NIDA Open has launched a new acting short course, specifically designed for both beginners and advanced acting students, from any non-English language background.
NIDA Open has launched a new acting short course, specifically designed for both beginners and advanced acting students, from any non-English language background.
‘NIDA Open is famous for developing excellent ways to teach people about acting,’ said NIDA Open Program Manager Alison Bennett. ‘At the same time, we have an increasing number of students with English as a second language and speaking with those students we realised that they encounter specific challenges in class.’
Alison explained that this is because some essential acting skills, such as improvisation, can be really difficult when you are not speaking in your native language. ‘For example, I faced this when I did my acting training in France, with French native speakers. I fully understand what the students are feeling. You may not recognize particular cultural references or vocal intonation and this course takes the time to explore these.’
Alison is keen to point out that the course is not an English lesson. ‘This is first and foremost an acting course,’ she said. ‘But of course it will improve the students’ English. We can take the time to focus on the particular areas that are challenging. We are also using contemporary scripts from television or theatre which might tackle issues relevant to the students.’
‘We are approaching this in exactly the same way we approach any NIDA Open acting course. We know from research that the integration of voice, language and movement enables the students to understand and retain the many different facets of the language within real life contexts.’
‘A lot of our ESL students have an understanding of acting techniques and this course will help them to become more comfortable acting in the English language and therefore more confident in their day-to-day interactions. This is a great course for students who are interested in further training but who want to test their English language skills before taking that next step.’
Acting ESL starts on 6 May at the NIDA Kensington Campus. For information or to enrol: https://www.open.nida.edu.au/course/OAAESL
