'Do not then, said I, O best of men, compel boys in their learning; but train them up, amusing themselves, that you may be better able to discern to what the genius of each naturally tends. '
Plato Republic 537a
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Through a drama workshop and a theatre performance in which original stories are dramatised, children become aware of the Greek language in a productive and creative way.
Children participate actively, articulating the sound of the Greek letters, using their bodies so as to create the shapes of the Greek alphabet, dancing the sound of the words through specific movements and taking roles during the dramatization of each story.
Play is one of the most important elements in the whole educational procedure, as through the joy and the pleasure that the children experience, they tend to absorb knowledge in a more effective way. Through colourful scenery, visual representations, descriptive movements, musical improvisation that children create themselves, their imagination is sharpened and they are taken by surprise.
The starting point of each story is a letter of the Greek alphabet and the etymological root of each letter. The words that are related through their common roots create a new, original story each time. This story is taken from ancient Greek myths, the cycle of nature and life, concerning human relationships.
Observing the way in which a word is derived from another, we unfold, in a playful and amusing way, the whole thread of images, sounds, emotions and logical relationships that, eventually, connect us all with the world and its countless manifestations. |