The students in Jennifer Golonka’s dance class are beginning to choreograph in small groups. They invent movements and spatial pathways using language to negotiate and problem solve as they work. The dance-making provides an authentic opportunity for the students to communicate, and the supportive collaboration provides a safe space to try something new.
Sarah is a 5th grade advanced English Language Learner at PS 20Q. She is an eager student, but one who is still developing academically. In dance, she finds a creative outlet where she builds a strong artistic voice and grows into a leader among her peers.
Mei-Yin Ng has been teaching Traditional Chinese Dance and Creative Movement at PS 20Q for 8 years. This combination of forms is essential to her identity as a Teaching Artist working with a diverse community of students that includes many English Language Learners.
Jia-Xing is a first year English Language Learner at PS 20 in Queens. He is also a naturally gifted dancer. We see how, through his engagement with Teaching Artist Mei-Yin’s dance unit, his command of the English language greatly improves, and he becomes a leader among his peer group.
Teaching Artists Alda Reuter and Peter Bogdonos generate vocabulary charts with their ELL students. We see how using the charts in dance work helps ground the learning of vocabulary through the physical activity of dance. Jason, an ELL student, explains how he uses the dance vocabulary across his curriculum.
Students in Ms. Sarantakis’ 3rd/4th grade class are learning how to perform and create a movement canon. Three students – all beginner English Language Learners, and each of whom speaks a different first language – must work together to create a movement phrase and perform it in a canon. The boys use English, gestures and […]
In Kim and Nami’s 4/5th grade dance residency, the artists provide students with a clear artistic process to help students develop their own improvisations. This structured step-by-step process frees students to work through artistic problems independently, putting the power in the students to explore movement freely, make artistic choices and decide how to develop their […]
Students in Maya’s 4/5th grade class are learning the beginning of a piece of choreography. The artists use observation and description to help students understand the movement sequence, allowing multiple entry points for different kinds of learners. This experience helps students to learn and understand a piece of choreography, and it builds skills students will […]
A 5th grade student at PS 19Q is a new arrival to the country and a beginner English Language Learner. She is learning to make dances and to speak English at the same time. Teaching Artist Jen Golonka’s Tool Box of Dance elements provides visual language support, while classmates serve as translators and collaborators.
Students in Carol and Colin’s class have begun to choreograph dance pieces, midway through their dance residency with teaching artists Kim Grier and Nami Kagami. In this video, one group shares and receives feedback for the first time from their peers and a teacher. We see the dance again two weeks later, influenced by the […]
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