KS1 & KS2 English curriculum

This unit uses and builds on pupils' knowledge of the text from the Year 2 unit 'The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark: reading'. Here, pupils engage with play scripts for the first time, building their understanding of play script conventions, how casts work and what improvising is. Pupils read and discuss scripts based on three different texts and they learn some fundamentals around how to improvise in a group. This unit prepares pupils for further play analysis in the Year 5 unit 'Shakespeare's 'Macbeth': narrative and soliloquy writing'.

1. Reading and performing a script based on 'The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark'
2. Reading and performing a script based on 'Charlotte's Web'
3. Reading and performing a script based on 'The Iron Man'
4. Improvising

• Speaking loudly and clearly is important when talking in front of an audience.
• Speaking with volume helps to hold an audience's attention.
• Strategies to reduce nerves include rehearsing and practising calm breathing.
• Using a varied tone helps to engage an audience.
• Using body language and gestures to engage an audience will help to keep their attention.
• Rehearsals help us to reflect on our performance and improve before delivering it to an audience.
• Successful listening includes paying close attention to a performance.