Week 2, Drama.

Drama Workshop

We started this workshop with different warm-up activities. The first was a clapping activity in which the class got together in a large circle and we would send our clapping in certain directions (left or right). I was surprised as to how engaging this activity actually was, as at first, it sounded like an early stage 1 skills activity. It got the whole group settled and enhanced our ability to focus. I would use this warming up activity in my class as it is simple and can be used with all stages. 

In today's workshop, we did reader's theatre. Maybe it was because I went to primary school overseas, or maybe it was just my primary school that did not do this activity, the first time I came across the term 'reader's theatre' was last semester in English but this was the first time I actually took part in it. The class was split into three groups and was given about 15 minutes to read through and prepare how we would present our script, "The Ning, Nang, Nong". We had about 4 people in three rows. First row sitting, second row standing and last row standing on drama boxes. As I had initially thought reader's theatre was an activity for English to enhance fluency in reading, I had been oblivious in that reading out aloud and collaborating as a group were fundamental skills for drama! "... reader's theatre is the is an interpretive reading activity in which readers use their voices to bring characters to life."(1). By incorporating various types of stage, voice and movement, our 'production' of the ning, nang, nong was drama cross-linked with english as another KLA. I found this activity fun, engaging and inclusive. In the typical ESL classroom, students with low confidence in English have the tendency to back away from drama which requires delivery of memorised lines. But reader's theatre allows groups of students to say the same line, it does not necessarily have to memorised and hence, is a rather welcoming activity for all types of students. 

I assume that reader's theatre would be more challenging in kindergarten or high ESL classrooms as students may often have difficulty reading and understanding the text. To accommodate for these students, in my classroom, I would focus one or two English lessons in reading and deconstructing the text together as a class. I would show the students a sample video or read it out to them to give them a general glimpse of what the final production may look like. After I am certain the text has been understood and the class in comfortable with the text, i would incorporate this into drama lessons where students will have the opportunity to explore use of voice, tone, gestures and enhance their verbal delivery skills using their script. 

Reference:

(1) Martinez, M., Roser, N., & Strecker, S. (1999). "I never thought i could be a star": A reader's theatre ticket to fluency, The Reading Teacher, 52(4), 326-334.