Never underestimate the impact you have on a child’s life ❤️

 I think it is very easy to forget how big an impact you as a teacher can have on the life of a child. Sometimes we get so caught up in the deadlines and admin, and just getting through the day, that we forget that we are shaping lives and guiding our students to become better, stronger and more confident versions of themselves. 

One of the joys of being a Drama teacher is that we often get to see children develop from a young age in Kindy or Lower Primary, all the way to Upper Primary and then Youth Theatre. And sometimes, if you are very lucky, you witness a child conquering a fear, or mastering a skill, or literally finding their voice. These are the moments I think we all treasure the most. 

I recently had the pleasure of exactly such a precious moment. I have a little girl in one of my Lower Primary classes whom I have been teaching for 5 years since she started with our Kindy program at age 3. She has always been painfully shy, having a real fear of performing in front of her group. Over the years she began participating in classroom discussions and answer questions but would never be comfortable standing up to say a poem or do a snippet or any other moment when all eyes are on her. 

 Then a few weeks ago, to my surprise and utter delight, she stood up in front of a class of 25 students and said a Tongue Twister 5 times, out loud, without batting an eye! I was so amazed, for a moment I just stood there, at a total loss for words. Even the other children were completely blown away. Never have I ever wished I could hug someone more than at that moment. She did it! The one thing I never thought she would, but never stopped encouraging her to try. To believe in herself, trust herself and be brave enough to fight the fear of failure when all eyes were on her. 

The spontaneous applause from the other children, and my genuine pride and celebration of this huge moment for her, just made her light up and stand a bit taller, lift her chin a bit higher and smile the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. I hope that this is the first step on her journey of becoming more confident and slowly building her self-esteem.💗💗

- Charlotte Tervit 

(Vice Principal - Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Pretoria and Midrand

Drama is a like a Brain Massage

I don’t about you, but I love going for a massage. Nothing beats that feeling of the stress melting away and you can just let go and forget about all the issues of your week. Even just the physical space that you are in, with gentle music playing and hushed voices, adds to that feeling of escaping the pressure of life. It’s definitely one of my guilty pleasures and frankly something I need to just get through the week sometimes. 

Well, Drama is kind of the same thing, but just for your brain. Now, hear me out. Just as the physical massage is a way to escape and relax, Drama, as a right brain activity, is a way to escape from left brain activities like logical, rational and analytical thinking. We all need to break away from too much thinking and just do something creative - no analysing or logic required. 

Our kids a have to deal with a large amount of pressure of academic achievement, which is mostly left brain centred, from a fairly young age, and by the time they reach high school and especially grade 10 and up, this can all become very overwhelming. And this is where Drama comes in: That one hour a week where they can step away from all that stress and expectations, and just relax and let their right brain take over and have some fun. 

Right brain activities can raise serotonin levels which reduces anxiety, stress, depression, and can even improve sleep. As part of the Helen O’Grady curriculum, we also teach breathing, stretching and relaxation techniques, which are often included in coping techniques for stressful situations like writing exams, and classroom and homework pressures. 

So, next time you have all those nasty knots expertly worked out of your tensed up back or shoulders by the nimble fingers of a masseuse, think about how, by letting your child do Drama, it helps to massage their brains and work out all the stress of life by the expert teachers who offer the fun, escape and the freedom their brains so desperately need.

In a world where you can be anything…

 

Sometimes, just when you think life cannot surprise you anymore, something seemingly quite insignificant can make you sit up and pay attention. This recently happened during one of our Drama activities and I can’t deny it put a huge smile on my face and gave me the warm-and-fuzzy’s all over. First, some background info to set the scene: we teach drama to children at an upmarket private school in Midrand, so it’s safe to say that these children come from a more privileged background than a lot of children in South Africa. A few weeks ago we did one of our quick-fire Intro activities, this one was about finding a tree in the jungle that has money growing on it instead of leaves. The children had to pick as much money as possible before I shouted “freeze”. As usual , I gave them a chance to comment on the activity and tell me what they would spend the money on. Of course, I got the expected Ferrari’s, Bugatti’s, Mansions, rockets to the moon, the latest Xbox and games, apple gadgets etc. But what really made me sit up, was the number of children who said they would give half, or all the money to charity. Some wanted to build houses for homeless people, or buy shoes, food, blankets and clothes. They wanted to give money to animal shelters, orphanages, cancer research and children’s hospitals. They wanted to build schools where children with no money can go to for free. I was honestly blown away! Somewhere, someone is doing something right. Between the parents, teachers, school, and other influences that might have an impact on these children, we are bringing up a new generation who might just get it right. To hear children be aware of their privilege, and say they don’t need more money or stuff, they would rather make life better for people whom they know have so much less than they do was a truly humbling experience. One of my favourite life mantras just kept playing over and over in my mind: “In a world where you can be anything, be kind”.

The Art of Conversation

 Conversations are at the true heart of all dramatic productions, be it a play, a movie or a TV show. They are all basically made up of a string of conversations, strung together by actions and a change of scenery – conversations interspersed by characters going to work, walking, running, eating, sleeping until they have their next conversation. 

 One of our favourite Drama activities takes things right back to the basics of conversation and is aimed specifically at developing this art, this skill to focus on one conversation at a time. I am of course talking about the humble Snippet. It is literally a snippet of conversation, as if overheard in passing, about something as random as a bucket, a lost item, or a Birthday Party. It is quite amazing how much learning can be packed into an activity that takes all of 30 seconds to perform and perhaps 5 mins to teach and prepare. 

Firstly, we work on memorisation skills. The kick-off point of each Snippet is a few given lines that the children must memorise. We usually divide the children into groups of two, each child must assume a character, and is given a line or two to memorise that starts the conversation. 

We use a very effective memorisation technique that becomes the way in which children learn lines for much longer and more complicated scripts for scenes and plays, and ultimately improves their ability to retain information and recall it when required. 

Next we focus on improvisation and creativity as the children have to complete the conversation using their own words. We encourage them to be creative and come up with an unusual, funny or surprising ending. They also have to think about their characters, the relationship between them and the setting for the conversation. 

A Snippet builds Teamwork. 

The children must work together as a team when coming up with the ending or resolution of the situation and rehearse what each one is going to say. Eventually they become so comfortable with these scenarios, that the entire Snippet can be improvised on the spot, using the given lines as a springboard. 

This demands a lot of trust and fast thinking from the children as their confidence and creativity grows. It is an excellent activity for new students to understand the basics of improv, memorisation and performance as a whole.

Up, up and away 2021!

Hurray, hurray! All our Helen O’Grady Pretoria and Midrand Studio venues have opened at last! 

And yes, I know, it’s the 6th of March already, but as with so many things lately, it has been a bit of a slow start. But that does not mean we haven’t been busy. 

Thanks to Zoom, we were able to at least kick off 2021 with online classes until we were able to meet face to face once more. And what a pleasure it has been to see each other after such a long December and January holiday. 

 Of course, we still offer Zoom classes for those who prefer to continue online, and we are still not free of all the protocols and precautionary measures brought on by COVID-19, but thanks to the support and trust of our students, parents and community, we are able to spread the love and joy of doing Drama, being creative, connecting with our peers and building confidence and life skills once again! 

We are so grateful and excited about this year and can’t wait to see what fantastical things it brings!

Year-end Productions 2020

We have reached the end of the year! We ended term 4 with a two week long marathon of Year-end Productions. As with everything this year, we had to rework and adjust to fit in with Covid protocols, but come what may, we were going to end with a banger of a Show for each studio.

 In some cases, this meant a Show at a venue, drastically scaled down to only accommodate the students and parents of one particular studio at a time, similar to how we would do our mid-year Drama Presentations. Even though it was not as grand and elaborate as our usual Year-end Productions, and looked quite different with all the Covid 19 protocols like masks, shields, and social distancing, it certainly was wonderful to do a live performance with a live audience to appreciate the hard work the students did this term. It was also great to be able to hand out certificates and trophies! 

 For our remaining online students, we hosted our first virtual Year-end Productions, which was also very exciting! We worked for several weeks recording our plays, scene by scene and editing it all together. The whole process was so different from what we usually do, but it was lots of fun and the students really enjoyed being in their own movie. At the virtual show, we had a viewing of the movie and presented the students with certificates and trophies! After a long, interesting, and often challenging year, it was wonderful to end it on such a positive and exciting note. Celebrating what we do best: performing with our friends, in which ever shape or form, and having a great time!

Check out our Facebook page for lots more photos!

Helen O'Grady Pretoria

Welcome to Term 4!

 Welcome to our final term for 2020. I can hardly believe we have only two months left of this most unusual school year! 

Term 4 has, like the rest of 2020, brought new and exiting ways to teach Drama. At our Pretoria and Midrand studios we have adopted a hybrid system for the last push to the end of the year. We are still running Zoom classes, but we are happy to report that we have been able to also start ONSITE classes at some of our studios. It is such a pleasure to be in the same space as our students again, even if it is at a distance! 

 As it is not possible to go back to all our schools, YET, and the independent venues are not always practical for the parents, we are continuing with Zoom classes for anyone who prefers the online platform for now. 

 We have also started working on our year end productions, with onsite and Zoom students. How exciting! We can’t wait to show our families, friends and fans what we can achieve when we put our creative minds to it, in whichever way, shape or form we can!

ONSITE.....

ONLINE....

The choice is yours!