Performing Arts

St. Nicholas stresses the importance of theatre arts in the training of students at the school.  Students are expected to express themselves in contextual English with emotion in the plays they perform in.

Each play is practiced and performed as a project for groups of 8 to 15 students and lasts for a semester. The play is due to perform at the end of each semester at the school’s Theatre Hall. Bigger plays are performed at the Theatre Hall of the city.

The practice of theatre arts is conducted throughout all levels (K-12) at St. Nicholas School.

St. Nicholas School is pioneering TED-style rhetoric in Vietnamese schools.  The talks will be held according to the conditions of a school and by international standards as follows:

• Regularly held in the last week of the month with 3 sessions for 3 different students.
• Each session will last for 12 minutes with a 5-minute break for audiences in between.
• Held in the Theatre Hall of the school on a monthly basis and then at the Theatre Hall of the city at the end of each semester exclusively reserved for 3 best performances of the semester.

The school looks for and selects the best candidates for training 1-2 months before the date of the official performance.

The TED-style rhetoric is reserved only for middle and high school students.

Storytelling is another aspect of performing arts at St. Nicholas School in all three levels of kindergarten, primary, and secondary school.

Storytelling plays a critical role in shaping a student’s character and behaviour, as well as in building language fluency for later in life.

At St. Nicholas School, storytelling is conducted as follows:

• Based on techniques of the Reggio Emilia Approach for kindergarten with the exclusion of TV and iPad.
• Practiced and performed by students in the classroom on a regular basis from kindergarten to grade 3.

Storytelling will be held in the Theatre Hall at the school as a weekly enrichment program. Performed by native English teachers with expertise in the art of storytelling, great classic English stories with beautiful illustrations are delivered to primary school students with the purpose of instilling perceptive views of the world while teaching the ability of listening in English as well as speaking.

Storytelling contests are also held at the end of each semester.

A Seasonal Music Festival conducted in English for and by St. Nicholas School students offers a unique form of performing arts at the school.

Individuals and groups are encouraged to register their performance with the school and student councils. Performers will be guided during their practice process by expert musicians and singers.  The show will be held at the Theatre Hall of the city, and will be accompanied by a short musical drama in English.

This great event is an activity shared by students of all ages at St. Nicholas.

As a school teaching American curriculum, debate skills with an emphasis on critical thinking are delivered as a long-run tournament throughout the academic year and in the form of Team Debate. Behind these instructive debates, students learn to break down arguments and communicate with style and grace.

Students are free to make up their own teams and register with the school and student council. Teams will compete by tables and rounds of qualifying, quarterfinals, semi finals, finished off with a final round.

The format is held in international standards with three member teams composed of peers in their school level in an annual tournament called “The St. Nicholas Young Debaters’ Championship.”  Currently reserved for middle and high school students, St. Nicholas School will select the best team and send them to The World Schools Debating Championship held annually in select countries around the world.

St. Nicholas School has a room reserved in our facilities as the debate room, aptly named the Lincoln-Douglas in honor of two debate legends in American history.