2019 AINx Talks - Russ Mcmahon: Parlez Improv
Channel: Applied Improvisation Network
Date: 2019-12-20

The email read “I am pleased to inform you that Miras University in Kazakhstan has selected you as the individual to serve as the Fulbright Specialist on their project, ‘Multilingual Education via Interactive & Cognitive Teaching’. Congratulations! ” Yes, and part of my proposal was to teach, use, and help integrate the precepts of improvisation into their teaching.
My primary job was to help the Information Technology faculty improve their technical English conversational skills as well as help with the English translation of their course material. Courses are taught in Kazakh, Russian, or English and in some cases two of the three or even all three at the same time. I do not speak Kazakh or Russian, but do speak a little French and have been exposed to many other languages. The foreign language teachers at Miras immediately saw value in the use of improvisation so much so that I have been invited back to conduct additional workshops for them during the 2019-20 school year.
It was challenging due to the language barrier even for those who spoke English as some instructions can still be misinterpreted. I found that the Kazakh people were very interested in learning improvisation and quite willing to participate. Their favorite game was Zombies which I had adapted into a cybersecurity theme in one of my own courses that I teach at the University of Cincinnati. This interactive talk will cover some of the activities that worked best and some of the lessons learned.

2019 AIN World Conference in Stony Brook