Cross-disciplinary Thinking at USJ: Business and Law, Drama, and English Skills
Cross-disciplinary Thinking at USJ: Business and Law, Drama, and English Skills
30
Apr
30/04/2025
The USJ Faculty of Business and Law ran an English Speaking through Drama Workshop for secondary school students for Saint Joseph School 5, encouraging Grade 7 to 9 students to speak English confidently.
On 26 April 2025, the Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) ran an English Speaking through Drama Workshop for secondary school students of Saint Joseph School 5 (CDSJ5), together with PGDE pre-service teachers Sam Mak and Pun Wai In, and Head of Domestic Student Recruitment Office Ben Lei. The Workshop encourages Grade 7 to 9 students to speak English confidently.
Prof. Jenny Oliveros Phillips, Dean of FBL, Associate Professor of Human Sciences, ran a full day workshop for students from CDSJ5 on performance art and script writing in English. Students were allocated well-known stories in advance and were asked to read the stories and develop scripts for each assigned character under the guidance of three teachers from CDSJ5.
On the day of the workshop, the students were introduced to basic performance skills, including characterisation, vocal and movements on stage, which Prof. Jenny explained that those are basic skills no matter they go for a career in Business, Law, Education or Politics, “your voice and expression is what is delivered to the people you want them to hear you.”
They were then brought into the scenario through visual arts and narration to rethink their characters for refining their scripts and plan for the stage. Students were then given time to rehearse under the guidance of the instructors and delivered exceptional short dramas in English. The pre-service PGDE teachers delivered exciting games for the participants, which further encouraged them to use English.
Prof. Jenny emphasised that the world has changed from specific skill sets to multidisciplinary knowledge, and encouraged CDSJ5 students to start thinking about what they want to be in the future. But that does not stop them from developing other talents and interests.
