Stuffed Pants! Staging Full-scale Comic Plays with Students of Italian as a Foreign Language

Authors

  • Filippo Fonio

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33178/scenario.6.2.4

Abstract

Staging full-scale plays in Italian with French non-specialist students, following a predominantly product-oriented theatrical approach, may prove very beneficial in terms of students’ commitment and of intercultural learning. Students’ involvement in the staging project and their motivation in learning can be further stimulated by the staging of comic plays. As emphasized in this paper, the social approach to the comic which Henri Bergson proposes in Laughter (1900) offers many useful hints which can be exploited by teachers interested in teaching foreign languages through theatre practice. The paper also deals with the teaching of paralinguistic features, which is particularly interesting for students to explore in connection with the Italian comic tradition and the staging of full-scale plays.1

References

Bergson, Henri (1900): Laughter. An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, Rockville (Maryland): Arc Manor, 2008 (English translation by Cloudesely Brereton and Fred Rothwell)

Council of Europe (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Online English version available at: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf (last accessed 10/12/2012)

Culham, Cameron R. (2002): Coping with Obstacles in Drama-Based ESL Teaching: A Nonverbal Approach. In: Bräuer, Gerd (ed.): Body and Language. Intercultural Learning Through Drama. Westport (Connecticut), London: Ablex Publishing, 95-112

Fonio, Filippo; Genicot, Geneviève (2011): The Compatibility of Drama Language Teaching and CEFR Objectives – Observations on a Rationale for an Artistic Approach to Foreign Language Teaching at an Academic Level. In: Scenario 2, 71-84

Frassica, Pietro (2009): Authors, Texts, and Innovative Movements: An Overview of the Italian Theatrical Canon. In: Marini-Maio, Nicoletta; Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen (eds.): Set the Stage! Teaching Italian Through Theater. Theories, Methods, and Practices, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 27-49

Moody, Douglas J. (2002): Undergoing a Process and Achieving a Product: A Contradiction in Educational Drama? In: Bräuer, Gerd (ed.): Body and Language. Intercultural Learning Through Drama. Westport (Connecticut), London: Ablex Publishing, 135-159

Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen; Colangelo, Laura M. (2004): Full-Scale Theater Production and Foreign Language Learning. In: Foreign Language Annals 37/3, 374-385

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Published

2012-07-01

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Articles