Event review of the workshop "Dramatic Moments" with Anette Igel

Here’s an event review written by HELTA committee member Rosie Siemsen:

Late in the afternoon on a Friday at the end of March 2023, we returned to the Stadtparkvereinshaus for a fun and interactive Dramatic Moments workshop led by Annette Igel.

What better way to learn how to use drama in our English language teaching, than by trying out Annette’s ideas there and then? The Stadtparksvereinhaus was the ideal venue – with room for sitting and discussing, as well as space to move around and interact in a variety of fun and inspiring activities.
After a period of online and hybrid workshops, this one was fully analogue – with neither a webcam nor a projector in sight.

We started off with a few ‘warmer’ activities which got us out of our seats and moving around – this was a great way to get to know everyone’s names, especially as there were several new faces at the workshop. We then went on to do some pair work: ‘blind – describing’ each other in various poses and then much hilarity ensued when, in teams and under Annette’s stage direction, we recreated a slide show – ‘freezing’ into various positions and expressions.

After a refreshment break, we were all assigned a role in a funny story which we acted out. There were roles for everyone – from hunter, to squirrel, to curtain!

We rounded off the session by creating our own contexts for various dialogues, followed by a useful chat about how we would put what we had just experienced into practice, in our different teaching settings.

The feedback was all positive – people mentioned, in particular, how much they liked the fun, laid – back yet interactive workshop which gave them inspiring ideas, and how keen they are to incorporate what they learned into their teaching. All agreed that it was a really nice way to round off the week.

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