Job Discussion Forums

[cimarch]

I've been thinking of getting my Junior 2 students to try acting out some scenes and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. Has anyone done this? Did you find any particular scenes that worked better than others?

Also, which would be better, scenes from a play or a movie? I'm more inclined toward plays because they have to work out how to act it from the text themselves rather than watching the movie and copying it. However, with a movie I could let them act it first and then show them the scene in the movie. What do you think? Give them the text and don't tell them which movie it's from?

I'd rather not let them choose the scenes, they're incredibly lazy most of the time and I'd end up with the old "sorry I forgot" from everyone...

[anthyp]

This sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately my students' English abilities aren't good enough or I would borrow it for my own classes. The most I can do is give them skits and have them write dialogues for them, and they have enough trouble doing that.

They might have more fun doing movies. But if you're going with plays, may I suggest Lysistrata? It's really fun, has loads of outrageous puns and jokes, and I'm sure they'd find it easy to dissect. Try the scene between Myrrhine and Cinesias (?) - I'm assuming you teach college level kids here and that they can handle the sex. If so, they'll really love this scene.

I know what most of you are wondering ... hey anthy, what about Beckett? If you think your students could handle it, I say, go for it! But I really think he might be too difficult for your students, though Waiting for Godot has some easy comedy scenes in it (mostly slapstick). I prefer his shorter plays anyway, but that would be way over their heads. Once again, a good question! Our students don't get enough innovative teaching methods. Anyone else?

[NateM]

What level are you teaching? Having them act out parts of a movie and then having them watch the movie sounds like a great idea. Depending on the level of students you teach, however, I would try to avoid plays and movies dependent on dated language and overly complex metaphors. In such a case, it would seem to me that students would be more likely to memorize their lines without necessarily comprehending their meaning, (which I'm going to assume you're not trying to encourage).

[cimarch]

The goal is to get them to understand what they're reading and to interpret the actions from the text, understanding it is crucial which is why I posted the original question. I teach all levels at the moment but am aiming to start this with my Junior 2 classes, Middleschool students, 14-15 years old. They're just so lethargic and apathetic, I need something that's going to grab their attention and get them thinking. I've been doing debating with them, nothing too difficult, just for fun, but the bulk of the class just wants to laze. I hope if I break them into groups and give them a scene to prepare I'll at least have them awake for 5 minutes while they act it! Plus, it'll get them competitive, if I give them all the same scene to do and then show the video, we can have a vote as to which was the best group.

Thanks for your responses, feel free to steal it. I think it can work at all levels, I can just see kiddies acting out the latest offering from Disney. The great thing about acting is that they don't really have that much to remember and in a scene with several characters they don't have to speak all the time. You can also find parts for all levels of your students, one line to half the dialogue. I think Lysistrata is a little archaic for them though, you'd need all the background info on Ancient Greece. What I'm really looking for is a nice simple scene with several characters and some action (nothing too adult or violent!). Come to think of it even a scene from a book would work.

[Teacher Lindsay]

My Junior 2 students would be incapable of acting out scenes from plays or movies.

In Thailand, I used a book called Shortcuts which contained many role-plays of common, day-to-day situations but with comical twists [shopping at a supermarket and discovering at the checkout that your wallet is empty, ordering food at a restaurant and receiving the wrong order, etc].

If you want to use movies, I would stick to those which are well-known and well-liked by Chinese youth [as judged by my students] such as E.T. and Harry Potter.

Cheers

[NateM]

I'm thinking something along the lines of 10 Things I Hate About You or Say Anything, or some sort of teen drama, would probably work best. I'd probably ask around and see what American movies are biggest with kids right now and try to pick from one of those, as it'll be easiest for them to relate to.

[kev7161]

"You're A Good Man Charlie Brown"

Many students in China are familiar with the Peanuts characters. This musical play is a long series of short vignettes interspersed with musical numbers. You can get the soundtrack on CD (but probably not in China - check ebay or amazon) as well as sheet music and probably even the script (again, shop ebay or amazon). There was a cartoon video made of it, but I'm not sure if it is in DVD format.

Anyway, the English is rather simple, the songs are fun (if you have students who like to sing, that is), and the part of Snoopy is very athletic (for your sport-minded or dance-oriented students). I would like to cast this show and present it for the rest of my school next year - - if I locate some scripts, I'll let you know where to find them (if you are interested, that is).

[Roger]

I am sure you can do that - but it will require patience, and how are you going to involve THE WHOLE CLASS anyway?

We even did some acts in a kindergarten, and it worked wonderfully.

Beckett certainly is a good source; I would add Harold PINTER. Has lots of very modern, sarcastic pieces.

[kev7161]

Guys - - this is a JUNIOR 2 class. What is this [i]Waiting for Godot[/i] and the such? You really need to think simpler. "Cat in the Hat" stories might be fun. They're short, have lots of rhyming words and you can even get kids to try and figure out the "real" words and the words that Dr. Suess made up. Any fairy tale (I believe someone mentioned Disney) can be rewritten by you if you need to make it simpler or whatever. It might take you a week or two to write your own script, but it may pay off in the end. Maybe you can have the kids try and put to (English) words a Chinese fairytale or folklore of some sort. As a matter of fact, what about tall tales such as Paul Bunyon or Johnny Appleseed and so on? These would be a good way to break kids up into smaller groups and have four or five little productions. I have a BUNCH of storybooks that a school from the US sent me and my Senior kids can't be bothered with them (they are primary level back in the states. I thought the easier English would be nice for my kids. Instead they flock to the 3 or 4 basketball magazines I included in my "library"). Most any of them would convert easily into a play I imagine. You might get a friend or relative to send you some storybooks from your home country.

As to how I would include my whole class for ". . . Charlie Brown": I would probably want to do this as an extracurricular thing. I mean, they are vignettes, so I could certainly do it as individual little scenes and 3 of the songs can be incorporated into group songs (Happiness Is, The Baseball Song, and the title song) and my stronger voiced kids (or those that enjoy singing) could take on the solo numbers. This could certainly be a script that would employ a class of 20 to 25 students. (or non-acting students could make posters and signs, work on sets [and I would have a bunch of english words for them to learn such as hammer, nails, wood, paint, etc.], help with costumes or sound or lighting - - we have quite a nice theater at this school). Of course, I get excited about things like this. It might be a real yawner for the kids.

[cimarch]

The biggest problem I'm finding is coming up with material which is
a) simple enough for them to handle
b) suitable for their age group (not too childish)
c) acceptable to the 'powers that be'

I'd be wary of tales like Jonny Appleseed because while American kids might lap it up it lacks any home interest for Chinese kids. I'm likewise wary of using Chinese tales as I want them to approach it with no preconceptions of the action, although this may be something we should work up to. I think I'll start off with a very short scene, only a couple of minutes and maybe 4-6 characters and try to build it up from there. The beauty of it is you can have roles from the one line 'Second Guard' for the weakest students to a major lead role for the 'hands constantly in the air' kids. I was thinking of trying Snow White or something similar, perhaps some originals from the Brothers Grimm before they were sanitised for kids...

[latefordinner]

I like Kevin7161's use of Peanuts. I've used a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, but I had to spend an afternoon with a Chinese co-teacher re-writing it to suit the language skills of our students. The rewriting experience was useful for both of us in itself. Perhaps you could have a look at some of your own favourite cartoons? Or get the Chinese teachers to suggest theirs?

[cimarch]

Just found a good script site: http://www.script-o-rama.com/

It has movie and tv scripts but I haven't had time to check it out properly yet so I don't know how useful it'll be. Let me know if you find anything useful