樓凱利

【Abstract】：History is divided up into different sections or categories.For example，countries or events，or particular eras or time frames.In my personal experience，the only time I truly learned any history fact was when the teacher tried to engage with the students which made it interesting.

【Key words】：dramatic method;history;English teaching;drama teaching

Ways to Teach History through Drama

A good structure is necessary when thinking about how to teach certain subjects.It is important for teachers to have passions on history，because the passion will be communicated to the students，and hopefully encourage them and inspire them to be passionate about history.Also，it is important for teachers to be knowledgeable about the subject，make the concepts and theories in to practice before the class（Melinda，2005），and be up-to-date on all historical facts.

In this article，it will take ‘teaching the world history as an example，let us think about using drama to teach German history.When taken a look at Germany，we might look at the World War II period.We could start with the Weimar Republic，then go on to look at Nazi Germany，look at Germany post World War II at last.

1.1 Preparation

Every lesson should be well prepared.Normally，we introduce new things to children through whole-class teaching and discussion where the children need to know for a subsequent dramatic frame.Teacher in role was one of the most effective methods of conveying a lot of information in an active and interesting way.Perhaps the most common thing before a new lesson is explaining about a subject and then letting the children read about it silently.After reading，oral or written questions can be given.This method is particularly suitable if the text book is too hard for children to understand，and it is also a good way to warm up the later performing.

When asking young students what they expect when having drama in the class，most of them would give answers including ‘having fun，‘a(chǎn)cting stories，etc.（Bolton，2009，p.151）.So，it is important to have a multi-sensory approach to make it fun.We use as many tools and as we can，whether they be textbooks，films，pictures，photographs，stories，literary texts.It is also important to look at events and people，find out who were the important figures from a particular time frame.For example，Anne Frank or Hitler，we look at their personal background and the socioeconomic factors that led to the actions that took place in their lifetime.What were those important figures' actions，and what were the consequences of their actions？

Above is a preparation before teaching German history，following we will show how to prepare the drama part.At first，we should find a space for children to perform before we advertise.The space should be functional for our needs，spacious，clean and air conditioned.Acting classes will often require movement and high energy activity，some facilities such as the air conditioners can help.In order to hence the effects of drama teaching，children should be dressed，if possible，local theatres，dance institutions and performing arts schools can be contacted for the costumes borrowing affairs.

Secondly，we advertise the whole class that we are going to perform the history events.It is sometimes useful to prepare the dramatic play privately，because students might not quite understand what they should perform in front of the class，it is normal that children have stage fright.However，some students are born actors and actresses，we would like to choose them for the most important speaking parts（Fleming，Merell and Tymms，2004）.We aim to give as many children as possible a role to make them fully participated，for example，let the weaker ones be ‘soldiers standing behind Hitler，something easy but make them feel they are parts of this play.Based on our experiences，it is suggested that?not mixing very young children with teenagers when determining the age brackets for the play.A good rule to follow would be ages 5 - 10 and ages 11 - 16.

It is not possible to say exactly how acting should be used because some children enjoy performing more than others;some races and nationalities could even be better actors than others;some subjects in history can be dramatized but some cannot，for example，the Nanking Massacrein Chinese history is absolutely unsuitable for young students to perform.However，in most schools，children do not have much chance to stand up and speak in front of the class.One of the adventures of acting is that it trains them to do this，but it takes a little time before they can learn to stop being nervous.While，there are some rules when preparing acting before the class.Firstly，do not spend too long over any bit of acting.Two to four minutes are quite enough.Usually children should make up their own speeches and not read the prepared speeches.Secondly，teachers should explain carefully to the actors what you want them to do.Never choose anything too difficult.Do not worry about children being nervous in the beginning.

Whats more，make our children to engage the performance.It is sometimes difficult，but we explain the principles of drama using mediums they are familiar with，such as animated movies，or television shows they know.For children，we are exercising the concept of 'pretend' as a means to facilitate progress as a performer.Undeniably，a World War II video or German movie such asSchindlers ListorValkyrie on the screen is a great way for children to learn history.Children who learn history are able to experience a resemblance of the actual events that happened during a particular time in history.It is like being there and gives students a vivid experience of having lived in the history.By doing this，we are posting a treat for children who are less interested in history.It is like being there and giving students a vicarious experience of having lived in the history.In this way，we are providing a treat for children who are less interested in history.We recommend that put together a syllabus of study for a drama class，including the important elements of acting such as memorization，characterization，improvisation and technique.When working with children，these principles still work，but we need to explain the process differently，in a way that a child or young adult will better grasp the concept.

1.2 During students performing

The effective way of making children ‘imagine the history they are learning is by making them act（Greene，2000）.When students watching the stories of history in a dramatic content，they should take notes of the important facts，the aside will tell the exact year and place.Write down these facts in the forms of questions and answers，with the question on one side，and the answers on the others.It is not easy for young children to write things down while watching the play，they might forget to take a note，and after watching the play，they could just remember the names of the characters.The teacher standing aside may pretend writing in the air or just say ‘time for notes in a playful way to remind the students.

We question the class after a piece of the dramatic play to make sure that everyone has understood the importance of the point you were dramatizing.For instance，‘We have just see Tom acting Hitler in the drama，why do other students hate him and even want to kill him？ What do you learned from their talking？ How do you feel the atmosphere in that period of time？ Look at your textbooks，combine the history event with the performing. We should guide the students to think combine with the knowledge on the textbook and what they saw while students performing.

1.3 After Performing

This history class focused largely on drama.We feel strongly that this is an effective way to discover the heart of the human experience being studied.As students achieve success through drama，they gain self-esteem and develop confidence.That is the reason people say using drama as an approach to teaching history allows children to find success（Fennessey，1995）.

History is most relevant when it is presented by dramatic way.Acting is one of the best approaches by which we can use the imagination in history.But there are other ways.One is to make children retell a historical story as if they had taken part in it.For example，‘I want you to pretend you are Anne Frank.Tell us about your living condition，some stories in your diary.There is no need to call students out in front of a class to make them think in this way.The teacher may even do it by the way he word the question to the whole class.For example：‘I want all of you to pretend that you are ordinary people who lived in Annes time.Tell me what you are tolerating，for example，starvation，and what makes your life so hard.I know it was the war，consider what are the causes of the war，you may refer to your books now.

Students will have an interactive discussion as a team.Everyone is responsible for contributing to the group.Discussing history in a large group or in several small groups is an excellent way to extend the historic topic.It can be very interesting and impressive to analyse the causes and effects of historic characters such as Adolf Hitler.This activity stimulates students to appreciate the various perspectives of others and to discover new ideas.It also assists students in improving problem solving skills and memorization skills.Moreover，group discussion is an efficiency way for a teacher to discover which students are truly interested in the lesson.Based on early studies，it shows that teacher-student engagement is central to learning.Those students who are fully engaged are ready to learn in every way - physically，socially，emotionally and intellectually（Upitis，2011）.The arts play a vital role in ensuring that the students remain deeply concentrated by encouraging them to learn in psycho-motor and affective ways.Inviting students to collaborate with peers on group work or projects，requiring them to respond emotionally to a particular event，and by stimulating their cognitive capacities they learn in，through and about the arts.Integrating arts in the classroom can help to improve and facilitate learning amongst students in the school as well as improve the quality of product an individual student is expected to show in the society（Westwood，2004）.

After the discussion，we place an A2 size paper on a table with questions side face up，these questions are often leading to the main ideas of the class today.As each person takes notes in his notebook，students might answer most of the questions on the paper，some answers might be left out by the students，after the ‘Questions and Answers Time，they will have time to share answers.Teacher at this time should invite students look at the blackboard，and give all the questions and answers today，and explain the details for each question.

As each month passes，students should not get rid of all the notes on their notebooks，instead，they should add new information page by page in the same notebook，because most events are presented by chronological order.It is a good way to remember historical things.This way we will continue to reinforce the facts you have learned previously.We suggest that every child should keep a history exercise book.While the child keeps his notebook depends on the way he is taught.A child will keep his notebook well in some reasons，for example，he knows that the teacher takes an interest in is，and will praise him if his work seems good and punish him if it seems careless of lazy;he thinks that it is useful，and that is will help him to remember what he has learnt.This history project focused largely on drama and literature.We feel strongly that this is an effective way to discover the heart of the human experience being studied.As students achieve success through drama，they gain self-esteem and develop confidence.

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