On Thursday, April 24, 2025, Ms. Devi Arand visited the German Teachers' Department at Bursa Uludağ University and led an improvisational theater workshop. Ms. Arand is an English and French teacher at the Theodosius Florentini Secondary School in Gemünden am Main. Previously, she worked for many years in the field of German as a foreign language, including as a DAAD-IC lecturer at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) in India, where she headed the DAAD Information Center and taught in the German Studies Department.
Ms. Arand discovered her passion for improvisational theater during her studies at the Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg. For several years, she was an active member of the improvisational theater group "Pipperlapupp." During her stay in Pune, she also founded and led the German-language improvisation group "D-Impro Pune" and increasingly integrated improvisational elements into her German as a foreign language classes.
During her visit to the Görükle Campus, Ms. Arand shared her extensive experience in using theater methods in language classes with German as a Foreign Language students of all ages.
The workshop began with playful warm-up exercises, which gradually transitioned into more challenging improvisation exercises. At the end of the event, each participant had the opportunity to actively participate in a small performance. The 18 students accepted the offer with great enthusiasm. Many of them had no previous theater experience, but they embraced the challenge with commitment and achieved impressive results. Their courage and commitment are particularly noteworthy.