PART 1
For this
project, I chose to take pictures of our Concert Hall Mainstage at the English
Village. I chose this location because it is the venue that I most frequently
work in, and the location that I love the most. This theater is unique because
it is not actually a theater at all; it is a classroom, a 600-seat classroom
for ESL students of all ages and nationalities. The Concert Hall has many functions. It hosts our mainstage musical but also
operates as a venue for orientations, evening activities, movie nights, trivia
nights, talent shows, and student presentations. It is arguably the most active
facility at EV.
In Korea,
theaters are not common. In the United States, almost every high school has a
performing arts facility for concerts and shows. However, there are only a select number of arts schools in
Korea that have the funding to build the necessary facilities to host such
events. This performance venue is
an exceptional sight for a Korean.
Many of our students have never seen a show before – even those at the
high school level! They have never
stepped on stage, performed a song or dance for their friends, or given a
presentation. This venue gives the
conservative Korean culture a chance to open up and learn more about
confidence, courage, and power of theater.
Physically, our
stage is striking: battens above
full of lights, a stage bigger than most Broadway venues, and small bits of our
set for our latest production, Merlin and
the Sword in the Stone. But in reality, that is not what is most notable
about this space – it is the learning that takes place within it. As a performer at this theater, our
shows constantly engage the audience with questions or physical activities so
they can be a part of the stories we tell. The language is simple but the characters are real. Even
though every word of English may not be understood, these students are still
learning, loving, and experiencing something unlike never before in their
lives.
PART 2
I attached a
picture of the outside of the Concert Hall as well in this assignment. All of the buildings at EV are similar
to the Concert Hall, massive and outstanding in their Western-style
architecture. I show pictures of
my village to my Korean friends in Seoul and they respond, “That’s in Korea?!?”
At English Village,
the goal is to mimic real life foreign experiences geared to improving English
fluency. This is accomplished
through elements such as: Western options in the cafeteria, architecture and
interior decor, Western bathrooms, and of course, a large number of native-English
speaking teachers from across the globe.
Students are challenged to only speak English upon entering the castle
walls (literally), encouraged by their surroundings. I found similarities with this goal of English Village and
Alexander’s view of architecture from the reading: “Alexander seeks to empower users and inhabitants of a
living space to develop, shape, and change their own learning environments
around the pre-existing organic interactions in that space” (pg. 6).
What I’ve found
from working here and from reading about the importance of a learning space is
that – it works. Students know that they are in a different environment, and
they step up to the challenge. They feel like they have escaped to a foreign,
English-speaking country. In my
job as an Edutainer, they are awed by the spectacle of a state-of-the-art
theater facility and in response, engage in the musical and seek out what can
be learned in it. For the future,
I know I will not always be at an English Village-type setting. However, I can still recognize the
magnitude of a fun, engaging physical learning environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment