2011/04/10

Title: Engaging and Experiencing Homelessness through a Process Drama Project

Speaker: Eucharia Donnery

Donnery presented the third experiment from her ongoing PhD dissertation. The experiment in question details the use of process dramas to teach students about social issues in English. Process dramas can be contrasted with performance dramas in that they have separate goals. Unlike performance dramas such as plays and musicals, process dramas are not performed for the benefit of an audience. Rather, the performance itself is a teaching tool and participants in process dramas can "understand through doing."

Specifically, Donnery talked about her experience teaching students about homelessness using process dramas. She used the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII as her main theme. Assuming the role of the American military, Donnery rounded up families (groups of students) and role-played their internment. Students naturally asked questions of their captor such as "Is there food where we are going?" and "How will we get new clothes;" questions which homeless people often must face.

Using process dramas, Donnery showed how she helps her students understand social issues through experiencing them.