SPEAK UP!!!...HOW?

When I chat to many parents about our curriculum the question that pops up most is...what do we mean when we say we teach speech skills; what exactly do we do?
Well for success in communication we need to be able to project our voices or 'speak up'; but we need to learn how to do this in a controlled manner so that we don't damage our voices. In order for us to project effectively and safely we must use our breath properly - easy right? Actually this control of breath is a skill that needs to be learnt.
Projection is just one element of effective communication - and it all starts with controlling our breath with the diaphragm. Whats the diaphragm go to do with it? Everything; so get yourself into a drama class to find out :)

Adult Drama Classes

Tonight we had an absolute brilliant time in our adult drama classes in Olivedale. For an hour myself and my students are able to escape from the world and enter into a world full of laughter, tragedy, drama, sadness, excitement and hysteria. From improvisations to speech, to duologues to group activities every week is an adventure :) No matter your age everyone needs a bit of escapism and drama gives us just that!

Meet Khanya

Meet Khanya Chauke who is 12 years old and has just moved up from our upper primary group into the youth theatre programme.
This lovely young lady has been attending drama classes in Randpark for the 3 years. She said drama helped her become aware of speaking properly and this has helped her improve her speech over the years.

I asked her why she still attends lessons and she said:
"I Carry on cos it's enjoyable and something to do on Fridays instead of staying at home".
Khanya is a pleasure to teach and always gives her all in class, I definitely
Think that she will achieve her dreams of becoming an actress or an entrepreneur-she's already and actress in my eyes and a really good one at that :)

Drama makes us smile!

Every Friday Randpark students go to drama at the Randpark Ridge United Church! Today I asked the children what they like about drama and they said : "its fun!" "we Like Kerry" "theres lots of things to do" "we love going to drama on Fridays" "It lets me be silly" " we love speech"!
 As you can see from the pic below drama makes us happy!!!!!!!! I'm the teacher at this class and all I can say is that these kids are amazing and they change my life in every lesson.

Fourways youngsters shine!

Every Wednesday we teach at Fourways Gardens estate. We start off with our 5-8year olds and they start at 3pm. The hour long lesson is jam packed with fun activities that are designed to develop the children's confidence and speech skills! Here is a pic of the kids rehearsing duo logins, it takes 10 minutes for the kids to put together their scene and then they perform them for their peers, this develops their speech skills, memories, self-belief and acting skills!!!!