Exploring Child Rights through Forum Theatre - Pau

Exploring Child Rights through Forum Theatre
Project Proposal
The proposal for this project is to develop a series of activities with schoolchildren in
Catalunya through the medium of the English language, adapted to the age and language
level of the children at each stage of the curriculum. The aims of the project include a wider
interdisciplinary approach, encompassing ideas from curriculum and extra-curriculum areas
such as intercultural awareness, art/design and technical construction skills, oral skills,
performance skills, geography and Citizenship. The children at each stage would be
introduced to key vocabulary and stories, through storytelling and puppet theatre, and would
be enabled to create their own puppets and participate in the stories.
Cicle Superior/Cicle Mitjà
The proposal for children in the Cicle Superior and the Cicle Mitjà is to work with puppet
theatre in combination with Forum Theatre to create interactive performances based on the
exploration of Child Rights. Forum theatre is a type of theatre which turns the spectators into
spect-actors, as they participate in exploring possible solutions to unjust or disempowering
situations. It was developed by Brazilian theatre practitioner and social activist Augusto Boal
as a means for people to become actively involved in their collective destinies, through
rehearsing potentially challenging situations in a safe environment. By using puppet theatre,
the children are involved in both the crafting of the puppets and the performance itself. The
children would be encouraged to intervene in a previously prepared show at key moments
when specific child rights are not being upheld, such as the right to education, to medical care
and to safety, for example. The interventions, and the show itself, would be in English, and
the children would have the chance to practice both familiar and new vocabularies and
expressions through the medium of puppetry, whilst engaging with intercultural theatre and
social issues.
c/o Cal Tothom E-08698 La Nou de Berguedà
www.irenia.net [email protected]
tel: 938259042 / 666571835
Structure of the project
Prior to the project, the children would be prepared through specific discussions with the
school teachers, concepts of basic children’s needs, child rights, key vocabularies and
expressions relating to child rights in English. The text of the performance itself would be
presented to the children. There would be separate vocabulary lists and expressions for both
stages.
The project itself would take place over three days:
Day 1: a) Introduction to the project; b) Presentation of show;
c) Discussion of show and child rights abuse during the show.
TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 1.5 hours
Day 2: a) Puppet-making workshop; b) Puppet manipulation
workshop; c) Discussion of possible interventions in Forum
Theatre. TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 1.5 hours
Day 3: Forum theatre: performance of the show with interventions from the children’s
puppets to ensure that child rights are upheld. TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 1.5 hours.
The project could be repeated with the second group of
children during the second part of the morning, or during the
afternoon, so that both cicles would have participated in the
project during the three days.
It would be possible to follow up this work at a later
stage through the children creating their own shows based on
issues of Child Rights. A separate proposal could be developed
for this purpose.
A further stage of the project, which could be followed through with the teacher, is the writing
of new Child Rights Charters, which could be exchanged between classes, schools, or indeed
child rights organisations. Further follow-up work could be done through resources provided
or indicated.
It might be possible to establish links with other schools in Catalunya, in the UK, or
elsewhere, if there was enough interest.
c/o Cal Tothom E-08698 La Nou de Berguedà
www.irenia.net [email protected]
tel: 938259042 / 666571835
Educació Infantil
At this stage the children would be introduced to elementary English vocabulary in discussion
with the teacher. The project could take place with each group at this stage, depending on how
many groups there are in the school, to encompass P3, P4 and P5. Examples of vocabulary
used could include greetings, colours, numbers and names of simple objects. In the same way
as the project with the cicle superior and cicle mitjà, the children would have preparatory
sessions with the teacher to establish some new basic vocabulary.
The sessions themselves would have two parts:
1. Construction of basic puppets using simple materials. The children would mainly be
decorating their puppets and using vocabulary such as the colours, and adjectives such
as ‘big’, ‘small’, etc. TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 30 minutes.
2. Storytelling and songs in English: the children would be introduced to two or three
children’s songs in English and would join in with the physical activities and the
songs. During the telling of a very simple story, the children would be asked to
participate in the making of a puppet/scene for the story, using stick-on features and
characters. Again, the vocabulary used would be derived from the previous activity
and preparation. TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 30 minutes.
The two activities could be separated by a playtime break, or free play to enable the children
to relax in between the focused English activities.
Cicle Inicial
As with the previous activities, the children would be prepared in advance with vocabulary
and expressions relating to the activity; they would also have been introduced to the story to
be presented.
At this stage the project would be created around one or two traditional stories from the
British Isles, such as ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, or ‘The Gingerbread Man’. The children would
watch a simple version of the story which would be told using puppets; the story would
include song, repetition and simple expressions whilst introducing the children to elements of
British folk stories. The story told would be very visual so that the children would be able to
follow it clearly, as well as listening to key expressions in English. The story would be
followed by a short discussion identifying the main characters and the sequence of events
during the story. TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 40 minutes.
(An alternative to this story would be the presentation of a story from a non-European culture,
such as Jonkonnu! from the Caribbean or How the Night Came from Brazil. These stories
would continue the theme of interculturalism).
c/o Cal Tothom E-08698 La Nou de Berguedà
www.irenia.net [email protected]
tel: 938259042 / 666571835
The storytelling would be followed, immediately, or after a break, with a puppet-making
workshop, during which the children would make their own puppet characters based on
characters in the story. These workshops would use the vocabularies learnt for the storytelling
presentation, and would build on the language skills already developed by the children. The
children could then use their own puppets to present scenes from the story themselves, in
English. TOTAL TIME FOR ACTIVITY: 1.5 hours (to include a break).
Technical Requirements:
Stage Area (min): Width 3m, Height 2.74m, Depth 3.25m
Get in (muntatge): 45 minutes
Get out (desmuntatge): 30 minutes
Power: 2 x 13 amp sockets (endolls)
CARIAD ASTLES
Sóc anglesa, però des de fa alguns anys, visc a cavall entre Anglaterra i Catalunya, on cada
any hi passo alguns mesos del curs escolar.
Titellaire i professora de professió, m’interessa especialment el vessant educatiu i compromès
de la meva feina, per aquest motiu utilitzo les tècniques del teatrefòrum, amb les quals faig
participar els espectadors i l’alumnat.
A Anglaterra treballo com a professora de teatre a la Universitat de Londres. Quan sóc a
Catalunya col·laboro amb Irènia - jocs de pau impartint tallers a diversos centres educatius, i
preparo els meus espectacles que gairebé sempre estan relacionats amb el coneixement
d’altres cultures i els drets dels infants..
Si vols conèixer més coses sobre la meva feina visita http://www.irenia.net
El curs 2005-2006 aquest programa es va desenvolupar en llengua anglesa al CEIP St
Salvador de St Jordi de Cercs (Berguedà). Ref. Mari Carmen Freire ([email protected])
i es ve desenvolupant en llengua catalana a les escoles de primària de Molins de Rei des del
curs 2006-2007. Durant el curs 2008-2009 s’iniciarà també a les escoles d’Olesa de Motserrat.
c/o Cal Tothom E-08698 La Nou de Berguedà
www.irenia.net [email protected]
tel: 938259042 / 666571835