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Build your ISTA Tribe with these Tools

2/11/2020

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Looking for strategies to capture student interest and community support to join an ISTA festival?

​Show the video below - created by students for students - in your drama classes or in a school assembly to pump up interest for ISTA.



This infographic below produced by the International Schools Theater Association shares practical things that teachers have done to build and maintain participation in ISTA festivals throughout the years.

Check-out the list and see which strategies may work wonders for your community.
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Students from the International School of Beijing share about ISTA


“To me, ISTA is a second home. A once in a lifetime opportunity to connect, to learn, and to create with artists and friends from all over the world. ISTA is the world of art and imagination for the kids who feel the need to find themselves, and express who they are through drama.” - Karen, grade 8
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ISTA is a magical place. It is a place where there is no judgement. You can be yourself, express yourself, and show your true colors. The most magical thing about ISTA is that a group of strangers only sharing one common interest meet, and they leave as a group, an ensemble, a part of the ISTA family.
-Young Soo, grade 8
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How do you make the festival experience even more special for your students? Book a fun trip, tour or experience in the city that you will visit. Check-out this Disney Challenge!
MS ISTA students perform drama exercises all around Disney, Hong Kong.
Students love ISTA! It's one of the most transformative drama experiences that they have in a school year. 


Though our school had to withdraw from this year's festival hosted by Bali Island School due to the coronavirus outbreak, we look forward to joining a festival again next school year and hope to perhaps meet you and your students at some point of our ISTA journey.

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Essential Guide to Creativity in Children through the Power of Play

4/29/2019

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How can we create playful experiences for young children that are purposeful and productive?
 
A team of ISTA theater artists and educators flew into Singapore from Brussels, Beijng, Los Angeles, Sydney, New Zealand and the UK to converge at an ISTA lower primary school festival hosted by Rachael Mweti of Nexus International School. They transformed the auditorium into the Enchanted Woods utilizing a play-based model shared by Artistic Director, Debra Kidd that ignited the children’s imagination through inquiry, iterative, interactive  and active experiences.
 
“The goal of the festival is to create a joyful and playful experience for the students that they can also share with their parents,” shared Debra who has a doctorate in education and is the author of three books on education and creativity.
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 Top Ten Tips for Purposeful and Productive Play
from the ISTA Primary Festival

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1. Use a book as inspiration to craft a drama, design and engineering workshop for children.

In this video, I share how I weaved drama with design principles in a playful experience inspired by Where the Wild Things Are.



Design Process for Primary Kids

Step 1: Ask/Inquiry (Generated with the students)
What problems do monsters have?
How can we make monsters?

Step 2: Imagine and brainstorm solutions
Kids said that monsters struggle with loneliness and need friends.
They wanted to make monsters and eventually after making their first monster they made friends, families and communities for them.

Step 3: Plan and design 
Students drew their monsters, identified their problems, wrote down questions and imagined their stories of origin. While some students wrote down their ideas on their sketches, others chose to verbally share their stories.

Step 4: Create 
Students made their monsters with air dry clay and googly eyes.
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Step 5: Improve

The kids decided that that monsters needed a place to live and built "Monster Land" out of blocks and recycled boxes. They constructed a city where each monster had a place where they can feel like they belong.
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2. Empower young explorers by creating a travel path using items that you can find in your classroom or home. 

In this short video, ISTA artist and primary school expert Sierra Laderoute shares how she collaborated with her ensemble to create a journey using a “an icon hat” and an interactive obstacle course.

The kids created hats with images that represented the different characters that  they played in the journey through the Enchanted Woods.
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3. Create an imaginative story using tribal wars to teach peace and empathy. 

​Watch Carl Robinson (actor and a drama teacher from the International School of Brussels) and Odette McKenzie (actor/singer from Sydney) set the context of conflict between two warring worlds through role play.

4. Build caves, craft stories and devise chants.

Kids love to build forts, caves and kingdoms. Watch ISTA veteran artist and clown expert Matthew Godfrey share about a magical cave and spell created by his young tribe.


5. Play music from one of your favorite kiddie movies and have a dance party. If you need ideas on how to groove, search for a Just Dance youtube video.

For example, I led a "Fairy Dance Party" during the full group and sharing sessions.

6. Sing silly songs. 
Carl's Arustasha was a hit with the kids (and their parents)!

7. Use guided meditation and tickle your child's senses by gliding soft fabric on their skin and use a spray bottle to gently splash them with water infused by essential oils.


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8. Transform a space into an imagined setting through lighting, props and scenery.
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9. Design or make masks and create characters inspired by mythical creatures.
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10. Be playful.

The ISTA artist team tapped into their inner child and through playful exploration crafted joyful experiences in their ensembles and full group sessions. They also facilitated an-hour long interactive sharing - that featured the various talents of the ISTA artists that included  physical theater, singing, dancing, meditation and play  - that bonded the children with their families.

The creative fire sparked by the festival  will hopefully continue to burn long after the curtain closed; may the warm glow of playful memories light the hearts of the families that shared this journey through the Enchanted Woods.
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Interested to join an ISTA festival, check-out this website:
https://ista.co.uk/events/

ISTA Lower Primary Festival Team
Artistic Director: Debra Kidd
Rep: Liane Campbell
Artists:
Matthew Godfrey
Carl Robinson
Odette McKenzie
Sierra Lauderoute 
Hannah Northcott 


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    Hi! I’m Hannah.
    I’m a working mama of two girls. 
    I teach drama & yoga, and devour chips dipped in mango salsa.
    I love clothing auditions,  brunches and warm tropical beaches.
    We've been living in Shunyi, a suburb of Beijing for eleven years.

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