Because of the close interrelationship among language, thinking, and the contexts in which learning takes place, many children experience difficulties when they enter school. This article discusses ways in which dramatic contexts can provide continuity between home and school by enabling children to take control of their thinking and language. (MT)

This article describes ways in which the dramatic context can provide children with a purpose for writing. When writing is integrated with drama, children can reflect on a problem by expressing their thoughts and feelings in different forms ranging from the personal and private to the more formal and public. (MT)

Traditionally, classroom drama is a safe literary activity that involves students in reading or writing scripts. The newer methods that have the students out of their seats improvising drama require training that few teachers have had. Current teacher training methods are described, and alternative methods are suggested. (MT)

Mime is discussed as a group recreational activity. (JD)

Presents a dramatization of a fictitious debate about the age of the earth that takes place at the Royal Institution, London, England, in the year 1872 among Sir William Thomson, T.H. Huxley, Sir Charles Lyell, and Hermann von Helmholtz. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/YDS)

This article seeks to better understand the relation between local and traditional modes of communication and health literacy within the context of a rural West Nile community in Northern Uganda. Drawing on social semiotics (multimodality) and Bakhtin's notion of the carnival, the focus is on a group of women participating in a grassroots literacy…

While some studies have examined second language (L2) learning in young children who have at least one peer who speaks the same first language (L1) in the same preschool classroom (Clarke, 1999; Damhuis, 1993; Fraser & Wakefield, 1986), little research has been done concerning a young child learning an L2 through play in a natural setting in…

This study explores a teacher's understandings of the role of play and her use of play in literacy learning serving children from diverse language backgrounds. The participants in this study were a public pre-kindergarten teacher and her class. Data were collected from interviews, informal conversations, observations, and self-reflexive notes. The…

Dramatic play games emphasizing creative thinking and listening skills offer an emotional outlet for the entire class. Games involving pantomime, musical instruments, and communication are described. (CB)

This paper critically examines recent studies investigating the relationship between dramatic play and story comprehension. Four issues to be addressed are (1) play and contextual variables; (2) treatment effects on different subjects; (3) length of effects; and (4) size of effects. Recommendations for future research are made. (Author/MT)

This step-by-step approach to class plays will allow students to explore literature, think creatively, and learn to work together. Discussed are how to teach acting, choosing a story, teaching the story, rehearsing, and creating costumes and sets. (MT)

The essential nature of drama is a liberating act of imagination, of self-transcendence. A session is described in which the class maintained the delicate balance of dual consciousness and focused its attention and empathy on an illusory but possible world, creating and being responsible for the meaning of its construction. (MT)

At a summer program designed to create a purpose for writing, 18 children moved from everyday language to diction appropriate to monks experiencing a significant moment in communal life. Scribes copied the children's words in a careful italic hand, providing pressure for even more precise diction and dignity of language. (MT)

Reading and drama are closely related in the learning process, interacting to develop the same personal resources in the child, building links between print and experience, dream and reality, self and other. The pressure and authenticity of the drama can help children create new knowledge and make different and necessary connections. (MT)

Students in four secondary school classes were taught two lesson topics, the first by dramatic reenactment, the second by lecture/seatwork. Concept acquisition, retention, and students' attitudes toward the instruction form were measured. Results are discussed. (Author/MT)