Thanks for the invitation, just got off the shared bike, I'm at the convenience store.

As a drama teacher, if this question is asked to me, of course I would say drama~ Reading classics in the form of drama is a very good choice~

In fact, many schools and educational institutions are now engaging in "multi-dimensional reading" of classic works, combining reading with various other forms such as art, painting, music, dance, film, and so on, among which drama is one method.

What we refer to as "literary classics" can be understood as an art form carried by language and text, refined, thought over, and summarized by writers, with a certain degree of abstraction. They have their unique charm, but at the same time, appreciating and learning them requires certain logical and thinking skills. Therefore, not all classics are suitable for children to appreciate and learn by reading the original text. This has led to the creation of multi-dimensional reading for young people, helping them understand and experience literature, and fostering good reading habits. Especially forms like art, film, and theater, which are more concrete and have very vivid artistic images, can better assist in the reading of classics.

In many people's simple understanding, reading literary classics through drama might just be watching stage adaptations of the classics, or having children perform segments or stories from the classics on stage. However, this is actually a misconception. Here, I will share with you methods to promote a three-dimensional reading of classics through the technique of "process drama."

Process drama does not emphasize the stage performance of plays, but focuses on experiencing the content of literature through dramatic activities. If it is an activity for students, its form is usually: in a class, the teacher and students together use elements and methods of drama (such as role-playing, improvisation, storytelling, and situational performance) to experience and feel the specific characters from a character's perspective; discuss and think about issues in literary stories, thereby gaining a genuine experience and process of learning. This process can stimulate children's interest in learning, allow them to participate in practice firsthand, and deepen their impression of the content.

I will share how I use process drama to learn the first paragraph of the classic dramatic literary work *Peer Gynt* with pre-adolescent children (ages 11-13). This is a thought-provoking classic of dramatic literature, but it is full of metaphors and can be difficult to understand. The first paragraph tells the thrilling story of the protagonist Peer Gynt hunting in the mountains, and the conflict he has with his mother when he returns home.

We don't start by giving students texts and scripts, but rather with a fun "hunting" activity—performing a simulation of the protagonist hunting. This involves several common activities in drama, such as drama games, animal imitation, and mime; in traditional drama learning, these parts might be separate exercises; but here, we integrate them into the plot of the classic literature, allowing students to experience the literary story through drama practice, experiencing Peer Gynt's struggle with animals in the mountains; and, the slightly thrilling and exciting game and hunting scene is something that students of this age love very much, boldly exploring the unknown world in a safe environment and expanding their imagination—who wouldn't love it~

After that, we will ask the children to imagine what Peer Gynt would look like after wrestling with a deer in the mountains, and how his appearance would have changed from when he first set out. At this point, we will invite the students to design costumes for the protagonist. We usually gather some scraps of fabric and old clothes, and have the students participate in the design and transformation, with one of the classmates acting as a model. This process incorporates the element of costumes from the "stage design" in drama, and also allows the students to experience hands-on creation. The process of "tearing clothes" is quite interesting; at first, they are a bit incredulous, their expressions seem to say, "Teacher, can I really damage this piece of clothing?" However, this process releases some students' "destructive tendencies" and "desire for challenge," and through their own hands, they bring the character of Peer Gynt to life, making him vivid and real.

After that, we will have the students work in pairs, with one person playing the role of Peer Gynt returning from hunting, and the other person playing his old mother, improvising a segment of dialogue to see what this mother and son might say to each other. Traditional drama rehearsal methods would first give the students the lines or text, but if the literary language is very obscure, many students would feel intimidated and unwilling to read it; however, by letting them create and improvise their own segment first, it can greatly stimulate their interest. (And this kind of mother-son dialogue is something that children of this age can relate to: a boy who has been playing all day and his worried mother at home.) After they finish performing, we will share a part of the original text with the students, and they will be pleasantly surprised to find that the mother-son dialogue written by the master of literature has many similarities with what they have created, such as the mischievous boy lying and boasting, the old mother worrying about her child, and even scolding him for his torn clothes, just like their own mothers. This immediately bridges the gap between the children and the classics. In the future, when they have the opportunity to read the original work, they will realize that the authors are not writing gibberish, but simply describing everyone's life in another way.

The above examples are all activities from our drama class, where children complete them on the spot without the need to stage a full play or create elaborate effects for an audience. It is more like a way of learning and exploring in a group, a process of bringing language and literature to life, and a way of putting the ideological content of literature into practice.

Of course, I am a drama teacher, and organizing drama activities is my job. As a parent, you might be concerned about what you can do. Besides getting your child to understand drama and participate in drama activities, I think parents themselves can also act like drama teachers: when your child is reading, instead of forcing them to read and write reading reflections, truly make them active and lively, and try performing with them to see if we can feel the characters and the plot in the process. Like what I just shared, the hunting experience, costume making, and mother-daughter conversations can actually be done at home, and might even be more interesting than what we do in class.

I believe that many classic literary masterpieces are written about people, their experiences, their emotions, and their times; they are the "art of humanity." Children are also people, just like all authors, with flesh and blood, and a range of emotions. Therefore, we cannot separate the "human" element from language and text; otherwise, we only learn the superficial aspects of writing, and the true life, feelings, thoughts, and love behind the words will be lost. Drama, precisely by focusing on people and their actions, provides us with a perspective to read and appreciate these so-called "literary masterpieces" from a new angle.

  The above.