Our 2nd class W had a lot of fun in Miss Emanuel’s drama class last week ‘being’ a bridge , then a knife and fork and various other objects. The first term’s work has been about voice production, movement and stage presence, with the children learning how to project their voice, and these warm-up exercises help the children with all of that.
Rising to the challenge of teaching a love of Shakespeare to more than one hundred 5 to 8 year olds is specialist drama teacher Zoe Emanuel , who runs a drama school and teaches at the school part time.
“When I saw DVDs of what John Colet School children are capable of, I really wanted to be part of the school’s Shakespeare Festival,” said Zoe.
She sees her role as helping the school raise the Festival standards still higher, by getting even the smallest children to really ‘embody’ their characters.
“The biggest challenge in teaching children as young as this is that Shakespeare requires a great deal of focus and discipline to stay in the moment of the piece. It’s challenging for them, especially the more active ones. But the payoff is huge.”
The Infants Shakespeare Festival is held at the school in August, with the Primary aged children’s Festival at Glen Street Theatre at the end of October.
