Resource centre - Ideas and techniques - Drama
In his first article in this series, Larry Lynch looked at some ways of using drama in an EFL classroom. Here, he suggests some more, including "Improvised dialogues" and "Double Talk dialogues".
In my previous article "How to Add Drama to an EFL Class or Start a Drama Group"
some interesting ways in which you could initiate Drama into an EFL class or new
drama group were suggested. If you’re a foreign language student, sooner or
later you'll start becoming "tired" or "bored" with the more conventionally used
teaching approaches. This is especially true if you attend (or teach) a class
that must follow a standard curriculum or course book series. To crank out more
speaking and develop more vocabulary and language use in context, try some of
these additional drama-based activities to spice things up a bit.
Do Improvised Dialogues
Another popular technique is to "improvise" scenes based on specific character
sets in different situations, like a Mother - Daughter, Father - Son, Teacher -
Student, Boss - Worker, Robber - Bank Teller, Waiter - Customer, or a multitude
of other possible combinations of two, three or even more characters. Give each
character set a scenario in which to work, like a son with bad grades who wants
to borrow Dad's car, or a mother who needs help around the house with a daughter
giving excuses so she can talk on the phone with her friends.
Have a student answer the phone and have a chat with the "wrong number" who
wants to talk anyway.
Interview a famous person
Simulate an interview with a famous person or historical figure or even create a
fictitious scene involving a famous person or historical figure. You can get an
extensive list of famous people / historical figures the students are familiar
with and use these as a basis for constructing scenes and dialogues. You can
even have famous people "talk" to each other who couldn't literally have done
so. What would Jesus or Mohammed say to Adolf Hitler? What would George
Washington say to Marilyn Monroe, Pamela Anderson or JFK? What might Chairman
Mao and Idi Amin or Augustus Pinochet have talked about? How about a chat
between Princess Diana and Cleopatra or Marie Antoinette? The possibilities are
endless. Some wonderful ideas, dialogues, scenes and scripts could come out of a
little swapping and brainstorming in this manner.
Double Talk Dialogues
These fun dialogues will erase any timidness the learners may have in speaking
in front of others. Start with your most uninhibited learners at first until
others from the group "get up their nerve" to do this activity. In this dramatic
speaking practice activity the person "talks" to him/herself taking on multiple
roles in a dialogue, asking him/herself a question and then answering
him/herself too. He/she could also argue pros and cons of a decision or
situation aloud. They are often hilarious and loads of fun once the students get
the hang of it. A man can discuss / argue the pros and cons of going out with
woman A or woman B. Betty or Nicole? A woman learner can do the reverse. Tom or
Jerry? Other sample themes are: Which friend to tell a secret? Which car to buy?
Which vacation to take? The fun almost never ends.
To continue to get even more mileage from these activities and materials, record
and use them for listening comprehension, error-correction exercises,
pronunciation, language use or grammar practice activities in another class.
Teachers and students, I hope some of these ideas help with starting material.
I'll send you some more specific suggestions if you'll tell me specific areas
you'd like more information on. Please let me know about your progress and
experiences. Good luck.
How to add drama to an EFL class
Using comics and cartoons in the classroom
Using art in the classroom
Using songs in the classroom
ESL resources
Downloadable classroom activities
What do you think of this article? Add a comment »
I had been hopeless
thinking of other strategies to use in my high school English class until I read
this article. It gave me a better idea on how to make my classes more
interesting and enjoyable on the part of my students. Thank you for sending me
articles. The previous ones had been a great help too. Keep it up!
I liked your article, and
will certainly give it a go! Thanks a lot!!!
I think that it is great to
have dialogue and role play in the classroom, however when I tried to do this
whilst being a student of TEFL in Dublin, I got into trouble with a young
Japanese girl who complained to me when I tried to engage her in dialogue with
me about Japan and the Emperor. It was not that the Emperor is almost a sacred
person in this country and this subject was taboo, but it was that as a Japanese
woman she felt that she should not have been "put upon" to take part in this
type of dialogue by me a Western woman.!! So perhaps one should use one's
discretion with regard to the personnages, such as some of the more notorious
ones in history, when role-playing with certain nationalities. It is just a
comment.
Thanks for sending me this
useful article, but i find it very hard to use the above techniques to apply to
the classes where all the second language students, Cambodian, sit in. The
problem is that most of Cambodian students are shy so that i can't have them
done this. Further, the ability of their speaking is very poor. On the other
hand, I really enjoy reading all the articles you have sent me. They are really
helpful for me. Thanks again for this!".
Thanks for your brilliant
ideas for arousing students uttering in class. I am thinking about trying this
approach. My students are seventh graders, who are still in the beginning stage
of learning English in an EFL environment. They are learning simple past tense.
I hope I'll have satisfactory findings. Thanks".
These look like fun ideas
to liven up the class. When students laugh, they relax and start learning. It
would help to get them over the embarrassment of making mistakes if they are
allowed to be silly now and then. My students are predominantly from Asian
countries who believe that making mistakes in front of others is loss of face.
These ideas, or techniques
lets say, are ones I have already used in my classes. I appreciate the
Schizophrenic Dialogues, though. It is not only motivating but includes humorous
elements, too. Actually, I am looking for activities which enables students to
be more active in class. Thanks.
I like the ideas and I'll
try them with some adaptations... I teach young learners!
The ideas are good and
anything that we can use to stimulate us teachers and pass it on to students is
a great help. I teach Asian learners in adult classes and I find that they are
hesitant to speak or act out a role play. What I now do to get them asking
questions and talking is to prepare a story of about eight paragraphs (half a
page), and I blank out some of the story for student A and blank out another
part of the story for student B. They then get a series of questions that they
have to ask each other about the story. The questions guide them from the start
of the story to the finish. I use the kiss principle (keep it simple stupid).
You can use any tense. It seems that once they get talking to each other and the
teacher is not correcting them in their pronunciation as they ask each other the
questions they do open up and at the finish of the exercise the teacher reads
the whole story with the class, they will ask questions about certain words and
then you can help them with their pronunciation. Plenty of praise is
appreciated. Depending on the class and how well you know them you make the
story to suit. Some like relationship stories, family, sport etc, and even did
one on Robinson Crusoe, which they liked a lot. I find being an ESL teacher is
not to be to serious, have fun, be dramatic, and smile. My two bobs worth. Good
luck.
Double Talk Dialogue, very
good for:
1st conditionals (If...then...will) used with asking advice (should I...?)
I like X, but... (likes and dislikes, giving reasons)
Dialogue between famous people:
Introductions/what are your hobbies/what's your job, etc. (at a party/language
school)
Secrets of (staying beautiful/rich/powerful)
Heaps of opportunities, just think about the language used in each situation and
see which lesson it can fit into. Sometimes with shy students it's good to
demonstrate role playing yourself. If the teacher can be a twit, so can the rest
of us!
Thanks for sending the
article - I like it very much. It will make my classroom a place for learning
and fun for my pupils. Thanks.
Thanks for the article.
I've tried dramatic expression with my students and I find it's quiet
motivating, but these ideas to create different dialogues are fantastic.
I think the term
"schizophrenic" should have been avoided. It is an illness and is not about
split personalities. I have contacted the author and eslbase and am disappointed
that this article remains unchanged on what I think is a really good website.
The charity Rethink has information on its website about negative portrayal in
the media, and they are campaigning for more informed and accurate
representation of Schizophrenia. Please see their web page:
www.rethink.org
Thank you Samantha for post
your comment. We feel you raise a valid point and have changed the name of the
activity to "Double Talk Dialogues".
Contact | Advertise | Terms of use | Disclaimer | Privacy | Site map | Testimonials | TEFL blog | ESL exams
Copyright © 2012 Eslbase. All rights reserved.
