|
|
Home
and Family
Drama in Children's Education
by A. Ross, M.Ed.
They all enjoy play acting. From the time a baby plays peek-
a-boo, he is play acting. They play Mothers and Fathers,
doctor or school, or, unfortunately, attacks (the modern
version of cops-and-robbers): shootings, explosions, Hatzola.
During and after World War II, they played concentration
camps and how they had been herded into the
umschlagsplatz, a word I learned when I was a small
child from my friends who were survivors of the horror. As
they mature, some enjoy acting more than others, and
sometimes, the most unlikely candidate excels in a remarkably
professional show which teenagers put on for parents.
Is it all just play, or does this drama and fantasy give the
children something concrete? Recently, several children of
different ages came to tell me about their experiences in day
camp and sleepaway camp in the long summer holidays. What was
the best part? Each one in turn, without hearing it from the
others, volunteered, "We put on a show." I feigned ignorance
and asked them what this meant. A six-year-old described
graphically how they had been told a story, "...and then I
was the grandmother and..."
Children learn by imitation, by copying their elders and
peers. Mothers are often astounded and frequently shocked at
what they hear their children say, and how they get the right
inflection into their voices, in exact imitation of their own
way of speaking.
Drama is a wonderful way to impart social skills without
lecturing. Some children are terribly possessive and do not
want to share. Others don't know how to make friends or to
yield to others. There are the terribly shy children who
learn to speak up when the drama is enacted in their own
home. An intended stay in hospital or a planned visit to the
dentist could be acted out by the older children for the
younger ones. On a rainy Sunday afternoon, or even on an
ordinary evening, when the difficulty of getting everyone to
bed peacefully looms before you, why not give an early supper
with the promise of a `show' when everyone is in pajamas? It
is as good as any bedtime story, although perhaps not quite
as soothing.
Drama in nursery school, in the pre-school years is an
important part of a child's education. Teacher can
demonstrate that although it is fun to scream while play-
acting, in real life it is usually better to talk, to say you
are angry and why you are angry. Even very young children can
understand how inflection can turn a compliment into a put-
down.
Many parents are of the opinion that making puppets and
writing a script for a puppet show is a waste of time in
school. A competent teacher can do wonders with the unity of
the class, including social skills, if s/he chooses this form
of education one term. Children who are weak in some areas
might put forward some excellent suggestions during the
course of this project and will show an enthusiasm which they
have never before exhibited.
Some mothers and teachers who read this will either think
that this doesn't work or that they do not have time for this
sort of thing. Nowadays, when so much is expected of
teachers, is it really worth investing time, even if only one
afternoon a week, in frivolities like these? There may also
be those who never did enjoy acting and do not see why they
should inflict it on others.
For one who is convinced of its effectiveness and of the real
power in this pleasant teaching tool, I can state
categorically that it is well worth investing time in drama,
with the one proviso that you do not let the children get out
of hand.
|
