Category: Blog
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How to apply interactive learning in the classroom using theatre, collaboration and emotional intelligence
Interactive learning is transforming the way students and teachers connect inside the classroom. Moving away from passive methods, this approach places learners at the center of the experience, engaging them actively through dynamic, creative, and social techniques. When combined with theatre, collaborative learning, and emotional intelligence, interactive learning becomes a powerful tool for deeper understanding…
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Games ARE Learning!
Games are a game changer (ha! pun intended) to creating joyful and collaborative learning spaces! πβ¨ This month, Iβm running Games Month for Recess, an online platform for learning, filling every drama session with activities that get kids thinking, laughing, collaborating, and imagining together. I often hear from teachers I train, and parents too: “Games…
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Post-Enchanted 2025 Reflections
Still thinking about Enchanted… and my heart is, as always after, so full. This gathering at Selgars Mill has become a marker in my year. It’s continuously been a space that grounds me and sets the tone for the summer ahead. πΏπ« Some highlights Iβll be holding close: β¨ Stargazing with Ines Castagnet, and seeing…
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Co-Constructing Knowledge
I used to think that being a good educator meant having to know everything.Now I am seeing the importance and value of knowing how to ask. Weβre moving away from the traditional “banking model of education,” where the teacher is the keeper of all knowledge, to something muchmorepowerful:co-construction of learning. Visible thinking routines like a…
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Inspire, Empower, Sustain: YOUth for 2030
β¨ Exciting news! Next month, Iβll be in Singapore as a co-facilitator and MC for the TIYA Conference 2025. This event will be held at the beautiful Tzuchi Foundation Humanistic Youth Centre and bring together passionate young people from across Asia-Pacific to take action toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Iβm very much looking…
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Full Circle Moment Alert!
At the end of last month, I joined my fellow trustees and members of ISTA – Global Learning Through the Arts for three days of in-person strategic planning meetings in The Hague. It was a full-circle moment Iβm still so excited about – and proud of! As a student at Shanghai American School, I attended…
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The Recess Rundown Podcast
ποΈ It was such a pleasure to be interviewed for The Recess Rundown podcast last month. This podcast is run by #homeschoolers Maddie and Ella, two inspirational members of Recess, a digital platform where #kids are empowered to #design their own education. These young creators were so prepared, thoughtful, and professional, it truly felt like…
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Four Months, Four Workshops, and a Whole Lot of Play!
ππ‘ππ’π¬ π π°π«ππ©! Every year I design and deliver an online drama in education programme for Ouch Theatre, an applied theatre company based in Nanjing, China. We just finished our last series on Sunday and I am feeling very proud of how much each participant has grown. Here are three top tips that I shared…
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Enchanting gathering next month!
Every day I am reminded what a privilege it is to do what I love – play! Not just as performance or fun, but as a way of knowing, connecting, and engaging with the world around us. πβ¨ From drama class in school to using it as a tool for creative self expression in university,…
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An ending, and a new beginning!
After many rewarding years of running Learning Off Book drama clubs in international schools across Barcelona, I’m wrapping up this chapter… the final showcases this past week were bittersweet. So proud of the kids and missing them already! ππβ¨ What started as a spark of an idea with Phylly Jones and I nearly four years…
Elana Shyong 