DR Jean Thelma Small was recently inducted into Hamilton Knight Associates Limited’s career hall of fame. She is an educator, linguist, playwright, foreign language lecturer, actress, puppeteer and cultural ambassador.

She has written, directed, produced and acted in a range of theatrical works by noted Caribbean, French and Jamaican playwrights.

Dr Small is not just content to write and perform, but creates her own actors and theatrical personalities through puppetry, which she uses as a highly effective teaching tool to inculcate positive values and creativity in children.

With over 50 years of experience in the business she now works as a freelancer. This week she shares with Career & Education an insight into puppeteering.

Who is a puppeteer?

A puppeteer is an individual who manipulates an inanimate object such as a puppet. You make things like folk tales come alive by scripting it into a puppet show and presenting it to an audience.

What is the value of the work that you do?

It’s a way of teaching through entertainment. You find a way to make something clear to a class through the drama and music and it’s satisfying when you hear students say, “Oh, I get it now”. It is linking theatre and teaching through the use of puppets.

What are the challenges that you face on the job?

There are different sets of children with different challenges and you have to help them to get over these challenges. I have to make what I’m teaching seem useful, especially since I incorporate French in my puppet shows.

What is your academic background?

I have a doctorate in methodology that focuses on how to impart techniques through the use of theatre, and apart from my bachelor’s in foreign languages, I also have diploma in education.

What’s your work history?

I have worked in Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria and Australia as a French teacher at the secondary level. As a foreign language lecturer I used theatre to teach French language and literature at the university level and created interesting textbooks to stimulate and facilitate learning at all levels. I also helped in developing the language skills of the region, by serving as part of a team of Caribbean experts who formulated the CXC curriculum in Spanish and French, and as an external examiner for theatre and French at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. One of my works as a playwright is The Black Woman’s Tale, performed at The Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, which won the best Jamaican Play in 1998, and more recently I have written and presented the one-woman play I am Seventy-eight and Tired, chronicling the journey towards shedding the weight of the personal experiences and emotional baggage that rob us of our joie de vivre and steal our energy. I presented The Black Woman’s Tale at the Théâtre Gérard Philipe in Paris, France.

What advice do you have for others who wish to enter the field?

Set up two columns: things you can do with your hands and things you enjoy doing. When what you enjoy matches your skill, then make a career out of it. Live a successful life fulfilling your passion. It’s important to have confidence in whatever you do and do something useful for society. Most of all, do what you love.