Acting out not acting up - working together through role playing

For our next instalment of "Luna's got Talent" I would like to introduce Rui, Kaito, Kotone and Moeka acting out the story of Max and Digger from Review 2 of English Time 1 (written by Susan Rivers and Setsuko Toyama). In this story Max gets a little too greedy and gets a stomach ache!

During rehearsals the boys were much more focused on creating the most extravagant and eccentric foods and drinks from the props they had available, while the girls focused more on learning their lines. As you can see from the performances the boys tended to forget their lines! Luckily for the boys the girls were on hand to prompt them when they did. It was great fun getting the students to play the role of director and calling out stage directions when it came to the performances, it's always fantastic to see your students working together to create something they can all be proud of. A great way to build on conversational language whilst having tons of fun.

Rui (Digger) & Kaito (Max)

Kotone (Digger) & Moeka (Max)

Damian Gowland

Lights, cameras, English!

It’s always great experimenting to find new ways of teaching in our classrooms and engaging our students while doing so. However, it is sometimes the simplest activities that can produce masterpieces brimming with the student’s enthusiasm, passion and creativity. In this instance it is the tried and tested role play. Role playing is a fantastic way to the students to have their own input and use their imagination whilst reinforcing the language that they have encountered in the classroom. The student’s visions and ideas never cease to amaze me when they are given the freedom to experiment themselves. It’s as if you’re watching a group of young Steven Spielbergs going to work, just without all the fancy equipment and dinosaurs running around!

All of the books we use for young learners at Luna incorporate either a story or conversation, which allows the students to build on their communication skills by role play as well as having tons of fun doing so! The students love utilizing props and incorporating their own actions and stage directions to give their own unique creative spin to their work.

Here you can see some of my students acting out the roles of Max, Digger and Pat from a story from English Time 2 (written by Susan Rivers and Setsuko Toyama). No signs of stage freight here! I just hope my students won’t forget me when they make it to the big screens as the next Morgan Freeman or Kate Winslet. Perhaps not as they may feel let down by my shoddy camera skills.

Damian Gowland

A young reader reads :)

A little star called Rei blew this little reader away this afternoon. Can you guess what the key phonic sound was in the story? 

listen to ‘Rei & Jim read "Max"’ on Audioboo

How did we do?

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