And so the day of my drama students' show arrives! Ten minutes before the show, "The Frog Prince," everyone is in costume, waiting in the wings, cameras focused... but wait.... where's the frog? The frog in "The Frog Prince" is nowhere to be found! Turns out froggy's dear mum thought the show was set to go on another time... oh dear... but no worries... breathe in... breathe out. After quickly explaining the situation to the audience, I had a few volunteers who stepped up to do the role of my missing frog prince. One little girl in the audience had a frog costume on and she stood on stage for a good 2 minutes while I said all the lines. When my little stand in got stage fright, the next frog was my stage manager; she also just stood there but acted out appropriately while I whispered the lines to her. My wonderful actors (don't forget, they are only 3 years old) gamely went along with all the changes and said all their lines and did all their cues beautifully! Needless to say, the (frog-less) show was still a huge success! Now that's what you call a lesson in improvisation.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Drama & Antics: Integrating Theater Elements with Teaching
Good morning! I'm just doing some last minute preparations for my students' show tomorrow. You see, I run drama afterschool activities for 3-6 year old children. It's something that I came up with while I was working for an edutainment company... I needed a creative outlet to break the monotony of office life and so, Drama & Antics was born! It's 45 minute class held once a week. My aspiring actors and I begin the class with warm ups and a story, from which the next theater games are linked. For instance, when I read "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina, I was holding the book and acting it out with the children. Voila! A fun and easy lesson on mime! How they loved being the cheeky monkeys ;)
More or less every session goes that way and I use a different story every time. Last term, we had 11 sessions and more time to practice, but this term, we only had time for 7 sessions. Luckily, my drama students from last term joined again and this time they are really more confident and comfortable on stage. And YES I always strive to produce a final showcase at the end of each term so that the children can apply what they have learned and they can get used to performing in front of an audience.
![]()
This term's showcase will feature two original stories by myself, my fellow teacher Julie, and the children. "The Frog Prince" is an adaptation of the well-loved Grimm's fairytale about a prince who was turned into a frog by a witch. He was later on turned back into his human form with the help of my 5 little princesses. My actors are 3-4 year old nursery students, one of them doesn't speak English very well but managed to memorize and deliver his lines in perfect English! I used the songs "Galumph Went the Little Frog", "Shine" from Barbie's 12 Dancing Princesses, and "Who Let the Frogs Out" by Crazy Frog to liven up the show. It is amazing how my 3 year olds can remember their lines and cues (although they still get a little bit lost when their names come off the stage).
"The Adventures of Princess Graziella" is all original - conceptualized by my 5 year old KG drama students and written by another teacher. This group did Drama & Antics in the first term so when their parents expressed their desire for another term, I came up with Drama & Antics 2 which focuses more on improvisation. Every session, we do a Story Circle: one child starts the story by naming a character and setting. The next child adds a plot or another character and this goes on until everyone in the circle gets to contribute. We came up with a story about a crocodile, dinosaurs, but the best and most cohesive one was this one. Julie, my co-teacher, then put the story together using the children's own words and characters to make the script. And since the aim was to encourage and practice improvisation, I literally just did the blocking (told them where they can stand on stage) and they acted out their characters and lines themselves. To help with the entrances and exits, I used different classical and instrumental music and sound effects to signal their grand entrances. It really is so cool to watch them bring the story to life.
And so the big day is tomorrow and I have to print out the certificates, show programs, and posters. Thanks for reading this entry... 'til next time!
More or less every session goes that way and I use a different story every time. Last term, we had 11 sessions and more time to practice, but this term, we only had time for 7 sessions. Luckily, my drama students from last term joined again and this time they are really more confident and comfortable on stage. And YES I always strive to produce a final showcase at the end of each term so that the children can apply what they have learned and they can get used to performing in front of an audience.
"The Adventures of Princess Graziella" is all original - conceptualized by my 5 year old KG drama students and written by another teacher. This group did Drama & Antics in the first term so when their parents expressed their desire for another term, I came up with Drama & Antics 2 which focuses more on improvisation. Every session, we do a Story Circle: one child starts the story by naming a character and setting. The next child adds a plot or another character and this goes on until everyone in the circle gets to contribute. We came up with a story about a crocodile, dinosaurs, but the best and most cohesive one was this one. Julie, my co-teacher, then put the story together using the children's own words and characters to make the script. And since the aim was to encourage and practice improvisation, I literally just did the blocking (told them where they can stand on stage) and they acted out their characters and lines themselves. To help with the entrances and exits, I used different classical and instrumental music and sound effects to signal their grand entrances. It really is so cool to watch them bring the story to life.
And so the big day is tomorrow and I have to print out the certificates, show programs, and posters. Thanks for reading this entry... 'til next time!
Welcome Miss Z!
Welcome to me! It's midnight but I'm feeling inspired so I've decided to create this blog dedicated to one of my most favorite things to do: teaching! This blog will (hopefully) inspire fellow preschool teachers, aspiring teachers, and anyone really, with:
* arts and crafts ideas (sometimes showcasing my students' actual masterpieces)
* circle time activities using songs and stories
* tips on using theater games, drama, and role play to jazz things up in the class
* links and other resources from where I usually get my ideas from (inspire and be inspired!)
All these and more yet to come! But for now, goodnight world!
* arts and crafts ideas (sometimes showcasing my students' actual masterpieces)
* circle time activities using songs and stories
* tips on using theater games, drama, and role play to jazz things up in the class
* links and other resources from where I usually get my ideas from (inspire and be inspired!)
All these and more yet to come! But for now, goodnight world!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)