Drama Re-vidited: Dealing with Identity Tensions
~Exploring with Freedom Writers~
Ayaka Ihara
aihara@mail.sfsu.edu / a-ihara@hotmail.co.jp
San Francisco State University
Collaborative Monologue Project – Using Freedom Writers Diary

One diary per group

Students read/examine/practice orally  take turns performing monologue as a group
Target Students & Skills

Intermediate Level Young Adults in CA

Integrated skills (focus on oral skills)
Objectives

Enable students to:

Expand ‘selves’

Deliver extended speech
<Theoretical Background>
What Are Identity Tensions?

L2 learning: becoming ‘someone else’

The ‘Mask’

Tensions between emerging and existing selves
Why Dramatic Monologue?
 Drama:

Try out new identity

Express true ‘selves’
 Done safely through ‘masks’
 Monologue

Extended speech (has been neglected (Thompson, 2008))

Internalize authentic language model
<Freedom Writers>
Who Are Freedom Writers?

Mid 1990s

LA High School: “unteachable” students

Gang violence

Racial minorities, immigrants, low income family

Erin Gruwell

“The pen is mightier than the sword”; diary writing for freedom
1
<Project Timetable>
Day
Contents
Day 1
Introduction
Day 2
Pre- & Initial Reading
Day 3
Close Reading
Day 4
Speaking #1: Pause
Day 5
Speaking #2: Stress
Day 6
Speaking #3: Intonation
Day 7
Group Rehearsal
Day 8
Performance
Day 9
Conference
Conclusion

Monologue works!

Try out new identity & Express ‘true’ self

Let out suppressed emotions/opinions

Long chunks & Retainment
References
Arao, H., & Murphey, T. (2001). Reported belief changes through near peer role modeling. TESL-EJ:
Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 5(3). Available from: http://www.teslej.org/wordpress/issues/volume5/ej19/ej19a1/
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (2010). Teaching pronunciation: A course book and
reference guide (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dreyer-Lude, M. (2013). Feeling double: The psychophysical activation of personality in bilingual
performance. Theatre Topics, 23(2), 197-208.
Horwitz, E. K., & Young, D. J. (1991). (Eds.). Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom
implications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kramsch, C. (2009). The multilingual subject. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Piazzoli, E. (2011). Process drama: the use of affective space to reduce language anxiety in the additional
language learning classroom. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and
Performance, 16(4), 557-573.
Reed, J., & Seong, M. H. (2013). Suggestions for an effective drama-based EFL course at a Korean
university. Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 17(2), 91-106.
Sağlamel, H., & Kayaoğlu, M. N. (2013). Creative drama: A possible way to alleviate foreign language
anxiety. RELC Journal, 44(3), 377-394.
Spielmann, G., & Radnofsky, M. L. (2001). Learning language under tension: New directions from a
qualitative study. The Modern Language Journal, 85(2), 259-278.
Thompson, P. (2008). Learning through extended talk. Language and Education, 22(3), 241-256.
2
SUMMARY
Diary 54: Racist Teacher
The writer in this entry describes some of the labels that she feels are attached
to the African American race.
Gruwell, E. (2008). The Freedom Writers Diary Teacher's Guide. New York: Broadway Books. p. 225.
Diary 54
Line#
1
Dear Diary,
2
<1> When I was born, the doctor must have stamped “National Spokesperson for
3
the Plight of Black People” on my forehead; a stamp visible only to my teachers. The
4
majority of my teachers treat me as if I, and I alone, hold the answers to the mysterious
5
creatures that African Americans are, like I’m the Rosetta Stone of black people. It was
6
like that until I transferred to Ms. Gruwell's class. Up until that point it had always been:
7
“So Joyce, how do black people feel about Affirmative Action?” Poignant looks follow.
8
“Joyce, can you give us the black perspective on The Color Purple?”
9
<2> Maybe I am just looking at this all wrong, maybe I should feel complimented. I
10
mean, I am being trusted to carry the weight of millions of people’s voices, right? Wrong!
11
I don’t feel complimented. How the hell should I know what the black perspective is
12
on Affirmative Action or The Color Purple? What is it, magic? Black people read, and
13
poof, we miraculously come to the same conclusion? The only opinion I can give with
14
some degree of certainty is my own.
[...]
The Freedom Writers & Gruwell, E. The freedom writers diary. (2009). New York: The Tolerance
Education Foundation. pp. 112-114.
3