The power of using drama to teach reading comprehension

Reading comprehension activities do not have to be boring; quite the contrary. They can be fun and interactive, and the more fun and interactive they are the more the child will benefit.

I am a drama teacher and I have used drama to teach other subjects such as English language and English literature, as role-play is a great way to understand and explore a topic.

Children have great imaginations and drama allows them to use their imaginations to the full. Children also love to be up on their feet and active, and so incorporating role-play or a drama exercise into a learning situation, helps maintain the concentration of the child.

Drama makes learning interactive and fun for children of all ages. Using drama to teach reading comprehension allows the child to become a part of the story. By creating moving pictures to accompany the story, it helps bring the story to life, and will in turn help the child with their comprehension of the story.

Parents can easily use drama to teach reading comprehension to their child at home.

For primary aged children, the child chooses a book to read out aloud to his mum or dad. After each page or couple of pages, the parent asks a question related to what the child has just read. For example, what did the knight do when he saw the dragon? The child in response acts out the answer, i.e. the knight jumps on his horse and gallops away.

For pre-schoolers whom are not reading yet, the same reading comprehension activity is simply altered slightly. This time the parent reads the story and the child follows along. At certain points in the story, i.e. when the frog leaps out of the pond, the child mines this action. Mum and dad may wish to join in with the mime. If the frog in the story leaps out of the pond on several occasions, encourage your child to perform the mine every time they hear this sentence. As reading comprehension begins with listening comprehension this activity is ideal.

For older children, this same activity can be taken a step further if the parent is willing to get more involved. The child chooses a favourite book to read out aloud to mum or dad. After several pages or when the time is right, the parent poses a question, such as what would happen if Harry lied to his best friend about the compass instead of telling the truth. Child and parent could then firstly act out how it happened in the book and then create a role-play situation with Harry lying to his best friend, which is an improvised scene. A discussion about the two scenes can take place afterwards.

For more reading comprehension activities, check out the following blogs:

http://readingcomprehensionactivities.wordpress.com/

http://readingcomprehensionactivities.blogspot.com/

http://www.squidoo.com/ReadingComprehensionActivities