After landing in Milan exploring for a day, I took a train to the gorgeous city of Sanremo to begin my orientation training for ACLE. The orientation took place at the mountaintop Nyala Suite Hotel along with 45 other native English speakers from America, Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Uruguay. The hotelʼs breathtaking rooftop views of the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains helped ease the exhaustion that immediately settled in after long days of training.
Each day brought new games, techniques, songs, and excitement for the summer of teaching, connecting, and exploring ahead of me.
“Emotions generate learning”: This is the idea that Arrigo Speziali, the founder of ACLE, based the entire theater and play-rooted approach to language learning on. While ACLE has grown significantly since it first began more than 10 years ago, Speziali took the time to visit our orientation during the week to see our progress, talk with us, and share advice for our upcoming endeavors in Italy. He spoke most prominently of how love and connection help foster learning and the intrinsic motivation to learn.
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ACLEʼs playful approach to learning shows children that grammar and precision are not so important at the end of the day: instead, their ability to connect with others through their journeys to fluency is what will help them grow most.
Another key element of ACLEʼs teaching approach includes “Process Drama,” a technique in which tutors and students assume certain roles within the story that they are following (e.g., a United Nations meeting, a job interview, etc.) and act how they imagine their character would act in these situations. Process Drama allows the campers to worry less about how their own opinions may be perceived and focus more on their ability to understand and speak English. It also helps foster their creativity and teach them about important topics such as this yearʼs theme of environmental protection.
I am excited to see how these theatrical techniques help the campers grow more confident in their English, learn new things, and connect with one another in a fun and playful way!
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