Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello everybody! I'm working on my Master's thesis,concerning teaching English to children through drama in various cultural contexts. I have done investigation on this topic with young learners from Spain,France,Poland,Croatia,China and Morroco, but I'm still very curious to learn about other's experience! Do you use drama with your students?If so, I would be very grateful if you could help me, answering a few simple questions.

What drama techniques do you use with your students? Mark frequency (always/often/sometimes/rarely/never)

-warm-up games
-miming games
-song, chants and rhythms
-promps and puppets
-costumes and face painting
-plays and movie-making
-other....... (your ideas)

Do your students enjoy drama activities? Are they frequent in your classroom? Do you find them useful?

Name&location of your school

I would be very grateful for a few words of comment on the topic, it would be a lot of help to me!
Happy Easter to all of you and your students:)

Hi there,

Yes I can give you some feedback on drama.

I have a whole page on it here
www.teachingenglishgames.com/eslplays.htm

The essence being that drama is authentic and allows use of language in realistic contexts, it helps fluency, gives confidence, includes all group members, allows beautifully for multi-level classes and so on...

Re your list well firstly I always pre-teach the key vocabulary and phrases first, before you even get to the play script. I have a preference for v. simple scripts because that makes the process of putting the play together much easier. Otherwise it can be Soooooooooo laborious. Sometimes teachers are just too ambitious and it can become a drag.

Too much hanging around to say your line...

I prepare so well for my plays and skits through language games that I never give out the script - it's all done aurally. Once we've learned the key language we go through the play once with me giving directions the whole way through. Then we leave it till next lesson.

At each subsequent lesson we might spend ten minutes or so going through the play - each time it gets better and better.

Then and only then do I add in props. Props are a major distraction to the kids who can become so involved in the prop that the action grinds to a halt! So I find keeping props to a minimum - just enough to add some novelty but not so much that the children are distracted by them.

I always film the play and perform it to parents or the school - that to me is a v. important part of the process and is a major motivator for the pupils.

The other thing I like about plays is that they are a unit - a finished project in the otherwise endless sea of language learning.

If you like and use any of my ideas in your research please quote by Shelley Vernon, www.teachingenglishgames.com/eslplays.htm

Equally, if you want to share your research I'd love to read it!

Thanks!
Shelley