Teaching Psychologically Challenging Texts with Drama Pedagogy

Abstract

Many instructors who treat the subject of the Holocaust have effectively used the vivid imagery of literature and emphasized the personal connection that memoir offers to promote a multifaceted understanding of the intellectually and psychologically challenging material. Applying the kinesthetic techniques of drama in education, as I propose in this article, can greatly enhance the teaching and learning process, and contribute to a more profound awareness of connections between individual experience and national collective histories. When students use drama techniques to become part of a story through, for example, subtext and substitution, they may view themselves not only as more active participants in memory and history, but also as more capable social critics. In this essay, I outline a drama pedagogical model for unlocking Holocaust literature in the foreign language classroom using examples from Ruth Klüger’s weiter leben. Although I focus on this one text, instructors can use the series of techniques I discuss here as a prototype for analyzing other psychologically challenging texts in their language classrooms. Many instructors who treat the subject of the Holocaust have effectively used the vivid imagery of literature and emphasized the personal connection that memoir offers to promote a multifaceted understanding of the intellectually and psychologically challenging material. Applying the kinesthetic techniques of drama in education, as I propose in this article, can greatly enhance the teaching and learning process, and contribute to a more profound awareness of connections between individual experience and national collective histories. When students use drama techniques to become part of a story through, for example, subtext and substitution, they may view themselves not only as more active participants in memory and history, but also as more capable social critics. In this essay, I outline a drama pedagogical model for unlocking Holocaust literature in the foreign language classroom using examples from Ruth Klüger’s weiter leben. Although I focus on this one text, instructors can use the series of techniques I discuss here as a prototype for analyzing other psychologically challenging texts in their language classrooms.