By Akhmylovskaia Larisa, Ph.D. of Arts, Professor
Foreign Languages Section, Department of Humanities. Far Eastern State Institute of Arts.
Areas of Expertise: Multiethnic Art and Education Project, LPP Management, The Play Translator's Score Developing, and Meta Culture Studies within Cross-Cultural theatremaking. 

Abstract: The present article is devoted to the language learning experiments, introduces the Project method developing at the Far Eastern Institute of Arts. The ideas and examples presented are based on the author’s personal experience in the international theatre-making projects, opera laboratories, cross-cultural master-classes; outline more opportunities to single out the conditions, forms, means, and principles of teaching Language for Professional Purposes (LPP).

Teaching a foreign language to pre-acting students, future artists, and musicians implies certain training for professional functioning. The students are developing their professional communication skills, the ability to act in the possible contexts of their future activities. Conditions, mood, and role-plays, corresponding with the specific communicative circumstances that people of arts can encounter in their profession, are to be helpful to improve their communication skills within project making in the target language.

The objectives of this article are:

- to present the advantages of the project method, and drama techniques in the range of approaches;

- to outline the experiments of language teaching at the Far Eastern Institute of Arts, regarding some characteristics of future professionals’ activities;

- to share the results of the practice analysis.

Language teachers at the Higher Schools of Arts are not necessarily convinced that traditional drama techniques help first-year students become more motivated and involved in classroom activities to master English for professional purposes. However, they are to transform problems into tasks to integrate the newly acquired knowledge through finding creative solutions, considering errors, and exploring alternatives. It is even more important for yesterday's schoolchildren to get prepared for the challenges of the contemporary multicultural world, and adjust themselves to living in the changing conditions.

The Art Institute students are expected to interact with their foreign colleagues all over the world. They attend master-classes of foreign guest-teachers, participate in multicultural events, and gradually become able to conduct a seminar for an international audience or write a message to a partner abroad. The practice of cross-cultural events proves the need to review and complement the standard program and available materials with more specific tasks, means, and activities.

It should be noted that in the art areas the development of speaking skills is sometimes underestimated. Professional actors assume that while they feel capable of comprehending and voicing written drama texts, they frequently have difficulties in receiving and producing spoken language within the rehearsal process, festival, conference or concourse discussions, master-classes, TV, radio and movie presentations, etc.

The role-plays, corresponding with the specific communicative contexts and various functions that actors encounter in their profession, are to be helpful to improve their communication skills in the target language.

Historical overviews, theoretical ideas, practical implementations of drama techniques in language teaching are reflected in many papers. Alice Savage in her book “Lesson Plans, Activities, and Scripts for English Language Learners”(2019) shares her ideas regarding script and soliloquy analysis. Joe Winston (Routledge) suggests an academic discussion of topics including storytelling in an international context. (“Second Language Learning through Drama, 2011). Susan Hillyard’s “English through Drama: Creative activities for inclusive ELT classes”, 2016 introduces a wide range of drama activities including physical and vocal warm-ups, improvisations, lesson plans, and short scripts for performance, which is of interest for pre-acting students participating in The Special People Youth Theatre Studio in Vladivostok.

Dramatization has been used to various extents by means of different methods according to the works and master-classes of some innovators of language pedagogy, psychologists, and theatre practitioners.

In the time of the grammar and translation method, there were language teaching theorists who introduced revolutionary techniques borrowed from theatre mentors. Some instructors suggested that physical activity helps memorization. There were and there are Acting mentors whose approach is both process-oriented and product-oriented teach and explore intensive physical activities right within Acting class. Theatre experiments of Shiro Mikhara, Charlotte Tienken, Antonis Arabadzis, Krzhishtof Zhilinski, Agnieszka Magdalena Włoch added much to our Project method practice as well the brightest Foreign accents workshops of Judith Shann, Stage Speech master at UW.

The methods mentioned going perfectly well with Stanislavsky’s vision. Future actors are focused on the process of the natural and gradual growth of feelings, yet the task-based language teaching helps to convey the character’s task (objective) and lifeline.

The natural approach method has emphasized the importance of speaking practice as opposed to grammar and translation exercises, yet students are still eager, or at least ready to use them both at a time. However more and more encouraged are interaction, contextualization, physical activities, supporting perfectly well The Course of English for actors, artists, and musicians.

Semester Class-Concerts since 2000 have been confirming that it is more productive to present the protagonist’s soliloquy or a scene than just to translate a passage. So much more preferable is the artistically presented producer’s concept. director’s explication, dramaturg’s commentary, dramatist’s interview, diva’s aria or song, sportsman’s bio, president’s speech, teens’ game, TV journalist’s talk-show script, questionnaire, screenplay, art critic’s review, columnist’s story, academician’s essay, music theoretician’s article, etc.

A teacher should occupy no more than 20% of the class time, so preacting students could get more opportunities for the prepared monologues and spontaneous discussions, developing their interacting skills. The use of the target language and the avoidance of the mother tongue according to the direct method within the Drama School education process would be poor without demonstration, gestures, mimics, imitation, etc.

The audio-lingual method and other dramatizing methods, or humanistic methods are still essential for learning in context. The personality-centered, psychological approaches bring more professional and personal discoveries through the development of language learner skills.

The emotional factors gain more importance in the total physical response method when future actors are to respond with action to the director’s recommendations, orders, and instructions presented in the text of the target language.

The silent way approach implies the movements, gestures, and mimics of a character, whose mute performance in the classroom, on stage or screen, has to be interpreted by others in the target language; e.g. it is especially challenging to decode and tone the Charlie Chaplin’s scenes.

The community language learning method at Higher School of Arts is often based on emotional memory, mutual trust, and a relaxed, tension-free atmosphere in which even the most vulnerable and sensitive preacting students feel confident and comfortable. The creation of such a mood is the basic principle of suggestopedia and one of the basic conditions of the projects which we have been practicing for twenty years.

The Theatre terminology dictionaries, especially The Glossary of Stanislavsky terms, presented in the book “Language of Stage” support the learning approach based on personal experience. Some students are extremely brave to devote their weekly presentations to the antagonists/protagonists, associated to some extent with their private emotional life.

In such cases, the professional Actor’s Homework, Grammar exercises, and terminology drilling contain some (A) Persona non grata’s or (B). Hero’s portrait.

The Task of the scene or the role according to Stanislavsky can be expressed through the list of verbs, regarding the character’s nature:

1. A. Attack, criticize, discredit, humiliate, destroy, underestimate;
2. B. Make friends, encourage, help, believe, trust, support, construct, grow, value.

The Temporhythm (tempo and rhythm), mood, given circumstances, stage costume, props, makeup, wig, noises, music, set-design according to Stanislavsky are described inappropriate adjectives:

1. Gloomy, ugly, envious, pale, panicking, irrational, illogic, miserable;
2. Airy, joyful, gorgeous, generous, bright, friendly, fruitful, adequate.

The list of Stage directions contains expressive word combinations, adverbs metaphoric phrases as follows:

1. In a mosquito voice, with a squeaky sound, in his boring manner, cowardly;
2. Elegantly, delicately, exquisitely, warmly, carefully, thoughtfully, tenderly.

Art, Sculpture, Design, and Fashion terms are widely used in the community language learning method, especially for the groups of artists. They choose original themes and titles for their semester independent researches, e.g.: The Giverny green‎: from  Claude Monet’s garden to palette of new designers;  Picasso and Rodin exhibitions within Japanese landscape design; The  Great Wave by Hokusai in paintings of French and Russian impressionists, etc.

Group discussions that became extremely popular in the learner-centered communicative language teaching are always effective. They support learning based on self-observation and personal experience in problem-solving situations.

The semester projects, which we have been practicing since 2000, imply the independent analysis that students present on behalf of themselves or as a part of some character. Anyway, it is a composition or essay rich in professional terms and original ideas, supported by means of all methods mentioned above and illustrated with the Semester Class-Concert.

The project-based on Beckett’s short plays has discovered two performers acting as one character in two parts of her life. (“The Rockaby”). The actors described in their sixteen weekly essays and showed in the final semester class-concert the woman before and after her decision, conveyed by the dramatist.

Other especially bright presentations were based on:

- a choreography version of “Hamlet”, with a female actor as the Prince; The performer was pronouncing the soliloquy and simultaneously jumping, running, dancing;

- Carol Levin’s Poem “Baronessa of Ballard” with text additions and three performers: a doctor, a dying old lady and her son in the farewell scene holding mother’s hand as in his childhood.

There were a great number of brilliant presentations of Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Eugene O’Neil, Tennessee Williams, Neil Simon, Kunio Shimizu, Miroslav Mrozhek, Kim You Jeong and other authors. No spectators, no extra fears or risks, yet time of “auditioning” is as limited as in a real professional situation.

The Project of 2019-20 was devoted to the 160th Anniversary of Vladivostok.

The students’ essays covered the History of Arts and Culture of the third contemporary capital of Russia and the cross-cultural life of the  Pacific Rim.

They dedicated their semester researches to the greatest actors, poets, artists, sculptors, architects, musicians, composers, film and theatre festivals, Vladivostok Biennale, Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Opera, Primorsky Philarmonic, choirs, orchestras, museums, and art galleries.

The sanitary and epidemic situation 2020 did not allow us to hold the traditional May & June Class-concerts, yet the process of English learning was fruitful and the result of the academic year was reflected in the independent essays accompanied with the Terminological Glossary presenting terms of Choir / Academic singing/ Wind instruments /String instruments/Painting/Acting etc.

In 2020 another daring plan has been outlined. “Meet JJ” is a working title of the exercises collection for James Joyсe’s “Ulysses”. Students are suggested to analyze abstracts from the novel, comment on the author’s ideas, lexicon, and stylistic devices.

Students are tuned to actively use the most important advantages of the project method. The combination of Art and Lingual Therapy devices, exercises, techniques helps the students of Arts to overcome difficulties in their social relationships and professional studies. Future professionals develop their speech fluency; increase motivation, positive thinking, adequate self-evaluation.

The Class-concert at the Drama School is concerned with the process of independent study presentation that is far from a finished product. The team is just discovering the abilities in a tension-free atmosphere, and step by step the process is getting more efficient.

Musicians feel free to introduce their musical composition in English, preacting students record their presentations, yet they can feel comfortable with it only having photography and camera skills. Future painters enthusiastically share their vision of post-digital art and post- internet art installations, seeking images, re-contextualizing them, and commenting the results.

The young people solve drama and language problems together, evaluate and encourage each other, explore books by great masters, learn professional terms, clarify timing and details, share opinions, and find decisions.

So they develop both their communicative competence and the whole personality which is the main goal (super-objective) of language teaching at the Institute of Arts

References

1. Anderson Dale. L., Act now! – New York: Chronimed Publishing, 1995. – 288 p.
2. Benedetti Jean, The Moscow Art Theatre Letters. NY: A Theatre Arts Book Routledge, 1991 – 377 p.
3. Berson M.The Seagull. Walter Kerr Theatre // The Seattle Times, December’21, 2008. – P. 13.
4. Blum D. Casals and the art of interpretation. – Los Angeles, London: University of California press, 1977. – 222 p.
5. Carnicke Sharon M. Stanislavsky in focus. (Russian Theatre Archive; v.17), London: Hardwood Academic Publishers, 2003. – 236 p.
6. Chief B. A Handbook for Human Beings. – Seattle, WA: Red Cedar Circle, 1993. – 47p.
7. Conable B., Conable W. How to learn the Alexander technique. – Columbus, Ohio, Andover Press, 1995. – 154 p.
8. Garfield David, The Actor’s Studio. – NY: Collier Books Macmillan Publishing Company, 1984. – 318 p.
9. Giebert S., «Drama and theatre in teaching foreign languages for professional purposes», URL: http:// journals. open edition. org/apliut / 4215.
10. Ilkhom Theatre Company. Sharing a vision: Tashkent to Seattle. JWTV production. 10/20/2008. DVD. Copyright,
11. Jackson K. Story Circles.–Seattle, WA: Rain City Projects, Inc., 1997– 22 p.
12. Katselas M. Acting class. Take a seat. Phoenix books, CA, 2008. – 298 p.
13. Kelly E.Y. The magic if. Stanislavski for children. – Baltimore, Maryland, National Educational Press, 1973. – 170 p
14. Linklater K., Freeing Shakespeare’s voice. The actor’s guide to talking the text, Theatre Communications group, NY, 1992.– 214 p.
15. O’Neill National Theatre Institute Intensive Theatre training with professional artists. – The O’Neill, Waterford. – 2008. – 27 p.
16. Smith B.K.Vassily Sakhnovski // Akhmilovski L. The language of Stage. – Vladivostok: Far Eastern Institute of Arts, 2019. – 176 p. – P. 101-114.
17. Skinner Edith. Speak with distinction. The Classic Skinner Method to speech on the stage. – NY: Applause. Theatre Book Publishers, 1990. – 406 р.

Keywords: language for professional purposes, academic project participant, individual semester project, inter-textual analysis in action, class-concert, self-observation, super-objective, communicative competence.