The INTERACTING story began back in 1986 with the mission to provide a theatre in education service to language teaching. Since then our motto ‘Laugh While You Learn’ has traveled worldwide, into classrooms, on the stage, in teacher training programs all over Europe and on our summer camps for young learners. The company activities now embrace a wide range of subjects.

We have a long history of collaboration with governamental organizations, schools, universities, publishers, teachers associations, underlining our commitment to quality and innovation in education.

The European office of the company is located in the historic centre of Madrid. Founders of the company, Ed Cousins and Patrick Deas, both from Northern Ireland, manage a team of specialist actors/trainers who tour throughout Spain, Europe and beyond.

OUR BELIEF

Our belief is that all learning should be a living and dynamic process where motivation is the key to success.

We believe that to learn effectively you need to participate and that the quality of interaction determines the speed of skill acquisition. We promote an approach to learning which combines action, evaluation and replay in order to build and refine abilities. We bring the process of the theatre with its training, rehearsal and performance to the teaching of languages.

Our objectives are to break down the barriers, which obstruct dialogue and communication through bringing the stage and the classroom closer fogether.

OUR ACTIVITIES

Our activities include interactive workshops, story-telling, thematic weekend events, business training and summer courses for both teachers and english students. The enduring success of our work comes from the fact that it is both accessible and funny. Teachers and learners of all levels and ages come away from Interacting events feeling refreshed and with their motivation to study enhanced.

DEVELOPMENT Through our involvement in European partnerships we are researching
the exciting possibilities of bringing theatre and technology together. We are currently active in using the MOODLE VLE to host our web based community and activities.

OUR CLIENTS

Our shows are contracted individually by schools, colleges and universities as well as
collectively by local government and civic theatres. We have series of partnerships and agents allowing us to operate regularly in England, Finland, Germany, Portugal, France, Spain, Russia and outside Europe in Japan, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico and Peru.

We continue to maintain our partnerships with the British Council on language and cultural
initiatives. Within the European Union our courses are published on the database of the Lifelong Learning Programme, this has been a catalyst for many collaborations on an international scale.

Shows and Storytelling

Put into practice, our shows and storytelling aim to entertain an audience while at the same time testing through active involvement in the story. As a theatrical experience our shows operate as high-powered interactive stories. Improvisation is called for both from the actors and members of the public. The audience could find themselves producing sound effects for howling wolves on a stormy night or footsteps on a gravelly pavement. Others could be called on to the stage to represent the helm of a sailing boat, the rotating blades of a helicopter or to play the part of an angry boyfriend whose girlfriend is being seduced by the play’s hero. The actors are trained to react to any given response and guide the story along to a humorous conclusion. The stories are full of surprises and the audience is kept continually in suspense.

AS AN EDUCATIONAL EVENT the shows operate on many levels. The actual language used and its delivery are designed to make the outline of each story accessible to the beginner and at the same time interesting for the more advanced learner. The use of members of the audience as participants has the effect of engaging those not directly
involved in an internal rehearsal of the lines spoken by those on the stage. Through a basic process of identification with the character (particularly if they are from your class) each member of the audience gets to play almost all the parts of the play.

Teacher Training

Interacting has been organizing tailor-made teacher training courses in Spain and around the world for more than 20 years based on our practical experience that drama is the most effective, practical, and fun resource to stimulate learning in the classroom.

Interacting courses offer step-by-step solutions to applying games, drama and communication techniques across the curriculum and developing teachers’ personal confidence in the process. Interacting courses are delivered through a variety of plenary sessions, seminars and workshops that kick off with icebreakers and introductions, then on to group work, building confidence, improving communication skills, language theatre sports, and voice techniques.

Interacting organizes full-time weekly and fortnightly courses, as well as intensive weekend events, and part-time courses.

Summer School and School Trips

Our unique two-week residential courses follow the INTERACTING method, which makes learning enjoyable, and provides students with the necessary skills to stand up and speak in English. With the INTERACTING method students quickly gain the confidence to practice and play with the English they already know and the new language introduced on the course. INTERACTING organizes school trips to either Madrid or Ireland. The five day program is published on our website.

LAUGH WHILE YOU LEARN!