Presented by Irshat Madyarov,

Teaching assistant in the IntensiveEnglish Program,

West Virginia University

irshat@yahoo.com

1. Introduction

1.1.      ZIPoPo (Academy for positive behavior)was initiated as a Bah-inspired socio-economic project. It was first shownon Tatarstan TV, Kazan, Russia, 1994.

1.2.      The author: Shamil Fattakhov, ajournalist, Kazan, Russia.

1.3.      Main objectives and principles:

-     toeducate participants in moral and spiritual truths with reliance on wisdomproclaimed by world religions, philosophers, and prominent people;

-     tosupport youth and children in solving their real life problems in a positiveand moral way;

-     topromote independent investigation of truth, and principles of consultation;

-     integrationof drama elements through a skit.

1.4.      Variations of the Happy Hippo Show:

-     TVtalk show;

-     Clubdiscussion (schools, penitentiaries, asylums, etc.);

-     Puppetshow (nursery and elementary schools, kindergartens, etc);

-     Radioversion;

-     Newspaperversion.

2.    Happy Hippo Show in EFL context: description ofexperience

2.1.      Setting:

EFLcontext: Orenburg State University (OSU), Russia (students majoring in foreignlanguages: English, French, German (all taking English at some level)

2.2.      Objectives of the Happy Hippo show atOSU:

-     toraise awareness among the students and faculty of the most crucial problems,promote open discussions, and facilitate solutions of these problems in aconstructive way;

-     toprovide opportunities for students and faculty to use English in a meaningfulway;

-     toenable students to achieve unity through the creative process.

2.3.      Procedure:

-     Survey of topics to reveal studentsinterests (all in English)

-     Choosing the dates and hours suitable formost students;

-     Settingup a team: actors-playwrights; technical support (computer operator,photographers, camera person); PR (getting information from outside throughinterviews, research, etc.); decorators and artists, etc.

-     Invitinga special guest (native speaker of English);

-     Surveyto reveal the publics opinion on the selected questions related to thetargeted topic;

-     Collectinginformation pertaining to the topic (interviewing respective people,specialists, doing research, if needed);

-     Writingthe script for the skit and acting it out;

-     Puttingeverything together involving available technology;

-     Holdingthe talk show;

-     Settingup a follow-up display with the key points of the discussion (display would rununtil the next talk show).

2.4.      Talk show topics discussed (1-2 monthbreak between each)

-     Teacher-studentdynamics (bias issues,other than academic relationships between teachers and students, bribery);

-     Child out of Marriage (responsibility, having sex out ofmarriage, abortion, etc.);

-     Marryor not to Marry (prosand cons, main conditions: age, money, parental consent, etc.).

3.    Conclusion: Results of the experience

3.1.      Enjoyable experience for myself,students, and faculty;

3.2.      An opportunity for students topractice English in meaningful way;

3.3.      A place for an open and fruitfuldiscussion of students and facultys pressing concerns;

3.4.      Foundation for unity among studentsand faculty;

3.5.      Arena for students to gain confidenceby expressing themselves in English in public.

References

ZIPoPo International Movement. 15Aug. 2003 <www.wellwishers.net/zipopo/>.

ZIPoPo. (In Russian).15 Aug. 2003<http://www.zipopo.narod.ru/>

ZIPoPo.(In Russian).15 Aug. 2003 <http://zipopo.tripod.com/>