L2 Journal: An electronic refereed journal for foreign and second language educators

This paper will share the design and implementation of a Zoom-mediated theatre workshop in an undergraduate advanced Spanish language course and explore how this type of activity can support the development of a range of learners’ competences whilst generating virtual presence through playfulness and engagement.  Our aim is twofold: to provide practitioners with a sample of a drama-based activity adapted for the distanced language classroom that can be adopted in any synchronous online environment, and to reflect on how we believe this workshop and its related assessment enabled creative and critical forms of engagement with the original material through students’ performance of their own dramatic transpositions. We will discuss the role of technology, appraising the affordances it provided for creative multimodal interactions and online togetherness despite the pandemic-imposed separation between participants.