Job Discussion Forums

[DebMer]

If you've used or are using drama in the classroom, I'd like your input on the experience.

Did you use a curriculum, or create your own material? Was it scripted or improvised?

What age group did you use drama with?

What ESL skills do you think are enhanced through drama?

What about your very shy students - did they participate?

I'm thinking about how to implement the use of drama with several different groups:

-Taiwanese 11 to 18 year-olds
-Chinese Teens
-Multilevel adult class of all Spanish speakers (mostly moms of school-age kids)

I'd appreciate any input you can offer, curriculum recommendations, positive or negative experiences, etc.

Thanks!

[rtm]

[Shroob]

I use drama if you count roleplays as a form of drama. But these are always preceded with preparation activities and normally come at the end of a lesson followed by feedback/post task discussion.

[DebMer]

Thanks for the replies and the links!

I have some readers' theater materials that I might start with to see how it goes, then continue from there if it looks productive.

[Harbin]

I use drama pretty often in class. I generally make my own materials. Head over to teachingenglish.org.uk and search the lesson plans section for "gossip!" and "alien abductions" for two pre-made lesson plans from British Council affiliated teachers.

[DebMer]

[teacheratlarge]

I use two drama scenes from a play written by an ESL teacher in Japan called "Popstars". The company involved with promoting it billed it as stand-alone-material for a whole semester, but personally, I use it for some different activities to help them rehearse and learn the meaning of the lines for two scenes that I do in class, which might be done over 3-4 classes.

My students practice doing subsitution (for the names and the drink order in a coffee shop scene) and some cloze exercises as well as drama coaching where coaches help actors rehearse their lines. Some students take to it and enjoy performing, whereas others dread it, as it requires speaking in front of the class for some performances. Ideally one can videotape performances as well and even have better students critique the performance (missing or flubbed lines, are the actions well coordinated with the dialogue, are the appropriate facial expressions used, etc.).

[MotherF]

I've used reader's theatre with my young adults about once a semester, they seem to enjoy it as a twist to regular classes and I think they more likely to internalize the language they learn in their part that way. The drawback is they maybe don't internalize new language that appears in other students' parts. If I had more time with them I could overcome that by doing the same work several times with them each getting a different part each time. I've thought that that might be fun to have a short play we do each Friday for a month or longer, so by the end of the course they know that work well and have played all or most of the parts. But I work in a rather testing happy system so I just don't have the luxery of spending time doing that.