Nick Bilbrough: The (Second Language) Play's The Thing, SOAS, University of London
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 30/01/2013

This is a keynote presentation by Nick Bilbrough (Horizon Language Training, UK) at the Using Drama in Language Learning Workshop at SOAS, University of London on 13 November 2008. Further details can be found at http://www.soas.ac.uk/lwwcetl/events/workshops/13nov2009-using-drama-in-language-learning.html

Scripted plays have been used to teach second languages since the Middle Ages. In this interactive talk, I'll reflect on my experiences as both a language learner and teacher, and propose a rationale for the practice and performance of scripted dialogues and sketches as a core component within a very modern lexical (Lewis 1993) or 'play' based (Cook 2000) syllabus.