Drama: Performance -1

When Yohan couldn't remember his dialogue and he turned back to look at me with a lot of mixed emotions in his eyes, I wanted to wrap him in my arms and protect him against all the evil in the world, including going on stage and facing an audience. But I gave him the 3 seconds he needed for remembering the dialogue and he turned back, faced the audience which was now getting a little impatient and confidently mouthed "I am always lagging behind, now I have lost my friends too. I am so unlucky" and started sobbing. Then I mouthed "oh my baby" and almost sobbed my self. By not helping him at that moment and letting him know that he can take care of himself, I moved him in his confidence level one notch up.

It is not an exaggeration when I say I can see a difference between the students who have participated in the drama and the ones who have not. I wanted all my students to participate, but since I was not ready to do the practice during school timing, only half of my students could.

Learning of the 4 or 5 dialogues which they needed to deliver in the drama with the correct pronunciation and expressions and listening to 20 others doing the same have had a bigger effect on the kids than I have expected. We went through many phases. First they struggled with the dialogues as they couldn't read them fluently and took some time. Once they read, it took them some time to memorise. The hardest was after they memorised their dialogues. They just wanted to tell the dialogue and finish it off, so 4-5 words will be compressed into one word and you just can't understand what they tell. After a few weeks I thought it would be impossible to make them slow down and tell the words separately and with the right stress and tone on the right words. "Are you in a hurry to go somewhere, honey?" was my constant dialogue. It took a lot of patience from me and them and a lot of practice to get to a level at which any one could understand what they spoke.

Through these phases my kids were evolving. Their reading fluency, comprehension, confidence, concentration and speaking improved. One day while practising, Yohan shouted "didi, they are trying to cheat Pandu" and when I looked at him with an approving smile, he beamed.

After the performance on stage was over, I lamented about the flop show since most of the mikes were not working properly, Shyam asked me what my intention was for doing the drama. Was that for the performance on stage or was that intended to improve the skills of my students. Also I got a message from Rebecca telling she was impressed with their stage presence and I must be proud of my kids.

So I achieved what I set out for. My kids improved their skills manifold, beyond how much I have imagined and planned for. It was indeed hard work for me and for them for whole 4 months. At the end of it, I am proud of my kids and proud of the fact that I leave them with something they might not have experienced, if not for TFI and me in their classrooms.