How puppetry class helps District 54 English language learners
An unusual partnership played out last week when students in the Playful Puppeteers Club from Churchill School in Schaumburg set up their stage and puppets in front of Opera in Focus, a professional puppet theater in Rolling Meadows.
The young puppeteers from Schaumburg are all English Learner students, whose participation in the club strengthens their language and reading skills, as well as their self-confidence and teamwork, their teachers said.
They perform under the direction of EL teacher Arlene Duval and instructional aide Nancy Quintana, who adapt stories into plays while working with students on everything from diction and articulation, to performance skills.
"We're always thinking of fun ways for our English learners to develop their oral language and fluency skills," Duval says. "It's amazing to see how much they progress throughout the year. Just performing behind a stage is a safe environment for them to use their voices and say more words."
Current club members are from Japan, Korea and Poland, consequently the Playful Puppeteers performed a Polish folk tale called "Lacing, the Cobbler."
One of the group's senior members, fifth-grader Zuzanna Balak, brought the story to the club. She came to this country at the age of 2 from Poland, and after arriving her mother bought her a book with traditional Polish folk tales, told in both English and Polish.
Still, knowing the story and performing it as a puppet show are two different things, Zuzanna and her classmates learned.
"It's taught me to speak up and project my voice," says Zuzanna, who operates the title character in the show. "I've learned new words and how to say them properly."
Another club member, Karol Wilk, said he enjoyed making his hand puppet - a duck - and learning how to get across emotion during the show.
"You really have to yell," says the soft-spoken fourth-grader.
In bringing their show to Opera in Focus in Rolling Meadows for their final performance of the year, these students came full circle with master puppeteers Justin and Shayne Snyder.
"This is the only school-based puppet group that we work with," Justin Synder said. "It's amazing to see how much they blossom throughout the year."
After the Playful Puppeteers performed their show, they sat back for a one hour-show of scenes from the operas "Pagliacci" and Puccini's "Tosca," as well as a selection of songs from "Sweeney Todd," "Cats" and "Les Miserables."
Afterward, students went backstage to see some of the stage craft that goes into the show, including seeing the intricate rod puppets with their elaborate costumes and hand-carved faces, as well as some of the technical aspects, such as the sound and lighting board as well as the fog machine.
This is the 25th year of the professional puppet theater, sponsored by the Rolling Meadows Park District, and the 18th year the Snyder brothers have been behind it.
They have worked with the Churchill students since 2012, visiting the school with some of their puppets and offering workshops on how to improve their puppetry.
Award-winning puppeteer Bill Fosser brought the puppet theater to Rolling Meadows primarily as a way to advance an appreciation of opera to new audiences, but increasingly the program works to preserve the analog art form of puppetry.
"It's so awesome for us to be able to introduce aspects of puppetry to a new generation," Justin Synder said. "When we see young people so talented and interested in puppets, we know that puppetry is always going to be there."