Welcome Judges

The Blue Velvet Curtain Ensemble

Nomination Description

English Drama MicroSchool curriculum is drama based throughout all levels, from nursery classes up to C2 levels. Daily lessons have incorporated drama techniques, drama games  and theater such as Image theater, Forum theater, Black Light Theatre,Radio Theatre, Kamishibai Theater, Role playing, Teacher In Role and the Mantle of the Expert framework. Apart from the daily lessons which go along with the textbooks, the dramatizations of the texts, the dramatization of grammar and vocabulary, there is the English Drama Microschool Drama Club every Friday during which we put on a drama show based on different drama techniques artists and performers.

The most innovative feature in our drama based curriculum is English drama Microschool Sensory Drama. Such drama sessions are based on the creative use of the moody lightable, our sensory devices, our bubble wall, light capes and light books. The engagement of our students have skyrocketed through the use of Sensory Drama as it offers opportunities for more self-expression, theatricality and performativity of our lessons. Along with the reduction of stress and sensory exploration, Sensory Drama enhances brain plasticity and strengthens the connections between neurons, facilitating language learning.

Storytelling sessions are frequently incorporated in our lessons either as part of the lesson or as an independent module/event. We use different storytelling techniques, tools and realia to inspire our students such as storytelling carpets and storytelling looms. We unfold stories with the use of the bubble wall and the moody lightable and we use different kinds of stories from traditional stories and fables from different cultures to rhyming stories and stories with flaps or pop ups. We may use books of different sizes, from big books to tiny books , and books brought from different countries in different languages. Students are engaged in fan based storytelling (a Chinese storytelling technique) , painting based storytelling, pottery based storytelling, kamishibai storytelling, shadow theatre storytelling and creative writing sessions. Students try to use the language through a variety of activities in our lending library ( Secret Room) and they have already created their own comic books, their accordion books and storybooks.

We have organised Special storytelling sessions such as Detective storytelling sessions, Christmas storytelling sessions , Harry Potter sessions, Halloween storytelling sessions with a huge success. Moreover, we do not miss the chance to participate in contests to showcase our work. For example we are the only English School which has already taken part in “Kouklopaizoume” Puppet Theatre Contest and we are getting ready for our new english plays for the next contest, during which students create their own script and their puppets from scratch and they put on a puppet show ( staging, costumes, lighting of their production) in English. Moreover, we have created our own theatrical costumes for our new theatrical play which will be put on this May. Students have cut and sewn the costumes of the characters of the play which is going to be based on their own script and survey.

At English Drama Microschool we believe in the power of Drama and storytelling that is why they are not just an extra club in our school! They constitute communal classroom procedures which engage children and develop their language skills in a holistic way while they provide a framework for fostering social skills such as collaboration and respect. From our secret library room to our sensory drama methods, from Terracotta army to our very own space station, from our pirate ship to our Halloween pumpkin yard adventures, from giant body puppets to finger puppets, from stories from different cultures to lightable storytelling, from ancient Greek gods and mythology to Minotaur and mythical creatures, from Gaitis to Klimt, the Blue Velvet Curtain Ensemble never seizes to amaze its audience!