Canterbury Tales [4]
Lots of evening workshops to chose from. The most popular are those which seemingly have little to do with language teaching and learning. Not the Pilgrims way though, here anything that improves teachers and students’ abilities matters; salsa, blues and t’ai chi all find their way to the classroom.
Tim Bowen had us read Celebration, the latest one-act play by Harold Pinter, with the focus on intonation and Pinter’s realistic dialogue. With the help of two desks and ten chairs we moved to a posh London restaurant where at two differnt tables two groups of people have met for very different reasons. At one table they are celebrating the birthday of a successsful ‘self-made’ businessman, while at the other a married couple are trying to come to terms with their problems. The proprietor and his wife frequently visit each table to check if everything is alright. Meanwhile the guests are served by the waiter, a character who gradually becomes the most important in the play. Just a sample of what we tried to bring to life:
Waiter: Do you mind if I interject?
Richard: I’m sorry?
Waiter: Do you mind if I make an interjection?
Richard: What on earth do you mean?
Waiter: Well, it’s just that I heard these people talking about The Austro-Hungarian Empire a little while ago and I wwondered if they’d ever heard about my grandfather…
And on he goes!
West African Drumming Workshop