Spielraum: Teaching German through Theater

Lisa Parkes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000465990
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Spielraum: Teaching German through Theater is a sourcebook and guide for teaching German language and culture, as well as social, cross-cultural, and multi-ethnic tensions, through dramatic texts. This book presents a range of theoretical and practical resources for the growing number of teachers who wish to integrate drama and theater into their foreign-language curriculum. As such, it may be adopted as a flexible tool for teachers seeking ways to reinvigorate their language classrooms through drama pedagogy; toconnect language study to the study of literature and culture; to inspire curricular rejuvenation; or to embark on full-scale theater productions.

Focusing on specific dramatic works from the rich German-speaking tradition, each chapter introduces unique approaches to a play, theme, and genre, while also taking into account practical issues of performance.

1 Schauspiel: teaching German through gestures

DOI: 10.4324/9781003010289-1

Introduction

Performance-based courses are generally divided into two primary groups: those in which drama workshops are integrated in order to enhance course goals, and those that culminate in a full-fledged performance. In general, the former focuses on process-drama to negotiate meaning through conflict- and problem-solving; the latter, product-orientated courses focus on the preparation towards a final public performance. Both involve a process that synthesizes multiple communicative resources, including linguistic, cognitive, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence, connecting the mind to the body, and individuals to the community. Furthermore, in immersing learners in the world and vocabulary of theater, acting, and dramaturgy, learners connect their language skills creatively to another discipline. Even in smaller role-plays, learners develop their potential for “playing” with different kinds of social gestures and body language, in other words, putting on a mask or a hat helps free them up to explore other identities, other versions of themselves – to experience the foreign in order to reconsider the familiar. At the same time, learners pay attention to another fundamental and yet challenging communication skill: social and cultural appropriateness, which requires sensitivity to tone, intonation, gesture, and register. As Maley and Duff point out, such process-drama activities venture beyond conventional textbook role-plays in their attention not only to physical setting and conventional structure, but also to social setting, character, status, mood and attitude (Mayley & Duff 9–12) – the foundation of authentic interaction. Whatever the primary goal of the course is, however, it is necessary to begin by establishing a cooperative working relationship among students; to help form the social bonds necessary for lowering inhibitions; to reduce anxiety and stress by providing ample space for uninhibited physical and linguistic exploration; and to coach students in verbal and non-verbal communication as well as training of clear and comprehensible speech, diction, intonation, and pronunciation. Such preparatory workshops ideally involve a combination of both pre-scripted and semi- or non-scripted improvisational exercises that target interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes of communication, as recommended in the Standards.

The following presents a selection of such exercises, beginning, as any performance-based course should, with pre-verbal group exercises designed to help students overcome inhibitions through mutual trust and support. These are followed by exercises that connect verbal expression to emotion by focusing on pronunciation, intonation as well as enunciation; exercises that connect non-verbal to verbal expression; exercises for improvisation and word play; and a variety of approaches to dramatic texts. There are numerous sources from which to draw inspiration and practical guidance for all kinds of process-drama exercises, from which some of these (where indicated) have also been adapted (see “Further reading and resources”). In the process, seminal texts from the German-language tradition serve to introduce innovations in drama theory and dramatic techniques (Schauspielkunst) from the early-eighteenth to the late-twentieth centuries. While some of these exercises may be used in any language course at various levels, as indicated in each section, they are also called upon and brought to bear on dramatic texts in the remaining chapters of the book. Most important in all exercises is their integration into a lesson: They are never intended merely to fill dead time or to lift spirits; rather, they are integral to the goals of a lesson, whether that be an entry point into a text, or a communicative goal.

Some important factors to consider

Timing: Avoid letting an exercise drag on for more than necessary! In general, the shorter the excerpt, the more productive the workshop.

Side-coaching vs. teaching: In the interest of encouraging a welcoming environment, take care to set up a relaxed atmosphere, in which everyone is welcome to coach from the side, rather than top-down correction or disapproval.

Follow-up: Always leave room for a debrief and a follow-up activity. By “follow-up,” I also imply the integration of an activity into the overall goals of a lesson. Rather than let an activity dangle pointlessly, be sure to embed it within a the lesson so that it serves to further the learning goals.

Scaffolding: Warm up with physical gestures before moving towards language-based exercises with increasing complexity.

Reflection: It is preferable to have students follow up each workshop with a reflection in a theater journal. This enables participants to reflect on what was learned, what was challenging, what was enjoyable, and what needs improvement.

Vorhang auf!

Pre-verbal exercises

Even pre-verbal exercises require a certain amount of linguistic preparation: giving directions, organizing activities, sharing impressions, making suggestions, and following up with reflections and discussion, all of which call for authentic communicative strategies. Each activity therefore includes suggestions for the setup and follow-up interaction between the instructor and the class and among students.

Spiegelspiel [all levels]

As the German compound suggests, this exercise involves the playful art of trying to sidestep someone to let the other pass, with the awkward and slightly amusing result that the two people repeatedly move in each other’s way – as though reflected in a mirror.¹

Purpose: Given the role that the mirror play in psychoanalytic and developmental models of self-consciousness as it relates specifically to the body, it might seem counter-intuitive to introduce mirrors in order to help overcome one’s inhibitions. However, if we adopt a Vygotskyan perspective, one that presumes that the child is not at the center of its own cognitive development, but rather in interaction with the environment, and that play “creates a zone of proximal development” (Vygotsky, Play 16), it is possible to understand how this exercise can sharpen the physical observation and promote a heightened sensitivity to others (Vygotsky and Cole, Mind). By focusing on the give and take of a dramatic situation, as initiation and response, by following the other’s lead, and by recognizing the emotional and physical reciprocity in constructing a scene, learners might also begin to overcome self-consciousness. This will not occur, however, if carried out unwillingly in front of an audience; each student must be given the opportunity to rehearse unobserved if preferred. This simple activity is also a form of storytelling – the basis of theater arts – as well as social interaction, imagination, personal creativity, and self-expression. In a sense, this is drama in compact form – action and reaction, conflict and resolution, a study in character and style. It can also be used as a staging technique.

Roles: Roles can be devised by participants or provided and summarized on cards and distributed to pairs of students. Depending on one’s goal, it is possible to use this exercise as a starting point for discussion of physical gesture, or as an entry point into discussing a particular character from a play. The former might be an assembly of simple, familiar routines that take place in front of the mirror, such as:

• ein Mann/eine Frau, der/die sich auf den Arbeitstag vorbereitet.
• ein Mann/eine Frau, der/die sich vor dem Schlafen fertig macht.
• ein Clown, der seine Gesten einstudiert.
• ein/e SchauspielerIn, der/die sich vor einem Auftritt in einer Tragödie vorbereitet.

For the latter, some sample roles from Dürrenmatt’s Die Physiker are intended as a springboard to a discussion of the relation of physical appearance to character and function in the play:

• Eine bucklige Ärztin, die sich auf einen Besuch von Inspektor Voß vorbereitet.
• Herbert Georg Beutler, genannt Newton, der sich aber auch für Einstein hält, zieht sein Kostüm aus dem früheren 18. Jahrhundert und seine Perücke an.
• Schwester Irene, die Landesmeisterin des nationalen Judoverbandes, macht sich für eine Verabredung mit Beutler fertig.
• Inspektor Voß steht auf und macht sich am frühen Morgen im Badezimmer fertig.

Alternatively, one might excerpt a moment from a play that students must contextualize based on a pantomime. For example, the episode “Der junge Herr und die junge Frau” from Schnitzler’s Reigen:

Dann schenkt er sich ein Glas Cognac ein und trinkt es rasch aus. Dann sieht er auf seine Uhr. Er geht im Zimmer auf und ab. – Vor dem großen Wandspiegel bleibt er eine Weile stehen, richtet mit seinem Taschenkamm das Haar und den kleinen Schnurrbart.

Organization: Divide group into pairs and assign them roles A and B. Player A will perform the role or action described on the card; player B will perform the “mirror” action at arm’s length. It is important that player A moves slowly and d...