On December 16th and 17th Üsküdar SEV had the pleasure of welcoming Fenella Kelly as an ISTA Artist in Residence.
Fenella is a teacher and performer who has lived and worked around the world in schools and theatres. She currently lives in Coventry, England and continues to work as a freelance artist through training teachers, working with students, directing, dancing, and acting. Fenella, as a former teacher at Üsküdar American Academy, was happy to return to her roots and work with the SEV community again.
Our grade seven students had the opportunity to work with Fenella for 80 minutes to create a short performance piece. Through drama, our students build confidence, communication, listening, and teamwork skills. With Fenella they worked on all of these skills, and Fenella proudly told them that she saw growth in each student throughout her workshop with them. By the end of the workshop, the students were working well with one another and openly expressing and sharing their creative ideas. The students had studied the Greek myth of “The Fall of Icarus” in drama lessons, and Fenella expanded upon their learning and brought it together with their newfound performance skills.
During the student club lessons, Fenella lent her skills to the cast by choreographing the opening and closing dance numbers for the club productions.
After school, the English department had the opportunity to get creative on the stage with Fenella in a teacher workshop. The teachers learned new techniques to bring drama activities into the English classroom, with a particular attention to developing the skills of focus, listening, and building confidence.
Many thanks to the dedicated teachers, staff, and ISTA representatives who made this whole experience possible for our students.