ARTS
Learning outside the box
By Jonathon Hoppe and Eric Cal
Providence Day’s Spanish Theatre class provides an alternative from the traditional classroom environment.
Ten years ago, Providence Day School Spanish students were performing a routine dialogue in their class. The goal of the exercise was to simulate a dinner table conversation. While most students tentatively spoke while taking occasional peeks at their notes, some students took a more engaged approach. The enthusiasm from these students caught the eye of the teacher, Jay Barron.
Barron, a long time Providence Day School faculty member, felt as though their conversation was more of a one act play than just a basic dialogue. This feeling led to the creation of a new class: Spanish Theatre.
Soon after that class, Barron found himself in thought about the learning process. “Isn’t theatre the perfect vehicle for learning a language?” Barron realized that the Spanish classes were essentially already incorporating the creative process of theatre into their daily lessons. “That’s what we [spanish classes] all do. We’re all doing theatre. Anytime we ask students to do a dialogue, anytime we ask themselves to imagine themselves in situations, it’s a simple form of theatre,” he said. Barron firmly believes that his theatre class provides the kids with an easier, less strenuous way to learn the language.
Barron noted that student interest was key. Students, such as Meredith Johnson and Elizabeth Watts, played significant roles in the first year of the elective. Students are eligible to begin this course after they complete the 4th level of Spanish at Providence Day. This course provides students with a strong passion for Spanish more opportunities to immerse themselves in this widely spoken language.
Once in the course, students start by refreshing their language skills. Soon after that, they begin working on their first theatrical assignment. This years group has their first opportunity to showcase their skills at the end of the month. They will be traveling to a statewide competition in western North Carolina. They will be performing a play written by Barron, which they have also helped to amend. That first play has both English and Spanish in it. The class not only has the goal of performing well on stage, but also to improve the proficiency levels of its students in Spanish.
The class hopes to perform two separate times on campus this year; once each semester. The spring play will be written at a lower level of Spanish and performed for lower schoolers. The hope is that the lower school students get excited about the language by understanding the entirety of a play.
“Isn’t theatre the perfect vehicle for learning a language?” - Jay Barron
Spanish teacher Jay Barron reviews the script with his students before class.
Photo by Eric Cal