LAMDA Exams in India

Our chief examiner, Linda Macrow, travelled to India at the end of 2019 to visit schools who are embracing LAMDA into their curriculums. Here’s a diary of her time in Delhi.

10 December 2019

It’s presentation day at Genesis Global School. I have been invited to present certificates to the 15 teachers who completed the CPD accredited LSPP and LSPC courses last June.

The topic of the school assembly was the power of communication, something that I have long been a believer in. They kindly invited me to speak and I involved some of the students by asking them about their ambitions. The conclusion of our discussion was that whatever their goals, being able to speak and communicate confidently was an essential skill.

Genesis Global school has recognised this by working to incorporate LAMDA examination programmes within the work of every child in the lower school. Due to timetabling challenges LAMDA isn’t an option for the upper school yet, but they are working to build opportunities into the school day for them to study for Level 2 and the UCAS-weighted Level 3 exams.

I spent an hour with the new school director who is in complete support of our work and recognises the value of every child having the opportunity to study communications alongside their other school subjects. We went through some of the challenges posed by introducing speech and drama into the school curriculum, and the support required by the new LAMDA teachers.

After all this, I delivered a three-hour workshop to the LSPP and LSPC trained teachers, topping up their knowledge and exploring some of the challenges and questions that have cropped up since they completed their courses and started putting theory into action.

In the evening, I was back in meetings, discussing plans for the week.

11 December 2019

Starting off the day, I went to Pathways School for a meeting with their head teacher and the heads of their dance, music and drama departments. They want to train up their teachers to incorporate the Introductory and Level 1 exams into their curriculum for the junior school and we explored ways of bringing Level 2 and 3 into the work of the senior school.

From there I headed off to the Shriram School. One of the teachers has as a daughter studying in London, where she is also taking LAMDA. She plans to move back to Delhi soon and wants to continue with her LAMDA Exams. She just needs somewhere to do it!

Off to the Delhi Public School. They don’t currently offer any arts education in the school, but the head has already introduced a daily sports session and is keen to move the curriculum away from the purely academic. Looks like there may be a chance for a dedicated daily arts hour too!

12 December 2019

It’s assessment time at the British School – Public Speaking, Acting and Introductory.

I stayed to have lunch with the staff, who are all very positive about the progress LAMDA is making in their school. They praise our quality and accuracy of assessments, the content of the syllabi, and our support for teachers. They are keen to have all the junior school doing LAMDA, and are encouraging the students in the senior school to engage as much as possible with the enrichment programme of after-school clubs and activities. They are also buzzing with ideas for festivals and celebrations of speech and drama, as well as working with other schools.

13 December 2019

More assessments at the British School. This time Entry Level Acting and Public Speaking.

Exams done I had the chance to visit Roshan Seth to talk about LAMDA in India. We had a wonderful chat about how LAMDA Exams work and how they benefit so many people, not just those who want to enter the acting industry.