This chapter will describe drama schemes and activities that show how a private kindergarten in Shenzhen developed curricula both in Chinese and in English that attempted to make drama central to learning for very young children. It will begin by briefly explaining the school’s development and referring to some key influences that shaped its curriculum and use of educational drama. The school taught fifty percent in the Chinese language and fifty percent in English. The Chinese language curriculum followed the five key areas of learning experience defined by national policy but used drama as both process and performance as a core pedagogy. The English curriculum was designed principally to develop children’s capabilities in English language but, as with the Chinese curriculum, drama schemes were devised around a range of picture books and stories to complement English course books. The chapter will explain how aspects from different traditions of drama education—from mainland China, Taiwan and the UK—helped inform the school’s vision of drama and learning and will propose this as an example of the ‘glocal’ nature of the school’s approach to learning through drama. It will also explain how it involved parents and kept them regularly informed. Most of the chapter, however, will concentrate on describing aspects of the practice itself, drawing from information the author has obtained from key figures responsible for designing how the school used drama in both the Chinese and English curricula. Here the author concentrates on providing examples of specific activities and schemes of work. The chapter concludes with detailed descriptions of three different drama exercises so that kindergarten teachers unused to using drama in their practice may see exactly how they are managed and are seen to relate to children’s learning.

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Drama as Core Curriculum in a Chinese Kindergarten: Influences and Practices Within a ‘Glocal’ Context

  • Xiajing Zhang

摘要

This chapter will describe drama schemes and activities that show how a private kindergarten in Shenzhen developed curricula both in Chinese and in English that attempted to make drama central to learning for very young children. It will begin by briefly explaining the school’s development and referring to some key influences that shaped its curriculum and use of educational drama. The school taught fifty percent in the Chinese language and fifty percent in English. The Chinese language curriculum followed the five key areas of learning experience defined by national policy but used drama as both process and performance as a core pedagogy. The English curriculum was designed principally to develop children’s capabilities in English language but, as with the Chinese curriculum, drama schemes were devised around a range of picture books and stories to complement English course books. The chapter will explain how aspects from different traditions of drama education—from mainland China, Taiwan and the UK—helped inform the school’s vision of drama and learning and will propose this as an example of the ‘glocal’ nature of the school’s approach to learning through drama. It will also explain how it involved parents and kept them regularly informed. Most of the chapter, however, will concentrate on describing aspects of the practice itself, drawing from information the author has obtained from key figures responsible for designing how the school used drama in both the Chinese and English curricula. Here the author concentrates on providing examples of specific activities and schemes of work. The chapter concludes with detailed descriptions of three different drama exercises so that kindergarten teachers unused to using drama in their practice may see exactly how they are managed and are seen to relate to children’s learning.