Tag: Reflective Practice

The ‘Unthinking Thinker’: the Reflexive Teacher for Integrated Drama Education

Hong Kong Masters and PhD Theses, Drama Education|

The whole purpose of writing a PhD thesis on drama education in Hong Kong is to develop relevant academic discourse for promoting the introduction of drama into the formal school curriculum with the necessary teacher development methods.

Intercultural theatre approach in applied theatre: A multi-case study approach in Las Ranas and TYPT: 05

Hong Kong Masters and PhD Theses, Elderly, General Theatrical Skills, Women, Drama Education, Youth / Adolescents, Community Theatre, Theatre Games|

Identity is to be different from other people but that self-definition is not recognized by others all the time. Globalization and the standardization of the diversity of culture in terms of a ‘melting pot’ is a cause from concern. This research aims to explore how intercultural theatre approaches can be used in applied theatre in the community, in a diversity of cultural settings by two case studies, Case study 1 - Las Ranas in Spiral and Case study 2 - TYPT: 05 in Talawa. The research data was collected by four methods: participant and non-participant observation, semi-structured interview and questionnaire. The result will show that the participants responded positively during working with diverse cultures. There were no insurmountable obstacles or barriers between each participant with regard to cultural and language differences. While no one tradition can link all those differences, and an intercultural theatre approach could provide diverse cultures with a platform for developing an individual’s potential. That fulfills the objective of applied theatre that it raises up the awareness, and empowers the participants. In conclusion, there is an interrelationship between an intercultural theatre approach and applied theatre.

Exploring the Moral Values of Trust and Care through Process Drama in a Chinese Primary School: The Case of Workshop A Lion in Paris | DaTEAsia Vol. 10

Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia), Drama Education, Process Theatre, Applied Theatre Research|

Based on an in-depth case study of a workshop adapted from the picture book A Lion in Paris, this paper explores the possibilities of introducing drama to promote primary children’s moral values of trust and care in the Chinese educational context.

A Practitioner’s Reflection on an Online Course under COVID-19 | DaTEAsia Vol. 10

Applied Theatre Practice, Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia)|

In this paper, the author reflects on the delivery of a sub-degree course in hybrid mode under COVID-19 from the perspective of a drama educator. The course aims to equip students with expressive, artistic means to discovery themselves and write their self-narratives. The author reviews some students’ self-reflected assignments and their encounters in the hybrid learning environment—a mix of simultaneous online and F2F teaching and learning. She finds that students can be seen as “prosumers” of their arts experiences, and raises the question of the nature of “presence” in mediated online learning environment. At the end of the paper, the author reflects on the possible pedagogical implications of her online teaching experiences for drama education.

A Practical Study of the Application of Active-inquiry Process on Theatre Play: Using the Experience of Creating the Play, Battle for Hong Kong 1941, as an Example(Chinese)|DaTEAsia Vol. 9

Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia), Theatre-in-Education (TiE), Applied Theatre Research|

The study draws on the playwriting experience of the play for museum theatre, Battle for Hong Kong 1941, to examine the creation of interactive theatre and the design of the interactive section through the active-inquiry process from the point of view of an implementer. The researcher is also the playwright and the designer of the play’s interactive section.

An Alternative Path: A Physical and Metaphorical Group-devised Ethnodrama | DaTEAsia Vol. 7

Applied Theatre Practice, Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia), Applied Theatre Research|

Graffitopia is a group-devised ethnodrama on the lives of twelve children aged 6 to 12 of different family and socio-economical backgrounds in Hong Kong. It was performed in May 2015 in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, a public performance venue. In this paper, using Graftopia as a case study, we discuss how researcher-devisingperformers (RDPs) embody, transform and present ethnographic data in the creative process of an ethnodrama, and how such process deepens the RDPs’ understanding of the informants, themselves as well as the devising methodology and aesthetics of ethnodrama. The devising process of the eight RDPs were recorded and studied, and small-group interviews with all the RDPs were conducted towards the last stage of the rehearsal process to investigate their experience and moments of discoveries throughout the creative process. It has been found that the physical, stylised, metaphorical, and reflective devising process and performing style generated an aesthetic space for the RDPs to build not only their understanding of the ethnographic data, but also a strong connection between the RDPs’ selves and the children’s lived experience. Such aesthetic space is crucial to the transformative power, authenticity, research purposes, educational and artistic values of ethnodrama as a form of applied theatre.

“Teaching” Children to Play Theatre Games: A Collaborative Inquiry with a Student Teacher | DaTEAsia Vol. 4

Children / Toddlers, Applied Theatre Practice, Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia), Theatre Games, Applied Theatre Research|

In Hong Kong, early childhood educators have progressively emphasized the importance of play. However, it happens that play has long been seen not to be taught explicitly, or other it just to be taught to fulfill academic goals. Moreover, the promotion of play is also further hindered by socio-cultural factors and other general constraints in town. The authors, the teaching practicum supervisor (A1) and her student teacher (A2), believe that education reform should begin with teachers’ self-improvement, reflection and exploration of their classroom teaching practice. This paper has reported their collaborative inquiry on teaching strategies for children to play theatre games. The authors have borrowed the theories of movement instruction to tackle the children’s discipline problems arisen in the theatre games classroom. After reviewing and practicing the revised strategies, the authors, in turn, offer solutions to improve theatre game instruction in a new light by two strategies, namely decomposition of rules of games and the use of structured classroom discourse. As regard the student teacher, this collaborative inquiry has promoted improvement in relation to designing, demonstrating and skills guiding children to play theatre games, and other relevant teaching theories. At the same time, the author (A1) has been placed at a better position to comprehend the problems faced by novice and frontline teachers when using theatre games, from which she has further examined the content and methods of her teacher training.

Cultural and Theatrical Signs: the Ethical and Methodological Issues in Tang’s Heritage Theatre|DaTEAsia Vol. 1

Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia (DaTEAsia), Theatre-in-Education (TiE), Applied Theatre Research|

This Heritage Theatre programme was a new venture by the Hong Kong Drama/Theatre and Education Forum. They introduced to primary and secondary schools the story of Hong Kong’s famous local clan, the Tang’s, through an interactive performance done in two of Tang’s ancestral halls. The aim of the project was to discuss the relationship between history and heritage buildings, and the meanings and difficulties in preserving these buildings. As I happened to be a consultant of the project, I adopted a participant-researcher role in this study. The beginning of the project experienced good progress, until on the very day of final rehearsal with a group of secondary students in the audience, some unsettling things happened which nearly forced the performance to come to a halt at the middle—a clan member did not think the story was presented in an appropriate way! The incident let us re-think about the function of heritage theatre as applied theatre, and the methodological element we need to take into consideration for the best facilitation of such function to be performed.

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