Speech and drama empowers young children with effective, clear communication skills that serve them through life. Through an exploration of poetry, story-telling, drama, mimes, games, performances and improvisation, children learn to think creatively and express themselves with clarity and charisma.
It is a powerful way for children to learn the necessary building blocks for a life of effective communication. It enables them to develop self-confidence, a creative imagination, empathy, and maturity in interpersonal skills and spark their imagination
We would like to particularly highlight the use of positive body language:-
Progressively we find that these young minds will play roles in societies and groups as :
a) leaders and
b) collaborative team members
Confidence through our body language is very beneficial in both these roles. It helps inter-personal dynamics and communication effectiveness (whether one-on-one or with a group) and thereby helps optimizes the message and the contribution that the young mind can make.
Public speaking helps to develop your child’s ability.
- Impactful communication with speech skills and enhanced vocabulary.
- Increased self-esteem.
- Value of research & speech techniques : Any speech preparation involves research, absorption, structuring the speech, ensuring that the desired message is shared effectively. These are aspects in planning that get fine-tuned with the speech preparation.
- The power of persuasion
Role-playing in drama helps develop empathy in a child.
Drama helps in the understanding of characters, develops imagination and expression of feelings, motivates undiscovered feelings, and sometimes helps in giving vent to negative feelings. Taking part in dramatic activities increases the self- confidence of the child.
Further, drama requires the actor to understand the context and circumstances of the character and the play. This again encourages the child to probe into the emotions underlying the character. Encouragement to depict the story and the character as per one’s own instinct and interpretation (if permitted by the director) can further develop the sensitivity and skill of the young actor.
Needless to say, if the child has the requisite interest and inspiration, he / she may pursue drama, theatre, cinema, film making, film production , etc. as a profession.
Speech and Drama can also be the best medium to introduce children to high-quality literature, poetry, etc.
Topics ranging from classics to contemporary thought and emotion provoking works are selected for the speech & drama classes..
Similarly, content of drama can be curated to enable exposure to classics / contemporary works.
Independent thought and expression can be encouraged in an engaging manner by getting the children to write / direct / act in their own plays.
Children are encouraged to analyse each other’s works / performances to suggest improvements / alternate approaches to scripts. This is again a subtle way of introducing them to team dynamics and collaboration early in life, also helping them imbibe the ability of being objective about their work and absorbing feedback for learning value.
Confident Communication Trainers are equipped to help children with various aspects like elocution, debate, poetry recital, critical reasoning, in addition to speech and drama.
Children from multi-cultural backgrounds, in countries like the UAE, find it especially useful in their absorption of English language and its usage, in addition to helping them absorb multiple cultural nuances.
As we all pursue the vision of preparing our young minds for the aspirational roles that they would like to play in fashioning the future, these are some important aspects that can be woven into their development in an enjoyable and engaging manner, impacting them positively.