Theatre play to teach cross cultural communication
Today’s learners belong to “Gen Y”, who are tech-savvy, believe in smart work rather than hard work, and are feedback-dependent. They are visual-kinesthetic learners, who learn by doing. Hence, experiential learning, which is based on “learning by doing” is considered significantly effective compared to the traditional classroom method of learning and is an apt pedagogy for Gen Y learners. Based on this, an activity based on theatre play was designed to enable the students to experience and learn about the culture of the growing economies of the world.
The faculty selected 10 countries and allotted them to a group of 22 students. The students had to write a storyline, create the script and enact the storyline based on the culture of the country allotted to them. The faculty ensured that the entire activity fell in line with the guidelines and the culture checklist designed by them. A week was dedicated to staging the play. While one group staged the play, the remaining nine groups were the audience. Thus each student was exposed to experientially and collaboratively learning 10 different cultures.
After the play, feedback was collected from all the students, pertaining to their experiential learning from the play. From the survey results, it was evident that 90 per cent of the students were confident in their ability to travel and also aware of the cultural facets of those countries showcased in the play. This initiative bagged three awards:
- Gold medal for innovation in teaching from the Association of Indian Management Schools
in 2015 - Bronze award for Experiential Learning Initiative at the Indian Management Conclave
in 2018 - First prize in Best Practices for Student Engagement from CII in 2019