What a US college drama class taught me

A quick intro: I'm Michael, currently a strategic account manager at Google, and I've been teaching English speaking and communication for a long time. Feel free to follow the teaching account I started, The Acorn Academy, and you're welcome to ask me about interviews or career development too~ Now, on to the topic:

I used to dream of becoming an actor, so in college I took 60 credits of drama classes. I originally just wanted a taste of it and to build up a hobby, but what I got was a leap in mental resilience beyond anything I imagined. So today I'm sharing how drama classes inspired me, how they helped me in practical ways, and how they improved my communication. I also hope you'll take a more diverse range of classes in college!

Playing a punk emo high schooler

Putting yourself in others' shoes

A key part of communicating well is understanding what the other person needs. Because drama classes trained us for so long to get inside a character's head, I became more and more empathetic, and it got easier for me to see things from the other person's point of view in all kinds of situations~

That's also why, since I deal with clients every day in my current job, I'm better able to put myself in their shoes and understand what they might want. When I give talks, presentations or interviews, I'm also better at preparing my content from the audience's point of view

A photo with the cast and crew, shooting a cult horror film in an abandoned church. Super scary at night

Delivery and accents

Every actor prepares differently, but for me English isn't my native language after all. To really sink into a character's state of mind, I had to know my lines inside out. Memorizing lines over and over gave my feel for the language a huge boost and made my word choice much more varied

I've played a cowboy whose family fell on hard times, a butler who immigrated to England, a punk high schooler, a violent ex-boyfriend, a spy for a cult leader, and a thief who fell for a gang boss's woman. Playing so many characters from different backgrounds also trained me in different accents: British, Texan, New York, Boston

As the only Asian person there at the time, it took me quite a while to fit in

Writing skills

Many of the classes were in scriptwriting: practicing creating characters, telling things from a character's point of view, and changing word choice to fit a character's upbringing. Along the way I practiced all kinds of writing styles, which I've been able to use in reports and résumés

When I taught English communication in the past, I also added a monologue-writing course to help students practice their delivery and try creative work, and it turned out everyone loved it

Using the performing arts to learn English communication works really well

Stepping outside the world

But for me, what matters more about drama is that it lets me set myself aside for a while, free from how others see me, and really experience another world. Along the way I slowly came to see different perspectives on life and built up my confidence. I hope this post gives you a different kind of courage to try new things!

If you're interested in learning English speaking through drama, leave a comment and let me know! Maybe in the future I can run a small group class where we all learn together and see the world from a different angle!

One short post can't cover everything drama has meant to me. It may not be my profession, but precisely because it's my passion, I can find release in it and carry these skills over into my career

Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, and then find myself in there."
- Meryl Streep

If you'd like to learn more English communication tips, feel free to follow the English communication account I started

The Acorn Academy

Bonus: want to know how to introduce yourself in English without the room going silent? Read this post~