Biography Based Language Teaching Through Creative Drama

Αθήνα, 21/03/2025, εργαστήριο για εκπαιδευτικούς, Ferah Burgul Adıgüzel

Biography Based Language Teaching Through Creative Drama

Ferah Burgul Adıgüzel

Assoc. Prof. Gazi University Gazi Faculty of Education, Turkey

WORKSHOP

Athens International Conference "Theatre/Drama & Inclusive Education"

21-23 of March 2025

Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)

Language: English
Limited number of participants
 

Workshop short description

Creative drama is a teaching method that supports inclusive education because it offers an educational environment that embraces every participant, regardless of whether they are advantaged or disadvantaged, and allows participants to learn together in line with their developmental, sociocultural and individual characteristics and needs.

When approached from a similar perspective, the literary genre of biography can be defined as a literary genre that focuses only on ‘human beings’ without any distinction between those with normal development or those with special needs. Because of that it seems one of the most inclusive literary genres.

Biography is defined as the simplest, raw and unprocessed form of story. Whatever the story told in biography, it teaches, inspires, provokes and entertains readers and listeners of all ages, levels and groups because it centres on human life. Because everyone has a story waiting to be told and the language of story is universal. For this reason, biographies are literary genres that are frequently used at all levels in the language teaching process.

In the workshop to be held in this direction, new biographies will be reached based on the life stories of the participants from different background and groups with the creative drama method and the use of the biography genre in language teaching will be exemplified with the creative drama method.

For whom: The aim of the workshop is to present an example of using biography in language teaching and to make connections between our life story and different lives through creative drama. For this reason, it is a workshop for language and literature teachers and anyone interested in biography.

NOTE: Participants should wear comfortable (sporty) clothes.
The workshop includes exercises with possible physical contact.

Ferah Burgul Adıgüzel is an Associate Professor at Gazi University, in the Faculty of Education. Her academic work focuses on teaching Turkish language and literature, creative drama, and literature museums. She graduated from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Education, Department of Turkish Language and Literature Education in 2003. She began her career as a research assistant at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in the same year. Her interest in creative drama began with a workshop in 2005, and she completed the Drama Teaching Program run by the Turkish Contemporary Drama Association in 2010. Between 2003 and 2007, she completed her master’s degree at the Institute of Educational Sciences, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. From 2007 to 2011, she pursued her Ph.D. at Gazi University, and after completing her doctorate, she started working as a lecturer at Gazi University, in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature Education, Faculty of Education. From 2019 to 2024, she worked as a lecturer at the University of Exeter. She has been a member of the Creative Drama Association and editor of the Creative Drama Journal since 2016. Additionally, she serves as an educator and academic advisor for the Literature and Drama Society at Gazi University’s Faculty of Education. She is married and has one child.