Literacy fortnight and United Nations Day at Wellington College International

On a wet Monday morning in mid-October, two drama specialists from the UK-based company Round Midnight, Emmi-Jane Isham and Sami Cornick, arrived at Wellington College International Tianjin to begin two weeks of drama workshops inspired by the United Nations, which would culminate in a show on United Nations Day, featuring some 300 children, teachers and teaching assistants. Emmi-Jane and Sami had worked with Wellington before, as part of the Education Festival in March, but this was going to be a much tougher, but altogether more exciting project.

Over the next ten days, almost every year group in the school took part in a series of workshops which focused on how drama can help enhance both language and literacy skills, and they had such great fun that they actually forgot they were learning. To prove that we never stop learning, there were also two very special workshops, one for teachers and one for parents.

The teachers' workshop involved staff from Wellington and from a number of other international schools in Tianjin, as part of a commitment to shared professional development opportunities. Everyone got to take part in a series of activities aimed at showing how drama can be used in all areas of the curriculum, and for all children, no matter how old or young, or how well developed their language skills are.

The parent workshop had a similar focus, and those who attended were very excited by the opportunity to experience firsthand the same learning techniques as their children.

To highlight the literacy side of the event, the Page One bookshop from Beijing held a book fair in the school. This was the first time they had held such an event outside Beijing, and children, staff and parents, as well as a number of other schools who attended, visited the fair.

On United Nations Day, everyone pulled together to put on a theatrical event showcasing all their hard work with Emmi-Jane and Sami. Parents and guests came along to watch the children, from Nursery through to Year 13, perform a series of short sketches related to the United Nations and member states.

The finale – which marked the end of the two-week activity at the school - featured the children who had performed, Junior School teachers, teaching assistants and most of the backstage crew, singing "Joy to the World".