Drama with children – part 1

Introduction

For some children, it can be intimidating to speak in English in front of their classmates. They may worry about making mistakes and looking silly, or it may just be that they are shy and prefer to stay quiet. One way of reaching these children is through drama. By giving roles to your learners they can 'hide' behind the character and lose some of their inhibitions. Before actually performing though, there are several processes you can go through with the children to create a theatrical environment.

Here are a few suggestions on using a range of drama-related activities and creating supporting tools like masks and theatres that will help you play with the language with your learners and have lots of fun at the same time.

Warm up activities

The importance of warm up activities should never be overlooked. It's difficult for anyone, regardless of their age, to arrive to class and suddenly launch into drama, especially if it's in a foreign language. Try some of these activities to relax the children and to help them focus. You will notice that they are mostly non-verbal activities to provide a non-threatening environment for the younger children. For slightly older children you can add English words where appropriate.

• For very young learners you can simply smile and ask them to copy you. Then show them a sad face and again ask them to copy you. Pretend to laugh, cry, sing, hide your face and each time ask them to copy you. This is a quick and effective way to focus the children on the lesson, get them calm and introduce them to pretending to be different people.
• For slightly older children, take any sort of object like a ball, book, paperclip or pen and pretend it's something else. So, pretend to brush your hair with the book and then pass it on and ask the next person to pretend it's something else and so on. If the class know the word in English, they can guess what the object is meant to be.
• Put the class into three groups and stand them in lines or in pairs if it's more practical for your classroom. If they're in groups, then you can play a team Chinese Whispers game, except that instead of whispering, they draw a letter or number onto the back of the person standing in front of them who, in turn, tries to draw the same number or letter on the back of the person in front of them, and so on. If they're in pairs, then they draw a letter or number onto their partner's back who has to guess what it was and tell their partner. Then they swap. The idea of this sort of activity is that the children are using their bodies as well as their minds.

Making puppets and theatres

Once your class has their own 'box theatre', you can use it with them all the time to act out new language at the end of the lesson or to introduce new language at the start.

• Take a shoe box and remove the lid. The lid can be used underneath to stabilise the theatre if necessary. Cut out the bottom side of the box leaving a few centimetres around the edges. Then cut out both ends of the box (the shorter ends) again leaving a few centimetres around the edge. These ends will act as the wings from which the characters will make their entrances.
• The children can decorate the box theatre themselves with card, paper, pens, glitter, etc. Due to the size of the box, it's easier if each child decorates a separate piece of card to be stuck onto the box.
• Out of the back of the box, going away from the audience, you should stick two long sticks or straws coming out horizontally.
• For the scene changes, in groups they can design back drops that can be attached to a long stick which, in turn, can be placed onto the protruding sticks coming out of the back of the box theatre.
• For the stick puppets, use anything thin and long that is child friendly, so no sharp points. Straws are good, but you might need to stick a couple together. They can draw, cut out and stick onto the sticks their own puppets. Otherwise, you can find what you’re looking for on clipart.
• Other puppets you can make include using toilet rolls, socks, or paper.

Making masks and costumes

You don't need to make elaborate costumes for children to feel like a different character. A symbolic paper crown can make someone a king, or a magic wand made out of card can transform someone into a witch. Concentrate on keeping it simple as the objective is to eventually perform a scene, practise some English, learn English instructions, arouse interest in drama and English alike, but not to spend three weeks making a spectacular Elizabethan costume.

Paper plates are great for making masks. For the really young learners, you may need to help them with cutting out circles for eyes. For the rest of the face, they can decorate with pens or stick on card. Prepare lengths of string or elastic with knots at one end. Tie a knot on the other end once the child has finished the mask. Then staple both ends of the string to the paper plate. An alternative is to stick a piece of thick card (15 x 3cm) onto the plate for the child to hold so the mask looks like a large lollipop.

Writing scripts

Two key points to think about: keep the stories short and simple and allow the children to use their imagination. These activities can be adapted for younger learners by keeping the story reproduction an oral activity with picture flashcards to prompt ideas and words they can use.

• If you have limited resources, then you can use a traditional story that you know well. Tell it to the class in your own words first. You should practise saying it out loud before the lesson, and you can write down a basic script so that each time you tell it, it stays the same.
• Split your class into small groups and give a scene to each group. They can then retell the scene from what they remember. Any changes they make will only make the story richer!
• An alternative is that each group retells the whole story, making two changes. They practise saying their script and then they tell it to the class who has to find the two changes that have been made.
• Give them a prepared script. In their groups, they have to change the end of the story.

Homework and follow-up suggestions

The homework you give will depend on the type of story, play, scene or poem you are acting out with the children. For younger learners, general ideas include drawing a picture of your favourite character or scene. For older children, they could write letters from one character to another about what happens in the story or write a continuation of the story.

Get more drama-inspired lesson ideas – Drama with children: part 2

Useful resources

The Enchanted Learning website has instructions on how to make puppets and masks.