Why choose Speech and Drama classes for Teenagers? There are so many different activities out there and it can be very hard to motivate your teen to get out and sign up. So why should you encourage them to try speech and drama?

I have included my top three reasons below on why I believe teenagers should choose speech and drama classes in Autumn 2022.

Drama Develops empathy in Teenagers

Teenagers are in the process of discovering who they are. They express this through trying out new fashions, new hairstyles and even new friends! Drama classes allow teens to try on different characters and discover what feels best on them. It can challenge them to behave more confidently, or more kindly, and can allow them to explore darker emotions such as anger and fear in a controlled environment where they feel safe. At the end of the exercise or class, the character comes off, just like the costume, and they are able to return to themselves having experienced a brief moment ‘in someone else’s shoes’.

Speech classes help teenagers academically

Students of speech and drama study a wide varied of texts, authors and styles which gives them a wonderful foundation in english literature. Teenagers sitting speech and drama exams can choose to perform texts that are on their junior or leaving cert syllabus, thus giving them a deeper insight into their coursework. Or, they can choose to explore brand new texts that give them a wider experience with which to draw from when doing their own creative writing. Many of our students comment on how they breeze through the poetry section of their school exams. By grade 6, students will have outpassed leaving cert required knowledge on form, structure, performance and context. Unseen poetry sections are no challenge to a teenager who has practiced sight performance!

Speech and Drama provides a Creative outlet for Teenagers

Teenager’s spend approximately 30 hours a week in school, and then another 10 hours doing homework and studying! As the saying goes, the EARTH without ART is just EH… Creative activity reduces anxiety and increases happiness. Young children are creative in abundance! You can see this in their free play which is filled with imaginative games. As these children develop into young adults, it is important that as well as nurturing their physical wellbeing, we promote a healthy mind too. A drama class is not results based and focuses on the process and development of art. This is a time for your teenager to just be silly. They can joke and mess about, let their imaginations run wild, and have fun, relieving all the stress built up during the week.

There are many other reasons why you should choose speech and drama classes for teenagers. These are just my personal top three! Other reasons include building confidence, devloping teamwork and leaderships skills, exploring different career options, and many more.

If you would like to choose a speech and drama class for your teenager this Autumn, get in touch. We have speech and drama classes for teenagers in Rathmines and Dun Laoghaire. You can find out more about our speech and drama classes for teenager’s here: Courses for Teenagers

To find out about all our courses on offer in Autumn 2022, including courses for children and adults, visit our courses page!