Pandora and the Tiger’s Whisker: stories as a pretext in two adult language learning contexts

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article discusses the way two traditional tales were adapted and modified for use as pretexts in the Connected: Adult Language Learning through Drama program (CALLD) with migrant populations, including refugees and asylum seekers, in two sites during 2017 & 2018 in Sydney, Australia. The focus of this article is to explore the way ancient stories such as folktales and myths function in these settings, and how through action and reflection the authors, as teaching artists on the program, adapted these tales to better engage the participants in the process drama that followed. Through a generative conversation the authors discuss this experience, reviewing aspects of the narrative that worked and those that did not, resulting in a deeper understanding about the efficacy of various narrative elements to engage and motivate learning in the CALLD setting.