LGA3043E PLAYS AND

DRAMA FOR YOUNG

LEARNERS

WEEK 1
( 12/1 16/1 )

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Introduction to Childrens Plays

and Drama
Features of Childrens Drama
Scaffolding
childrens
learning
through story and drama :
a temporary construct which can be put up, taken
down, reinforced and strengthened, or dismantled
piece by piece once it is no longer needed, and as
children develop language and skills which enable
them to act in an increasingly competent, confident
and independent way (Read, 2006).

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Stories and drama share a number of

features (Read, 2007), which make it natural
to integrate and combine them in scaffolding
learning during language lessons with
children:
They build on childrens capacity for play.
They deal with significant issues.
They engage Multiple Intelligences.
They appeal to different learning styles .
They suspend norms of time, place and
identity .
They are social and communal.
They have rules and conventions.

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Drama in the classroom

word drama comes from a Greek word
meaning to do or live through.
people have used drama to express the
human experience: to show feelings and
ideas, recount past events, and tell the
stories of their lives.
young children first learn to express their
experiences through dramatic means
such as voice, gestures, and movement
NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Piaget(1962) concluded that language

development goes through three stages:
1. Actual experience with an action or
object
2. Dramatic reliving of this experience
3. Words that represent this whole
schema verbally
NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

 Children are able to communicate

successfully through dramatic means long
before they can speak, read and write. The
mental images that children draw on during
play are necessary for linguistic development.
These symbolic representations also form the
basis for the comprehension of text during
what Piaget calls the symbolic play period,
between the ages of 2 and 7. Based on
Piagets constructivist theory, drama is a
natural part of the development of human
thought and language.
NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

 From Vygotskys (1968) social interaction

perspective, activity is the major
explanatory concept in the development
of human thought and language. Play,
then, is the primary learning activity of
young children. The use of drama in the
classroom reflects a social constructivist
perspective of language learning which
is active, social, and centred in students
experiences and provides an effective
way to teach oral language as well as
literacy (Wagner, 2003).
NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Storytelling
1. Finding Stories
2. Telling Stories
3. Props
4. Costumes

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Finding stories
Excellent source for storytelling:
Stories about personal experiences
Those heard told by others
Traditional folk literatures

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Telling stories
a. Read the story aloud several times. Get a feel for its rhythm and style.
b. Outline the major actions in the story, identifying where one ends and
another starts.
c. Picture the characters and setting in the story carefully. Describe them
to yourself.
d. Search for phrases in the story that youd like to work into telling it.
e. Practise gestures that add to the story.
f. Prepare an introduction and conclusion before and after the actual
telling.
g. Practise telling the entire story complete with intonation, colourful
phrases, gestures and
sequence in a smooth and natural fashion.
h. Make an audio- or videotape of yourself telling the story, and listen and
look for areas in
which you might improve. Also time yourself.
NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Props
Picture cards, flannel boards, puppets,
objects
Candles, background music and
noisemakers(rattles/tambourines)

Costumes
Wearing black cape, witchs hat, hats and
shawls used in creative ways.

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Syllabus Study: Drama in the

Malaysian primary School
Curriculum

Modules, Topics, and Themes: The

KSSR is arranged in modules
Listening and Speaking, Reading,
Writing, Grammar (from yr. 3), and
Language Arts and it is expected
that the teacher will move through
them in sequence. Each series of
modules is related under one
particular topic. And each topic fits
into one of the three themes.
NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

 World of Self, Family and Friends;

World of Stories; and
World of Knowledge.

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Demonstrate control of voice and movement by

using appropriate techniques

Bouncing
gently on the spot
like a rubber ball
like a very heavy ball
in many directions

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Walking:

in a field of tall weeds

on a pile of feathers
through puddles
on a faraway planet
on a hot sidewalk in bare feet

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Turning

around on the spot

keeping on foot on the ground
with one hand on the floor
with one knee on the floor
like a bottle top being opened

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015

Twisting:
like a milkshake in a blender
like leaves falling from trees
like a piece of licorice being eaten

NorzaKasim/IPGMKPT/Sem.1_2015