Drama Tuesday - Williams’s drama gift
/Gifting the emotions
Our grandson, William, shared with us his idea for a drama activity.
He brings his hands together to cradle an imagined gift.
I am giving you an emotion he says solemnly as he hands the imagined gift to us. It is an emotion.You must guess the emotion I am giving you and then show it to me in your face and body.
After his gift he asks us to return the gift to him with our own emotion gift.
From his earliest days his parents had played the game look happy… look sad… look cross…
William was familiar with how we shaped facial expression, bodies, sounds and even words to show emotions. He now is extending that activity which is a simple start to showing and sharing role and situation through our bodies. What is important is that he is asking us to create an imagined but not nominated emotion.
And so the game continues. Sometimes endlessly. (We sometimes overlook how important repetition is to young learners.)
The opportunity to model and then to encourage exploration and innovation is important in drama teaching and learning.
