Wit & Wisdom

Roger Jenkins
 storyteller

© Roger Jenkins 2011    Made With Serif WebPlus.

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Training
ALAN            Hi! I’m Alan.
BEE              I’m Bee. Are you here for the course?
ALAN            Which course?
CORAL         The one on Reader’s Theatre.
BEE              Yes, that’s the one.
ALAN            Yes. Where’s the trainer?
DAWN          (enters) Hi!
ALAN            Are you the trainer?
DAWN          No, I’m Dawn.
BEE              I just hope it’s not too boring.
DAWN          Oh no – Reader’s Theatre is great fun.
ALAN            Is it?
DAWN          Yes! We’ll read lots of different scripts.
CORAL         Oh dear- will we have to learn them?
DAWN          No, no – this is Reader’s Theatre. It is not like acting in a play.
BEE              Good, because I get very nervous having to stand up in front of other people.
ALAN            Me too.
DAWN          Most people do! But don’t worry, we’ll go through the script lots of times so you’ll get to know your part. We’ll work on it together.
EVAN            (enters) Good morning, sorry I’m late!
FRANKIE      Excuse me. I think I’m in the wrong course. I’m not very good at reading.
EVAN            But Reader’s Theatre is terrific for students like you.
FRANKIE      Sure? I won’t know how to say my lines.
ALAN            My problem is I’m not a very exciting reader. I usually put people to sleep. (BEE snores)
CORAL        That’s not nice!
BEE             Just joking.
EVAN           OK. Let me explain what happens. When I give you the script – something like this actually – I tell you your part. You will see the names of all the characters are in capital letters
DAWN         So it’s easy to see who’s got to speak next.
ALAN           And then we just read?
EVAN          No, first I’d read the script to you, and you follow along as I read.
EVAN         This is why Readers Theatre is such a useful strategy.
CORAL     What’s a strategy?
EVAN         A strategy is an approach, or a method, to solving a problem. As every script is likely to have some words that students don’t know, this is another reason why the teacher reads the script to the students first.
FRANKIE   Thank you. This is not the sort of stuff I usually read. I prefer comics. If you weren’t taking us through it, I’d find it .. er, what’s this word?
EVAN         (modeling) Incomprehensible. It means you can’t understand it.
FRANKIIE    Exactly.
EVAN          Try your line again.
FRANKIE    If you weren’t taking us through it, I’d find it, er, incomprehensible.
EVAN         Well done. So here is a student who, thanks to working together with others, finds himself reading – and understanding – text he would not normally try to read.
READER’S THEATRE
 If you’re fed up with scripts that plod along with little drama, less characterisation and zero sense of humor, you should look at some of my scripts. This one introduces Reader’s Theatre to some teachers on an in-service training course  ...
Looking for a
Reader’s Theatre script that is
fun,
entertaining,
 and which provides
a good story
with
useful language
links?
I have adapted
many folktales
and would be happy
to discuss if one would suit
your purpose.
 Email me