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Drama
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Wed, 03/18/2009 - 08:53
Dear all,
One of the most fruitful and effecient methods of learning currently used in EFL classroom is drama. My question to you, is have you ever used any theatrical piece with your students. If yes, which plays have you used? How did you proceed?
Thanks for sharing.
Rachid
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 01:06
#2
Dear Graciana,
Let me express my heartfelt thanks for you for sharing with us your experience with drama teaching. A very promising experience indeed and no surprise in this because you are a dramtist and a poet as well. I liked the approach very much because through it, you are involving all. Moreover, I think it was a very nice idea once you thought of settng up a club for drama because students are much keen and highly talented in acting and believe me, they can dumbfound you by the countless skills they've got.
Graciana, inviting parents and friends to attend and to watch the plays is something you should be congratulated for because this habit can show especially to parents and to all that the teacher these students have got is very active, creative and functional in her school. Parents shall become very contented and gleeful on seeing their children practising the language in very marvellous way. Normally, as you said, we start by reading other's theatrical products and then, we find ourselves,willy nilly,obliged to come up with our own and this is for sure the added value to the activity you are intitiating your students into.
All seem to have a role in the activity and this is certainly the objective. by doing so, you are excluding any passivism and laziness from your students. I'm having a very modest experinece in drama teaching because I am no good actor as you. My students are highly motivated this year and they are working on some plays in both Arabic and English. The problem is that I commute and I can hardly find the time to teach or revise with them the English plays, but I can assure you that they are really doing a very remarkable progress. As for those rehearsing plays / sketches in Arabic, I think they have no problem and they are so much funny, humorous and energetic. Unfortunately, we have not yet attainted the stage of wrriting our own plays, but I guess much practice can help.
Again thank you Graciana for enlivening our forum by your healthy postings. I wish I could watch you while acting just to applaude for you. I am sure you have lots of skills to show on the stage, dear actress!
Rachid.
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 19:32
#3
Hi Rachid,
"Dramatise, dramatise..." said once Henry James.
Dramatisation is a highly convenient method to expose ss to language, espeially from a listening/speaking-skills perspective.
I did sometomes conduct some drama workshops with my ss, but we did only adapt some passages from shakespeare's Macbeth and Midsummer's night dream. The enterprise was successful and my ss enjoyed the game. I call it a game because it was a lot of fun and a lot of learning.
best
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 20:24
#4
Dear All,
Having read your postings, I could not help myself sharing my experience in using drama in class. My first job was teaching drama and theatrical performances at the American University. I was very much affected by my study of different schools of drama, but discivered later that I do not need to adapt a play but the best part is to change a chapter in a novel into a play.
My students had to agree on a novel/ story they like most, then they choose a chapter from that novel to write the script for. The most interesting and dramatic novels, surprisingly, were Charles Dickens ones: Oliver Twist, A tale of Two Cities, etc. SS found the idea of writing the script very motivating and challenging, but were excited as they chose their own words, so it was easy for them to know them by heart. By so doing they had enhanced their reading and writing skills.
The second satge was the actual acting: the intontation, stress and pitch work was even more exciting as they did a lot of recording, listening to their own voices, working on their own accents.
The final stage was performing on stage: that was easy at the AUC, we had a real stage and parents were invited, but in my current school, we have no stage and resources are minimal. So, I used my video camera to create mini videos for my students and these were used on open and parent days. Students love acting, especially when they are behind the screen: they come up with all sorts of ideas especially with the recent developments in film making: graphics, music, etc....
At the end of the course, students went home with a copy of the play and a solid proof of their language development.
Sahar
Sat, 03/21/2009 - 23:05
#5
Hi Sahar,
On behalf of LMCS forum moderators, a warm welcome to you in our platform. I do appreciate amply your very authentic method of initiating drama in your EFL teaching.
Seemingly the level of your ss is a high one, but according to you could your method be initiated to high school ss?
cheers
Mostafa- LMCS moderator
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 14:46
#6
Hi Mostafa,
Thank you so much for your warm welcome, I am really happy to contribute to your forum even in the slightest way :-)
My classes were of different age groups and levels, I must admit that choosing the literary text was quite difficult. I found the easy-readers handy at times, as they could read them during the weekend and can discuss which story or scene they would like to role play.
I agree that with teenagers, they could be difficult to satisfy but empowering them was the key. Each one has a role: director, assistant director, script follower, etc and this encouraged them to excel. I have never taught at schools, just summer schools programmes, but personally believe Drama at high school would be a superb idea. They could also experience experimental or black theatre, where they have the opportunity to innovate to create their own work. I shall never forget my personal experience stage directing King Lear as of end of year graduation project.
One other thing you could do with high school ss is poetry recital on stage. They can either choose to recite their favourite poem or poems they wrote themselves. Seldom attention is given to literary works written by amateur writers at that age, but could be a ground foundation for literary groups/ drama groups at school.
All the best
Sahar ( Drama addict) currently Business English Moderator ;-)
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 14:46
#7
Hi Mostafa,
Thank you so much for your warm welcome, I am really happy to contribute to your forum even in the slightest way :-)
My classes were of different age groups and levels, I must admit that choosing the literary text was quite difficult. I found the easy-readers handy at times, as they could read them during the weekend and can discuss which story or scene they would like to role play.
I agree that with teenagers, they could be difficult to satisfy but empowering them was the key. Each one has a role: director, assistant director, script follower, etc and this encouraged them to excel. I have never taught at schools, just summer schools programmes, but personally believe Drama at high school would be a superb idea. They could also experience experimental or black theatre, where they have the opportunity to innovate to create their own work. I shall never forget my personal experience stage directing King Lear as of end of year graduation project.
One other thing you could do with high school ss is poetry recital on stage. They can either choose to recite their favourite poem or poems they wrote themselves. Seldom attention is given to literary works written by amateur writers at that age, but could be a ground foundation for literary groups/ drama groups at school.
All the best
Sahar ( Drama addict) currently Business English Moderator ;-)
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 16:13
#8
Dear Mustapha, dear Sahar,
I could not resist myself while carefully reading your postings. Drama is certainly an extracurricular activity that can benefit students of all ages. Don't forget the Shakespearian motto: "life is a stage. Men and women actors". Using drama is therefore nowadays a necessituy and not a luxury because as you said-Mustapha-students are using language in a very meaningful and natural way. Meaningfulness is thus what can enable them act properly in real life situations. The idea here is that students learn more while thing learned matches their interests and their life experiences.
So, while some plays of Shakespears may happen to be somewhat difficult for teenagers, I think that they can fit the level of high school students, especially Shakespeare's masterpieces Romeo and Juliet and the Merchant of Venise. These two plays are widely known and their themes are not alien for non-native students. Teachers can have recourse to a selective process to pick some scenes to be acted by the students. Two students of mine are astonishing me in the club at the way they present the language. They have memorized a love poem where one lover has fallen, I guess, with his maid and, the lover speaks gently and softely of the attributes of his beloved. Gestures and stage interaction sound worthwhile watching. The other students would marvel at the superb Romeo and Juliet-like type of discourse they are exposed to. I hereby subscribe to Sahar's claim that poetry can function like a salt on the play as I strongly believe that a successful play / poem is that which succeeds to stir / touch the emotions of the target audience.
I won't exaggerate as well telling you that the youngsters like drama, like fun, either via watching or trhough participating in it. The last days I could see some students sneaking into some empty classes to practise some short plays / in order to act them in our modest club. Some girls would bring boys' clothes not fitting their size just to show that they are serious and that they have many potentials to demonstrate, a tangible reality that fosters learning and that open for students horizons for carrying out acting courses in the future. This, I think, is what The theory of multiple intelligences, proposed by Howard Gardner sought to display. A good teacher, by this, is the one who satisfy all the tastes / interests of his / her students. I am sure not all students like long designed activities, bringing about boredom on the part of the teacher, let alone the students. Diversifying the activities through drama and poetry and songs can create a special atmosphere in your classroom.
Stay well-tuned!
Rachid
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 15:35
#9
Hi Sahar,
Thanks for respondig. I like your idea of poetry recital; Maria (one of the LMCS moderators) has opened a thread "poetry in the classroom", I feel you coul contribute to it.
Thanks again for visiting us in our forum
All the best
Mostafa :)
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 16:29
#10
Dear Sahar,
You are most welcome in our forum. We are the guests! We hope we could share with you many issues and benefit from your own rich experiences in drama teaching and in other related issues.
Please never hesitate to intervene when possible.
Much love and care from Morocco.
Rachid
Sun, 03/22/2009 - 20:55
#11
Hi Everyone
Coming back from a short trip to the Culture Lane conference in Poland where I presented as the LMCS speaker and I'm really glad to see this new thread about Drama and read your ideas on it.
Someone once said that teachers are all amateur actors - I think it has a good dose of truth in it :) Moreover, it seems to me that if we understand teaching/learning as a cognitive and affective experience Drama certainly has to have its space on it. This is not just a matter of language but of helping learners to develop their intellectual, emotional and creative skills.
Some basic titles to start with
Maley, A. and A. Duff. (1983) Drama Techniques in Language Learning: A Resource Book of Communication Activities for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McRae, J. (1985) Using Drama in the Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
More on this later :)
Cheers - Chris
Mon, 03/23/2009 - 17:24
#12
Hi Rachid, Mosatafa and all,
Thank you so much for your warm welcome, I am not that experienced. I taught drama and literature some 15 years ago, So i am a bit behind the times :-(
I would like to add to Chris' list also the English Sketches series. These are sketches from the English teaching theatre and not only cover main language areas like structure and grammar, but it is accompanied by a cassette recording the sketches. What I liked about those sketches is the cultural humour and puns, my students used to love them. They required minimal props and customes and they are handy, no preparation and lots of listening and pronounciation can be exploited by using them.
Case, D. and Wilson, K. (1995) English Sketches: Sketches from the English Theatre. Heinemann Publishers ( Oxford) Ltd
Hope you find it useful:-)
Sahar
Wed, 04/08/2009 - 20:39
#13
Hi Rachid, Chris,Mostafa & All,
While reading these threads I immediately entered my "memory lane", and it was easy to recall the dedication and enthusiasm of our 12th-A class in 1991! They converted a novel into a play... Well, I'll tell you how that happened. By then the syllabus suggested the study of a novel from a short list provided by the Ministery of Education. After discussing some pros and cons we had the class choice: "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The students were invited to start reading it at their own pace (a deadline had been established). When we started exploring it in the English class, we noticed very positive reactions from the students discussing about the characters and the 1920s society (The "Roaring Twenties"). As the study was progressing we all agreed on this suggested Activity: the writing of a short script based on that novel, aimed at being performed in the school community by the end of the school term. We all worked as a collaborative group after the characters had been chosen. Draft after draft, the script had come to its end with much enthusiasm by the students (and our great expectations...) After some days of intense rehearsal then came the performance before an audience of students, teachers and some students' family. We still remember the special musical participation of a student playing "Summertime" with his saxophone, and the harmonious sounds of the tape recording with some excerpts of Jazz music by famous Bands of New Orleans. People said it had been a successful cultural afternoon... Very fond memories that will always nurture our souls!
Happy Easter to you All!
Maria
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 00:52
#14
Hi everyone,
I enjoyed reading this thread very much. Thank you all for sharing your ideas. Actually, I am not an expert in this field and I’ve never staged classics in my classes. I’ve just wanted to tell about my experience here.
I often don’t have much time for staging anything serious because of the university schedule. I use drama approach only for role-plays and case studies (they can last for about 30-40 minutes), some other group activities like producing advertisements, etc. I found it very motivating. I offered students to video role-plays this year (before I’ve only audio recorded them). Surprisingly, they enjoyed it a lot. Me too! The eagerness of students to play parts is always very different, though there were lots of cases when some students played really well like actors or actresses. That was a great fun to watch them.-))
There is an annual English conference at the department where I teach. It lasts just one day. We usually prepare students to give presentations, show role plays with the help of drama approach. This is a good opportunity for us and for students to use drama approach to the full extent. A lot of students sing English songs during this conference and even dance. There are always 2 entertainers who host this kind of show. This is a very creative event because students prepare their roles, the whole program themselves. We help them with English language and equipment.
I am personally very fond of theatre and everything connected with theatre-))) So, I enjoy drama in my classes a lot. I would like to enrich my knowledge about it.
Nataliya
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 03:46
#15
Hi Maria, Nataliya, Rachid and all,
As I read about your experience, Maria, I could almost see the play being performed before me and the different roles in which you were engaged! A fine choice of novel too! The whole process is unforgettable, isn´t it? And the students will never forget it either! Wonderful!
Nataliya, I dare suggest a link for you to have a look if drama is something you enjoy:
(I think you have to register- lots of things going on and very enthusiastic teachers there)
Hope you find it useful!
Graciana
Fri, 04/10/2009 - 00:25
#16
Many thanks, Graciana. I'm going to check it out straight away.
Nataliya
Hi Rachid,
I agree with you, it is currently my favourite approach, and there is still a long way to go towards its acceptance and adoption in efl circles. And a lot to learn, for me.
Personally , I began many years ago introducing plays during the year, rehearsing either in class or in special "drama clubs" we could set up for interested students. The final product was an end of year play in which everybody took part, either acting, as stage hands, painting scenery, collecting costumes, playing music, etc. Nobody was left out. And parents and friends were invited to attend, in many occasions with the added element of collecting money or food for a local charity. Back then, we used to buy the right to put on plays or download them from free sites.
I am an amateur actress, just for kicks, I love it. So, there has always been this element of "drama" in my classes, as if I began by saying "showtime!". As time went by, we turned from using scripts to producing our own. We are now aiming at a more integral approach, trying to get into process drama, which is more creative and involves communicating about matters which are relevant to the language learners. At the same time, the "process" resembles the one by which language is generated and used in real life. I am no expert, just experimenting on this new path, but I feel this is the way to go. There is sound theory on why it works, and there are many experienced trainers and teachers.
I´d also like to know if there is someone else on the some track.
Cheers,
Graciana