MOBILITY 4. Creative Methodology for the Language Classroom. Pilgrims -University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. August Falcó. Day 4

Drama: Make your students create language using theatre as a fine tool.

What a fine comedy this world would be if one did not play a part in it.(Diderot)

MOVE AROUND THE ROOM IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Find a place in the room – march, walk, tiptoe, jump, dance, sneak, skate, crawl, fly, stumble, hurry ride a horse, limp etc

 FACE OFF           - in two rows, pairing up

mirror the person opposite you

in each pair A is the mirror, B is facing the mirror

teacher gives Bs a situation to mime

the mirrors – A-s – try to do everything as closely as possible

e.g. leaving home for school when it is late

                an actress putting on the make-up before going to stage

                a naughty child making faces in front of the mirror

                a driver in his car – driving carefully, phoning, fastening the seat-belt, smoking a cigarette etc.

BOYS AND GIRLS

Students sit in two rows facing one another. The first row takes the position of girls, the other row takes the position of the opposite sex. They exaggerate it. They say what they feel if they change character.

WHAT’S THIS?

a)      How many different ways you could use one object? (object in hand or put somewhere etc.)

-          take an everyday object and show how many different things it could become e.g. you might use a cup as a hat a telephone, a telescope, etc.

-          stand in a circle and pass the object  back and forth until a player cannot think of a new way to use it. Then you may change the object. E.g. a brrom, a sheet.

b)      Turn the improvisation into a magic.

One person, in turn, imagines he is a magician and having chosen a stage object recreates his improvisation using elements of magic (the object metamorphoses   will take place as a show).

PLAY IT BY EAR – in groups

One member leaves the room. The rest decides on a location, role for themselves and for the absent member who, returning, will have to take the cue from the others’ reactions. Situations like

-          Location: bank, group: bank staff and customers, absent member: bank robber

-          Location: emergency room, the group: waiting for the famous surgeon who is late

-          The gangs are waiting for the arrival of one of their members who is due to explain final details for the get-away after the next robbery,

-          Guests and bride in church awaiting bridegroom.

YES – NO dialogue

Pairs develop a dialogue only with yes and no. They try to persuade their partner to say their word (yes/no) after them.