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Emmanuel... assemblies for Christmas
A musical and dramatic retelling of the Christmas story
Mark Baxter

Find out more about Emmanuel... assemblies for Christmas

Christ Church CE Primary School Shooters Hill, London (1 March 2006 )

Martyn Payne

Using Drama and Storytelling in R.E

Aims of the session:

Drama is a valuable tool:

Drama works particularly well in RE lessons because:

The Non-statutory National Framework for Religious Education makes it clear many times how compatible RE and drama are:

“RE can promote learning across the curriculum in …
Communication : reading and responding to a range of written and spoken language… communicating ideas using the creative and expressive arts, talking and writing with understanding and insight about religious and other beliefs and values…” (p15)

“RE provides opportunities to promote…
Creativity and culture through considering the scope of human nature, sources of inspiration and discovery, connections between beliefs, values and forms of artistic expression, appreciating the value of cultural distinctiveness and reflecting on beauty, goodness and truth in creative and expressive arts” (p16)

Foundation Stage (Early Learning Goals)
RE can make a contribution in particular to the four following early learning goals:

Experiences and opportunities
KS1
“o) using art and design, music, dance and drama to develop their creative talents and imagination”
KS2
“r) expressing and communicating their own and others’ insights through art and design, music, dance, drama and ICT”

I Introductory games

(for introducing the theme / groupwork / concentration / vocabulary / imagination / fun!)

II Dramatic ways to tell the story

Story Games - a version of the story which keeps the children moving such as The Lost Coin from The Gospels Unplugged

Using hand movements encourage younger children to act out the story with their fingers as the characters, or miming what the characters’ hand do throughout the story

Playdough figures can act the part on behalf of the child

Story circle has a built in control mechanism. In a circle, invite a few actors in at a time, but demonstrate how the circle is cleared for new actors at regular intervals

Acting out monologues Don’t underestimate the power of the first person account and the enjoyment the children will have seeing you playing a part

Up to date There are many modern versions of the stories or modern situations that lead into the Bible story. The Barnabas versions are often based in school or home situations which may be similar to the children’s own situations. These can provide a good basis for thinking about themes or modern parallels.

Barnabas resources include:
Does Jesus like Cake?
Stay Cool in School
Stories to teach about God
Stories to make you think (series)
The Gospels Unplugged
Step into the Story
Great Stories and Songs
Charliepc@reworld.net

… and many others

III Dramatic ways to explore the story

1 Hotseating
‘Here’s the hotseat. When you sit here, you stop being yourself and become whoever we all decide. I’d like to meet….’
The rest of the group ask any questions they like to discover what the person thinks, feels, does or did on a certain day, how they have changed…
Encourage questions about thinking and feeling. Pick up on interesting responses and insights.
Let this character-work lead into point of view plays.

2 Conscience Circus
Choose a situation with a dilemma. Divide the group down the middle and select one person as the protagonist with the dilemma. Each side of the group represents one side of that person’s conscience. They must try to persuade the protagonist into doing what they want him/ her to do.
Or conscience alley – the protagonist walks down the gap between the two sides of his conscience who advise him.
Or thought alley – instead of a dilemma, the character walks down the alley and the walls say what she is thinking.
(For further examples, see the Barnabas website in the Ideas section under Drama.)

3 Freezeframes
Make a still picture of a moment in the story. Practise freezing with attitude and conviction using the same cue words each time, eg ‘3 2 1 Freeze!’ ‘3 2 1 Relax!’

a) Once you have told them the story, ask the groups to make a freezeframe of a moment from the story, eg the most exciting moment, the most tense moment, the worst moment, the funniest moment, the most dangerous moment… Discuss the differences between groups and why they chose the moments they did.

b) To explore characters set up the freezeframe and ask the students to say what their character is thinking when you touch them on the shoulder. Or stand a student behind each character who can say or show through mime what the character might be thinking.

c) To explore a concept, ask groups to make a freezeframe of it eg ‘bravery’, ‘wisdom’, ‘holiness’, ‘sin’. The groups could choose a title for their freezeframe to say out loud. Discuss what arises. A simple extension of this is to make a machine with repeated actions and sounds that expresses the concept

d) To give a familiar story freshness, ask groups to prepare freezeframes beforehand with titles for moments in the story but which don’t give away the story itself. So for example, to tell the feeding of the five thousand (John 6), you could ask for freezeframes with these titles:

The gang on the hilltop
The crowds are coming!
How will you solve this problem?
One little person among all the big ones
Sit down!
Thank God for food!
Stuffed.
You are the king!

You can then tell the story, using these freezeframes as you might pictures in a book. And after the telling, groups could discuss whether they would tweak any details to make their frame more effective.

e) You can use freezeframes to set the scene for your story. For example you could show the group a picture of an empty street in a biblical town, and ask them to take up position in your space doing something that someone from that street might be doing one morning. They can start moving and talking and interacting when you say ‘Action’ and freeze again when you say ‘Freeze’. When they are frozen, you could go an interview them as to who they are, why they’re there, what they’re up to, how they’re feeling etc. Then a story can be told with a real sense of an owned place: ‘ One morning in the main street of Jericho, people were going about their normal business…’

4 Bring Pictures to Life
Children take the positions of characters in a painting, with the rest of the group acting as directors. Add a movement each. Add a line each to say. Add their thoughts behind them. Extend the scene to before and after that moment. Run the scenes together as a play.

5 Real Play
Younger children love to play the story. Think about using a few simple props or costumes, and setting out your room in zones corresponding to where the different action takes place.

IV Writing and Drawing ‘Dramatically’

Write scripts based on the story
Write a diary entry for one of the characters of the days surrounding the events of the story
‘The Further Adventures of Character X’
Design a Wanted poster or a poster for a blockbuster film of the story, with a slogan
‘A time I felt like character X felt’
‘What I would like to say to X – in the form of a letter, postcard, email or txt
Draw a picture map of the place with the events drawn on
Draw a cartoon strip of story
Write in thought bubbles of the characters before, during and after the events of story
Rewrite the story in a different form: txt, acrostic, rap…
Role on the wall: Draw the outline of a character: choose the colour carefully. Write inside the shape what they really think and feel and around the outside of the shape write what other people say and think about them. Use as a backdrop for an assembly or presentation.

Full details of many of the techniques and ideas above can be found on the Barnabas website as free downloadable resources. More details...