Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Creating a Character

I have to confess that I didn't know about 'Role on a Wall' until a little while ago.

I suppose the best way to describe it is as a more visual take on a character chart, with which we're all familiar.

I suppose that the advantages of the 'Role on a Wall' technique are that it IS visual, and that can help young (and not so young) people who think that way. And also, because it is stuck up on your studio wall, it can encourage a collaborative effort at working through a character. What more could you ask for?

Well, I found something on the BBC website which explains the whole concept rather well. Here it is (just click on the link): Role on the Wall

DM

Friday, September 18, 2009

Drama Lesson Ideas

Mary Moore, one of our teachers in Newcastle West, told us about this site.

It's from the Norfolk County Council website in the UK, under the heading of Drama for Learning and Creativity (D4LC).

When you click on the link below, it will bring you to a page with some further links. Clicking on each of these will bring you to a list of Word documents, each of which has a drama lesson plan. These were written for primary schools but, from a quick glance at a few of them, you might be able to use them to glean some ideas for improvisations, creative writing exercises and even short plays.

Take a look and see what you think.

Here's the site: D4LC

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Irish Board of Speech and Drama Essentials

First things first, here are some links to some Irish Board essentials. (Best to right-click on each of these and open each in a new window or tab):

Syllabus 2009-10

Entry Forms

Publications Order Form

September 2009 Newsletter

We're Up and Running

Hi. I'm David Meredith, Director of the Irish Board of Speech and Drama.

This blog is intended to be a resource for speech, drama and communication teachers. On it we'll put things that we find on the internet (and in other places) that we think will be interesting and useful for teachers.

We're going to try to update it at least once a week but please forgive us if we miss a few. It won't be because we've lost interest. It'll be because we're out and about examining, or in the Irish Board office buried under a mound of certificates.

Talking of the office, please visit us. We're located in D11 Nutgrove Office Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14. Our phone number is 01-216-4270 and our email address is mail@irishboard.ie. (Just give us a buzz before you plan to visit so that we can get biscuits in.)

We're on Google Maps. Just type in Irish Board of Speech and Drama Dublin and it'll pop up.

We have a small library of about 500 books, with poetry, plays, solos, duologues, books on drama techniques, drama teaching, play production, public speaking, mime and so on. You can also browse through our own publications and, of course, have a chat.

See you soon.