The language of the arts

Each Saturday morning from March to June 2009, Richmond Theatre Trust welcomed 11–16 year-olds and their families who use English as an additional language to participate in ‘New Stages – Exploring Languages through the Arts’. A charitable company, established to support creative learning activities at the theatre, opened up the project to Richmond’s residents. Traditional language-learning environments often see the participants in a passive role being lead by teachers, hidden behind desks with their heads buried in coursebooks. ‘New Stages’ placed an emphasis on discovery, which involved the participants’ awareness of reality, feelings and emotions. Open spaces, paint and costume were used to urge the group members to unearth the language. By actively creating meaning they were able to experience natural learning, which can be applied to real life contexts. The project endeavoured to reduce inhibitions and to discard the notion of right and wrong in order to ease any apprehension and to build upon the participants’ confidence in communication. The partnership between a drama practitioner and English as an Additional Language (EAL) tutor ensured that exploration of language and creativity was guided with the appropriate background knowledge.
The creative process began with the concept of fairy tales. The participants, some of whom have only been in England for seven months, shared native tales. By focusing on the participants we increased their engagement and motivation, which made them more susceptible to language development as they had more interest in what they were doing.

The group worked as a team to invent and dramatise unique fairy tales, imaginatively incorporating characters from each one of their native stories. The result was two modern day British fairy tales with an eclectic range of characters from Finnish elves and Ethiopian hyenas to Polish dragons and Colombian frogs. Language skills can be enhanced through the sense of achievement gained from collective responsibility and ownership over the devising process.
Along with developing ambition and confidence, the arts can be a platform for addressing distinct areas of language. ‘New Stages’ participants were introduced to narrative tenses through visual art by painting storyboards of their fairy tales. Dance combined with personality adjectives and object nouns evoked character physicality, targeting kinaesthetic, visual and audio respondents as they united sound with the body and the subconscious. The audio learners who linked sound with the body and subconscious came to associate nouns and adjectives with the dance movements.
Drama techniques promoted fluency and revealed how intonation can create meaning. Three months ago, tentative participants looked to the tutor for reassurance of their correct language use. Now, these participants have improved their accuracy and developed a belief in their language ability, having led parts of the sessions and performed to an audience. The project has opened up equal opportunities to non-native speakers, allowing participants to work towards the Arts Award qualification and attend summer drama courses. This progression and the availability of new opportunities reflect how the arts can be used to lower barriers therefore enabling language acquisition.