2008 is the National Year of Reading, a year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms. It aims to help build a greater national passion for reading in England – for children, families and adult learners alike.  This lesson shows how drama may be used to enhance literacy with Key Stages 1 and 2. It is based on The Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Ten-second objects: Begin the lesson by asking the children to get into small groups. Call out the name of an object and tell the group to make its shape out of their own bodies, while you count down slowly from ten to zero.

Use the following objects: a flower, a fishing boat, a palace, an Emperor’s throne. Compare the ways in which groups have made the objects and encourage them to use different levels. It's surprising how quickly these objects can be made when there is no time to discuss!

Begin the story: Read aloud the first part of the story about the palace gardens and the fisherman listening to the nightingale. The children will notice that the objects they made are part of the story.

Visualisation: With your eyes closed, visualise the Emperor's garden and palace. Try to see, hear and smell the flowers with silver bells in your mind. What else can you see in the garden? (You could play some suitable music here.) Ask the group to share what they have seen.

Role play: Imagine that the room we are in has now become the royal garden. Get into a space on your own and imagine that you are in one of your favourite parts of the garden. You are one of the royal gardeners and have some jobs to do in that spot. Mime the activities involved. Afterwards, ask individuals to explain and show what they were doing to the rest of the group.

Continue the story: Read the next part of the story, describing the travellers and continuing up to where the Emperor reads about the nightingale.

Pair improvisation: With a partner, imagine you are a tourist visiting the Emperor's city for the first time. Decide what you want to see, then walk around the city and point out some of the wonderful sights to each other. Be really impressed!

Still images: Join up with another pair so that you are in groups of four. Imagine you are a group of tourists – maybe a family – who have spent the whole day in the city taking lots of photographs. Work out with your group three still images of your favourite moments in the day. Give each one a title. Afterwards the group can present these to each other.

Thought tunnel (Conscience Alley) and Teacher in role: Divide the class into two lines, facing each other. Remind the children about the books that the Emperor read, which described his city. Explain that you are going to take on the role of the Emperor, who is trying to decide what the best feature of his city is. The children are going to imagine that they are pages from the books. As you walk down the middle of the line, they are each going to tell you what they think is the best feature of the city, so that the Emperor hears about as many different things as possible. Explain that the Emperor has not yet heard about the nightingale and they must not mention it, because he does not read about it until the last page.

Carry a book as though you are reading from it. Walk slowly down the line, listening to each child in turn. Consider each idea aloud, trying to decide which you think is the best. When there are just two children left – one at the end of each line – turn the last page in the book. Ask the two children, “What is this bird described here?”. Let them tell you about the nightingale. You could ask the other children if they have heard about it too.

You can easily develop more drama activities by applying the games and techniques to the rest of the story.