In a world which is ever more dominated by regulations and currencies held in common the study of languages, especially English and Spanish, the two most widely spoken, daily grows in importance. Firewalk Theatre, apart from being a normal professional Spanish theatre company, has from the start specialised in educational language theatre for students of English in Spain and students of Spanish outside Spain.
The medium of theatre is an excellent way of bringing a language to life and the international nature of Firewalk Theatre makes it uniquely qualified for this task. More and more teachers are beginning to realise the educational value which theatre can offer as its visual, context-based nature makes it the ideal complement to the structures and grammatical rules of the classroom. The student is immersed in the language for the duration of the play and the fact of having been able to follow it and even of having enjoyed it makes it a great stimulus for further work. Bringing the subject alive in the imagination of the student and creating enthusiasm for its study must always be one of the primary goals for any teacher.
To increase the educational value of the activity the script of the play is provided free of charge along with a series of grammar and vocabulary exercises based on the text for previous work in the classroom. Among the exercises are role-play games and mini-plays so students can act out scenes and situations similar to those seen in the play. An evaluation sheet is also provided for students to carry out a debate in class about what they liked or didn’t like about the play, thus reinforcing any new vocabulary or structures acquired.
Firewalk Theatre offers three types of language play:
1. In Spanish
For family audiences in Spain and for language and drama students outside Spain. Suitable for all levels and ages, and in particular secondary school students, its highly visual nature and the fact that people are familiar with the story, mean that students with virtually any level can follow and enjoy these productions. The duration of the shows tend to be between an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half. This year for Spain we have “Huckleberry Finn”.
2. In English
For secondary schools (2nd cycle of ESO and Bachiller). The duration of the shows tend to be between an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half.
This year for England we have “Robinson Crusoe”.
3. In “Spaninglish”
Infantil and 1st cycle de primary: “Deams, Sweet Dreams”. 55 minutes.
2nd and 3rd cycles of primary and 1st cycle of ESO : “The Great Milagrovski”. This play is a simplified version of “El Camino de Santiago”. The majority of the magic tricks have been retained but the play has been reduced to one hour and ten minutes.
Download here a short questionnaire for use as a discussion aid in class or to let us know what you thought of the play
Questionnaire (Right click and saves as...)
