Teach Primary Issue 18.7

marsdensam.com children to walk around the room at the speed they’ve chosen for their character, and with the added tension. Next up, ask pupils to think about any physical habits their character might have. Children should continue walking around the room in character while adding in a physical habit or two. Now ask pupils where their character holds a lot of their positive energy; this could be in their lips, eyes, hands, tummies, or feet. Ask them to add this energy into their bodies and to see how this changes the movement of their character. The children should then go and practise their scenes with their new physical traits. Finish by asking a few groups to show their scene to the class and give them some direction. Assessment Can pupils move in a new way and in character? WEEK 5 Learning objective l How to project and to speak clearly in character Warm the class up with some tongue twisters; you can find some in the downloadable resources. When doing the warm-up, encourage pupils to speak from their tummies, to relax their shoulders, and to maintain good posture. Explain that when they are performing their scenes, projection is important, and they’ll need to speak from their tummies. If they are holding their voice in their chest, throat, or head, it will be difficult to produce enough sound to be heard. You can all experiment together by doing one of the tongue twisters in a head voice, then chest voice, and then from the tummies. How easy is it to hear each one from the back of the class? Next, gather pupils in a circle and go around asking each child to say one line from their scene, while projecting their voice. If they speak too quietly, ask them to go again, making their voice louder. Now ask pupils go and practise their scenes in their pairs, or groups, and give them about ten minutes to do so. Ask them to focus on voice and projection. To finish, ask a few groups to show SamMarsden has taught drama for 15 years in variety of settings. She’s the author of 100 Acting Exercises for 8–18-year-olds, Acting Games for Improv, Drama Games for Early Years, and Acting Exercises for Creative Writing . stage as another character and not as themselves, helps. It can be liberating for a lot of pupils to walk and talk as another character. Now it’s time to perform in front of an audience! Another class, the whole school, or parents are all good audience options. You’ll likely find having spectators pushes the pupils to the next level, as the adrenaline will enhance their performance. If you want a more polished show, you might find two to four extra weeks of rehearsals will help, though it is possible to prepare in six weeks. Pupils can perform with or without costumes and props. If you really want to go for it, you might like to add some music to play between scenes; something relevant in tone to the next scene works well. I often use film soundtracks and fade them out a few lines into the text. Music can help pupils get into character and ease the tension of starting a scene. Assessment Can pupils perform their scenes in front of an audience? F EATURE S P L ANN I NG @SamMarsdenDrama their scene to the class and give them some direction, including their use of voice. Demonstrate how speaking in a monotone voice is not engaging, and how texturing speech by going high and low in tone will add more flavour to the performance. It’s possible that many pupils will need to slow down their speech and be reminded to use dramatic pauses. You will also likely need to remind pupils many times to be louder. Assessment Can pupils use a voice loud enough for the whole class to hear? Can pupils explain how they can use their voice to make their performance more engaging? WEEK 6 Learning objective l To show a scripted scene to an audience Play a warm-up game from the downloadable resources, to begin. Make sure it’s one you’ve already played, as show day isn’t the day to introduce something new. Run through everyone’s scene and make sure to give one positive piece of feedback to every pupil. Do a vocal warm-up (like some of the tongue twisters practised in the previous week). Just before the show give the pupils a pep talk. I find telling them they don’t need to be nervous, as they are up on © Rosalind Hobley www.teachwire.net | 25