Speak Out Loud: Deconstructing Shame and Fear Through Theater in a Community-Based Service-Learning Project

Authors

  • Karina Vázquez University of Alabama Author

Abstract

The combination of theater and community-based service-learning can be a powerful tool to allow university students to meet their educational goals while connecting them with the world. The performance of children's theater in elementary schools with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs, for example, has important pedagogical and social effects. For both groups of students, this becomes an opportunity to be better prepared for a level of social engagement involving bilingualism that was not necessarily available to their parents and/or members of their community. The author describes and analyzes the results of the adaptation and performance of Alfonsina Storni's children's plays for two different ESOL classes. This experience may serve to enlighten the readers about a less conventional, but very effective, learning method.

Published

2024-04-30