What are
your short term and long term personal and career goals?
I am currently pursing my Masters in educational Practice at Bond University
Australia specialising in drama teaching. My short term ‘materialistic’
goal is to complete this course successfully and gain employment in
Singapore as a Drama coach or teacher in our schools there. or in
Australia. However more
importantly my long term personal goal is to use the powerful medium of
drama to educate and to create an opportunity for our younger generation to
gain insights to their own issues by way of performance.
In the next five years I want to attain Masters in Counselling too, so that
it would give me the expertise to combine the important elements of drama
with counselling theories to help our young adults to achieve their full
potential in life. I have planned to achieve that by continuing my studies
on a part-time basis while teaching drama at schools. Fusing drama and
counselling theories to create awareness within our society concerning young
adults have always appealed to me as a learner in both Psychology and in the
Drama field.
My dream has always been to start a
speech and drama school for young children and especially, conduct special
classes for children with special needs. Moreover, since I am proficient in
Tamil, I am also looking into the aspect of creating a programme to enhance
the creativity and communication skills of Tamil students in our society
too. Setting up a Tamil wing as part of this speech and drama school would
provide the necessary cultural connection that Tamil youth can tap on which
I feel could only strengthen our multicultural perspectives that define
Singapore.
What are your reasons for pursuing the above course and institution? How
will the training enhance or add value to your current experience and
knowledge of the arts?
The crucial reason for choosing the Masters in Educational Practice was the
content of its course. The programme is created on the basis of
participants’ prior experience in their field of specialisation and it gives
an avenue to be exposed to educational institutions in Australia from the
very start of the programme. This indeed gives a very hand on experience -
which is not provided by any other higher learning institution. It allows
participants to experience first hand exposure to school structure,
environment and classroom setting. Rather then getting valid teaching
exposure at the end of the programme which is usually practice by other
higher learning institutions, this programme brings me closer to what is
expected of you as a teacher in real situational context, experiencing the
personal school observations, attachments, learning to do lesson planning
and working with teachers of my specialisation areas getting insights into
classroom management and strategies of teaching drama to high school
students. The choice of Bond University was made due to its reputable
standing with Queensland Board of Teachers Registration which provides
accreditation to the programme which in turn gives recognition through all
Australian states and territories and in many overseas countries. The
institution provides innovative work-based program for learning and those
additionally considered essential in beginning teachers by Principals in
partner schools whose inputs were integrated with Teachers Registration
Boards requirements for the capacities to be achieved by the participants
towards the end of the program.
The
training and experience from this course would tremendously provide
insights into the theory of drama teaching as well as the overall context of
classroom management, lesson designing and teaching strategies which I was
not exposed to during my fifteen years as a stage and media artiste. The
learning of drama theories and learning how to teach drama to students in a
formal context would assist in integrating my prior practical knowledge of
arts when imparting my knowledge to students with in-depth experience and
understanding of the subject.
How do
you see yourself contributing to the arts development and arts practice in
Singapore after you have completed your studies? How will your proposed
training specifically help you achieve these goals?
As an educator in the arts field it allows me to play a pertinent role in
building the foundation of future talented artistes - to groom them at their
early educational years. It also provides me with an opportunity to
cultivate the interest in young Singaporean adults to appreciate the
aesthetics – a necessary ingredient for a ‘renaissance city’.
As a performer and creator, I have
and am going to stage plays at institutional venues including schools and
community centres to create awareness on issues pertaining to youth and the
society as a whole. My training has opened doors to a myriad of ideas and
opportunities which are going to propel me into experimentation with content
and craft in Singapore – to push the frontiers of performance there
especially in the Tamil theatre front. Moreover, as my training entails
working with high schools students and learning to teach drama and creating
the interest in students for Drama, it provides me with all the basic
necessary skills and knowledge to achieve my goals in the near and far
future i.e. to teach Drama and to set up a speech and drama school for all -
including students with special needs.
More importantly, as a mature student myself, I have gained the very
important experience of being a learner in the vast ocean of ‘Drama’ and
‘Counselling’ through the courses I am doing. This has given me the ability
to keep myself updated to changes in my area of specialisation constantly
and ingrained in me the value of continuos education.
