Workshop 2 : The representation

Implementation: what do we need?

– The pair image set (for 7-8 year olds) or the pair label set (for 8-10 year olds)
– A workspace: the room provided must be large enough and arranged in such a way that it can accommodate all participants and allow freedom of movement, the workshop requiring physical commitment.

The participants

Primary students between 7 and 10 years, the group not exceeding 30 students

Speaker

School teacher, educator, theatre teacher

Objectives of this workshop

work on cultural references
work the physical incarnation

Time required

60-90 minutes
We recommend 60 minutes for 7-8 year olds and 90 minutes for 9-10 year olds.

Implementation

Workshops use theatrical and body expression techniques

Finality

At the end of the session, children will have: 

Developed mind gymnastics to assimilate cultural references
Work their imagination by creating the postures of characters

1. Start session

In the manner of clapping established as a ritual of end of session, we suggest you to have a recurring exercise to create a ritual of beginning of session. Again, this helps to form benchmarks for students and make them evolve in a reassuring setting. Il.elle. s also better differentiate between the ordinary class, the playground and the theatrical workshops.

The clap  
In a circle, the children pass a clap to their neighbor. e (one claps in his hands) while making the circle. For the clap to pass, students must look each other in the eye before clapping their hands!

2. The walk

  • You can take the instructions seen last time (walk, stop, youpla, rhythms, numbers) to see the progress of students from one session to another.
  • Environments: students are offered to move as if they were evolving in very particular and different environments. We evoke in turn a burning sandy beach, a frozen lake (without skates of course), a gum floor on the moon, with lead soles, against the wind, with water to the ankles and then to the thighs and finally to the waist!
  • We walk in space in the manner of the different characters of tales that have been listed: the princess, the knight, the ogre, the witch, the wolf, the little boy/girl, the fairy, the dragon…

3. References

  • Pairs: an image is distributed to each student (see the image bank called The Pair Game or the label bank Pairs – depending on the students’ reading skills – in the appendix). Each image, or label, is associated with another in order to create pairs. Students must therefore make contact to try to find their partner. Images and labels refer to famous tales or stereotypes from tales. Thus, the witch is associated with her cauldron and Cinderella with her shoe. Be careful, the wolf could be associated with several other images (the little red riding hood or the 3 little pigs). Students must find the right combination so that no student stays alone! For this, we offer in the image bank the possibility to create a trio if you group is an odd number.

Once the students have all found their pairs, they must mime what they are in order to make the rest of the class guess. The facilitator can help and encourage students on stage by asking questions. For example for the witch and the cauldron: what is the shape of this object and how could you represent this shape with your body (sitting, leaning…), what does the witch do in her cauldron and what gesture does it correspond to? For the 3 little pigs: what do they make and what does the wolf do?

Tableaux vivants: Students must create tableaux vivants together. We first offer them a familiar place like the classroom, then we switch to the imaginary: the farm, the forest, a garden, a pizza. We can go further by offering them only one theme: tales, Christmas, Halloween…

3. End Ritual

The clap
The. a leader stands opposite the other members of the group in order to be seen by all. He/she positions his arms horizontally and will clap his hands above his head. The others must imitate him at his/her pace. Then, little by little, he.elle will accelerate until reaching applause.