Negotiating Creativity, Courage and Care in Process Drama: The Legend of the Brave Snails

How can we, as teachers, encourage our students to be creative and brave while also maintaining a sense of care and responsibility that ensures psychological safety?

In this workshop, we will reflect on the ongoing balancing act between creativity, courage and care within process drama for second language teaching. Rather than shying away from complex emotions, process drama invites language learners to engage with challenging topics through a creative lens. For such engagement to be both meaningful and ethically grounded, strategies of distancing are essential.

The session unfolds in three parts. First, I introduce aesthetic distance as a key construct in drama pedagogy. Second, I facilitate a process drama inspired by the children’s book Superworm by Julia Donaldson, revisiting the tail from the three snails’ point of view. Third, we reflect on creativity, courage and care, considering distancing as a strategy that binds creativity, bravery, and care in second language learning contexts. The workshop concludes with a reflective discussion, inviting participants to share their responses and consider how these strategies might inform their own practice.