REALL conducts fourth meeting at American University of Kuwait
Education meets entertainment in REALL
KUWAIT CITY, June 3: REALL, one of five Special Interest Groups in TESOL Kuwait awarded a US Embassy grant to attend the TESOL International Convention in Seattle, conducted their fourth meeting at the American University of Kuwait on 24th May. TESOL Kuwait, led by President Dr Ilene Winokur, is an affiliate of the international association of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). Its mission is to advance professional expertise in English language teaching and learning for speakers of other languages. REALL, chaired by AUK’s Intensive English Program senior instructor Ms Alison Larkin Koushki, is a special interest group within TESOL Kuwait. Its mission is to encourage English teachers and learners in Kuwait to “Read English Actively for Language and Life Skills.”
REALL News: Language Arts Festival at TESOL Kuwait Annual Conference
REALL Chair Ms Alison Larkin Koushki welcomed TESOL Kuwait colleagues Dr Elhom Mohamed, Dr Mohamed Etedali, Abdelhameed Sadiq, Ms Asmaa Khudhari, Ms Asmaa Sayed, Ms Dana Winner, Ms Huda Al Amar, Ms Khadigah Khalaf, Ms Lydia Krstic, Ms Mai Salem, Mohamed Omar, and Ms Rana Khan. She thanked them for attending and then reported the REALL news:
REALL and TESOL Kuwait will launch a Language Arts Festival to be held at the TESOL Kuwait Annual Conference in November 2017. The purpose of the Festival is to inspire teachers and students to “Read English Actively for Language and Life Skills.” The Language Arts Festival will showcase English language performance pieces, individual or group, submitted by English learners throughout Kuwait, coached by their teachers, and approved by TESOL Kuwait. English language performance options include dramatic delivery of poems or monologues, enactment of novel or story scenes, comedy skits, story-telling, and English rap. Teachers and students are also invited to display their reading-based artwork, essays, and REALL creative journals at the festival. REALL’s Mission: The purpose of REALL is to spark attractive and active methods for teaching and learning English in Kuwait by engaging students in reading via the arts.
In REALL, students are encouraged to read ... imagine .... draw, sing, or act — a story, poem, novel, song, or play. Collaborative, and creative, it’s active, social, and fun. It’s REALL: Read English Actively for Language and Life Skills, an innovative way to celebrate novels and stories via the arts. Students enhance all 4 language skills while mining the riches of literature, then portraying them as art or performance. Sound, lights, costumes, acting — in REALL, students form teams, whether on stage or backstage, script, reporting, make-up or “Writer’s Corner,” and work together to enliven the narrative. REALL students also bring their reading to life as individuals, pairs, or small groups. The learning imprint lasts because it’s REALL. REALL’s Diversity Outreach: At the meeting, Ms Alison emphasized that all English teachers and learners in Kuwait are invited to participate in the November TESOL Kuwait Language Arts Festival. Flyers advertising the Festival will be circulated throughout Kuwait. In September, Ms. Alison will be presenting REALL and assisting teachers and learners in the REALL use of English in their classes. According to Ms. Alison, “The key is to start with a single student or small group, and work within the curriculum. Once that student or small group brings English to life for the audience, other students will catch the inspiration, and administrations will see its value in terms of language and life skills gained by students.”
REALL in Action at the Meeting:
Various performance genres were then demonstrated by students at the meeting. AUK business major Ms Amal Radwan demonstrated how to narrate a novel excerpt while student actors portray the action through pantomime and gestures. Foundation student Sulaiman Al Haddad delivered a dramatic reading of his original poem with sentiments about bullying so powerfully put that listeners asked to hear it twice. Much to the delight of all in attendance, computer engineering major Ahmed Abdelrazzaq demonstrated another performance genre, comedy story telling in English. Fellow upperclassman Nasser Al Kharafi assisted in the skit. Salem al Azmi, also a computer engineering major and famous for his powerful portrayal of Harry Houdini in Mrs. Alison’s production “Love and Magic: Houdini Unchained,” demonstrated how Houdini extricated himself from a straitjacket, based on a description he read in the biography of the world’s most famous escape artist. Ms Madonna Sadek played her suggested theme song for REALL, “Read All about It.” The point of these demonstrations was to show how students can bring their reading to life and combine education with entertainment in the process.
Next, participants at the meeting broke into “satellite groups,” each brainstorming upcoming language performance possibilities at the TESOL Kuwait Annual Conference Language Arts Festival. Proposed acts include Sherlock Holmes comedy, to be directed by experienced young actor and director Aziz Al Dahani. English Head of Department Abdelhameed Sadiq will assist a small team of students in creating a script, directing, and presenting a scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Experienced Shakespearian actress AUK foundation student Shareen Al Hajji, winner of the best actress award at the International University of Monodrama Festival in Tunisia, April 2017, will join this project. Foundation student Mohamed Al Sarabi expressed his admiration for the anime art form of story-telling in English. According to Al Sarabi, anime takes students to a level of engagement wherein intense interest in the plot motivates them to decode the language used. This leads to better English vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Meeting Wrap up: As attendees began networking over coffee and refreshments, Ms. Alison reiterated the theory behind REALL. English language students in Kuwait need to master English for work and life. They also have artistic talent. REALL dovetails their need for English with their creativity, resulting in a win-win scenario. Students may discover new talents while improving their English in REALL. This enhances their confidence, critical thinking, communication, and compromise skills, while also polishing their prowess in English.