› CREATIVITY, ACTION AND SERVICE FOR THE IB
› THROUGH THEATRE, STUDENTS OF III ° MEDIO AND THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, ARE LOOKING TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ EXPRESSION IN ENGLISH, AND HOPE TO ESTABLISH A DRAMA ACADEMY IN THIS LANGUAGE
This is a project that was designed especially for the British Week in the School, as an activity, being one of the many that we can enjoy as usually in this date of the year. Working with the English Department and the volunteers that wanted to participate in this, four students from 11th grade have developed this activity completely from its beginnings. The four of them are students from English A1 Standard level from the IBO programme and worked a lot in this Creativity, Action and Service work.
What does this project consists on?
This project consists basically on the representation of a play in English by Middle students from 7th grade. We are promoting with this project students’ interest in theatre, so in the future it can be created an official Theatre Academy, as well as in Spanish. The first play we are rehearsing is A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, which will be released during the British Week.
Who is participating on this project?
Middle students from 7th grade are participating in this project, and are being directed by English teachers Carolina Pizarro, Carla Chávez and Alfredo Calderón. Senior students from 11th grade Vicente Jander, José Tomás Leyton, Rodrigo Sifón and me (Vicente Gándara) are also helping 7th grade students as monitors.
How has the project been developed up to now? When will it be finished?
The project has been developed according to what has been proposed by teachers and monitors, so after our last rehearsal on Friday (May 25th), everything will be ready for releasing next Wednesday. But, after this play is released we will start preparing students for ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, by Arthur Conan Doyle, which will be represented on November.
What is your personal opinion about the project?
I think that these projects help students to use English in other circumstances, so they learn from a perspective which is not determined just academically. Also, Middle and Senior students use more spoken English, which improves their pronunciation, body language and fluency. But most of all, students have fun rehearsing, and I think that is the most important benefit of the whole project.
As we could see in the testimony of our classmate, this project was elaborated with a lot of work and organization and for that same reason it was totally successful. We hope that more students get interested in this type of activities so they can participate or even make their own.
By José Manuel Zulueta | jzulueta_tsw@hotmail.com, pictures taken from Mackayzine3.0 on Flickr
The Student's Weekly 