RESUMEN DEL TEMA 19 DE LA ESPECIALIDAD DE MAESTROS DE INGLÉS DE PRIMARIA
Autora: Mayte Agudo Crespo
Contents:
1.- Introduction
2.- Animation and expression techniques as a resource to be used in the foreign language learning.
3.- Every day life dramatization and representation of tales, characters, jokes, etc.
3.1.- Non-verbal drama techniques
3.1.1.- Mime
3.1.2.- Total Physical Response
3.1.3.- Action stories
3.2.- Verbal drama techniques
3.2.1- Reasons to use drama and role-play
3.2.2- Puppets
3.2.3- Role-play and acting out stories
3.2.3.a.- Creating a context
3.2.3.b.- Topics for role-playing and performing
3.2.3.c.- Role-play and drama performing process
4.- Group work in creative activities.
4.1.- Group work
4.2.- Creative activities
5.- Teacher’s role
6.- Conclusion
7.- Bibliography
1.- INTRODUCTION
In a manner of speaking, one could say that teachers are like actors, and vice versa. Further, a corollary of the times in which we live is that students today are generally regarded as creative performers in their own educational production. Accordingly, it is understood that, as individuals, they also have something to contribute, and will probably do so if they are given the operative tools with which to express themselves more fully as well as the opportunity to perform.
The Ministry of Education and its Organic Law for the Improvement of the Quality of Education (LOMCE) dating 9th December,2013 and the Royal Decree 126/2014, 28thFebruary 2014, that establishes the curriculum for Primary Education, state that at the end of the compulsory stage, children should be able to communicate in a foreign language.By using drama and creative activities we will help children to develop not only the linguistic competence but also some of the other competences defined in the Royal Decree, such as the social and citizen competence or the cultural awareness and expression competence.
Therefore, pretend play and drama are important in a young child’s development, and recent research has shown that the intervention of an adult in this play can extend the interaction and enrich the language used. It follows that teachers could make use of this natural phenomenon to encourage the use of a second language. For example, you could tell a story and then encourage children to act out and extend the story and then develop their fantasy play and vocabulary.
This unit shows different drama techniques, from the simplest –which only need non-verbal language- to the most complex-which use verbal language- . I will also explain the importance of group work and creative activities and the teacher’s role.
2.- Animation and expression techniques as a resource to be used in the foreign language learning.
As a method used in the general education process, drama-the art of acting- has long been highly regarded in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia. The reasons to account for this derive from various theoretical developments: In the 1920s and 1930s, Creative Dramatics was introduced to support the idea of child-centred Progressive Education; in the 1940s and 1950s, drama constituted a resource for building spontaneity and creative self-expression; and in the 1960s and 1970s, the pedagogic benefits of drama were assessed in terms of personal growth and social skills development. In recent years, the overriding methodological frame in education has come to focus on the interactive merit of drama, especially as a process of negotiating meaning.
3.- Every day life dramatization and representation of tales, characters, jokes, etc.
In this section I am going to introduce some of the most common drama techniques to be used in the English class.
3.1.- Non-verbal drama techniques
These activities give children an opportunity to show their understanding by responding through physical movement and mime. Therefore children are not producing any language here. These activities are frequently used during initial stages of learning as they help to reinforce meaning and make language memorable in a non-threatening and enjoyable way. In the first stage of playing a TPR or an action story, it is often a good idea if the teacher participates with the children, as this supports their understanding and also helps to ensure that they do not feel self-conscious. These activities are fun, practice quick response to commands in the foreign language and increase children concentration.
3.1.1.- MIME
3.1.2.- Total physical Response
3.1.3.- Action Stories
3.2.- VERBAL DRAMA TECHNIQUES
In this section drama is used with its whole potential, as a practise of the words of a dialogue with a partner or group. Children are therefore producing language. Acting out stories or short dialogues offers children the possibility of beginning to produce language, which they have previously listened to and understood, by joining in with their character’s part or with telling the story. Children participate at the level they feel able to and there should not be any pressure in them to perform.
3.2.1.- Reasons to use drama and role- play
3.2.2.- Puppets
3.2.3.- Role-play and acting out stories
3.2.3.a- Creating a context
3.2.3.b.-Topics for role- playing and performing
3.2.3.c.- Role-play and drama performing process
4.- Group work in creative activities.
4.1. Group work
Language is a creative and communicative process and activities should be therefore designed to promote interaction and comprehension through participation. Pair work or group work provides children with this opportunity to interact in English.
4.2.- Creative activities
During creative activities, children follow this process:
- First, they get stimuli and orientation about the task to be done.
- Next they think on their own or with their group about how to develop that task. They have to get ideas, share, negotiate and make decisions.
- Then, they develop the activity always checking, trying, improving or changing decisions made.
- Finally, they will normally show their final product and get some feed back.
5.- Teacher’s role
There are some important tips about the role of teachers when developing creative activities like drama, art and craft.
When we are teaching, especially pre-literate children, we need to use our story-telling skills and use visual aids, dramatic tone of voice, mimicry, gesture, and mime to bring the story alive. You do not have to be good at acting to keep a group of children enthralled. Even though modern children are brought up in a television culture, they also enjoy the human contact of a real live person telling them a story.
6.- Conclusion
Drama encourages all aspects of communication including tone, mood and body language. Language is therefore experienced in a particular context. Drama allows pupils to be creative and it stimulates children’s imagination. They take control and generate language themselves. Drama helps pupils to memorise language and develop their listening skills.
Drama can be used in a range of ways including playing games, acting out rhymes and chants and interpreting songs. It is also very often used in conjunction with or as a follow-up to stories. Through miming or acting out a story, children can show their understanding of what happens and through their interpretation of different characters and events make the story their own.
Pupils also learn to participate. They may take on a new identity and indeed it becomes easier for more self-conscious pupils to participate and use language. Acting out stories in this way encourages children to co-operate and work together in groups.
All along this unit, the value of drama activities, the importance of group work for the development of children and the role the teacher should play in the class to make the best of these activities and situations have been highlighted as important issues in the teaching of English.
7.- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN. Law for the Improvement of the Quality of Education (LOMCE) dating 9th December,2013.
- MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN. Royal Decree 126/2014, 28thFebruary 2014, that establishes the curriculum for Primary Education,
– WRIGHT, A. Storytelling with Children
- REILLY,V. & WARD,S. Very young learners. Oxford University Press. Bristol,1999.
