אורנים דוט קום – מגזין האינטרנט של מכללת אורנים

By: Dr. Nancy Peled, course instructor |

On May 15^th the first Department of English Language and Literature Reader’s Theater event was presented for the Department staff and students, as well as other interested parties. The event was a course requirement, prepared to showcase the oral reading skills of the students taking the innovative “Rhetorical Skills: Theory and Practice” course. It was successful beyond any of our expectations!

The course aims to improve not only English student- teachers’ oral reading fluency but their verbal skills as well. I chose Reader’s Theater as the vehicle for the presentation because it offers so many possibilities for varied and interesting readings, as well as to give the students the chance to read both informatively and emotively.

The Reader’s Theater involved all the students in the class. They chose partners with whom to read and the scenes they would present. In addition each student was responsible for preparing introductory material about both the playwright and the play of another pair’s scene. They rehearsed alone and with my guidance both in and out of class. Their weeks of hard work paid off with the outstanding performance on May 15^th.

We heard scenes both tragic and comic, from multiple writers that ranged from Shakespeare to modern feminist fairy tale revisers. The readings were strong, evocative, moving and hilarious as befitted the texts. No one used a microphone, as we never lost sight of the fact that this course is built to equip future teachers with the ability to stand before a class and read well. The results were entertaining, moving and very polished and, I would venture to add, surprisingly so, as the professional level of the readings was more than impressive for first year students.

Teaching is a communicative profession.  With this course, a long-held dream of Dr. Elisheva Barkon, we wanted to help students improve their communicative competence in English through reading, analyzing, listening to, practicing, memorizing and presenting both “live” and recorded iconic English speeches, and other appropriate literary texts. The students became stronger, more confident, more resourceful, and more flexible oral readers. They improved at delivering information through reading, and they became more familiar with the successful use of rhetorical devices by great writers and speakers, past and present. In the process, they expanded their historical and cultural knowledge of the world, learned to read more effectively, developed their vocabulary, advanced their listening skills, and, I hope, deepened their appreciation of the power and possibilities of the English language.

It was a pleasure working with such a dedicated and conscientious group, and I want to congratulate them all for the wonderful show they presented, which is concrete evidence that their hard work has made them engaging readers.

I am grateful for all the support and help offered by both Dr. Janina Kahn-Horwitz and Prof. Danielle Schaub in setting up the event,  and of course for Dr. Elisheva Barkon in creating the opportunity for us all in the first place.

Photos: Prof. Danielle Schaub