|
A trip to Hong Kong in 2008 brought me to the wonderful world of DE, or DRAMATIC ENGLISH: the world's most developed
program to teach English through drama.
Run by Mr. Man Cheung, this large and comprehensive program serves the Hong Kong community as well as surrounding areas.
Its program is huge as are its goals. The following comes from the Dramatic English Website.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
 DE Education Service:
| |
DE offers comprehensive services to all Secondary and Primary Schools in Hong Kong. Below are
some of our hot services: |
Please click any of the above for more details of each service.
DE Studio
| |
DE operates a unique education centre in Jordan, Kowloon, open to the public, offering unique training
courses in English musical theatres and English drama; as well as many English and language arts courses for children and
teenagers.
The DE Studio also offers the unique Dramatic Business English Course (a Continuing Education Fund
re-imbursable course) for adults. |
DE Theatre in Education TIE Ensemble
| |
DE has established this professional TIE ensemble for over 2 years. Hong Kong's professional theatre
is dominated by ensembles in Chinese. As an international city, Hong Kong needs to have more professional shows in English.
DE's TIE Ensemble devises and performs original plays and musical in English. We have toured our shows to over 100 schools
in Hong Kong; we are performing in the Wetland Park which is sponsored by the HSBC; we are also performing in the Heritage
Museum which is sponsored by the LCSD of the Government of the HKSAR.
| |
Active Theatre
DE uses the concept of a large scale improvisation theatre to lead large groups of students to experience/participate in
a big show or big game together. A unique, fun and effective approach for students to practice their English, an experience
they will remember for a long time. |
|
Please click for more details
DE Publishing
| |
Consolidating the experience of applying drama techniques and training into language learning,
DE also publishes textbooks in Drama and the Language Arts for junior secondary and senior primary students. The Dramatic
English Language Arts Series comprises practical textbooks for students to step into the wonderful and interesting world of
English. The series of books also come with comprehensive Teachers’ Books to guide teachers to deliver the curriculum
with ease. | | | |
INTERVIEW WITH
MAN CHEUNG
I asked Man about how he thought to establish DRAMATIC ENGLISH and he told me it was because he wanted to
teach English when he returned from Australia, but found that students were unmotivated, fearful of using English in and outside
of the classroom, and in general, more failed than passed English exams. He thought a more friendly, active, and cheerful
approach was necessary so began offering free seminars to local teachers to get them interested in using the dramatic approach.
First, eight teachers agreed to help him and he piloted the new program in the Hong Kong schools. More teachers joined the
program and it grew till there are over thirty-six teachers in more than fifty schools in Hong Kong today.
|
|
Dramatic English provides teachers for three distinct learning areas in the Hong Kong public schools. The first provides
English Drama and Language Arts courses in the junior forms, the second teaches English Language Arts in the secondary schools,
and the third, Drama and Language Arts in the primary schools.
As part of its program, Dramatic English also offers workshops for secondary and primary teachers.
Dramatic English also produces and directs musicals in the schools, guides drama groups to compete in the National Drama
Festival, and provides support for extra-curricular activities.
I asked to go out to the school sites to observe some Dramatic English instructors in action. Man suggested I take a
look at the classes of three instructors who were each doing slightly different kinds of work within the school system.
The first teacher I watched in action was Stephanie Fuller.
For a look inside the Dramatic English program, click here.
|
