Improving our student´s writing through drama

What children can get from the drama and role-play activities goes beyond the speaking and listening because drama techniques are also a great way to help them improve their reading and writing skills.
Very motivating writing activities (previous to the performance, which to the students is the ultimate goal,they just love it!) are:

- Writing short dialogues individually
- Writing scripts in small groups
- Writing songs and poems
- Writing a story in order to later develop a script

These images are examples of scripts my spanish Year 4 students have written. I was working on question formulation (which they find very hard) and proposed the following activity:
1. They got into groups of 4/5 and thought of a question they would like an answer to
2. They developed a story around, and trying to answer, that question.
3. They wrote the script. They had to include at least 8 more questions in the dialogues.
4. They assigned the characters and rehearsed the play.
5. They performed the play.

If you are interested in knowing more about the effectiveness of this teaching strategy, I strongly recommend watching the video in the Teachers TV website English - Drama in the Classroom. After the video, you can also have a look at the support materials and list of useful websites they provide.

Why use drama in the English classroom?

When we use drama, and take away the emphasis from linguistic accuracy and focus on creating meaning, solving dramatic problems, etc., we actually find that this leads to language improvement.

To start off with, students do not feel the pressure that a more formal learning situation might create and thus they learn without realizing due to the more play-like and personalized nature of the task.

Also, traditional teaching methodologies focus on the individual, even sometimes creating a competitive atmosphere.

On the other hand, in the drama classroom the work is usually done in groups, and students get to teach and learn from each other.

Children learn from their peers new structures, words or expressions whist bring out those they were unaware they knew by being so involved in the process and trying to be understood.

In the day to day classroom, students feel the desire to please the teacher through their correct usage of language but, from what I’ve seen, in the drama class students want to do well for a project they feel fully identified with, and as a result, fully involved in.

Instead of having to memorize or repeat unnatural set phrases, drama facilitates spontaneous language learning in a more contextualized environment and making it student-centered and meaning-centered. It also gives the students the possibility for individual expression and group negotiation, whilst simply having fun. I bet we all agree our students deserve it!

Drama: Classroom experience - Video

This video shows a dramatized reading, lead and supported but the teacher who adopts the role of the narrator of the story. The children are using self-made masks, once again demonstrating that the drama class allows for both, the development of communication and creativity.

The students are obviously very motivated and involved in the activity as will be yours- guaranteed!

Obviously we would have to plan this activity differently if we had a full class, since they lose their concentration and involvement in the moment after a while because of having to wait for their line to come up, and that would defeat the whole point.

We could also think of ways of getting the students away from the text in order to explore the characters by using the space, their body language...

Masks are really good for shy students but I personally prefer not to use them too much, since we want to be able to hear their pronunciation properly and it is very important for them to explore facial gestures.

Also, we want the students to produce their own language, that is why we are facilitating a meaningful and motivating context, thus the drama class does not necessarily imply memorizing long scripts or obsessing about perfect grammatical structures.

You can find lots of tested and proven successful creative drama classroom lesson plans here.

Role-play: Classroom experience - Video

This video shows how easy it is to use role-play in the English classroom. On this occasion they have props, but the same activity could be done with the children’s coats and they would find it as motivating. We must not forget that what is really needed is right in front of us: their imagination and readiness to play.

This sort of activity should never be seen as a waste of valuable teaching time, because the target language will only be truly assimilated when it has been used for a real communicative purpose and incorporated as part of their meaningful personal experience.

Drama and Child Development

If you are interested in learning more about drama and child development, I recommend the following websites:

The Role of Drama in Child Development

The Creativity Institute. Children and Drama

Creative Teaching Through Drama

These articles are also very interesting:

What Drama Education Can Teach Your Child

Drama in the early years

Drama and Creative Development in Your Child

Getting our students to speak in English through drama

Drama can be a very useful resource for English teachers who want to give their students a context for meaningful language production and practice. The real purpose of language acquisition cannot be taught through explanation, but has to be learned through experience.

This PowerPoint presentation explains very briefly why English teachers should use role-play and drama in their classrooms and gives a few tips on how to do this.

C:\fakepath\powerpoint blog

View more presentations from guest00a66e.

It is all a matter of starting, and soon you will see how the children are more confident speakers, whilst their level of motivation towards learning english will increase since they will find it personally rewarding and fulfilling.

If you want to read more about children's motivation and learning, I recommend this article in the NASP Website (National Association of School Psychologists).