“There are two things – ACTION and the IMPACT behind the action. Even if the action is ordinary, the impact must be positive, productive and creative”
“Give a lot of time to the improvement of yourself, then there is no time to criticize others”
“If I am honest in all my dealings, I can never experience fear”
“Misunderstanding can be erased by loveful, pure thoughts and making one to understand at the appropriate time”
“You are You, therefore enjoy being your real self”
(Indian Wisdom)
When we say about teaching and learning in the process of productive, and, sometimes, scientific (not less!) communication teachers and students. We, teachers, take into account not only forming their spoken and written language, but empowering these young people, our students, to transform the world. Role-plays became a productive instrument of penetrating through all difficulties of learning and understanding in the process of fruitful communication. In the course of such practice, those taught and learned demonstrate their communicative and linguistic possibilities in a bright educational environment. These possibilities of each student in the process of role-play, being seen, praised and estimated by teacher and classmates contribute to working-out students’ competence in language, his (her) specific educational environment, new skills as cut through training.
Role-play educational environment approaches understanding and using in personal practice of student's mental, behavioral and psychological principles of communication in a group. It constructs and put into real action- communication personal reflective, structural, need and motivational, cognitive, technological components of personal development for effective communication. From this position role-plays may be and are in reality a true module for practical training not only language, but all disciplines being in close logical and sense combination of the process of teaching at all.
Role-plays process as one of the creative methods of teaching is a logical structure of compounding stages from the simplest to the complicated one, if we truly want our students to transform the world! To transform it means to become intellectual and moral stable, open to new discoveries in competent penetrating through professional skills and demands on the line of improving them constantly and effective. So, we can denote some stages as special law-demands, necessary for involving into the process truly intellectual communication in role-plays.
First of all, we mean individual and collective responsibilities being involved in the process of relationships with others and strengthening ethical values in their lives. This moment is obligatory. It does not depend from the concrete theme of the role-play and concrete it’s purposes and goals. “The participants will reflect on their own experiences. Make connections between different values and will become better equipped to transform themselves and their immediate environment. Through the peace, fun and fulfillment of working together, they will find peaceful ways of transforming their world” [1, p.43].
The whole module for practical training includes two ones compounding it in a whole process- Understanding Self and Others and Transforming the World Together. Let us denote some tasks needed to be solved in the process of students and teachers’ communication, proposed by talented Switzerland teachers as resume of their experiment in role-plays:
- to learn the value of nurturing relationships with people who are different from themselves;
- face challenges in understanding the world and the people around them because they will help them grasp their individual and collective responsibilities as global citizens.
The main task is to find peaceful ways of transforming their peaceful world/ It is possible on the base of discovering in introducing in the process of pole-play reflecting on the participants’ experience, making connections between different values and demonstrating respect to all those involved in the process of communication [2, p.64].
One more significant aspect of collective communication is analyzing the roots of social conflicts, violent situations and injustices, acquiring skills to find peaceful solutions to these problems. Common work is to motivate the participants to work together with others to respond ethically to the need for transformation in their societies. Achieving inner peace means developing an attitude of reconciliation in order to build bridges of trust with others [3, p.69].
On a blank sheet of paper each participants draw a tree to represent him or herself. These are some of the things the students might suggest: Where I am growing up; This is my family; This is what I am good at; This makes me happy; This is what I believe in; This makes me sad; This is what I think is fun; Place where I have lived previously.
Among the other themes of discussing there are: Family members; School, college, University (etc.) including name and grade level; This makes me happy; When I grow up I want to be; Now I am.
Answering these questions helps students to have cleared up their own vision on being oriented to successful result of role-plays event, each participant must respect and realize some necessary demands, defining possibilities and opportunities of fruitful activity of each of the command‘ participants.
Let us name the most important of them: Be interfaced – based; Be innovative; Be clear and concrete; Help transform a specific situation; Uphold ethical practices. And it does not matter, how difficult may be subject or topic for discussion: each one must be presented from all positions and in details in order to get result, demonstrating mental, professional, psychological, practical perfection. From this point of view very important and interesting at the first stage of introducing the whole task into research is activity on topic “My Life Tree” [3, p. 65].
In the process of discussing “The Life-Forest” of the team, the participants remember and discuss their fears, ideas, doubts, goals in life and initiatives in a personal “ scientific way” – as with their Role-Models. A summary of models will become a personal Role-Module. But first their role-model is a store of ideas, feelings and skills in using the English words they can use in speech correctly or wrong (incorrectly). While role-play going on, each participant gets new information about himself and his own experience, because a common work of those asking questions and sharing his own experience becomes an effective tool for encouraging each participant to bring about transformation in his (her) immediate environment! And this is a true sharing experiences’ tool, needed for personal growth and honest self-estimation. A great achievement for each participant becomes understanding that he (she) can reflect on the experience of others and then to get better control over of his (her) own life.
The traditional teacher’s role is not simple and very important. The teacher is the person in control. He makes decisions regarding the materials to be used, the language to be practiced and the classroom activities in which it will be practiced. The student must be free to play his role as he sees it, to speak when he judges it necessary or appropriate. He must be his own master! So, it follows, there is no place in a role play for teacher direction, interference, or even guidance [4, p 22]. The teacher has already done the main things: he has probably selected the material and directed the language practice for the pre-role-play activities. It is important to remember that once the role-play has started, teacher direction must stop.
What is the teacher’s pre-role play preparatory work? It is to identify at least one person who could be role-model as respected and admired, who can also talk and listen to the youth and old (as guest, for example). It is to invite the role-model to visit the group and share some experiences about his (her) life, relationships with others, his (her) spiritual life and beliefs.
What is the importance of role-play from the position of teaching, learning, upbringing and establishing personality – leader in future profession and personal and public life? It is great. The role-play trains the participants to correctly meet the difficult situations they are facing, to observe their own achievements and ethical challenges. Role-play is a real alive method of communication which can encourage the participants to find their own personal role-model outside the educational program. In role-play a person can offer insight, wisdom and knowledge. It is a great contribution to a personality, now ready to appreciate and enjoy feeling trusted, nurtured and encouraged to very important tasks, goals, aims. Their core is in the possibility and opportunity of those involved in role-play effective practice to fulfill student’ responsibility to be part of shaping a better and more just world.
And, indeed, “If you do everything with the feeling of Happiness, there will be no task too difficult to perform” (Indian Wisdom).
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