The stage is my classroom
By : Dr Peter Jordan, Department of English
A teacher is a communicator in a two-way process that encourages dialogue. With this in mind, I have a goal to find novel, interactive and innovative ways for students to apply their English in different contexts.
Before joining CityU in 2014, I worked for a long time at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and before that, I was a full-time actor for many years. Because of my particular skillset, I make drama a unique feature of my lectures, encouraging students to give spontaneous feedback, to seize the opportunity for personal expression and actively use their skills in public speaking, role play and simulations.
“Knowledge is a kind of power and a critical reflective mind is the best tool to exercise that power.”English on the Move and Popular Music and Social Life are two of my drama-related courses in which students have to make group presentations and videos. There is a strong performative and collaborative aspect to these exercises. I am not very good at just lecturing. I like to include an interactive element. I push people to engage in this way, because I think it can intensify the learning experience and make it more memorable. Learning is one thing, but retaining knowledge and being able to apply that knowledge must be the ultimate goal.
Students already have to do a lot of work in isolation, in the library or at home, so I think the classroom is an opportunity to get involved with the learning process collectively, to try out ideas and to share experience and knowledge. For example, in the Popular Music and Social Life course, there are sections on gender and race. So male and female students, and students from ethnic minorities can exchange often strongly held opinions about these issues from their own unique perspective. You cannot achieve the same intensity of experience and debate from a book, no matter how well it is written. The present-tense classroom is an appropriate forum for examining such fluid and contemporary social issues.
Drama is a transferrable skill. It can be applied in a variety of situations. Many professional organisations and businesses use some form of dramatic role play for training purposes. For example, after the 2004 tsunami, I was hired by the British Consulate to play the part of various distressed relatives trying to find missing loved ones.
Dr Jordan (centre) and two of his students.The consular staff had to do their best to reassure and to help, even when the “relative” was extremely emotional and aggressive, or behaving completely irrationally. This was the nearest thing to a real-life experience for the officials. I know that doctors often go through a similar training process that involves actors role-playing various types of patient.
Preparing and performing a drama gives students the real-life experience of taking responsibility and ownership of their work, embodying and empathising with characters, understanding psychological motivation, confronting emotional challenges, interacting meaningfully with others as well as analysing, interpreting and presenting text.
Creating a respectful environment in which students can feel comfortable when expressing themselves is equally important. I encourage my students not to be afraid to fail and waste time comparing their standard to others. They should just enjoy the process of communication and, above all, take every chance to practice.
I try to lead by example. I tell my students how I feel about something, I admit when I am wrong, and I tell them if I can do this, they should also be able to speak out without worrying too much about how people may react or judge you.
Dr Jordan receives CityU’s Teaching Excellence Award 2019 from President Kuo (right). My passion for teaching is driven by my interaction with students. I enjoy the challenge of trying to get through, inspiring all students by fostering a productive, interactive, but also safe space where everyone feels empowered and motivated to participate. Knowledge is a kind of power and a critical reflective mind is the best tool to exercise that power.
With the aim of stimulating creativity and providing more chances not only to interact with set dialogue, but also to improvise, I have initiated several drama projects. I am currently proposing an interdisciplinary documentary video project based on court cases at pivotal points in Hong Kong’s history in collaboration with the School of Creative Media. Shooting would take place at the Central Police Station complex and the film would then be made available to the public as an intangible heritage artefact, as well as a teaching resource for schools.