ABSTRACT
This chapter uses whole group drama to create an imaginary community as a context for writing in upper Key Stage Two. An imaginary community is an extremely flexible strategy that can accommodate a wide range of contexts for learning, including writing. The term community encompasses a wide range of contexts, including groups of residents in a street, a block of flats, a village, a town, an island, a castle or a city suburb. It can also include employees in a factory or in the tourist industry and groups with a common interest such as children who have created a secret club or play area.
The drama can be based on a community in a story or inhabitants reflecting a particular historical period such as a Viking settlement or a seaside village in Victorian times.
The community itself can be developed from a basic given outline or created entirely by the children. Most contexts have the potential to provide a range of opportunities for writing but what tends to motivate the writing is not so much the context, as the sense of ownership and belonging created by the ongoing drama. A strong sense of ownership will accommodate pauses in the drama for the children to complete relevant writing tasks. In an ongoing drama about an imaginary community, it is the drama rather than the teacher that drives the need to write.
