” friend.
When our children played all these games, to my mind they even didn’t notice that they spoke English. They were not afraid of making mistakes and were so free in their speech and behaviour. I think it was a very useful experience for them and for their teachers who watched this process. So, many thanks go to the Moscow City Pedogogical University, personally to Olga Boltneva, and to the Colanski Project.

Natalia Fedotova, School No. 1227

I do consider Communicative Drama to be of the greatest value in English Language Teaching. It’s the most powerful means of teaching because they draw on the natural ability of every person to imitate, mimic and express himself through gesture. According to my teaching experience it’s not always true that if sentences are meaningful and correctly formed, the students are learning something from them. The approach – ‘first comes form, then meaning’ – can be misleading. Correct structures do need to be taught, nobody would deny this, but can they not be taught meaningfully from the very start? Drama techniques draw upon students’ internal resources essential for use of language.
Communicative drama is motivating, it makes the process of learning meaningful and enjoyable. By working together the students learn to feel their way to creating their own parts and adapting them as they come up against them. They are learning to rely on one another for their ideas and therefore use a considerable amount of language for discussion, argument, agreement and disagreement, organization and execution. The drama activities give them an opportunity to strike a balance between fluency and accuracy.
I have never in my life met professionals successfully implementing this technique in an EFL classroom at ordinary lessons, let alone in classrooms of professional drama teachers from Great Britain. It was extremely difficult for me to find my ways, it is a very real issue right now for me. I always needed advice, approval or disapproval, critical evaluation of what I tried to do at my lessons. It is the first time that I have had a lucky chance to talk this matter over with such talented ‘tutors’ like Robin and Mark. It was of even more unique value to watch Mark, such a highly experienced stage director and teacher, working with my students. What he was doing with them was not magic, he just brought them into a few real situations where they had to speak and behave meaningfully. But as it was done with great skill and at a very high professional level, my students couldn’t help being involved. I saw their happy faces, their imagination  awakened, I heard them speaking English and being lifted beyond the limits of their abilities. Even those who tried to avoid discussing things at the lessons kept talking. They were so excited, they spoke about this event all the way home and at the next lesson. I saw their learning power get a new impulse inspired by Mark.
I’d like to thank Olga Boltneva who organized this workshop and for providing us with this opportunity. We send our love to Robin and Mark. It is the moment in our lives which we will keep in our memories for ever.

Nadezhda Solovyova, Obninsk Language school 'Linguocenter' 

Here is what the students say:

Anya Segeda, 16:

I sometimes spoke to American people, but I never spoke to English people. I’ve never seen an Englishman. I was very eager to see a person from Great Britain. It was very interesting for me to meet young boys and girls from GB, to touch them and to talk to them.
I know nowadays people have to speak English, I always tried to be diligent at English lessons. But I never knew a lesson could be so unusual and exciting. I liked Mark very much, he is an outstanding person and has a very attractive personality. I liked how he worked with us, the tasks were so uncommon but very involving. I just wanted to speak English. It was splendid. I wish we could spend more time working and talking together. I hope I will see Mark and his students at the next workshop.

Andrey Minochkin, 17:

Thanks to everybody who invited us to the workshop. I didn’t know the word drama before meeting Mark. I discovered a new method of learning English. I liked it very much, it was very interesting for me. I’d like to continue it.

Olya Zenkina, 16:

I was amazed with the openness of Mark and his students. Before our visit I thought we would have another lesson of English, a bit different from our regular ones. Mark showed to me the other side of learning. My trip to the workshop turned out to be a discovery of the magical world of the English language.

Galya Reingard, 16:

I liked the way Mark involved us in doing things and thinking about what we were doing. I liked that we were not passive recipients, but active participants in those activities. I felt comfortable. In this way he promoted our mastering of the English language.

 Misha Dyomin, 16:

It was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet such nice people from Great Britain. It was so wonderful of them to share their knowledge and experience with me, to teach me. I know my English is not good enough, but when I talked to them, I forgot about this. I hope we have established contacts with each other and after the visit our relations will go on.

 Sveta Zakharova, 16:

We discussed a lot of things, solved problems together, Mark encouraged and supported us in ‘taking risks’ while making sketches. It looked as if there were no barriers for us when we were doing that. I felt joyful, excitment and successful. I was lucky to experience such genuine interaction with such special people like Mark Griffin and his students.