Theatre: A Tool For Expression and Growth

For 20 years I have been working in theatre and the performing arts. It never ceases to amaze me how bodily expression and play inspires growth and change. To play, to tell stories, to enact characters, and to expand vocal and physical range is to explore and expand who we are.

As a teacher, I use various aspects of theatre and art to elicit responses from children as they learn a new language. People, especially children, hold latent knowledge of language. The use of gesture, mime, objects/props, and costume are all excellent methods for drawing out reaction or response to something. Theatrical expression helps to build new pathways in the brain that with repetition imprint and aid in the memorisation of new information. To elicit is to prompt, to trigger, to spark – and to employ theatrical methods as a teacher is to inspire and encourage students to express themselves in the broadest sense.

I have been teaching at Hi-London since the beginning of the year. In this time, I have worked with a wide range of children/teens with varied levels of ability in the practice and understanding of the English language. Children pick up a massive amount of information and very often know more than they are aware of. It is so vital to encourage the leap between knowledge that is there inside somewhere, latent, and to draw out that knowledge into the practice of speaking and action.

The ability to listen, to focus, and to express are key to learning language. In children, progress can be made quickly if they can be stimulated to take a risk. Play and storytelling are great ways to help children feel at ease. Even before they can formulate or understand words, gesture can be used to cross the boundaries of difference and culture. Gesture can communicate even before words are spoken, and once the children feel safe within the community of a group, they are much more likely to grow. Playing games, drawing and storytelling are excellent methods to build foundations for new skills in communication of a new language, and Hi-London provides the incredible cultural backdrop of one of the greatest cities of the world. There are so many contexts and themes to draw from. Each of our week-long courses are theme-based around a topic which helps the students to stay focused and to create meaningful memory and experience.

One week, the theme was London Jungle. We began the week by reading the story Why Elephant Has a Trunk (Tinga Tinga Tales). At the beginning of the week, even when many words were not yet understood, pictures, gesture, and a theatrical delivery provided the aid to build understanding. Repetition is key. Therefore, to read the same book a few times during the same week was important, and as the children grew more familiar with the story parts, they remembered and filled in information.

During a workshop at a zoo that week, one of the workshop leaders used simple gesture for each animal which the children had to then repeat as they named the animal and its habitat. Gesture is a powerful way to memorise information. In theatrical performance, text is always accompanied by action to clarify the meaning of the story for the audience, but it is also employed to anchor the text in the actor’s memory.

The London Jungle week culminated with the making of animal masks and a re-enactment of the elephant story. Each child chose an animal to perform, and they were encouraged to voice new information from the week as they played. Growth was born easily, naturally and spontaneously from the excitement of theatrical play, interaction, and a city which holds infinite possibilities!