Pair 3 reads the script and add an action that is appropriate for the content and is consistent to the tone suggested by the adverbs. Remind students that not every action needs to be a grand sweeping gesture; small actions can enhance the content if they are performed well.
This would be a good opportunity to teach or revise phrasal verbs.
For example:
The students have to respond creatively and critically to the work of Pairs 1 and 2 in order to keep improving on the original piece of work and should be using English to discuss an action that fits in with the content. The pair adding the action should write ‘Pair 3’ and their names below ‘Pair 2’ near the top of the page. By now, the original acrostic script may look quite messy, as the second and third pairs have added their contribution. However, this will be a good reminder to the students that good writing has to be drafted and re-drafted and that the drafting process produces a better piece of writing in the end.
Everyone in the class has now had the chance to:
ο write a first draft of an acrostic script;
ο add adverbs to the script to show the tone of spoken words;
ο add actions to the script to elaborate on the adverbs;
ο read and discuss two other scripts besides their own; and ο proofread other scripts for spelling and grammatical errors.
When Pair 3 has finished adding the actions and added their names to Pair 2’s, the work is then passed back to Pair 1. When everyone receives and reads their script, they can see how other students have responded and added to their writing.
From page to stage: the performance phase
After all the Pair 1 partners have had a chance to look at their scripts, they can start planning to perform the scripts. The aim is not for students to give an Oscar-winning performance, but to gain an understanding and to apply the basic rules of performance. It does not matter if students have never been to the theatre. The lives of most students are saturated with drama — from television and movies. They know from watching that a good performance is one in which:
ο the acting is confident; and
ο the actors are audible and expressive.
Meredith ( angrily, pointing her finger ) : Ahem! Where have you been! It’s 6 a.m.!
Tad ( defensively, taking off his jacket ) : But …you know I like to… go for an early walk, dear.
Meredith ( suspiciously, grabbing Tad’s arm : Can you look me in the eye and tell me the truth?
When teachers ask their students to read aloud or give an oral presentation, they often give corrective feedback such as ‘Speak up!’ and ‘Try to speak with more expression!’ to the students. However, when teachers act out a bad performance and ask students to comment. the students will realise quickly how they should act. Modeling bad performance can be very effective as an instructional tool, as the teacher can help students define a good performance. Once the students have derived the criteria for a good performance, they should adhere to them.
Establishing the criteria for a good performance
• Model the bad behaviour using any scripts.
• Tell the students to rate the performance with a mark up to 10.
• The teacher holds a book in front of his face to obscure it.
• With no eye contact, the teacher backs away from the audience and speaks too softly to be heard in a flat, monotone voice.
• The students will surely award a low mark to the teacher — perhaps even a minus mark.
• Then the teacher asks, ‘How can I improve my performance?’.
• As the students make such suggestions as ‘Speak louder’, ‘Don’t hold the book/paper in front of your face’, ‘Use an interesting voice’ or ‘Be confident’, the teacher writes the suggestions on the blackboard. The criteria for a good performance are thus established.
Allow a short time for the Pair 1 students to rehearse their scripts with the additions by Pairs 2 and 3. The students can be asked to rate their own performance as well as the performance of their peers. Also, the script-writing activity could be made more ‘dramatic’
by getting the students to describe the costume and make-up for the characters or even the set and lighting. Acrostic script writing is an effective process when students are creating their own plays. The students could work in groups to further develop their scripts into five-act plays. Once the acrostic scripts have been written, the students can start to move away from the acrostic format and work on making the lines better and more interesting.
NETworking: Using Drama in the English Classrooom
Warm-up Activities
Warm-up activities are an essential prelude to drama activities as they help students to physically relax, gather their concentration and get ready for the drama.
Warm-ups for the classroom Three Changes *
Select three student volunteers. Ask them to stand in front of the class. The class members are told to look at the three students very carefully as they will soon step out into the hall and change three things about their appearance, e.g. push up a sleeve, untie a shoe, take off a watch. The three students then make their changes quickly and re-enter the room. When they re-enter the classroom, their classmates will guess the three changes, one student at a time.
Variation: Students get into pairs. Each student observes their partner carefully. The students turn their backs to one another and each makes three changes in their appearance simultaneously. The teacher calls for everyone to turn and face their partner. Students take turns to guess the three changes that were made by their partners.
Two Sticks
Two Sticks is a theatre game that emphases the skill of pantomime. It asks a student to problem-solve and to use his imagination as much as possible.
Equipment – two sticks (straws) of equal length and size. Teachers should show the group the two sticks and ask the students what they see. Of course, the reply will be two sticks.
The teacher will say, “No, I’m not holding two sticks. I’m holding a ‘violin’”. The teacher will proceed to create objects such as skis, knitting needles, chopsticks, a violin and bow, earrings and rabbit ears out of the two sticks. The sticks can be turned into larger or smaller items. The key is how they are used. The teacher will now pass the sticks to a student who will create an object. The student will not tell the class what the object is – the rest of the group have to guess what his object is.
Variation: Two balls, two scarves – there must be two.
Ten (easy number counting game)
Students sit in a circle. The game is a counting game from 1 – 10 around the circle.
Whoever is ‘10’ is out of the game. Students are allowed to say either one number, two numbers or three numbers.
Example: Carol: 1, 2 Debbie: 3, 4, 5 Sam: 6 Tim: 7, 8, 9 Louise: (is automatically out of the game because she will be “10”)
The game continues with the next person starting at number 1 again and so forth. Students are not allowed to ‘think’ about what number they will say, or if the game is played in teams, team members should not tell players what to say. There are two interesting variations:
1. everyone for him/herself 2. boys vs. girls (really fun because they have to think about the numbers they are calling
so the boys will try to get the girls out and vice-versa) Guess the Word
(Small cards with English words are made up ahead of time and put in a container.) A Captain from Team 1 volunteers to give his/her teammates ‘clues’ as to what the words on the cards are (I also let them do some acting out if they wish). As soon as a teammate yells out the word like ‘house’ and is correct, the Captain goes on to the next word and continues giving clues while the players guess the words until the time is up. Students have 2-3 minutes to try to guess as many English words as they can. Points are scored for every correct answer. Then Team 2’s Captain will be given a new set of words and must do the same for his/her team. (Points are noted on the board.)
The Question Game
This game is similar to the TV show game ‘Jeopardy’. Here is how it works. Usually when a teacher asks a ‘question’, a student will give the ‘answer’. In this game, the teacher gives the ‘answer’ and a student must say what the ‘question’ is. I make up about 25 - 30 questions and answers ahead of time. All the answers have to do with the school: teachers’
names, places in the school, subjects, how many lessons in a day, where kids can go for lunch etc. So, they must ask a question that specifically pertains to their school/students.
Answers Possible Questions (many variations)
1. Tsuen Wan Government Sec. Sch. What is the name of our school?
2. Ms Gyokery Who is our teacher?
Who teaches us Oral English?
3. The Language Room Where is English Corner held?
4. Green What is the colour of Pine House?
What is the colour of our uniform?
Set Up: A desk with a candy/pen on it in the middle
A player from Team 1 - girls and a player from Team 2 - boys stand at the desk with their hands behind their backs. I give them the ‘answer’. The first player to pick up the candy/pen, gets to answer first. If the answer is right, their team scores a point. If they are wrong, it goes to the other player to answer. Players must answer by themselves. If both players at the desk still don’t know how to answer, then I let it pass to the team members to help out. If the answer is right, but the grammar is wrong, I give them 2 chances to correct it, then it passes to the other team. You can start the game by writing a few helpful ‘Wh-’ question words on the board like who, what, where, when or how much/how many…as a quick review.
Students love the competition of this game. If your students have very limited language proficiency, or have short attention span, only give 1 question per player. 2 per player can usually be achieved. Add up the points for Game 1 and Game 2 — whoever wins gets a candy prize. Or, you can give prizes for each game played.
NETworking: Using Drama in the English Classrooom
These games need to be played in a fairly large space, as students are asked to move around quite a lot. If the games are played in a crowded classroom, the students might injure themselves as they might bump into each other or into the classroom furniture. Before playing these games, remind the participants about the importance of not hurting themselves and others.
Shark (If the group is from many different levels and participants don’t know each other.) Participants stand in a group. Everyone says their name. Person in the middle is the ‘shark’.
The shark moves towards one person to ‘eat’ them. That person escapes from the shark by pointing to another person and the ‘shark’ then moves quickly to eat the person pointed to. If the first person the shark tries to eat, does not respond quickly enough, the shark ‘eats’
them and that person then becomes the shark.
The Hawk, The Hen and The Chicks
This is a Cantonese game. Participants form a line. At the front of the line is the mother hen, protecting all her chicks or all the participants behind her. In front of this group, facing the mother hen is a hungry hawk, who wants to eat the baby chicken, or the person at the back.
The group has to move (while remaining in a line) to protect the baby chick. The hawk can move in any direction. When the baby chick has been eaten, change the students who are playing the hawk and mother hen.
M’bele *
Participants stand in a circle, holding hands. Inside the circle is a hunter and baby deer.
Both are blindfolded. The hunter has to catch the deer and the deer has to try to avoid being caught. The participants call ‘m’bele’ loudly when the hunter is close to the deer to alert the deer that the hunter is nearby and more softly when the hunter and deer move away from each other. The game ends when the deer is caught. Then, another deer and hunter may be chosen to play again.
The Young Wives, The Old Husbands and The Young Lover
The group is arranged in two circles. In the inner circle, the young attractive ‘wives’ sit on chairs. Their old jealous ‘husbands’ stand directly behind them. The young lover, who is trying to tempt the young wives to run away stands slightly to the side, but everyone must be able to see the young lover. The young lover looks at the young wife and winks at the one he wants to tempt. The young wife makes a dash for it, and the old ‘husband’ must react very quickly to grab the young ‘wife’ to stop her running away. If the young wife gets away, she becomes the young lover. The person who was the old husband of that wife then sits to become a young wife and the one who was originally the young lover becomes the old husband. This game must move quickly. Also, the old husbands must stand with their hands at their side, not poised to catch the young wife.
If You Have...
1. The students will form on chairs in a circle.
2. One student, named ‘It’, stands in the middle of the circle.
3. ‘It’ makes a call to the seated students. For example, if ‘It’ says:
“If you have blue socks...”
3. Students who fit the description will get up and find another seat. ‘It’ must also find a seat.
4. The student who is left without a chair will become the new ‘It’.
Bang *
1. Everyone stands in a circle. (in front of their chairs) 2. All players say their English name.
3. Tell students to pay close attention to the names of the people on your right and left sides.
4. One person (teacher) makes the first call — s/he will call any student’s name.
5. When students hear their name, they ‘duck’ or pop down.
6. When they ‘duck’, the 2 people on either side of them must turn to each other and hold out a ‘pretend’ gun and say ‘BANG’.
7. The player who is FIRST (and hopefully the loudest also) wins; the person who gets shot is out of the game. The player who has popped down, gets to pop back up again and continue to play (If there is a “tie”, tell students to say another name.)
8. When a player is out of the game, s/he sits behind the players and makes the next name call while continuing to watch the game.
9. The game continues in this manner until there are 2 people left for a western-style
‘SHOOT OUT’.
10. Have the 2 players stand back to back and like a western show-down, count out numbers and the 2 players must walk forward. When the teacher yells ‘SHOOT’, the 2 players must quickly turn around and say ‘BANG’. Whoever is the quickest, is the winner.
NETworking: Using Drama in the English Classrooom
The Pillow Game
1. Easy version: everyone uses his/her own name.
2. Difficult version: everyone takes the name of an animal/a cartoon character/a country. (I write these on the board.)
3. Everyone sits in a circle. One person, ‘IT’, is in the middle with a small pillow/rolled up newspaper/cloth etc.
4. One person from the circle stands up and says his name first and then ‘CALLS’ some-one else’s name, e.g. David calls John or Sue calls Mary. You must say it very quickly and then sit down.
5. After the call, whoever’s name has been called must now stand and say his/her name first and then call someone else. When one player stands to speak, the “Pillow Person”
in the middle must run to that person and try to touch them BELOW THE KNEES with the soft little pillow BEFORE s/he finishes calling someone.
6. If the hit is successful, the circle player must now be ‘IT’ with the pillow in the middle.
7. The previous pillow person must now STAND in the player’s spot and make a call. If s/he sits down, the pillow person can hit them below the knees and they trade spots again. [Note: The new circle person is SAFE as long as s/he keeps standing and does-n’t sit back down in the circle.]
The game just continues as long as you want. (The students really LOVE this game!)
Do You Like Your Neighbours?
This game can be done sitting or standing. (The students seem to get tired standing, so I do it sitting down.)
Everyone sits/stands in a circle. Someone is in the centre and is ‘IT’.
‘IT’ must go up to someone in the circle, point to him/her and say, “Do you like your neighbours?” The person then must answer with one of these 2 responses:
1. Yes, I like them very much. (The 2 neighbours switch places.)
2. Yes, I like them…BUT I prefer to/would rather have…say the names of 2 other students from the circle, like Susie and Bobby. (Susie and Bobby must now run and take the place of the 2 previous neighbours and those old neighbours must run to Susie and Bobby’s spots)
The objective is simply for the “IT” to try and get into ONE of the available spaces.
If s/he does, the person without a chair becomes the new ‘IT’. If ‘IT’ is not fast enough, they must keep going around the circle asking players if they like their neighbours. The game continues as long as you wish.
Body Parts * (in pairs)
This is an easy, fun game. The teacher calls out body parts and the players must find their partners and touch the two body parts named. The last two partners to get into position are OUT of the game and must now watch to see who is the next pair to be last.
[Note: If the students feel uncomfortable with ‘touching’, they may simply be ‘close’ to their partner’s body parts. Of course, I always keep it safe and comfortable for all. For example, if I say ‘face-to-face’, I don’t expect them to touch faces, they merely have to ‘face’ each other.]
1. Students pair up: one partner is in the ‘inner’ circle/one is in the ‘outer’ circle.
2. Teacher plays some music while players walk around in a circle. The inner circle walks clockwise while the outer circle walks anti-clockwise.
3. Teacher stops the music. Everyone freezes. Then the teacher calls out the same (or dif-ferent) BODY PARTS, e.g. ‘BACK to BACK’ or ‘KNEE to ELBOW’.
4. Players must find their partners and get into the position called. The single body parts are easy. If two different parts are called like ‘head to toe’ the partners must figure out whose head and whose toe are going to be connected. The last pair to get into position is out of the game.
5. If you wish, you may call out ‘BODY PARTS’ or ‘CHANGE’ at any time and the players must change partners.
The game continues until there is one pair left and they are the ‘winners’.
* The use of this activity in the classroom is captured in the accompanying
‘Learning and Teaching through Drama’ DVD produced by the English Language Arts Committee, NET Section.
NETworking: Using Drama in the English Classrooom
Additional Resources
I. Useful websites
www.tonisant.com/aitg/
A good site for those who want to use theatre techniques for more than arts or entertainment purposes. The pages on Theatre-in-Education are particularly useful.
www.drama-education.com/site/
A very comprehensive website featuring articles about drama and education, classroom resources and lesson plans and schemes of work, some of which could be adapted to the ESL/EFL classroom.
www.creativedrama.com/theatre.htm
Many lively, clearly-explained games on this site. The games described would also be good warm-ups prior to drama rehearsals. Good ideas on how folk tales and poetry can be a stimulus for drama.
www.kentaylor.co.uk
This site was set up by the renowned UK Drama Educator, Ken Taylor. Although it is not targeted at an ESL/EFL audience, the lesson plan pages provide lots of good ideas for drama that could be done with smaller groups.
www.childdrama.com/mainframe.html
A site with drama lesson plans and original scripts maintained by an American teacher and playwright, Matt Buchanan.
http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/index.php Site dedicated to the application of the ‘Mantle of the Expert’ approach. It is targeted at UK schools, but would be of interest to those interested in how drama can be used in cross-curricular learning.
www.learnimprov.com
A site devoted to the art of improvisational comedy theatre. The improvisation exercised described here would be more suited to older students or more fluent users of English.
II. Drama scripts
www.storiestogrowby.com
Free play scripts and children’s plays with positive themes
www.dramasource.com
Family-friendly play scripts, musicals and melodramas