Meeting Overview

Many students finish their LAMDA exams weeks before the end of term, leaving a teaching gap. In this meeting we explored ways of keeping sessions purposeful, engaging, and “un-cancellable” during this in-between time — especially for solo students or pairs.

OPTION 1: If they’ve taken an exam early in the academic year then they could take a “bonus” exam. I’ve had students complete Grade 5 Solo Acting in March/April, and then take a Grade 4 Speaking in Public exam in June/July. They have already shown themselves to be motivated and hard-working, so if you drop a grade (as it’s a new subject, and they won’t have too long) then they can often manage it!

OPTION 2: Start working towards their next exam straight away.

OPTION 3: Follow some of the ideas suggested below. Thank you to everyone at the meeting to came up with some of these brilliant ideas! I’ve created a downloadable one page handout of “Post-Exam Activities for Speech & Drama Teachers” for you to carry around with you, as well as my “secret mission park bench” cues.

For those of you who don’t have 48 minutes spare to watch the whole video, here are the most important points covered at the meeting…

Devising Drama: The Fundamentals

Learners can take Solo exams or Duologue exams but there is NO COMBINED EXAM for Devising Drama

* Learners must devise their own original scenes

* Scenes should have a clearly defined structure

* They should aim to suspend disbelief

* All the technical skills of acting will be required to do well in this exam, as well as an understanding of the devising process

* At Entry level, learners devise ONE scene (2-3 mins) using one of the following themes as a stimulus: a day out OR my favourite hobby OR my favourite toy or game

* From Grade 1 – 8, learners devise TWO scenes (2-3 mins at Grades 1-3; 3-4 mins at Grades 4-7; 4-5 mins at Grade 8). The basis for each scene is described in the syllabus.

* From Grade 6 – 8, learners also perform an improvised scene (1-2 mins) based on a stimulus provided by the examiner at the time of the examination. They have one minute to prepare the scene.

* Recorded music and/or sound effects can be used but students must operate their own sound equipment.

* There is a Knowledge Section as per all the accredited exams accounting for 20% of the marks at all grades. The questions asked are laid out on the assessment and grading criteria pages in the syllabus.

Who are Devising Drama Exams suitable for?

Devising Drama exams are great for students who

* have vivid imaginations

* who love telling and acting out stories

* who don’t enjoy learning lines (or aren’t good at learning lines)

* who get bored of rehearsing the same scenes over and over again.

Some students like the idea of devising, but struggle to come up with ideas… If after two or three weeks of work you feel like you’re trying to get blood out of stone, you may want to steer them back to a scripted exam. After all, there is plenty of wonderful material out there ready to work on. If it’s hard to come up with ideas - use someone else’s and learn the lines! And take an Acting Exam instead… Devising Drama is best for students who have too many rather than too few ideas.

Where to begin?

Whether you’re brand new to them or looking to refresh your approach, this session will offer real, practical value. Here’s why you might want to watch the video:

1. Never tackled Introductory Exams before?

You’ll get a clear breakdown of how they work, what examiners are looking for, and who they’re ideal for.

2. Struggling to prep individuals within group settings?

I share tips for keeping group sessions manageable — even when they’re working towards solo exams.

3. Already an Introductory Exams pro?

Inject your teaching with some new ideas, and share your own top tips in the comments!

LAMDA Introductory Exams can be a brilliant way to diversify your income and lay foundations for long-term student relationships. Many of my teenage students started with these exams at age 5 or 6. Starting the LAMDA Syllabus at a young age is a great way of building enthusiasm rather than fear of exams that will keep them coming back term after term…

Solo Introductory LAMDA exams are aimed at children aged 5 to 8 years old. During the meeting, we discussed the importance of providing a safe and nurturing environment for creativity and I also shared the marking scheme for the exams. We talked about how these exams could be useful for older students, and the situations in which this might be the case. As a group we discussed teaching styles, the challenges of introducing new poems to students, and strategies for teaching children conversation skills and reciting poems. We talked about whether gesture should be used and how to avoid its overuse. Lastly, I led a discussion on choosing appropriate books and objects for the conversation section.

I also discussed strategies when working in groups - how to keep the other children occupied when working on individual poems, and I shared a template for our POETRY PROJECT which gives them plenty to get on with for a few minutes to build up a booklet that they can take home at the end of term and is a nice record of their work. Lots of these activities build skills that they’ll need in higher level Verse and Prose exams, and could of course be used for older children as well. You can download the Poetry Project to use with your own students by clicking this link:

It’s just me this time… and it’s come out a bit later than I was hoping because of competition from other important activities!

Setting up a new Facebook group with the wonderful Clare and Judi took up the second half of September, and there was also a bit of a hoo-hah about the Knowledge questions in the Grade 6 and 7 acting syllabus to look into… which still hasn’t been satisfactorily resolved.

So this podcast will give you a brief overview of a year at The Playing Space, starting in September and going through to July.

I hope you enjoy!

In this podcast I have a lovely chat with the marvellous Abi Haberfield, who is a partner at The Playing Space and also teaches independently in schools. She is a hugely experienced LAMDA teacher, having prepared students for exams of all subjects and grades for more than 12 years.

We talk about the variety of different set ups we have encountered in the different schools we go into. Areas of discussion include:

* Dealing with parents directly, including invoicing.

* Invoicing the school and having no contact with parents.

* Having to deal with admin including timetabling and exam entries.

* Switching from private classes to shared classes or small groups as numbers increase.

* Paying rent for the teaching space.

* Public versus Private Exam Centres.

* Entering students for exams - do it yourself and charge an admin fee, or let the school/parents do the entries themselves.

* Taking over from other teachers and making changes.

* Turning down work if you don’t think the school is running things in the way you think best serves the students (e.g. too many children in a group).

* Negotiating a suitable teaching space.

* Benefits of LAMDA exams for students who are falling behind academically.

* How to manage preparation for exams in schools with limited funds.

* Offering free sessions to students in the run up to exams - generosity or downfall? Building free sessions into your fee structure.

* The difficulty of getting into schools.

* LAMDA Horror Stories: mistakes we’ve made.

Visit Gabi’s Speech and Drama Community for loads more resources - articles, worksheets, meet ups and more!

Gabi’s Speech and Drama Community is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a fun conversation with a professional working actor, Jennie Eggleton, who also works as a speech and drama teacher, independently and as a partner of The Playing Space.

We talk about the pros and cons of combining these two careers, and how everyone listening can enjoy the benefits whether or not they are currently a working actor.

We also share some LAMDA Exam stories at the end of the podcast.

To join the community go to: gabimaddocks.substack.com

Here is the website for the The British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech (BIFF): https://www.federationoffestivals.org.uk/festivals

Click the link to find your local festival.

Get the full episode and all future episodes by becoming a paid subscriber to my substack: www.gabimaddocks.substack.com