c



 

So, you¶ve got a child at school, and they know how to read and write well. Perhaps they do very
well academically.

This is, of course, very important, but how well does your child communicate orally? Are they a
confident, clear speaker?

Chances are, that within the school system, your child spends the majority of time focused on
writing and reading skills, while not so much time on oratory ones. If you look objectively at
your own life for a single day, you will notice that most of your interactions with other people
require you to know how to speak and listen well. Good oral communicators find it easier to
make friends and will find it easier in the long term
to find and hold good jobs.

Good oratory skills are only one of the benefits that

learning drama gives your child.

Here are some more:

· In learning drama, your child is learning a wide

range of appropriate (and inappropriate) ways of
communicating. They learn to project their voice and
to speak words clearly.

· Your child learns those subtle cues that we all give

away when we are interacting with someone else. It
may mean a mannerism, or understanding that
someone is angry even when they say they are not
but their lips are tightened in a line, arms are folded
across the chest.

· In learning drama, your child is learning that important quality of empathy. It allows, if only
briefly, for the actor to experience how someone else thinks and acts.

· Your child learns how to act, obviously. This may seem a weird thing, who but actors need to
act? We do. We do it every single day. We put on a smile at the checkout lady when we really
feel like crap. We go to a job interview, terribly nervous and yet hide our nerves (that is act).

· Drama works to promote your child¶s imagination. Imagination is one of life¶s essential
ingredients. Take for example, the teenager who has just been µdumped¶ by their boyfriend. In
amongst the tears and heartache, imagination (if it has been allowed to develop) begins to take
hold. The µminds eye¶ starts working, and the teen can begin to see other possibilities a new
boyfriend, or how staying single could actually be a good thing. It starts as a seed and grows
until what was imagined becomes reality.
· Imagination gives life excitement it keeps things interesting. Even our top scientists need an
imagination. In order to find a cure for cancer, for example, the scientist must first be able to
imagine a cure.

· Drama, by its very nature requires that the child be put into circumstances physically, mentally
and emotionally that are outside their understanding of how things should be. This helps them to
grow as a person.

So, you can see that by encouraging drama both at school and in the home, you are giving your
child some enormous personal benefits that will stay with them long into adulthood.

About the Author:

V
V   


 
   

 V 
   !
" #!$$%&

About Drama Kids

Drama Kids develops all kids. We¶re a place where all children, from the shy to the outgoing can
develop at their own pace, with plenty of positive encouragement.

Our specialty is using a wide range of unique drama activities to focus the bold, outspoken child
and to draw out the quiet child or the inarticulate child and help them reach into themselves to
discover their full potential.

Drama Kids International is the largest afterschool drama program for children and teens in the
US and in the world through international affiliates. Our franchise network teaches over 6,000
students a year how to speak up confidently while having fun. For more information visit us at
http://dramakids.com.