Ansurie Pillay

Ansurie Pillay (19**-) is a drama and English teacher, educationist and university lecturer, and TV producer.

Biography
Completed her matriculation at Burnwood Secondary School and her academic qualifications include a BA (English and Drama), BA (HONS), UHDE, CEMT, APC, M.Ed,and PhD.

Her career included:

1986: Teacher of English and Speech and Drama at Phoenix Secondary

1987 – 2000: Teacher of English and Speech and Drama at Durban Girls’ Secondary

1997: Part-time tutor – Natal University – Linguistics Department and Lecturer for the English Language Educational Trust (NGO), teaching English to adult learners

2001: Teacher of Speech and Drama at Westville Boys’ High

2003: Contract Lecturer of Communication at Durban University of Technology (DUT) 2002: Part-time Teacher of Drama at Pitlochry Senior Primary

2004 - 2008: Contract Lecturer/ Tutor of English and Drama at Edgewood Campus, Faculty of Education, UKZN, and since 2009 a lecturer there.

Radio and television
2001 – 2008: Producer of Pathways, a television series for SABC 1 (served as presenter, scriptwriter, researcher, and production manager), Dharma Moments, a television series for SABC 2, inserts for Spirit Sundae (SABC 1) and Issues of Faith (SABC 2);

Produced programmes for local and international NGO’s.

As theatre performer
1982-1983: Performed in University and Community Theatre productions

Publications and lectures on drama
besides normal lectures as teacher, and supervisor of post graduate study, she has spken on and written about the uses of drama and specific dr5tamatic texts over the years. Among the topics have been:

2009: ‘History through drama’ – Histerix Symposium, Kearsney College

2007: ‘Using drama strategies to fire the historical imaginations in learners’ - SASHT (South African Society of History Teachers) Conference, University of KwaZulu-Natal

2006: ‘Involve me and I will learn – The use of drama strategies in the language classroom - SAALT (South African Association of Language Teachers) Conference, University of KwaZulu-Natal

2006: ‘A case for history through drama in the rural context’ – Rural Teacher Development Conference, University of KwaZulu-Natal

1998: ‘Some approaches to the teaching of “Woza Albert”’ – Dept. of Education and Culture (Dept. of Educ. Teachers’ Workshop).

1996: ‘Teaching “We Shall Sing For The Fatherland”’ – Dept. of Education and Culture (Dept. of Educ. Teachers’ Workshop).

1994: Mbongeni Ngema on ‘Woza Albert’. Dramteach: A Journal for Drama Teachers. 1(1)

1989: ‘Arriving at “The Rivals”’ – Dept. of Education and Culture (Teachers’ Workshop).

Administrator
Since 2010 organizer and facilitator the annual Time of the Writer festival at Edgewood in association with the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN)

Awards
Won 3 awards (NTVA) for excellence in television production2001: Won 4 awards (NTVA) for excellence in television production in 2001, and 3 in 2002.

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