A Theatrical Interlude

I want to give my readers a break from the heavy-duty emo-high articles I have been writing. I will go back to it after this little refreshing interruption! The English for Comm-unication course (which I taught this tri-mester) ended the last trimester of the May 2010 UTAR Foundation programme with a drama competition. The students had to form their own groups and present a 20-minute drama production primarily to demonstrate their language abilities in expressing a moral theme. Each lecturer teaching the course chose the best from their groups to compete in the contest that was held last Friday -- the last day of trimester.

It was really heartening to see the students put in all that effort to showcase their talents. The winning teams clearly won for their dramatization abilities and for portraying a clear moral theme. But, what encouraged me most was not that some teams won (I am glad they did!) but that all put in so much to give a heartfelt good presentation.

Some of the students told me that one team stayed up till 3am in campus practising for their presentation. Another said they forked out their own money to buy or rent the costumes and props. One student said his group of seven shared the cost to rent a RM 45 wig that one of the guys had to wear in his role as a woman!

I want to make special mention here of the group from my lecture class -- The Brotherhood of Penguins. Unlike the cast of the winning teams, they are not natural speakers of English and most are not fluent in the language. Yet, they came up with a script of comparable standard and practised and practised so hard to present a creditable presentation. According to a classmate, they had only two hours of sleep because they were practising for the contest!

I especially want to mention Tan Si Jie. She and Benjamin Woo (who played the role of the manipulative money-making scientist and pet shop owner) were not the original members of the group. They stood in for the two original members who did not want to contest for reasons best known to them.

On short notice, they threw in their lot and gave their best shot. Si Jie gave a commendable performance as the unsuspecting tourist, Gumbo, who gets conned. She played the role enthusiastically and with feeling -- a very good first effort! Benjamin, of course, was a good sport, playing up to the gallery when one of his coconut husks (that served to give him form as a woman) slipped! He unabashedly pushed it up and acted on! But, most importantly, was the effort the entire team put in and the remarkable progress they showed in so short a time, as a result of which they were able to compete with others who are naturally fluent and expressive in the English language.

I also liked their script. It was original and current, touching on the abuse of nature and the dire consequences it brought and it was atypical. The other scripts were typical showing the traditional themes of good versus evil while the penguins' script was modern and futuristic. Their dramatization was not as good as the others and the moral theme did not come across as strongly as the others. But, if there had been a special category for original script (and I were the judge!), they would have got top marks!

Besides, they are my students and I know what they can do and can't do. Where the penguins' team was concerned, they stretched their abilities beyond expectations. Congratulations! I hope you learned more than you realise through this experience.

Just like them, I think there were many teams who made tremendous language gains through this experience. It is always those who are weaker who learn most from these activities. Unfortunately, it is always those who are already stronger and better able, who walk away with the prizes! No, no. I don't regret that they won. I am glad for them. But, I think there should be additional prizes for those teams which made the most language gains. Afterall, the entire exercise was aimed to building language skills!

I hope the certificates and prizes the teams received amply made up for all the work that went in! If not, maybe a special fund needs to be set up so that commensurate prizes are given to students who truly deserve them.

Above are some of the pictures I took at the drama competition. I couldn't upload all the pictures as they would then be a mile long! I posted the best pictures here. I think you can recognise the penguins! The best team was the one with the angel and the red horned devil! They were great! I have also included here some pictures with past students because we all look so good! There's also a picture of the two students who kept us entertained with oldies while waiting for the judges and some sections of the audience!