In this blog post, Liane shares an exercise which she uses in her lessons to boost her students’ confidence.
Status games are used widely in drama and they’re a fantastic way to open up children’s imagination so that they can access their inner confidence.
We all have confidence within us, but it’s often the labels which we give ourselves such as “I’m not good enough” which can hold us back from accessing it. This drama game asks us to think as if we already have confidence so that we can tap into the confidence which already exists within us.
Here’s how it works:
- Ask your child to imagine a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is very low in status and 10 is very high. Discuss what we mean by ‘status’ and ask them to describe someone who would be very high status (such as a king) and someone who would be very low status.
- Now ask them to walk around the room as an average 5, walking and moving ‘neutrally’ around the space.
- Then call some lower numbers and ask them to walk around the room at this status level. How might their posture change? Does this lower status affect the way they walk or move? Really encourage your child to exaggerate this status level as they move around the room.
- Now call out some higher numbers and ask them to adapt their posture and the way they move accordingly.
- Ask your child how their body language and posture changed when they were a 10? How was this different when they were a 1?
The exercise allows them to experience first-hand the physical attributes of confidence!
Some actors use physical posture or gesture to build the inner life of their characters. For instance, they may develop a way of walking or put on a pair of shoes which immediately enables them to access a different way of being.
Similarly, your child can choose to use some of the physical attributes of a 10 in their everyday life to feel more confident on the inside.
In fact, if you stand up right now with your feet hip width apart, your hands on your hips and your head held high, you’ll eventually start to feel the confidence of this posture on the inside!
This is a really important thing for your child to realise. Even if you’re not feeling confident, you can actually fake it until you become it.
Why not give this exercise a try with your child over the half term break and let us know how you get on in the comments below or by e-mailing info@londonlamdatutor.com
