It’s great for getting the group in tune with each other, and you can adapt for MFL too!

Get the children to sit or stand in a circle facing inwards.

The aim of the game is to count up to 20 with only one person saying a number at a time.

Anybody can begin the counting, then a different person says the next number and so on. But if two people say the number at the same time, the counting must go back to 1.

The children will really have to concentrate and work together to get to 20!

You can use it to help children learn numbers in MFL, count backwards, or if you want to make it really hard, have them all close their eyes or face outwards!

We are looking for an intern to work in the office in East London for 2 days per week for a period of 6 weeks, to support the Project Development Officer and Operations Manager in general administrative tasks.

You will be a motivated, resourceful, friendly and confident person who is very competent using MS Office, internet and email applications.

You will gain invaluable experience in the administration and operation of the theatre in education sector, plus a working understanding of our company.

This role would suit someone who is looking to gain some concrete and very useful experience in arts administration and organisation and who can commit to two days per week for a period of approximately 6 weeks. Expenses are paid.

Please note that this role is office based and does not involve practical experience in leading workshops or acting in shows.

To apply, please forward the following materials to admin@freshwatertheatre.co.uk by 4pm on Wednesday 11th August:

Cover letter detailing why you would be right person for this position and what you will gain from the opportunity

CV (with names of at least two references and their relationship to you)

The position is due to start around 1st September, and you must be available to interview in the week commencing 16th August.

It builds speaking and listening skills, while incorporating physical activity - cross curricular indeed!

1. With the children in the circle, have a ball.

2. Begin a story.

3. Throw the ball to a person in the circle, who must continue the story. They then throw the ball to the next person, and so on.

You can decide if the children must add just a word or a whole sentence to the story.

For a more structured version, use ‘Fortunately, unfortunately’, for example:
Unfortunately the plane’s engines failed.
Fortunately the pilot had a parachute.
Unfortunately the parachute would not open.
Fortunately there was a haystack underneath.

And so on!

For further detailed ideas, book a Freshwater Drama or MFL INSET training session for your school and you will be given a toolbox of ideas to develop drama learning techniques in all areas of the curriculum.

The volcano’s eruption has prevented many teachers and support staff from returning from their holidays for the start of the summer term, which is probably a lot less fun than it sounds!

The Quest for Volcanoes & Earthquakes is a new cross-curricular workshop that we developed last term and is now available all year round. Read more about our Quest for Knowledge workshops or email us to check availability.

We are delighted to have teamed up with the London Wildlife Trust to offer a winning combination of drama workshops and practical outdoor activities at The View Tube,  a brand new education centre. With spectacular views of the Stadium, Aquatic Centre and the rest of the Olympic development site, it’s the perfect place to get your pupils (and yourself!) excited about the 2012 Olympics.

As well as taking part a Freshwater drama workshop overlooking the stadium, the children will also get to explore the local area and learn about the Olympic Park - it will surely be an experience that your pupils will remember for many years to come.

Click here or email us to find out more about our Olympic Day Out.

“I was really pleased and surprised at how much the children remembered about our work on India.”
Mr Sims, Timbercroft Primary School, Greenwich

“Provided us with great ideas which we can incorporate into lessons - keep the children focused!”
Kellie Ryder, Vicarage Primary School, Newham

“Teachers motivated and keen to explore the techniques with their class - especially good at motivating staff at the end of a long day.”
Jenny Saidi, Thomas Buxton Infant School, Tower Hamlets

“Fun and exciting! Very well led and structured. The children wanted to do even more drama!”
Christina Savva, London Fields Primary School, Hackney

“Children loved it and were engaged throughout! Very impressed with the performer and her skill with the children. It was perfect – great vocabulary and history links.”
Shaun Harris, Chingford CofE Infant School, Waltham Forest

We’ve teamed up with the London Wildlife Trust to offer drama workshops overlooking the London 2012 Olympic Park! Click here for more details.

Zip Zap Boing is lively, fun and adaptable – and guaranteed to refresh the children’s focus in those afternoon lulls. You can try it out in different languages too.

1. Get the children to stand in a circle

2. Each word – ‘zip’, ‘zap’ or ‘boing’ – is called out in conjunction with an action:

Zip – swinging the arms to the left or right and pointing in that direction to pass the ‘ball of energy’ to the next person in the circle (depending on which way the ‘current’ is being sent around the circle).

Zap – bringing the hands together and pointing the index fingers at a person who is not directly next to you – sending the ball of energy to them. They then zip the current to the next person in the circle.

Boing – facing the person who has passed the ball of energy to you, lifting up both hands to head height and wobbling around like jelly. This reverses the current back the opposite way.

3. Send the ball of energy off around the circle – “Zip”! The children then pass the current to the next person in the circle by zipping, or they might decide to zap it across the circle, or boing it back the other way. However, you can’t return a zap with a zap, or return a zap with a boing!

4. The aim is to get the current going as quickly as possible, so concentration is vital. If you say the wrong word with the action, you’re out!

The words can easily be interchanged to fit with the topic of the class, or even changed into a modern foreign language. Perhaps ‘zip, zap, boing’ become ‘bleu, rouge, vert’, or ‘eins, zwei, drei’? Linking words with actions has proven to be a very effective way of learning MFL.

For further detailed ideas, book a Freshwater Drama or MFL INSET training session for your school and you will be given a toolbox of ideas to develop drama learning techniques in all areas of the curriculum.

Keeley Donati from Chingford Hall Primary School told us: “I already plan to use some ideas this week. When’s the next one?!”

If you’d also like to know when the next one is, or to find out how we can deliver an MFL Inset session at your school, click here or e-mail us.

Also last term, we were very pleased to be invited to appear at the CILT Annual Conference for Merton and Kingston, where we performed our MFL Storytelling for 70 teachers (some of whom showed off their acting skills when they took on roles in The Three Little Pigs)! We were very lucky to meet so many teachers who are passionate about languages, and hope to be visiting their schools in the coming months.

If you’re hosting a languages day this term, get in touch to grab your ideal date for our MFL Storytelling – we’re filling up fast!

Other workshops that are always a hit during the summer term are Thorgil the Viking, Rivers and Water and Where in the World is Baxter Bear?

Or to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday (popularly believed to be on 23rd April), why not have a Shakespeare workshop on Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, or Merchant of Venice? If you are studying a different play, let us know and we will create a bespoke workshop just for you.

Our full range of cross-curricular, MFL, history, geography, literacy and citizenship workshops are also available.

Book early to get your preferred dates – call us on 0844 800 2870 or email us.

Let’s use fruit as our example topic but you can use this game for any area of your curriculum:

1. Create a large circle of chairs with enough for all but one of your students to sit in.

2. Decide what items you will use for the game - let’s say everyone is endowed with one of the following: peach, apple, pear or plum. Therefore, in a group of 28 there will be 7 of each in the circle but it doesn’t matter if there are uneven numbers of items.
3. The person in the middle calls out a type of fruit - “peaches!” - and everyone who is a peach must move from their seat and try and sit in another seat. Of course there will always be one person left standing. Participants must move to a chair that is not their own or the chair beside them. This can get quite animated so keep an eye out for over zealous or risky behaviour.

4. The person in the middle may also call “fruit bowl!” at any time, which means that everyone must find a new seat.

You can mix this one up quite easily - endow everyone with foods of differing nutritional value (chips, apples, pies and spinach perhaps) so you can add “healthy foods!” and “unhealthy foods” to the possibilities.

Other ideas for subjects:

Literacy - Give everyone characters from a story such as Little Red Riding Hood such as Red, Wolf, Grandma and the Woodcutter. You can introduce physical actions that signify each character which can eventually replace the words so the game becomes more about non-verbal communication.

Numeracy - Give everyone numbers such as 2, 3, 4 and 7. You can call extra categories such as “evens”, “odds”, “primes” and “square roots”.

This is just the tip of the iceberg!

For further detailed ideas, book a Freshwater Drama or MFL INSET training session for your school and you will be given a toolbox of ideas to develop drama learning techniques in all areas of the curriculum.