Dreams begin at Kindy class

Helen O' Grady and their teachers strive to inspire students to dream. And dreaming is not age restricted. Dreaming starts right now!


Last week the Kenridge Kindy princesses ended off the second theme for this term: Night and Day. They got to do this with sleepover themed lesson. Not that any sleeping happened!

The girls practiced their speech, did their movement exercises and discussed what they'd learnt thus far during the Night and Day theme. They then ended off the lesson with The Pillow Fight improv.

The Kindy class is a great platform for young students to learn the basics of speech and drama in a high energy, interactive and informal way. They are also exposed to other students and learn to listen not only to instructions but the stories of their classmates.

Call the office or visit our website to find out more about the Kindy class.
We're waiting to meet you and your little one.

DRAMA: A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Helen O' Grady, around the world has shown that drama creates the opportunity for students to develop their communication skills. 

We know that drama allows students to learn to communicate effectively. We have also found and experienced that drama is a great tool for students to learn and practice communicating in their second language.

As drama is taught in an active and interesting way students are exposed to words, expressions and discussions that they may not experience during a language lesson.

Adlibbing is a central part of our curriculum. Adlibbing, or informal language, asks that students create their own lines, sentences and conversations. This part of the lesson is an effective tool for language development, especially with younger students and students who use English as their second language.

Lower and Upper Primary students at the Paarl studio reveling in the Improv exercises.

The benefits of drama are endless.

Take a look at our website to find out more about how drama is key in developing Confidence, Creativity and Communication.

Make a Move!

This term’s Movement curriculum will explore the Eight Basic Efforts. The Eight Basic Efforts include Weight Awareness activities including: Punching, Floating, Slashing, Gliding, Pressing, Flicking, Wringing and Dabbing.

This week the Lower and Upper Primary groups will conclude their introduction to these efforts and would have practised each discipline in isolation as well as in sequence with its opposite.

The Movement exercises are done to show students how their bodies can be used to express various efforts. While some of the disciplines are strong, direct and sustained their opposites are light, indirect and sudden. 

This will assist students in all their movements across the stage whether it be in an improv or snippet and this is especially valuable during the performances of Mimes to Music.

Build - an- Improv

Every term brings something new for our students to learn and enjoy.

This term the Upper Primary group have started doing Structured Improvs. During these scenes the students build the Improv as led by their own ad-libbing. Not only will this improve our creative thinking but also encourage strong ad-libbing skills.

So far, the students have enjoyed the new activity as it allows them to add key-lines and show that they do not only possess the skill to present their characters, they can direct and create as well.

The way the improvs have been structured for this group this term allow the students to be part of the development of the plot structure. The curriculum and the teacher set the outline and progression while students fill in the rest.

This exercise is especially valuable as many of these students are being prepared to progress to the Youth Theatre group.

TO DO OR NOT TO DO

Last week our Youth Theatre groups got to tackle their first monologues of the term. It was great! The script was fun and relatable and the students could give their individual twists while learning about characterization and owning the stage while you’re up there alone.
Experience with monologues are especially important as students will often be asked to perform on their own for auditions.
Here are some tips on what to DO and NOT TO DO when choosing a monologue:

DO:

-          Have options. Prepare two monologues and make sure they are very different. When there’s a large turnout at the audition performers are called back for a second round. Showing range of performance qualities will put you ahead of the rest.

-          LOVE the piece of work. If the student loves performing it, the audience or judges or casting directors will love watching it.

-          Extract a monologue from a play. There are books available with monologues pre-written for this purpose but choosing something that has context will allow the student the depth of the character, other characters and the plot to feed into their performance.

-          Look for an age-appropriate piece that the student can relate to. Let who you are help you in selecting who you’d like to play.

-          Look for something where the character is doing something – ACTion, ACTing, ACTive.

-          Keep it short. Your first 30 seconds are most important, everything else is just bonus.

DON’T:

-                   -     Choose a monologue that’s been overdone…Out damn spot…

-                   -     Choose monologues with content that will make the audience uncomfortable.

-                   -     Not read the rest of the play. Know the context of the scene you are showing and       show and understanding and appreciation for the entire play you are performing from. 

For more, join a Youth Theatre group near you and get in on the ACTion.

 

Somerset West Youth Students rehearsing their monologues to perform for the class

Making dramatic friends

We’ve often spoken about the benefits of drama in terms of Creativity, Communication and Confidence. Those are the three key principles to all things Helen O’ Grady.

Often, however, we forget the benefits of drama for our children’s social skills.

Learning while playing different characters, realistic and not-so-realistic, gives students a great opportunity to explore parts of their personalities and find out more about who they are. In the Helen O’ Grady lesson students are also given the opportunity to do this while interacting with other students.

As students range across 2 or 3 years within the age group they get to interact with others who are older and they benefit from learning from others as well as students who are younger so they learn to mentor as well.

While the school classroom and break time play gives children the space they need to interact with other students, the drama lesson expands on this, throws in ample amounts of freedom and expression and students walk away with skill for stage AND the social space.

Drama makes learning fun!

Term 3 is in full swing and as always, students can look forward to surprises and new activities in the curriculum. While the curriculum stays true to Helen O' Grady principles there's always a little bit of something that our students can get excited about as well as know that the activities they know and love remain part of the lesson as well.

Old and new faces filled the classes these last two weeks as holiday dust is shaken off and drama voices and bodies are stretched and flexed. 

Last week the De Tyger Upper Primary group had fun with scripts. This, of course, after being taken through new elements of speech with a hint of familiarity.

Students showed the extent of their creativity as their scripts included a waste paper basket as a character. 
Loads of fun and learning!

If you would like to be part of the action get in touch with us.
Call the office or send a mail to mari@helenogrady.co.za
In the meantime, take a look at our Facebook page for more.