How theatre techniques can help students learn

One of the biggest challenges in education is the creation of an engaging, enriching and equitable classroom atmosphere which is ideal for learning. Linguist Stephen Krashen uses the metaphor of a filter to describe how emotional factors make it difficult for young second language learners in classrooms to learn their target language. One way to bring the classroom to life in engaging ways and lower students’ affective filters is to use theatre-based techniques. Though she did not speak Kannada, her theatrical techniques lowered the affective filter, fostering an environment highly conducive to language learning. However, many educators unknowingly already use theatre-based strategies in their classrooms for various purposes related to language teaching — say, a Marathi teacher using dramatic storytelling to introduce new vocabulary, a Kannada teacher in Bengaluru making students act out dialogues to practise conversational skills, or a Hindi teacher leveraging role-playing to explore different perspectives on a literary text.