Starting a new class of any kind can be suuuuuper scary! You never know what to expect, what the other students will be like or, even worse, what the teacher will be like. What if the teacher is totally mean and boring? Uh, no thank you! From meeting your teacher to building your self-confidence, here’s everything you can expect from our awesome Marrzipan Drama classes!
1.) Meeting your Marrzipan teacher
The very first thing you can expect when you walk into a Marrzipan Drama class is meeting the teacher. Our teachers are all certifiably wacky and crazy, so they all have a wacky and crazy name to go with them! You’ve got the likes of Jackadoodle, Sarahsizzle, Mollypop and Joshuahua just to name a few. We like having silly goofy names because just “Sarah” or “Miss Greaves” makes us sound like any other teacher at your school; and trust me, we are not!
2.) Marrzipan teachers are far from being mean and boring!
What fun are drama classes going to be if the teacher is big fat meanie?? NONE, THAT’S WHAT! Starting a new class, whether it’s drama or something else, can be really intimidating so the last thing we want is to make you feel any worse! As soon as you walk in the door, we want to make sure that you can instantly feel the vibe of the class. So don’t be surprised if your teacher starts cracking fart jokes, picking their nose, using silly voices or cartwheeling around the room! (I can confirm these are all straight up facts, no references needed).
3.) Word of the Week
Each week our Marrzipan class has a theme that we present with a Word of the Week (or a WOW for short. Woooow, that’s cool!) that also highlights our focus for that week. But not just in class! Our focus every week has both a dramatic and social context that students can apply in class to our rehearsals but also during the week in their day-to-day lives. One week our WOW was Stage because we needed to be super focused on not only rehearsing on our stage for the first time and making sure we were all doing the right things and in the right places, but also on making sure that no matter what stage of life we are in we are always trying our best at all the things we do!
4.) We get to play games?
Okay, so you’re getting the picture of how Marrzipan works. But what do we even do? We get to play games, of course! Every week your teacher will start off the class with a super fun drama game that also highlights our WOW that week. For a lot of children, learning in a classroom can be hard which in turn makes it hard to WANT to learn. In Marrzipan, we try to make learning as fun as possible by teaching through playing games and speaking in funny voices. By getting up and putting the focus and skills we’re teaching into practice in a silly way it helps you to understand how to implement said focus and skills into our rehearsals.
5.) Rehearsal time!
That’s right, it’s rehearsal time! At the end of the term we do TWO performances of a super fun Marrzipan play; one to parents, and one to friends. But to perform, that means we need to practice! We spend the whole term rehearsing and practicing our play that your teacher will perform for you in your very first class. So not only do you get to see how funny our play is, but you also get to laugh at your teacher running around playing ten different characters at once… this is even funnier in Summer, trust me! After that, you get to audition for the character you want to be the most, and then we get to work on how we can best play that character by changing our voices and how our bodies move around. This can be tricky though, especially if you’ve never done drama before. But not to fear! Your Marrzipan teacher and other students are always there to help you figure out what works best for you.
6.) Wait, other students?
Yes, other students! Our classes can have up to ten students in them. That’s ten new friends, right there (yes, I’m including the teacher as a new friend)! You may have been invited along by a friend already in the class, or you might recognise people from your school class, OR you might not know anyone! When you start Marrzipan, your teacher will always make sure to play a name game so you can start getting to know everyone and they can start getting to know you. You might have the same favourite animal as someone else, which is the perfect basis of a new friendship. At least, to me! Anyone else love elephants? You do? Yes, new friend!
7.) Geez, my ribs hurt!
One thing you can for sure expect from your Marrzipan class is to laugh. A. LOT. No one wants to be stuck in a boring classroom learning boring things and doing boring stuff, especially your Marrzipan teacher! Your Marrzipan teacher wants to make sure you have heaps and heaps of fun at Marrzipan so there will be lots of silly characters your teacher will become – have you ever met a Russian octopus who’s allergic to cheese? You will! – over the next few weeks. Some of my classes have never even heard what my real voice sounds like! There is a reason we do this! We want to make you feel comfortable in the class to try new things in your own way and grow your own personal skills as well as your dramatic skills.
8.) I’m not as nervous anymore!
The main thing that you can expect from Marrzipan Drama classes is a boost in self confidence! It’s amazing to see how much you can grow over the course of a nine week term. Every week in Marrzipan we’re always trying to get you to try something new and push yourself and it’s such an amazing feeling to see what you’ve accomplished by the time you’re performing in front of your parents and friends. My favourite thing that a parent has ever said to me at the end of a term is that she was amazed how her daughter – who was quite shy – wasn’t nervous or anxious about performing in front of an audience. Instead, she couldn’t stop talking about how excited she was! That is one of the coolest things I’ve experienced teaching Marrzipan. It can be really hard sometimes to see a difference in yourself when you’re trying something new, but I promise you, you will have grown so much from your first Marrzipan class to the end of term, it’s astonishing.
Doesn’t Marrzipan sound like fun now you know what to expect? Soooooo, what are you waiting for?? Sign up now to get in amongst the Marrzi-Madness!
