Latest / Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast / June Meet Up: What to do after exams?

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June Meet Up: What to do after exams? · Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, hello everybody.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the June meetup.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: What to do after exams is our main topic today.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Although as usual, we may wander around and talk about other things.
• 0:15
  So I will get the ball rolling,
• 0:17
  but I would love to hear what you have to say as well.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: What I've noticed, so this is...
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: particularly for the schools that we go into.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because our studio in the garden at the back of the house in Southgate,
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: we do exams,
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: we do group classes,
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: we do exams every year in December.
• 0:39
  And then in the spring term,
• 0:41
  we do festivals and in the summer term,
• 0:42
  we do other things.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not really so much an issue with those groups.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: But when we go into schools,
• 0:50
  especially schools where you are entering students as they are
• 0:53
  ready for exams into
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: public centres,
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: So being in North London,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: all of the schools that we go into where we deliver Lambda,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: the students take their exams at the public centre in Barron's Court.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, there are exams there almost every weekend.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: So,
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: as they're approaching readiness,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: we check the dates with parents,
• 1:12
  we enter them for the exams and their parents take them down to
• 1:15
  the public centre
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: to take their exams.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one school that we go into where we've got maybe 70 students and...
• 1:27
  We have some students who are ready for exams as early as
• 1:30
  April,
• 1:33
  probably is the earliest.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then some are in May, some are in June.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the ones that take their exams in April,
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: we will often try and then get in another exam later.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: So,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: for example,
• 1:50
  I've had a few students who have done sort of grade four and
• 1:54
  five acting and they
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: were motivated and they were ready quite early.
• 1:59
  And the choice that I made with them was to say,
• 2:01
  why don't we do a public speaking exam?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: maybe at a slightly lower grade.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I've had one girl who's done grade five acting,
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: she's now doing grade four public speaking,
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: because I want to get it done quickly and easily.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it's a think of it as a bonus exam.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: The trouble comes a bit more with the ones that are taking,
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: maybe just finishing off exams now,
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: and they've got three or four weeks left of school.
• 2:31
  And it feels maybe you don't wanna necessarily start working on
• 2:38
  the next grade straight away.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: You wanna give them a bit of breathing space.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Although of course that is an option,
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: just start working on the next grade,
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: choosing pieces,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: whatever.
• 2:48
  And so one of the things I wanted to talk about today is what
• 2:52
  do we do with those
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: students where you've got three or four weeks
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: maybe not ready to start working on the next grade,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: but you also don't want the parent to say,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: well,
• 3:02
  is there any point in carrying on with these lessons for the
• 3:05
  last few weeks of
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: term?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Can we just give notice?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then you, you know, your income is affected.
• 3:13
  So of course you need to have really clear information about a
• 3:16
  notice period so
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: that parents don't just say,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: well,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: they've taken their exam now,
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: why are they coming to classes?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, hopefully you've already
• 3:25
  been paid for those lessons and you're not still chasing them
• 3:29
  for payment or
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: anything like that.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: So what meaningful work can we do in those sessions?
• 3:36
  Anyone want to jump in there and either say if that's an issue
• 3:43
  for you or not and
• 3:45
  what things you do with your students in that time before I
• 3:50
  carry on my monologue?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Rachel.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is an issue.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I've done that's worked quite well is interview technique.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they produce the CV and they learn some interview skills.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's quite a good one to do.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then another one,
• 4:07
  but I've only managed to persuade one person to do this so far
• 4:10
  is like a sight
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: reading auditions masterclass.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: We only had two weeks in the end to do it,
• 4:16
  but it worked quite well for this girl because she goes to a
• 4:17
  lot of auditions and
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: she's dyslexic.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we did sight reading skills.
• 4:21
  And then just me just throwing monologues at her that she had a
• 4:25
  minute to read through.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not the whole monologue, but maybe, you know, these two paragraphs.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then stage it on the hoof,
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: get up and see if she could not just read it,
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: but act it out.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we built up to that, obviously.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Those are quite nice little things, but we're talking about year sixes.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure how well that translates to the older ones, but...
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: OK, I think that's a really good one.
• 4:48
  I'm going to write that down on a piece of paper so that I can
• 4:51
  collate a nice list
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: of ideas for like little mini things that we can do.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the other thing I should say is that probably.