Beate Diederichs

Course teaches future German teachers about how to use voice, body language, gestures, and facial expressions

Since the summer semester of 2017, the supplementary course “Theater: spectate / partake / perform” (Theater – sehen, denken, spielen) has been teaching budding German teachers how theater works inside and outside the classroom. The first course participants will complete the course with a final project during the summer semester.

For the past year and a half, theater pro Matthias Spaniel has been juggling two roles: He remains part-time head of TU Dresden’s theater DIE BÜHNE, and is also the instructor in charge of the supplementary “Theater: spectate / partake / perform” course. Spaniel’s second part-time role is being funded until 2020 through the education package (Bildungspaket) created by the Free State of Saxony to improve teacher training and support schools. The supplementary course is run by the Chair of Contemporary German Literature and Didactics of German, held by Dorothee Wieser. “The idea for the supplementary theater course came from me. Professor Wieser was on board immediately,” Matthias Spaniel tells us. Working at DIE BÜHNE, he saw every day how stage work taught amateur actors to become more creative and express themselves artistically, and how they developed a presence on stage. That is why he thinks theater could also help students who, while not necessarily performing on stage or directing theater projects themselves, will often use elements of theater in their future careers – namely prospective German teachers. “Unlike in other German states, the performing arts are not a stand-alone subject in Saxon schools. This means theater is not taught as well and as widely as it could be and, in my view, should be. Teachers who do do theater work with students usually have no special training. Our supplementary course seeks to give future German teachers the tools they need to make effective use of theater in teaching,” Matthias Spaniel explains. He is also aware that teaching involves an element of performing in front of a class. The supplementary course is therefore designed to show trainee teachers how to use voice, body language, gestures, and facial expressions to own the classroom stage.

The course has been running since the summer semester of 2017. It consists of three modules, all of which must be completed to receive the certificate. Module one focuses on practice, exploring aspects such as body language, how to use your voice, and scene study. Module two looks primarily at the reception of theater, covering staging analysis and the history of theater, for example. At the end of module three – on the theory and practice of theater education – comes the final project: Participants study a play with school pupils or other students and perform it in public. Matthias Spaniel is there to advise and help them with the process. The course is designed to take three semesters, with an average of fourteen periods a week. The course is popular: More than 130 students have signed up since its launch.

This summer semester, the first students are presenting their final projects: On May 25, 26 and 27 at DIE BÜHNE, Julia Heide and Marie Hahn and some of their fellow students staged “NICHTS.Besonderes”, a play about the meaning of life. Both Julia and Marie are enrolled on the teacher training program for German and ethics at Gymnasium high schools. “We read the story with our students on placement and then rewrote it with the ensemble to be more reflective of student life,” they tell us. They selected their team of actors at a workshop for enthusiastic amateurs, some of whom had already performed at DIE BÜHNE. “We spent more than six months working on our play, so we hope that these three performances will not be the last,” say Marie and Julia.

One student worked with Ten Sing singers in Kamenz to put on a performance at the end of May.

The third group, of three students, is to stage a play with students from the IBB institute in June. All six students on the course will receive their certificates at a ceremony on July 4. Work on staging is done by students taking the first module.

“Theater: spectate / partake / perform” is aimed primarily at students studying to teach German, and they are given priority. However, any free spaces can be taken by students on other teacher training programs. Looking to the future, Matthias Spaniel would like to continue running the course beyond 2020, perhaps by involving other departments. There was already a joint project with the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History a number of years ago, which concluded with a stage reading at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden. There are also plans to open the course up to students from other disciplines, TUD staff, and teachers already working in the classroom. Prerequisite? A love of theater.

More information: www.tu-dresden/de/gsw/slk/germanistik/ndl_didaktik/studium/begleitstudium-theater

This article appeared in the Dresdner Universitätsjournal (university newspaper, UJ) 11/2018 of June 12, 2018. The complete issue is available as a free PDF download here. Printed copies and PDF files of the university newspaper can be ordered from  . For more information, please visit universitaetsjournal.de.