Drama and English at the Heart of the Curriculum

Primary and Middle Years

Joe Winston

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136600418
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

First Published in 2005. Drama and English are key to creative teaching in primary schools. This book is packed with imaginative activities and offers clear guidance on: teaching techniques including step-by step guides, lesson plans and analysis; classroom examples of cross-curricular drama work including science, ICT, RE, the arts and humanities; and partial issues such as inclusion, citizenship and whole-school approaches. The very practical handbook for teacher and students makes a major contribution to the growing literature on drama and its place in children's learning.

CHAPTER 1

Good classroom dramas

This chapter will argue for a vision of what constitutes good drama in a primary and middle school classroom. By ‘good’ I mean drama that is educationally of value in itself, in human and cultural terms that include but go beyond closely defined learning objectives. Rather than referring to curriculum guidance, national frameworks or preferred outcomes it centres around something more permanent: children – what they like and what engages them, what culturally enriches and socially nourishes them.

Metaphors for drama

In my experience, primary teachers and head teachers are generally delighted to have a student who is willing to teach drama during a school placement. Not only is she welcomed as someone able to do a class assembly and help with the school production, but she is often seen as the ideal person for the annual topic on bullying with the children in the top year. Drama is often seen as the subject to tackle such social issues and it is, indeed, a very good vehicle for exploring them. Many Theatre in Education companies do excellent work in these areas, as do a growing number of specialists in applied drama who work outside schools with young offenders or people undergoing drug rehabilitation. However, there are dangers of drama being too readily associated with work on bullying, drug education, teenage pregnancy and the like. Such issues are rooted in the immediate social world most readily dramatised these days in soaps, and although many children enjoy soaps, they are only one of the many forms of drama, just as the ballad is only one form of poetry. Their over-emphasis can therefore limit children’s drama experience. More insidiously, it can exaggerate the negative aspects of their lives, with drama being seen as a kind of medicine to tackle their social ills. The problem here lies in the metaphor. We don’t enjoy taking medicine unless we are morbidly obsessed by our illnesses; we don’t need it regularly, just when we are ill or sickening, when we are feeling needy rather than competent.

I therefore propose two different metaphors to help us view the potential contribution of drama to children’s education and social health in a more positive light. First, drama as food. Food is enjoyable and we all need the right kind of it at regular intervals in order to grow, flourish and remain healthy. Furthermore, meals themselves can be enjoyable social occasions where we enjoy our food and the company we are in. As with a good meal, so with a good drama. The promotion of social health should go hand in hand with enjoyment, but enjoyment should be our primary purpose.

The second metaphor is one I have heard used by the acclaimed children’s playwright Mike Kenny – that drama is a form of social dreaming. When we dream, the strictures of our daily experience are loosened and re-formed to create surprising and striking narratives, which experts tell us are necessary for our mental health. And the way we use the word ‘dreams’ to equate with our aspirations and wishes provides a further positive nuance to the concept of dreaming. For the aboriginal peoples of Australia, of course, the dreamtime is a spiritual time when the ancestors walked upon and created the land as it is and should remain. What all these meanings of dreaming carry in common is the significance of their displacement from the everyday, the immediate, the here and now. It is a time for other possibilities, other realities to be experienced and valued. The metaphor of drama time as dreamtime for primary children is not a sanction for meaningless escapism but proposes a necessary space within the incessant pressures of institutionalised schooling for children, so as to dwell in alternative narratives that can reflect their desires and aspirations.

Good drama: an example

The drama below is the introductory lesson in a drama and English scheme based on the stories of Tom Thumb. It is one I have taught many times to children between the ages of 7 and 9 and have used with teachers and student teachers. It has always proved to be a highly successful lesson so it may be useful to examine it in the light of some principles which I believe to be at the heart of good drama with children of the primary age.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB – LESSON 1

Resources needed: a stick/staff; a small bottle/phial; a finger puppet of Tom Thumb.

1. Ask children to move through space and when you say ‘Freeze!’ to make themselves as small as they can. Do this three times, asking them to make themselves even smaller each time.

2. Ask ‘How small were you – as small as a …?’ Listen to some answers then tell children that the drama is about someone very small indeed and begins long ago with an old lady who longed for a child. Move the children into a circle and place a chair at its centre.

3. Explain to the children that you need two of them to step into the circle to take on the role of two characters. They will only need to mime what you narrate and repeat any speech you provide for them. Sit one child on the chair and give the other your staff, then begin the narration.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, the famous wizard Merlin was walking through a wood on a cold winter’s day when he came to an old cottage. There he stopped because he could hear the voice of an old woman, humming a sad song (hum it and have all the children echo it). Then he heard her speak. ‘Oh how sad and lonely I am. All my life I have wanted a little child, a son and now I am too old. A little boy would make me so happy, a baby I could tickle with my thumb …’ (back into the song). Merlin stopped and asked for some food. The woman searched her shelves, then searched her cupboards. All she found was an old crust of bread and a thimble full of water which she offered to him. Merlin thanked the woman, took each in turn, ate and drank and waved goodbye.

Note: the narration needs to emphasise very clear actions.

4. The two children go back into the circle. Narrate: Moved by her words and her generosity Merlin resolved to help her. Back in his cave, he found all his helpers. Then, in role as Merlin, carrying the staff to signal your role, speak to the children. ‘Ahh there you are. Now, there’s something very important you can do to help me …’ Select volunteers to help you make the spell that will give the old lady the son she wants. Send a child to collect your spell book, others to collect your cauldron, ladle, water from the well, etc. All of this, of course, is mimed, and children can use their bodies to form the cauldron, bookstand, fire, etc. Ask other helpers to gather the herbs you ask for as you read the recipe, then to put them into the cauldron and stir them in. Involve the children in selecting what should go into the cauldron by pretending that you have lost your glasses and are unable to read the spell properly. ‘It says I need ten stinging…. Oh, can you tell me what the next word says?’ Further play can include tasting the potion, spitting it out, adding sugar, etc. When it is finally ready, have a child ladle some into the phial and then have all of the children repeat the following spell with simple actions:

Old woman, you will soon give birth

Before the spring has come

To a wonder-child, a tiny boy

No bigger than your thumb.

Admit that the potion will only work if the person who takes it doesn’t know what it is for. Ask for two volunteers and rehearse with them, with the other children’s help, what they need to say to convince the old lady to drink it.

5. Play a game of Huggy to put children into threes. Two of them are to be the helpers, the other the old lady. Can she be persuaded to take the potion?

6. Back in role as Merlin, bring the children into the circle again, question and congratulate them on how they got on with the old woman. Then admit that you are pleased but still a little puzzled. ‘A strange request, I know, but it is what she wanted, a child no bigger than her thumb, she said. I wonder why??’ Prompt the children to realise Merlin’s mistake and to help him realise it, too. They need to explain how he misheard her. Once they have done this, become flustered and worried. The old lady must be told! Ask the children to talk in small groups to see if they can come up with any ideas to convince her that it might be a good thing after all to have a child that small (e.g. cheap on clothes, food, possessions, easy to carry around, etc.). Pool these ideas together and list at least five.

7. Ask for two volunteers who will return to see the old lady, and with the class’s help coach them in what they will be saying to her. Then take on the role of the old woman yourself and make it difficult for them! Narrate: As the two helpers approached the cottage, the old lady greeted them warmly. You can’t wait for your son who will soon be tall and strong and will help you with all of your heavy chores! Allow children in the circle to advise the two volunteers on things they can say to prepare the old lady gently for the truth. When they finally tell you how small the baby will be, listen to the arguments they have prepared and conclude by saying that you would rather have him tiny than not at all; and that you will love him whether he is big, small, fat, thin, well-behaved or naughty …

8. … which is just as well, because, when Tom Thumb was born, he did turn out to be quite a naughty boy!!

Ask the children to get into space. They are to mime the following actions in their own space as you narrate them (it’s best if you mime with them):

Tom Thumb wasn’t like an ordinary baby. He was a fully grown little boy in four days! He was hardly ever tired, so, when his mother sent him to bed, he crawled through the crack underneath the door and ran to the top of the stairs and looked down. Whoah! It was a very long way down! Using a belt from his mother’s dressing gown, he made a loop, swung it around his head and caught it around the top of the banister. He climbed up like a mountaineer. Once at the top he got ready and then wheeee! He slid the whole of the way down the banister like an olympic skier before landing with a bump!!! Ooh! Dusting himself off he got up and looked around him when a lovely smell came to his nose. Mmmmm! It smelt like his favourite pudding which was…(use a child’s suggestion). Tom followed the smell into the dining room and stopped at the base of what for him was a huge table. How was he going to get up there? (Use children’s ideas.) Once on the table he tried to jump up into the dish but it was too high. How was he going to get into it?? (use children’s ideas, if you like… or…)…so he hauled up the dessert spoon and dropped it on to the side of the dish to make a ramp. Up, up, up he walked, taking care not to lose his balance. Yummy!!! As he looked into the dish, Tom saw a big piece of pudding floating on the top of the custard (cream/sauce). One, two, three, he jumped on to it and began to paddle over to the pudding and, climbing on to it, he began to eat huge mouthfuls. Imagine! A whole island made of pudding! Heaven! But, oh no, who was this coming up to the table?? Yes, Tom’s mum! Quickly, he took a deep breath and dived under the custard. But she took a spoonful and Tom was in it and saw himself getting closer to his mum’s mouth so he began to jump up and down on the spoon shouting ‘Mum! Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!!’ Imagine his mother’s shock when she saw Tom! With a scream, she threw the spoon up in the air and away Tom flew higher and higher until he started to fall back down towards the table. As he fell he saw a jug of water beneath him so he steered for it and dived into it with a great big splash and up he swam to the surface…‘’Cor, that was close, wasn’t it mum! Mum!??’

9. How do you think his mum felt? What do you think she did to punish him? Let children share ideas. Unfortunately he was always getting up to naughty tricks – maybe next week you can think of some and write little stories about them. And maybe you can make your own Tom Thumb …!

10. You can introduce the finger puppet (or thumb puppet!) now and answer the children’s questions as they ‘hot thumb’ him for a minute or two. Be friendly but a bit cheeky in your responses.

Possible follow-up classroom activities:

Children write up the story of how Tom Thumb was nearly eaten by his own mother based upon Activity 8.

Make a Tom Thumb corner by asking children to look out for different things that his mum could have used for his clothes, his bed, a hat, a bath, etc.

Children discuss various places Tom might go – to school, for example, or to the shops with his mum. Because he is so small, what kind of naughty things might he get up to in these places? Children write their own stories around a simple structure.

Children in groups write a short list, e.g. For his hat he wore an acorn cup/For his bath he used a shell/For his trampoline he used a spider’s web, etc. These can be enriched with adjectives and turned into short poems, e.g. For his trampoline he used a silky, springy spider’s web, etc.

Read or tell episodes from the original Tom Thumb story.¹

Make thumb puppets.

Tell children that the queen of the fairies gave Tom a present of a magic ring and a magic hat. These had special powers. Discuss with the children what these might have been and work their suggestions into later drama work.

Good drama is a bit like magic

There is nothing magical about good drama teaching. As with any pedagogy, it is skilful, a craft, and can be learned. But drama itself has a quality of magic to it.

Magic is the power that changes someone or something into some...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Good classroom dramas
• 2 Drama and English: an integrated approach
• 3 Drama, English and citizenship: ‘Lucien and Marie – Refugees in Victorian Britain’
• 4 Drama, English and spirituality: ‘The Selfish Giant’
• 5 Drama, English and ICT: ‘The Forbidden Planet’ (a scheme based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest)
• 6 Drama, English and creativity: Blodin the Beast
• 7 Evaluation in context
• Appendix 1: Drama conventions and games used in this book
• Appendix 2: Establishing a drama contract
• Index