A visit from an (ex) LAMDA Examiner

A visit from an (ex) LAMDA Examiner

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gabimaddocks.substack.com [https://gabimaddocks.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Kerry Woods-Shelley, who has taught LAMDA for 36 years and examined for 20 years (until retiring last year) joined us at the GSDC July Meet up and let us pick her ample brains! As well as answering the questions below, she also covered these areas: * Common mistakes that teachers make * Ensuring that your students’ introductions help contextualise their pieces, which can help the examiner award marks (even though the introduction itself is not marked) * Approaching pieces from the perspective of the Knowledge Questions Here are the questions that teachers asked Kerry: 1) There have been some recent reports of students being interrupted and cut short during the knowledge section. Is there anything we can do as teachers to prepare them for this? 2) From a teacher preparing for PCertLAM for the first time: how much movement is expected/allowed for the poem and prose extract? In V&P up to G8 some students haven’t done more than a few small gestures – does this change with PCertLAM given that they have to provide an explanation of staging and movement for all of their pieces? 3) In Speaking in Public exams, what are examiners looking for in body language/staging to show a contrast between an entertaining or informal speech and a formal speech? 4) How do examiners feel about very young students taking high grades? I know you have to be objective, and can’t pre-judge… but is it unpopular with examiners? 5) For an ROA exam, my pupil had to wait for over 30 minutes before the examiner appeared on screen. Then, when the exam finally started, there was a technical glitch and my pupil could only see herself on the screen. She was quite upset. What would you consider an appropriate amount of time to wait for an online exam to begin? 6) How does the choice of piece affect the marks? For example, if a student chooses a prose extract from a book aimed at quite young readers but it’s a high grade, would the examiner mark them down? 7) What would a Lamda examiner would do if a child recites confidently and well but has difficulty in pronouncing V/W/TH? I have a student with a strong accent, which affects his clarity, but it’s not his fault. I actually passed the final question onto Kerry after the session had ended because I found the email in my junk folder! Here’s her reply: This probably would not be a problem. A mark maybe taken from clarity of diction criterion, but not enough to change brackets eg 17 rather than 19 or 20. And in the feed forward notes I might say something about continuing to strengthen some consonant and digraph sounds. You can find the answers to the other questions, and much more, in the video - or by listening to it in podcast form on Spotify (just search for “Gabi’s Speech and Drama Community” and make sure you connect your Spotify account to your Substack account to make sure you get access to the full recording, rather than just the preview). For those who don’t have time right now to watch or listen but don’t want to miss out, here’s a summary of what was covered:

Teaching the Mechanics of Breathing

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gabimaddocks.substack.com [https://gabimaddocks.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] This week’s video is designed to support both teachers and students navigating Grade 6 Acting, Verse and Prose, or Speaking in Public, particularly when it comes to breathing techniques and voice production. It comes as the result of a question asked a training session this week: “But how do you actually teach it?” It’s a brilliant question and highlighted an important point - I’ve shared lots of resources and handouts on this question, but I’ve never actually gone through the sequence in which I teach students about the mechanism of breathing. A Simple Three Step Teaching Sequence This video works best as part of a three-step learning process: STEP 1: Slow, clear explanation. Don’t rush it. Depending on the length of your classes, it might take the whole lesson. During this step, I recommend that your student listens rather than taking notes. They need to hear and understand the concept. STEP 2: Independent consolidation. They go away, think about what they’ve learned in class and deepen that understand through reading and watching videos. STEP 3: Teach it back. At the next class, as them to explain it back to you. This is the real test: if they can teach it clearly, then they understand it. This video can sit at Step One (initial teaching) or Step Two (consolidation) depending on what you need. If you feel confident teaching the mechanism of breathing yourself, then go for it, and ask them to watch the video for homework. If you are slightly shaky on the concepts, then use the video as the initial teaching tool and ask them to go home and look at other materials to consolidate what they’ve learned. You can use the slideshow that I’ve shared at the bottom of this article (the one I use in my own classes) and here’s a link to the now famous video of my lovely husband explaining breathing: What the Video Covers The focus is on the mechanics of breathing and how this underpins vocal technique. It explains the following key concepts:

Voice Workshop from Imogen Read

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gabimaddocks.substack.com [https://gabimaddocks.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] I’m very excited to share this with you because it genuinely exceeded my expectations. I haven’t done any proper work on voice since I was at drama school LAST CENTURY! And so all my vocal warm ups are tired and remembered quite hazily from long ago. I loved learning new exercises and an approach that will really engage our students, young and old. We were joined by voice coach Imogen Read, who brought a rare combination of drama school expertise and real-world LAMDA teaching experience. Below is a summary of what we covered, but you will need to watch (and join in with!) the video in order to really understand the principles, exercises and techniques. The foundations of safe, effective voice work Before jumping into exercises, we looked at the five building blocks of healthy voice use: * A free body (alignment, not tension) * A free breath (low, responsive—not forced) * Easy phonation (no hard or breathy starts) * Resonance (letting sound carry, not pushing it) * Articulation strength (clarity without strain) One line that stuck with everyone: tension kills vibration. Practical vocal health * Why hydration is a long game (not a pre-exam fix) * The power of “vocal naps” * How to use humming and yawning as reset tools * What to do when there’s pain or coughing A full, teachable warm-up Imogen shared a complete warm-up structure built around a “vocal shower” metaphor: playful, memorable and effective. It moved through: * Waking up the body (yawn + stretch) * Breath connection (fricative “steam” sounds) * Resonance activation (gentle vibration work) * Range exploration (sirens without strain) * Articulation (speaking with ease, not effort) Solving the three most common student issues This is where things got especially useful for teaching:

Teaching LAMDA in Different Settings

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gabimaddocks.substack.com [https://gabimaddocks.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] Our March Meet Up focused on teaching LAMDA in various settings, and we discussed different teaching environments and their challenges. We explored: * Teaching Online via Zoom/Google Meet: which subjects work best * The Challenges of Teaching in Students’ Homes: managing behaviour when the parent is in earshot! * School-based Teaching and the various payment models: Admin vs Profit * Profit Margins in Different Settings: don’t forget to factor in indirect costs * A Cost-Profit Breakdown Calculator designed by me, just for Speech and Drama teachers You can find out all the details by watching the video above OR by listening to the podcast on Spotify (just make sure you link your Substack email address to your Spotify account to get access to the entire episode, and all the previous ones too). If you don’t have an hour spare to watch/listen… then here’s a summary of what we covered, and of course the very helpful spreadsheet - you fill in your income and costs per class, and the spreadsheet will calculate your profit per class and across the whole year. You can see in an instant what the loss/benefit will be if you add or take away a student, increase the teacher’s fee or increase the cost to parents. This is how I double check that every class I’m running stays in profit… and if it isn’t I can see what the easiest fix would be. Teaching Online via Zoom/Google Meet: Some subjects lend themselves more easily to online lessons: Verse and Prose, and Speaking in Public - there are no requirements about effective use of performance space. When teaching Acting/Devising online then make sure the student has a good set up, with a clearly marked performance space that fulfils the requirements of an ROA Exam. You can find these in this guide [https://www.lamda.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Version_9_ROA_Guide_for_Private_Centres_February_2026.pdf], which clearly explains the floor space required and how much of the student needs to be visible to the examiner for each exam (e.g. waist up, knees up, feet up). Of course you can teach online and still prepare students for live exams - in which case, my recommendation would definitely be to have the final three or four lessons in person. Parents like not having to leave the house so it makes it easier for them, and it opens up new opportunities like teaching students in other countries. For example, teaching students in China means that you can work online in the morning with overseas students, and after-school doing live or Zoom lessons for UK students. Costs are low, except for a pro Zoom account which is less than £20/month, and you can have students coming back to back without a gap in between for pick ups/drop offs etc - so it is a very economical way of teaching. Teaching in Students’ Homes The logistical challenge here is covering the costs of public transport/petrol/parking and travel time for what might be quite a short lesson, if it’s 1:1. This can be overcome by teaching for more hours by including siblings (e.g. three siblings for 30 minutes each gives you 1.5 hours teaching time), or charging parents for your travel time as well as your contact time. If you’re lucky you can also find several families within a very short distance of each other, giving you just a few minutes travel time between each one. Another challenge is managing behaviour - this can be more difficult in a student’s home than in a school setting, especially when parents are present and allow behaviours that wouldn’t be tolerated in a classroom (e.g. eating during the lesson or jumping on the sofa). School-based Teaching There are two main models that I have come across here, and the one that works best depends largely on why the school is offering LAMDA classes to their students:

Suspensory Pauses

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit gabimaddocks.substack.com [https://gabimaddocks.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7] I was teaching a Grade 5 Verse and Prose student on Monday, and he was struggling with suspensory pauses… as I was explaining what they are and how they work I found myself getting quite excited! They are my favourite pause, and do work magic in poetry. I wanted to share my enthusiasm for these curious little creatures a bit more widely, and so I’ve created a video for you to watch yourselves, but also to share with your students if you think it would be helpful for them! Other posts that are relevant that you may want to look at: * The Difference Between Verse and Prose: a teaching idea. [https://open.substack.com/pub/gabimaddocks/p/teaching-exercises-2-the-difference?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web] * Verse and Prose Knowledge: Grade 4 and 5 [https://open.substack.com/pub/gabimaddocks/p/verse-and-prose-knowledge-grade-4?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web] Please note: the syllabus has changed since I wrote this post - students will no longer fail the exam if they get ONE pause wrong, but the rest of the information is still accurate. * Shakespeare Level 2 knowledge: Caesural pauses and enjambment [https://open.substack.com/pub/gabimaddocks/p/shakespeare-level-2-knowledge-part?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web] * Pauses and Phrases: Grade 5 Verse and Prose Knowledge [https://open.substack.com/pub/gabimaddocks/p/pauses-and-phrases?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web] Below is the screen I shared in the video with a summary of suspensory pauses: * What they are? * How do do a suspensory pause? * Examples. Feel free to print this out and share it with your students!