...through drama for oral skills development Laura Miccoli This paper presents the results of an investigation into the value of using drama in a Brazilian university classroom. Drawing on Di Pietro (1987) and Via (1976) on the advantages of using drama in language learning, from Mezirow (1990) and Schön (1991) on the importance of reflection for promoting meaningful learning, and from Donato and McCormick (1994) and Lukinsky (1990) on the e¤ectiveness of portfolios as a tool to promote reflection, the paper presents a case study of the use of drama in an oral skill class, describing the course structure and classroom procedures. It includes learners’ voices as taken from their portfolios, and evaluates results, presenting setbacks and possible solutions. Finally, it encourages the use of drama and portfolios for transformative and emancipatory learning. Introduction As teachers we are always looking for ways to improve our classes and motivate our students. Yet, teaching conditions may not be as ideal as we would like them to be. Sometimes we get too many students; often they have di¤erent proficiency levels; sometimes both problems arise in the same class. This was my situation: I had to teach a conversation class where the level of proficiency of the 37 students ranged from basic to advanced. Knowing that a traditional format would not work, the experiences of interactionists like Di Pietro (1987) and the actor/teacher Via (1976) helped me decide to bring drama and play...
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...Teaching Listening ‘Nature gave us one tongue and two ears, So we could hear twice as much as we speak.' (Epictetus, Greek philosopher) Listening is the language modality that is used most frequently. It has been estimated that adults spend almost half their communication time listening, and students may receive as much as 90% of their in-school information through listening to instructors and to one another. Not all listening is the same; casual greetings, for example, require a different sort of listening capability than do academic lectures. Language learning requires intentional listening that employs strategies for identifying sounds and making meaning from them. Listening involves a sender (a person, radio and television), a message, and a receiver (the listener). In addition, listeners must deal with the sender's choice of vocabulary, structure, and speed of delivery. The complexity of the listening process is magnified in second language contexts, where the receiver also has incomplete control of the language. Teaching listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any ESL teacher. This is because successful listening skills are acquired over time and with lots of practice. It's frustrating for students because there are no rules as in grammar teaching. Speaking and writing also have very specific exercises that can lead to improved skills. This is not to say that there are not ways of improving listening skills; however...
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...skills, one of the important periods to improve speaking skill is, incontrovertibly, during primary education. Speaking skills acquired and developed during primary education are significant with regard to both acquisition and permanence. Therefore, it is essential that efficient and effective teaching methods are employed in order to improve speaking skills during primary education. In our view, a favourable technique in aiding primary school students to acquire and develop oral skills is the use of creative and educational drama activities. No matter where this technique is applied, creative drama may be considered a method of learning –a tool for self-expression, as well as art. Background of the Study Atimonan Central School is known for its being the biggest elementary school in our town. Atimonan Central School serves as the training ground of the primary students in preparation to the next level of their education. Effect of Creative Educational Drama Activities on Developing oral Skills in Grade Six pupils in Atimonan Central School, helps to develop the abilities of the learner...
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...I completed my class observation assignment at Edison Academy of Differentiated Learning with Mrs. Eberle’s sixth grade class. I have known Mrs. Eberle for years because she taught both of my younger brothers. Although the classroom was rather small, there is a warm, welcoming feeling as soon as one walks in. The classroom was decorated vibrantly, and the way the desks were set up. It was as if the students were the center of attention in the classroom. The desks were in a large rectangular shape, all faced towards each other. The teacher’s desk was off towards the corner which seemed interesting, because the students are always actively engaging with one another. Furthermore, there was a small but well sorted library in the back, and I knew it was well loved because there were reading charts with stickers, symbolizing the amount of books the students read....
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...Strategy Guidance Curriculum and Standards Speaking, Listening, Learning: working with children in Key Stages 1 and 2 Professional development materials Primary teachers and headteachers Status: Recommended Date of issue: 04-2004 Ref: DfES 0163-2004 ❚❙❘ Contents DVD – extracts from the video Speaking, Listening, Learning: working with children in Key Stages 1 and 2 (DfES 0628-2003) Introduction Planning meeting Professional development modules 1 Speaking and listening: concepts, skills and knowledge 2 Progression in speaking and listening 3 The role of the teacher in developing effective interaction and identifying and developing language features 4 Organising and managing speaking and listening 5 Speaking and listening: drama Inside front cover 3 5 7 19 35 49 55 This booklet contains suggestions for a planning meeting for embedding speaking and listening across the primary curriculum, and five professional development modules to support the teaching of speaking and listening in primary schools. The planning meeting will require teachers in preparation and follow-up. The professional development modules require time for teachers to read, plan, try out some teaching, watch others teach and discuss. Each module also has a staff meeting lasting between 60 and 75 minutes. Professional development for speaking and listening in mathematics will be available in 2005. © Crown copyright 2004 DfES 0163-2004 Professional development materials 2 ...
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...How parents can help in facilitating Creative Expression in the Classroom. Prior to undertaking this section, ensure that you give a well informed definition of creative expression. Creative Expression: - Creative Arts Expression refers to participation in a range of activities that allow for creative and imaginative expression, such as music, art, creative movement and drama. Creative expression engage children's minds, bodies, and senses Parents can help facilitate Creative Expression in the Classroom by encouraging and engaging in various activities at home which will allow their children to be creative and imaginative, thus allowing them to be less hesitant to get involved in such activities in the classroom. * Encouraging their children’s curiosity by asking them questions and allowing them to ask questions. * By building on their confidence – when children are encouraged to think and believe in their ideas, it gives them the confidence to express what they’re thinking or to try new ways. * Encouraging their children to take the lead in coming up with new ideas. * Encouraging and praising their children to be individuals * Engaging in role playing:- having their children act out a story before or after they read a book to them. * By providing different art materials that will allow children to express themselves. Crayons, music, paint, * By reading and having discussions with their children:- allows for children to have self-expression...
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...Dear Mrs. Lewis: The internet is becoming a more useful resource and a more popular one every day, let’s not waste the opportunity. Online classes for students is the best option for understudies in any grade level, Not only is it a great choice for students but it’s great for the school itself. There will be less drama and problems for students, students who are shy won’t have to talk in front of the classroom, and schools will save a lot of money. ‘Schools are too over crowded’ States Jayleen Cruz a senior attending Dunnellon High. Let’s face the facts; there will always be children coming in and out of schools making them more populated but, if students are sent to take the courses online it can eliminate some of the crowdedness at schools. It is anticipated that 25% of the current student population will accept this option and not attend school, let’s make that percentage higher! Students who do enroll on the online courses will have much less drama in the school as well as the student’s personal life. It is already a known fact that if students aren’t with their friends in school or in a classroom there is a 75% lower chance of them causing trouble. The students will be at home or in a library doing there online courses , and not causing the teacher trouble as usual, or having the teacher stop an important lesson to write a referral or detention slip. Basically students will have no other choice but to be a good student online because there will be no friends around...
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...Lin Manuel-Miranda: A Progressive Voice for History History is frequently the bane of many students’ academic careers. To some, history is arid, nothing more than the tedious repetition of events long passed. The somniferous lectures and dense readings found in the history classroom further serve to perpetuate the myopic perception of history as stale and purposeless. Through the medium of the stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda challenges this attitude with an impeccable tone of drama, introspection, and spontaneity, breathing new life into the carcass of historical narratives by grounding Hamilton’s story in the universal aspirations and struggles of mankind. Lin weaves together his boundless excitement for telling Hamilton’s story with...
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...captures and holds the viewer’s interest. • Films simultaneously address different senses and cognitive channels. For example, spoken language is supported by visual elements that make it easier for students to understand the dialogues and the plot. • Students are exposed to the way people actually speak. 2 2010 N u m b e r F • Films involve the viewers, appeal to their feelings, and help them empathize with the protagonists. • DVDs usually come with subtitles in English, which facilitates understanding and improves reading skills. After discussing the importance of teaching intercultural communication and suggesting films that match specific cultural categories, this article describes some activities to use when showing a film in the classroom and presents a task-based project involving the use of films. Using films for intercultural training Culture, according to one definition, is the values, traditions, customs, art, and institutions shared by a group of people who are unified by nationality, ethnicity, religion, or language. The...
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...Drama Makes Meaning Drama Australia – The National Association for Drama Education What is Drama? Drama is an artform highly accessible to young people. In education, it is a mode of learning that challenges and supports students to make meaning of their world and enables them to express and communicate ideas in the artform. ΅΅ Drama is the enactment of real and imagined events through roles and situations. ΅΅ Drama enables individuals and groups to explore, shape and symbolically represent ideas and feelings and their consequences. ΅΅ Drama has the capacity to move and transform participants and audiences. It can affirm and challenge values, cultures and identities. ΅΅ Drama includes a wide range of experiences, such as dramatic play, improvisation, role-play, text interpretation, theatrical performance and multi-modal/hybrid texts. It includes the processes of making, presenting and responding. ΅΅ Drama draws on many different contexts, from past and present societies and cultures. Drama is one of the five arts subjects that make up the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. View website » Drama Australia uses the term drama broadly to represent related fields of artistic activity including theatre and performance. Drama encompasses a range of activities that both share conceptual similarities as well as specific differences relating to form and purpose. Drama is recognised and celebrated as a relevant and significant art form that both reflects and contributes to culture. An...
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...various facets of the personality development of the child and students. For all-round development of the child, there is a need of emotional, physical, spiritual and moral development that is complemented and supplemented by Co-curricular Activities. Definition of Co-curricular Activities Co-curricular Activities are defined as the activities that enable to supplement and complement the curricular or main syllabi activities. These are the very important part and parcel of educational institutions to develop the students’ personality as well as to strengthen the classroom learning. These activities are organized after the school hours, so known as extra-curricular activities. Co-curricular Activities have wide horizon to cater to the cultural, social, aesthetic development of the child. Examples and Types of Co-curricular Activities Sports Musical activities Debate Model Art Music Drama Debate and discussion Declamation contest Story writing competition Essay writing competition Art craft Recitation competition Wall magazine decoration Writes ups for school magazine Folk songs Folk dance Flower show School decoration Sculpture...
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...TEACHING AND LEARNING RESEARCH EXCHANGE Exploring Identity and Social Justice through Drama in Schools Rhonda Rosenberg, Executive Director Saskatchewan Association for Multicultural Education Project #58 July 2001 This research was partially funded through a grant from the McDowell Foundation. However, the points of view and opinions expressed in project documents are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. The purpose of the Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into Teaching is to fund research, inquiry and dissemination of information focusing on instruction (both teaching and learning) in the context of the public elementary and secondary education system. Specifically, it will: 1) contribute to knowledge about teaching and learning; 2) encourage educational inquiry through a wide range of methodologies; 3) support the involvement of practising teachers in active research projects; 4) encourage organizations as well as individuals to determine and act in areas of research and inquiry; and 5) encourage experimentation with innovative ideas and methodologies related to teaching and learning. The Foundation is an independent charitable organization formed by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation in 1991. It is governed by a Board of Directors with the assistance of an Advisory Committee of representatives from the educational and business communities. The selection and evaluation of projects funded by the...
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...When you think of education, what is it you think of immediately? Is it a small classroom full of high school student, buzzing about the past weekend’s social events, or last week’s assignments? Or is it a college classroom, with an instructor giving a lecture and several rows of seats filled with students? Do you imagine sitting in front of a computer, completing your assignments from a distance and completely on your own schedule? With those different examples given, I’d like to borrow some of your time and explain how it is education, whether high school or college, can be very similar or quite different. In high school, there are many different social groups found within the adolescent community found on a public campus. Often times, the reason for the different sorts of groups, or cliques, are due to the classes or extracurricular activities one may take. For example, those that are very involved with drama class or a part of the school band would most likely be nicknamed (as well as classified as) “drama geeks” or “band geeks.” Those that are able and choose to dress in very expensive clothing may be nicknamed “preps.” Many may consider this as unfair to the student body as a whole, but it is just how students identify with their peers and themselves. In college universities, the cliques (or groups) evolve into houses, also known as fraternities. Students often times must prove themselves “worthy” of being a part of these groups, either by performing tasks around the...
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...Key Stage 1 Year Group: 2 Class: Lime Class 2.1 Teacher: Ms Mazzaschi |8.20- 8.35 |1 |2 |10.15-10.30 |3 |4 |11.55 -12.55 |12.55 -1.00 |5 |1.50 – 2.05 |6 |2.55-3.00 | | | |8.35- 9.25 |9.25-10.15 | |10.30 – 11.20 |11.20 – 11.55 | | |1.00 – 1.50 | |2.05 – 2.55 | | |MON |Soft start/ R e g i s t r a t i o n |Carousel French,PE,Music Drama |Carousel French,PE,Music Drama |Playtime |Science Room |Science |Lunch |Registration |Literacy |Playtime | Maths |Collective Worship | |TUE | |Maths | |Carousel French,PE,Music Drama |Carousel French,PE,Music Drama | | |Spiral History/ Geography | | Spiral History/ Geography | | |WED | |Maths | |Literacy/ Phonics/ GR | | |Library shared with Avocado/ GR | | PE with Avocado | | |THUR | |Art/ DT Room |Art/ DT | |Literacy/ Phonics/ GR | | |RE | |RE |GR | | |FRI | |Assembly/ Computing |Sensory Room/ PSHE | |Literacy/ Phonics/ GR | | |Maths Problem solving | | Assembly/ Computing | | | Lego Room: Autumn 2 Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs – 5 & 6 Key Sage 2 Year Group: ___ Class: _______________ Teacher: _________________ |8.30 8.35 |1 |2 |10.15-10.30 |3 |4 |12.10-1.10 |1.10-1.15 |5 |6 |2.55-3.00 | | | |8.35- 9.25 |9.25-10.15 | |10.30 – 11.20 |11.20-12.10 | | |1.15-2.05 |2.05-2.55 | | |MON |R e g i s t r a t i o n | | |Playtime | | |Lunch |Registration | | |Collective Worship | |TUE | | | | | | | | | | | | |WED | | | | | | | | | | | | |THUR | | | | | | | | | |Assembly | | |FRI | | | | | | | | | | | | | Carousel...
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...It is a drama also unfolding right now, at this very moment, in venues near and far. Unlike a drama unfolding on stage, however, the circumstances and consequences of poverty are very real. The ability to see these circumstances and consequences lies not “out there” as some ambiguous externalized concept, but within. This ability lies both within our own consciousnesses and within our own consciences. Only through this recognition are we able to see and act upon this pestilent plague that has persisted throughout millennia. Only through this recognition are we able to assess honestly the realities of poverty or debate how to go about its alleviation....
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