I’m sure you are all familiar with Amy Cuddy’s 2016 TED Talk about ‘You have to fake it ‘til you make it’, or as her talk ends, ‘You have to fake it ‘til you become it’.
As my status workshop ended at IATEFL BESIG, this was the reaction from two participants.
We evaluated what defines status. We played status from 1 to 6, 6 being high status and 1 being low, and noted the difference. We clearly saw what happened to those playing 1 and those playing 6, and the difference in physicality, posture and attitude.
We worked on an interview situation and examined it with respect to status. Through hot seating, we enabled the interviewer to go from a 2/3 in status to a definite 6. Yes, that’s right—I said interviewer! (Usually, we imagine it is the interviewer who will hold the upper hand in this interaction.)
It demonstrated to my participants that we can ‘play’ different status. We make choices. If I learnt anything from drama school, it was this key point: you can develop character and empowerment from the inside, or you can put it on like a cloak and, as my participant so rightly said, ‘become it!’
After the workshop, one participant came up to me and talked about how angry she was about the appointment of less experienced teachers in the role of manager—a role she had yet to attain. It touched a chord deep inside her. I could hear her pain. She hadn’t realised how strongly she felt and thanked me for helping her see that she held this resentment. I wasn’t expecting that kind of feedback, but role plays do mirror life experiences, and we can truly learn from them.
Hamlet says to the players: ‘Hold as t’were the mirror up to nature: to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure’.
The work I do helps English language learners and teachers to process challenges.
For English language learners, the English language situations you are confronted by in your working life are seen through the lens of role play and forum theatre—and you’ve done it in English. A double accomplishment!
For Business English teachers, we can look at what arises in your stories, hold space and find resolution, which will empower your work online or face to face. At the same time, it will equip you with ideas to strengthen and support your clients. Also, a double accomplishment!