The Observation of the Practice of Drama Education in Taiwanese Elementary Schools in 21st Century｜DaTEAsia Vol. 2

APA Citation

Hsieh, H. (2011). The observation of the practice of drama education in Taiwanese elementary schools in 21st Century. The Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia, 2, 147-162.

Grade 1-9 Curriculum has been implemented in Taiwan since 2001 which drama has gradually become a more important teaching medium in Arts and Humanities domain.

We can observe the situation of drama education practice in modern Taiwanese elementary schools from the scopes of the modern drama and traditional drama. In the part of the modern drama, the forms are mainly creative drama and educational drama, including performance appreciation and, at the same time, getting involved with plot to produce interactive dialogue. The teaching of modern drama is aimed to stir the students’ creativities and esthetic abilities and to guide them to learn and solve the transdisciplinary questions. In the part of the traditional drama, different from creative drama and educational drama, the teachings emphasizes on the performing skills, and the intention of conserving traditional art heritage is apparent, for example Palmardrama team from Taipei Municipal Pingdeng Elementary School.

The aims of the paper are not only analyzing the present situations of the drama education, but also observing the restrictions and limitation of drama education within Taiwan’s elementary education system and to put forth the self-reflections and suggestions.