Melanie Bloom

Foreign Languages and Literature

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed

This was the first time I had attended the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed conference, and I was impressed with the variety of presentation modalities as well as the presentation foci. The sessions at this conference provided me with some new ideas and directions that I can bring to both my undergraduate and graduate courses at UNO. For the undergraduate students, I am interested in using some of the theater games I heard discussed at the conference, especially those from the book by Boal, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, in my introductory and more advanced Spanish classes. I think that these games could lend themselves well to the Spanish conversation classes that I am teaching in the fall. In addition, I attended a session on composition that gave me some new ideas for framing the subjects of composition in my Spanish Advanced Composition and Stylistics class. The session I attended described a composition course focused on the subjects of society and education. It might be interesting to frame the Advanced Composition course in a similar way because students generally complain about the content of the course. Finally, for my graduate students who are mostly teachers in the local community, I learned about using theatre to provide an opportunity for English language learners to share their voices and their stories with local audiences. I think that this could be a great project for my ESL teachers and could possibly be a good service-learning opportunity for my Spanish students as well. The keynote speakers also provided inspiration for practicing teachers by acknowledging the challenges presented by our current educational system and providing some practical advice for teachers. I will pass this information and encouragement along to the students in my graduate seminars.

From attending this conference, I also feel a renewed enthusiasm towards seeking interdisciplinary connections within the UNO community. This conference emphasized the connections between many different disciplines. For example, in one session, I saw how a biologist, physicians, actors, and community members all worked together to test the levels of lead and other toxins in their soil as well as to inform their community about lupus and other autoimmune disorders, and finally to act together to improve the community’s living conditions. The UNO community can benefit from learning about these interdisciplinary projects that inspire social action, as they may serve as a model for similar projects that could be conducted in the Omaha Metro area.

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