CPD review: Practical Drama Strategies in English

This 60-minute webinar is a We Teach Drama resource led by Faye Baldwin with some input from Lucy Bellingham. Delivered live, it allows viewing by one or two teachers for a fee of £30. Alternatively, it can also be purchased as a webinar replay. Baldwin's slides are emailed out afterwards so that you can print them or access them digitally.

It is very useful CPD, full of ideas for getting students to master texts in active or proactive ways, or to apply drama techniques in English lessons. For instance, you could ask students to create fast-paced acting out of part of a story, with each group emerging from the class circle to present its work. You might also use key quotes as a starting point. Or how about acting a key moment and then photographing it to create a captionwwed text-related board or ‘Role on the Wall’?

Hot seating and interrogation – with one student in character – enhances everyone's knowledge and understanding of the play or novel. How about asking your students to improvise what might happen after the end of the novel or play? What happens in Verona after the death of Romeo and Juliet? Imagine life back in Britain for the rescued boys at the end of Lord of the Flies.

Baldwin's manner is upbeat and enthusiastic: she's an experienced teacher of both Drama and English, currently based in Dubai. She mentions dozens of activities in the course of the hour, some of which may be familiar, but others that you might not have used before and would definitely be worth trying out.

I taught English for many years, and I loved the idea of reworking of Shakespeare as soap opera – Baldwin argues the plots are very similar. However, I'm not keen on the idea of ‘translating’ Shakespeare's language or presenting it as something ‘difficult’.

Baldwin is warmly aware of the challenges of differentiation and inclusion, referring to behaviour management and suggesting strategies for grouping and containment. She certainly knows what she's talking about and is worth listening to.