Training the BE Trainee Teacher in Drama

Abstract

This paper presents a teacher training experience for bilingual education (BE) using drama activities and techniques within a university degree in primary education. Many studies have underlined the similarities between teachers and actors, seeing teachers as performers, especially in regard to the correct and effective use of the voice, body language, and involvement of the audience. The type of training described here has a twofold objective: to make trainee-teachers participate as learners of drama techniques, and to help them use these techniques with their pupils. This paper will investigate studies on teacher training and BE and on BE and drama, describe the Italian context, and show the activities carried out in the teacher training. It will also analyze the script of a science play in English from a lexical point of view and show one of the lesson plans produced by the trainees. This study is theoretical-descriptive and has no research-based aims.