This paper reveals ways in which teachers can use roles and role playing to facilitate children's understanding and expression, by giving an example of a drama in which the teacher assumed a role. In this dramatic situation, a group of eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds was asked to assume the roles of American Indians whose valley was threatened by the building of a dam. Although the teacher did not instruct in a traditional sense, she was able to guide the children toward an understanding of the life of a tribe. The value of nonverbal modes of communication--painting, sculpture, music, movement, and gesture--is stressed. (KS)