I have been teaching English for many years and, in March 2007, I decided to create: “English Com’Eddy Theatre” emphasise on gesture. The expression of corporal movement to an extreme. This was in response to a phenomenon that became increasingly apparent to me throughout my earlier teaching years.
Comedy theatre is a great medium to teach English to children and adults.

I was born in Moreton–in-Marsh England, a pretty market town in the north Cotswolds, and like many children in England, I started to learn a foreign language at the age of eleven.  Which was far too late.
Why, I hear you ask? Simple: The method of teaching. The lessons were soporific; those of us managing to resist sleep, became rebels until the sound of a ringing bell triumphantly set us free at the end of the ordeal. It wasn’t fun to learn a new language. The focus of which was Grammar, Grammar … and more Grammar. Not my teacher’s fault, it was the system. Yes of course Grammar is important, but the essential thing is that the students are able to communicate.

I believe that one of the most successful and indeed enjoyable ways to learn is by sketches and role play. Students’ motivation to improve Grammar will follow when they feel the satisfaction of being able to communicate basically in another language.
My first experience and desire to communicate in anther language, was at the age of eighteen. I found myself face to face with a very pretty French girl in a discothèque somewhere in the north of France.
All I could say to her was… “Le train par à midi“ (The train leaves at midday )… I admit. It was at that moment that I wished I had listened to my French teacher!

In the summer of 1990 I saw my then English-speaking daughter perform in a theatre play which was not her mother tongue. It was evident then that theatre is a great way to learn another language. The effect the play had on my daughter’s learning of her new language was so overwhelming that I’ve been using theatre to teach English ever since. The results are more than convincing, 

I started teaching English for different organisations and perceived a real need for a different approach in teaching methods – I began using humour as my principal common denominator. I wrote short sketches with elements of humour based on things one would say when engaging in conversation with an English speaking person i.e. How to introduce oneself. At that time I worked in primary schools with children from seven to eleven and was amazed how quickly they learnt. I witnessed how children could overcome their timidity.  

Humour is a powerful device ! The hilarious situations and wildly exaggerated characters to be discovered in “English Com’Eddy Theatre” plays, promote a fun learning environment in which students – children and adults are motivated to study the language more closely to find and enjoy the humour in the text. From that, springs enjoyment and the growing desire to communicate in English.