Implementation

In first year of the project our focus was on Russian-speaking students’ personal investigation of their cultural and social adaptation as a minority into an Estonian-dominated environment. The project was connected to the following four courses: “Introduction to Intercultural Communication” (1.5 ECTS), “Identity and Adaptation in a Different Culture” (4.5 ECTS), “Multicultural Society in Estonia” (4.5 ECTS) and “Introduction to Profession (Leisure-time Manager in Multicultural Context)” (3 ECTS). During the courses students wrote essays and research papers, arranged discussion groups, attended seminars and lectures, and read course literature.

The investigation was also supported by a study by one of the lecturers, Aurika Komsaare, on the adaptation strategies of Russian-speaking students at VCA.

We shared our ideas about the challenges of Estonian–Russian communication through a video lecture. The lecture was attended by students from VCA and the Minerva partners in the UK and Finland.

During the second year of the project we focused more on the method of Forum Theatre developed by Augusto Boal. Two groups of students worked in parallel to produce a performance in the form of Forum Theatre. They were facilitated by Margo Teder, a professional actor and joker. One group of students was more experienced in performing because they specialise in school theatre and drama pedagogy. For the second group this course provided the first contact with the method, so before starting to work on the performance, they all took an improvisation course.

The preparation of Forum Theatre performances included warm-up activities, practising basic performance and improvisation skills, going through scenarios developed by students based on their own stories, selecting the best scenario to be performed, and preparing and rehearsing the performance.

The Forum Theatre courses (2 ECTS for more experienced students, 3 ECTS for less experienced ones) ended with two performances that were attended by other students and teachers of VCA. The performances were videotaped and are available on this website in edited form.

Finally the students took part in a debriefing session held few days after the performance. In the session, they analysed their immediate experiences of preparing and participating in a performance, their experiences as spectators during other students’ performances, and their ideas about the possibilities and challenges of the method. To conclude the course students wrote a report on the basis of ideas discussed in the debriefing session.

The project team included the following six people: Katrin Nielsen (lecturer of drama pedagogy, VCA), Aurika Komsaare (lecturer of Estonian language, VCA), Leen Rahnu (lecturer of intercultural communication, VCA), Margo Teder (actor, VAT Theatre), Tauno Uibo (video and technical support, VCA) and Raiko Kavak (technical support, VCA).