Performative Language Teaching in Early Education: Language Learning through Drama and the Arts for Children 3–7 (Bloomsbury Guidebooks for Language Teachers)

This book introduces the application of drama and arts-related activities to the teaching of English as a second or additional language in early education. Joe Winston draws on both his own scholarly expertise and experience as a practitioner to provide a theoretical rationale, practical examples, tips and easy-to-read teaching guides intended to help busy professionals apply drama related methods in an efficient and accessible way. Detailed examples of schemes of work are included for all year groups and developmental stages between the ages of 3 and 7 years of age. Each scheme centres on a popular and easily obtainable picturebook or children's story. Detailed guidance on how to plan and structure lessons with specific learning objectives is offered, as is extensive advice on issues of classroom management. The practical approaches have been used successfully in early years settings in China and primary and pre-primary settings in the UK, and are adaptable to a variety of national and cultural contexts.

Joe Winston is Emeritus Professor of Drama and Theatre Education at the University of Warwick, UK. He has published widely in the field and was for ten years co-editor of the leading academic journal, Research in Drama Education. His book, Transforming the Teaching of Shakespeare with the Royal Shakespeare Company, was published by Bloomsbury in 2015. He has a particular interest in drama in the primary and early years of learning and has recently been working actively in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, with universities, schoolteachers, theatres, private companies and kindergartens to promote the use of drama as pedagogy for second language learning.