Eulogy - Beth Parsons

IF 1
Bethany M. Parsons, M. Weeding
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

We were saddened this year by the the passing of one of Australia’s drama education pioneers, Tasmania’s Beth Parsons. According to her own memoir (Parsons 2020), Beth Parsons was from the village of Ouse in Tasmania, and had to leave school at the age of thirteen because her parents could not afford to send her to high school. However she worked to complete training at the Teachers Training College in Launceston and went on to teach in a number of primary schools. Beth’s foray in drama in education was launched when she was was selected to attend a ‘school-of-method’ course conducted by the Supervisor of Speech Education, Mr Clive Sansom. Clive Samson had been appointed by the Tasmanian Government in 1950 with the brief to improve the standard of speech among children. He had a background as an author, poet and university examiner in the art of the spoken work. Beth enthusiastically tried out the methods she had learnt with her own class, and also subsequently at the New Norfolk High School. Pleased with Beth’s achievements, Clive Sansom invited her to train as a speech education adviser with the Speech Education Centre. She moved to the Centre in 1955, where she met and worked with some innovative educators, many of whom became lifelong friends. The centre advisors had the challenging job of introducing class discussion and oral language, puppet plays and poetry performances with the goal of unlocking the voices of children. At that time children were generally not permitted to speak in class unless reciting lines that had been rote learnt. At one school, half of the class even staged a walk out because their parents believed that it was evil for children to use their imaginations, however Beth calmly soldiered on, aiming to bring out the best in the remaining children. Beth was soon given the responsibility of covering thirteen schools in the Huon Valley and D’Entrecasteaux Channel areas, and during this time she formed more life-long friendships with teachers that she encountered. Clive Sansom continued to be an important mentor for Beth, and arranged a scholarship for her to study Speech and Drama teaching in England during 1959. This was highly significant as such courses were not available in Australia until 1970. As part of achieving certification from the London Royal Academy of Music and Drama, Beth needed to acquire an accent and intonation that would enable her to merge unnoticeably with an English cast. This necessitated extra tuition to work on modification of her Australian vowel sounds. Returning to Tasmania, Beth soon became the first ever lecturer in Speech and Drama at the Launceston Teachers College, and subsequently at the Hobart Teachers College. She worked towards having The Arts recognised within the Tasmanian curriculum and Speech and Drama accepted as counting towards matriculation. In Hobart, she established lasting friendships with other lecturers involved in Music and Art, and together they NJ: DRAMA AUSTRALIA JOURNAL 2020, VOL. 44, NO. 1, 56–59 https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2020.1859671
悼词——贝丝·帕森斯
今年,我们为澳大利亚戏剧教育先驱之一、塔斯马尼亚州的贝丝·帕森斯的去世感到悲伤。根据她自己的回忆录(帕森斯2020),贝丝帕森斯来自塔斯马尼亚州的奥斯村,13岁时不得不离开学校,因为她的父母付不起她上高中的费用。然而,她在朗塞斯顿的教师培训学院完成了培训,并继续在一些小学任教。贝丝在戏剧教育领域的尝试始于她被选中参加由语言教育主管克莱夫·桑索姆先生主持的“方法学校”课程。克莱夫·萨姆森于1950年被塔斯马尼亚政府任命,负责提高儿童的语言水平。他曾是作家、诗人和大学口语艺术考官。贝丝热情地尝试了她在自己班上学到的方法,后来在新诺福克高中也学到了。克莱夫·桑索姆对贝丝的成就感到高兴,邀请她到语言教育中心接受培训,成为一名语言教育顾问。她于1955年搬到中心,在那里她遇到了一些富有创新精神的教育工作者,并与他们一起工作,其中许多人成为了一生的朋友。中心的顾问们有一项具有挑战性的工作,他们引入课堂讨论、口语、木偶剧和诗歌表演,目的是释放孩子们的声音。那时候,孩子们一般不允许在课堂上说话,除非背诵死记硬背的台词。在一所学校,有一半的学生甚至走上了罢课的道路,因为他们的父母认为孩子们使用自己的想象力是邪恶的,然而Beth冷静地坚持了下来,目的是让剩下的孩子们发挥出最好的一面。贝丝很快就负责了休恩河谷和德恩卡斯托海峡地区的13所学校,在此期间,她与遇到的老师建立了更多的终身友谊。克莱夫·桑索姆仍然是贝丝的重要导师,并于1959年为她安排了奖学金,让她去英国学习演讲和戏剧教学。这是非常重要的,因为这种课程直到1970年才在澳大利亚开设。作为获得伦敦皇家音乐戏剧学院认证的一部分,贝丝需要掌握一种口音和语调,使她能够不被察觉地与英国演员融合。这就需要额外的辅导来修改她的澳大利亚元音。回到塔斯马尼亚后,贝丝很快成为朗塞斯顿师范学院和霍巴特师范学院的第一位演讲和戏剧讲师。她努力使艺术在塔斯马尼亚课程中得到认可,并将演讲和戏剧纳入入学考试。在霍巴特,她建立了持久的友谊与其他讲师参与音乐和艺术,并一起他们NJ:戏剧澳大利亚杂志2020年,卷44,NO。1,56 - 59 https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2020.1859671
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