【星空集】专访戏剧教师Lee与Cherry——有些人选择成为教师，而教学选择了我

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Albert Camus said that a person does not fully exist until he is seen and blessed by another person. At ISA Wuhan, the popular drama class has a different kind of charm. Passing through the wooden doors of the Black Box Theatre is like travelling back in time to a destination that could be a 16th-century Spanish town, a pyramid where the secrets of the Pharaohs have lain dormant for thousands of years, or an ordinary Tuesday morning when you're practising tying your tie in front of the mirror.

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The people who created this magical classroom are ISA Wuhan Drama Teachers, Mr. Lee Bissell, and Miss Cherry Wong. In their Drama class, they use their professional theatre teaching experience and inspiring teaching skills to lead every child to discover their deepest, true "inner selves".

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Drama learning at ISA Wuhan is very “dramatic”. As a professional drama teacher with over 20 years' experience of acting and directing in major professional theatres in the UK, Mr. Bissell encourages students to take full ownership of their work in the classroom, which, in his own words, means "giving students what they already have".

"Under the ten learning profiles of IB, every drama class at ISA Wuhan will set up a formative assessment session to cultivate students' habit of reflecting on their strengths and weaknesses in a timely manner, and in the rich classroom activities. They will exercise their concentration, stress-resistance, public speaking skills, the ability to deal with multiple affairs, and teamwork, etc., so that students will actively mobilise their sense of classroom participation."

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Taking the Ancient Greek theatre 'Agamemnon' that Year 7 students are rehearsing as an example, Mr. Bissell will first lead the students to observe how different characters walk in the original film, so that they can carry out corrective and physical training to build up their self-confidence. The students will then discover which character is most suitable for them to play during the warm-up activities and then start to rehearse as a team.

"In IB learning, teachers need to place their students in real social situations, and just as we train real theatre actors, we also inspire our students to imagine that they are on the streets of 16th century Greece, where flies over a noisy taverna, and that the street hustlers, the waiters, the card-playing uncles, and the children playing games in the doorway are all small contextual elements would all be considered in the rehearsal of the play, and how would you, as an actor, react when you are in this situation?"

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Stressful and challenging has always been a comment from students about M.s Lee's classes. Improvisation has become an important part of every class to help students connect with their characters quickly and stay in and out of character. Sometimes, Lee will "suddenly" ask the students to stand in front of the school cafeteria and start acting out a play to practice their adaptability and improvisation skills.

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Albert Camus said that a person does not fully exist until he is seen and blessed by another person. At ISA Wuhan, the popular drama class has a different kind of charm. Passing through the wooden doors of the Black Box Theatre is like travelling back in time to a destination that could be a 16th-century Spanish town, a pyramid where the secrets of the Pharaohs have lain dormant for thousands of years, or an ordinary Tuesday morning when you're practising tying your tie in front of the mirror.

"The process of studying theatre is actually a great exercise for the students' mindset, just as your mindset when you are performing alone will definitely be very different from when you have one teacher watching you, and different from when a group of people are watching you. In my drama course, students will discover themselves from the depths of their mind by role-playing and comparing the characters in the play to themselves as a mirror."

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In ‘As You Like It’, one of Shakespeare's four great comedies, there is the line, "The world is a stage, and we are all actors." Just as a teacher is someone's wife, the mother of her children, the daughter of her parents at home, and she is herself when she is alone. Human beings are seamlessly switching between many different roles in the social division of the world every day, and what is developed in drama classes are transferable skills that can be beneficial for a lifetime, and can be applied not only in other subjects, but also affect every aspect of our lives.

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"In over 20 years of teaching, I would often receive many letters from students telling me how thankful they were that they had found the job they now desire by studying theatre." Mr. Bissell shared. "Just like becoming a scientist, the imagination, teamwork, paper writing, analytical skills or concentration that you need to use can be inspired by theatre performances; when you are facing college admissions officers or applying for jobs in the future, the self-confidence, English speaking skills, communication skills, adaptability, and improvisation that you need to show can be practiced and improved in rehearsals. A great deal of theatre can be practiced and improved."

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"With each student's drama piece, the presentation of the final result is an accumulation of lessons where students enjoy the fun and games, as well as the practice of lines and imaginative acting. The result is a part of our curriculum, not just for the final presentation of a particular theatre piece. In addition to enjoying the stage at the end of the day, our students gain these abilities that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. We don't stay on stage forever, and we can use these abilities to create more excitement in our lives outside of the drama classroom and black box theatre. This is a hope that Mr. Bissell and I share." Miss. Wong  said.

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In ISA Wuhan drama classroom, Mr. Bissell and Miss. Wong  will put the students into an imaginary space, set up a scenario, for example, it's a space trip, and let the children create a character that the students themselves like, then name it and give that character an age, a type of personality, and a job.

"Often in these character creations, we can see the underlying character traits of the children and where the talents lie." Miss. Wong said. "As the subconscious gradually emerges, the true talent within every child will be revealed. Then most likely in ten or twenty years, when the children grow up, they will truly be the person they always wanted they would be."

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"It has always been our hope that through drama lessons more children can see their inner desires and dreams and become a better version of themselves through studying theatre. To shine their own unique light." Mr. Bissell said.

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Having worked as a drama actor, director, lighting technician, stage manager, comedy club owner and documentary filmmaker, Mr. Bissell's professional resume is rich and varied, and he has explored almost everything in the theatre industry during his years of training frontline theatre actors. Among all of these, being a theatre teacher has long been a part of his life.

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"In my opinion, becoming a drama teacher is something you are born with, you can't train to become a drama teacher, it's something that is inherent in you." Mr. Bissell shared with us that theatre and stage performance is in his DNA, and that creating a theatre curriculum is his life, and that it is in every day of teaching, in every lesson plan, or in every classroom that students fully enjoy the inspiration and growth that learning about theatre can bring them.

A person does not fully exist until he is seen and blessed by another person. In ISA Wuhan theatre class, Mr. Lee and Miss. Wong are waiting for a tree to blossom and give their deepest blessings to all the students. As Miss. Wong once said, "In our black box theatre, where seems to be empty, but there is everything inside."