Author Archives: Sophie Porteous

Lesson 3

To use drama and performance methods to portray the thoughts of a character.

In today’s lesson, we listened to the song ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. We explored the lyrics and the message that the artist was trying to convey. We thought about what this would be performed like if it were to be performed on stage as a monologue.

Taking inspiration from this song, the children then prepared their own monologues in the role of the boy from Little Freak. These were predominantly improvised monologues with the children only having made minimal notes beforehand.

Here are a few examples. We think you’ll agree that the children have worked really hard to portray the inner thoughts and feelings of the little boy and have applied what they learned about expression, emphasis of words and tone.

Lesson 2

Today, we took turns to sit in the hot seat, improvising the character of the boy from Little Freak. Our classmates asked questions about his life and the relationship with his father. We then switched the character to the father and then some people who have been to see the little boy in the show.

We then worked on reading the script of the video clip “Little Freak”. We practised reading with expression.

Lesson 2

Here are some clips of us reading with expression:

Harry & Millie reading with expression

Lesson 1

This week, Year 5 have had a drama focus in their English lessons. We have been learning all about monologues, reading with expression and performance techniques such as emphasising words and altering the tone of our voices.

We started the week by taking part in an online lesson with Hull Truck looking at drama techniques for performing monologues. We learnt how shifting the emphasis onto different words can completely change the perceived meaning.

Try reading the following sentence, shifting the emphasis to the word in capitals each time:

I didn’t say she stole YOUR money.

I didn’t say SHE stole your money.

I didn’t say she stole your MONEY.

I didn’t say she STOLE your money.

Do you notice how although the words are the same, the meaning changes?

We learned all about monologues and their purpose in plays and performances – to show a character’s inner thoughts and feelings. We explored how song lyrics can be performed as monologues.

Here is an example from Phoebe:

In Year 5, we are working towards writing an explanation text to inform people about how the Nowhere Emporium works. In today’s lesson, we looked at improving simple sentences by using causal conjunctions, technical language and specific information and details to make our writing better.

We up-leveled our sentences, doing lots of editing and improving and sharing our ideas with the rest of the class.

Year 5 have been busy writing their own poems based on a room in The Nowhere Emporium.

We have looked at personifying our rooms so that they seem like they are living and breathing.

Here are some extracts from our work:

“Secrets whisper softly, calling out your name,

Drawing you inside, excited that you came.”

“Shadows dance playfully, enticing you inside,

They move and run and duck, finding new places to hide.”

“The room is filled with mirrors, each one standing tall, 

‘Come in, see yourself closer’ each one begins to call”

Our published poems are on display in the school library for the other children to read during their library time.