Fully into summer holidays and ancient Greek drama festivals are being held around the country. Watching at least one ancient Greek drama performance has always been in my summer holidays agenda as a natural part of it, since my hometown is close to an ancient Greek theatre with a long festival history.

Walking on the sleekly eroded stones, along with the flow of  spectators, I cannot help but think of a similar procession some two and a half thousand years ago, only not for an evening’s entertainment but for an all day experience. Ancient Greeks came to watch three entire tragedies, followed by a comedy play as this was the scheme for the drama contest taking place.

There is no contest in our days, but it is definetely considered great honor  for directors  and actors as well to have the chance to present their work in one of these theaters. As for the audience, I am sure they share a similar attitude towards the didactic nature of ancient drama with their ancestors. The theatre in ancient Greece was regarded as a place of instruction, an educational institution.

These thoughts triggered my desire to scan the web in connection to esl/efl and here we go:

ANCIENT GREEK THEATRE AND DRAMA

bbc.co.uk           photos, facts, activities, games for children

greece.mrdonn.org        information, clip art for children

youtube.com      tragedy and comedy

theatrefolk.com         who,what, where, when of ancient greek theatre and drama

artsedge.kennedy-center.org           historical development of theater in Ancient Greece for high school students along with a “Stage your own Tragedy” online application

odysseus.culture.gr            theatres and odeums in Greece

whitman.edu      a virtual reality tour of ancient theatre in Greece

youtube.com     the ancient Greek theatre – the theatre of Epidaurus

greekfestival.gr           Epidaurus festival 2014

 

MAKE ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA MASKS AND COSTUMES

activityvillage.co.uk    mask craft

education.scholastic.co.uk   mask craft

hunkinsexperiments.com    dress up in a Greek chiton

 

LESSON PLANS ON ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA

childdrama.com   a Greek play project

brighthubeducation.com       Greek Theatre history in a fun way

incredibleart.org   art lesson plan: Greek Theatre  Masks

ket.org          characteristics of Greek Theatre                                           

Role-playing is essential for children. Drama is a wonderful way to introduce language learning , letting kids improvise, assume roles and use the language in an entertaining way. Explore some of the thoughts and research bibliography about the use of drama in the EFL/ESL classroom in Chris Boudreault’s article at iteslj.org and also check Using Different Forms of Drama in the EFL Classroom at hltmag.co.uk 

For a quick brainstorm about the different aspects concerning drama in the classroom go through this presentation:

 

PLAYSCRIPTS, IDEAS AND INFORMATION ON DRAMA AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

freeeslmaterials.com      an extensive list of links

shellyterrell.com              ideas, improvisation games, resources

esldrama.weebly.com      play resources

freedrama.net                   free playscripts

childdrama.com                lesson plans 

kidsinco.com                      playscripts

one-act-plays.com           browse this site for one-act playscripts

 

 

“All come true, all burst to light!” Oedipus

So, what can come true on your classroom stage?