Creativity is at the heart of this project, which was set up to try to increase take-up of MFL by exploring new approaches to teaching. The National Youth Theatre teamed up with Drama Ties Theatre Company in Paris, the Training and Development Agency, the British Council and the French Embassy to provide teachers with authentic drama strategies to use in the classroom.

The project began with five schools in the UK exchanging gift boxes with five schools in France – each containing ten items linked to the school’s local community. Volunteers from the National Youth Theatre visited the schools and worked with pupils to devise a play, story, or sequence of ideas to be performed in the target language. Drama Ties in Paris did the same with the French schools and the final performances were exchanged on a DVD and via a dedicated web portal. The outcome was a resounding success, with students gaining in confidence and developing communication skills, as well as improving their languages.

The project has now developed and the focus is on providing high quality teacher training. The ‘actor-educator’ volunteers work with teachers introducing them to drama techniques and strategies they can use in the classroom. The project aims to remove the fear students sometimes feel when talking in a new language and by providing teachers with creative ways to approach language lessons, they are able to help learners increase their confidence when speaking another language. Teachers are very enthusiastic about the scheme and both teachers and actor-educators enjoy the opportunity to develop their own language skills as part of the process.

Language(s): French

The National Youth Theatre (NYT) was set up in 1956 to provide education through the dramatic arts. Today the NYT uses drama as a powerful tool to educate, entertain and inspire young people aged 13-25 and reaches over 25,000 young people annually through the Creative Learning Programme.