"A Town of Many"

Drama and Urban Heritage Landscapes as Mediums for Second Language Acquisition and Social Inclusion

Authors

  • Konstantina Kalogirou Cathays High School
  • Dewi Stamenkovic Cathays High School
  • Christianne L. Fernée University of Bristol
  • Konstantinos P. Trimmis University of Bristol

Keywords:

Drama in Education, Heritage in Education, Multicultural Classroom, Historic Area Assessment, Heritage for Social Inclusion

Abstract

If the global and multicultural social environments in which we find ourselves nowadays define who we are, then “we,” as social beings, are embedded in various relevant social communities in which we are acting, interacting, affecting, and being affected through our communications. In our case, teachers and learners change and coproduce cultural assets through their daily practices, while they explore, interact, and embrace the already existing local Cultural Heritage of their new settings. This paper moves beyond text-oriented approaches and towards cutting-edge trends in education and second language learning. A new global application is presented which utilizes the recording of urban heritage landscapes as mediums for second language acquisition and social inclusion. The methodology is based on the case study of a coproduced (between teachers and learners) Historical Area Assessment in a diverse area of Cardiff city. It shows the benefits brought to the refugee and asylum seeker learners regarding their second language competence levels and the social inclusion they achieved in their local community. Through this innovative application, which combines heritage recording with drama in education, learners take the lead in the recording of the urban heritage landscapes, and the teachers focus on the creative and experiential aspect of the learning process through drama. The ultimate aims are to present a new heritage and drama-based way for second language acquisition and social inclusion in the multicultural classroom.

Author Biographies

Konstantina Kalogirou, Cathays High School

Konstantina Kalogirou was co-principal investigator of the Erasmus+ KA2 VIA Culture, and investigator at the HLF Town of Many project. She holds a PhD in Pedagogical Drama and EAL, and her research interests include, Applied Linguistics, English as an Additional Language, Cultural Heritage in Education, and Drama in Education.

Dewi Stamenkovic, Cathays High School

Dewi Stamenkovic is an English teacher and she was associate researcher for the Town of Many and VIA Culture projects.  She is interested in innovative methods for teaching English as Additional Language.

Christianne L. Fernée, University of Bristol

Christianne L. Fernée is a Bioanthropologist and Data analysist. She was an associate researcher for the VIA Culture and Town of Many Projects. Her research interests include among others, biomechanics, anthroengineering, Cultural Heritage applications in the community, osteoarchaeology, and data science. 

Konstantinos P. Trimmis, University of Bristol

Konstantinos Trimmis is an Archaeologist and Cultural Heritage specialist. He was co-Principal Investigator of the Erasmus+ KA2 project VIA Culture and Project Director for the Town of Many. His research interests include among others, Digital Imaging in Humanities, Field and Cave Archaeology, diaspora studies, Archaeology of Urban landscapers, and the applications of Cultural Heritage in community contexts. 

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Published

2021-01-28

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 4 (2020): Modern Didactic Approaches and Methods for Second Language Teaching to Students with a Migrant or Refugee Background

Section

Theme Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Konstantina Kalogirou, Dewi Stamenkovic, Christianne L. Fernée, Konstantinos P. Trimmis

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