HBET4203 Teaching of Drama and Poetry in ESL - Esept21

HBET4203
Teaching of Drama and Poetry in ESL
Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

HBET4203
TEACHING OF
DRAMA AND
POETRY IN ESL
Dr Wan Rozelezam Wan Yahya
Dr Teh Chee Seng

Third ediition 2021
Second edition 2011
First edition 2005
Developed by Centre for Instructional Design and Technology, OUM.

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM), HBET4203
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without
the written permission of the President of Open University Malaysia (OUM).
www.oum.edu.my

Table of Contents
Course Guide ix–xiv
Topic 1 The Lesson Structure 1

1.1 Factors to Consider in Structuring a Lesson Plan 2
1.1.1 Purpose 2
1.1.2 Texts 3
1.1.3 Framework 10
1.2 Parts of Lesson Structure 15
1.2.1 Introduction 15
1.2.2 Getting into Drama and Poetry (Presentation) 16
1.2.3 Creative Writing 21
1.2.4 Extension Activities 22
1.2.5 Conclusion 23
Summary 23
Key Terms 24
References 25
Topic 2 Presenting Elements of Drama 27

2.1 Teaching Setting 27
2.1.1 Sample Activities 29
2.2 Teaching Plot 35
2.3 Teaching Characterisation 37
2.4 Dialogue 41
2.5 Themes in Plays 43
2.6 Warm-Up Activities 47
Summary 48
Key Terms 48
Topic 3 Presenting Elements of Poetry 49

3.1 Teaching the Persona 50
3.2 Teaching Rhyme 51
3.3 Teaching Rhythm 53
3.4 Teaching Theme 54
3.5 Teaching Onomatopoeia 56
3.6 Teaching Symbols 57
3.7 Teaching Tone 59

iv  TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.8 Teaching Irony 60

3.9 Structuring the Teaching Elements of Poetry in a Lesson 61
Plan
3.10 Final Hints for Teaching 63
Summary 65
Key Terms 65
Reference 65
Topic 4 Designing Classroom Activities for the Teaching of Drama and 66

Poetry – The Basic Principles
4.1 Providing Background Information 67
4.2 Progression of Difficulty of Questions 71
4.3 Clear and Succint 75
4.4 Group Activities 77
4.5 Appropriateness 77
4.5.1 Age and Maturity 78
4.5.2 Receptivity 78
4.5.3 Cultural Background 80
4.5.4 Gender 80
4.5.5 Language Proficiency 81
4.6 Other Considerations 82
Summary 83
Key Terms 84
References 84
Topic 5 Using Materials in the Teaching of Drama and Poetry 85

5.1 Visual Materials 86
5.1.1 Print Materials 87
5.1.2 Pictorial Materials 92
5.1.3 Posters and Pictures 95
5.1.4 Videos 96
5.2 Audio Materials 98
Summary 100
Key Terms 101
Reference 101
Topic 6 More Activities for the Teaching of Drama 102

6.1 Activities for the „Warm Up‰ Stage 103
6.1.1 Moving Hands 103
6.1.2 (S)He Who Laughs First is Out 104
6.1.3 Imagined Objects 104
6.1.4 Real Objects 104
6.1.5 Roundabouts 105

TABLE OF CONTENTS  v
6.1.6 Volleyball 105

6.1.7 Imaginary Duel 106
6.1.8 Orchestra 106
6.1.9 Forming Objects 106
6.1.10 Catwalk 107
6.1.11 Guess the Leader 107
6.2 Activities for the „While‰ Stage 108
6.2.1 Exchanging Objects 108
6.2.2 New Dialogues 109
6.2.3 Other Possible Things 109
6.2.4 Guessing the Character 109
6.2.5 Guessing the Costume 109
6.2.6 Paired Lines 110
6.2.7 Completing the Set 111
6.2.8 Different Situations (1) 112
6.2.9 Different Situations (2) 112
6.2.10 Interpretation from Inkblots 113
6.2.11 Pass the Message 114
6.2.12 Musical Box 114
6.3 Activities for the „Post‰ Stage 115
6.3.1 Chain Story 115
6.3.2 Entering Heaven 116
6.3.3 Which Part of the Drama is It? 116
6.3.4 Storytelling with Objects 117
Summary 118
Key Terms 118
Reference 118
Topic 7 More Activities for the Teaching of Poetry 119

7.1 Preparing Students for Poetry 120
7.1.1 Using Stimuli 120
7.1.2 Life Line 122
7.1.3 Using Other Poems 123
7.1.4 Questionnaire 127
7.2 Working into a Poem 128
7.2.1 The Best Choice 128
7.2.2 Completing the Piece 130
7.2.3 Using Video 131
7.2.4 Line by Line 132
7.3 Working Out from the Poem 132
7.3.1 Be the Judge/Critic 132
7.3.2 Interview 133
7.3.3 Drama 133

vi  TABLE OF CONTENTS
7.4 Miscellaneous Activities 133

Summary 135
Key Terms 135
Reference 136
Topic 8 Putting Up a Play 137

8.1 Pre-Production 138
8.1.1 Organisation 138
8.1.2 People in Charge 140
8.1.3 Scenes 141
8.1.4 Props 141
8.1.5 Lighting 141
8.1.6 Sound 142
8.1.7 Stage Managing 147
8.2 Staging the Play 148
8.2.1 Staging a Dance 148
8.2.2 Staging a Musical 149
8.3 Post Production 149
Summary 150
Key Terms 150
Reference 150
Topic 9 Assessment and Writing a Complete Lesson Plan 151

9.1 Assessment 152
9.1.1 Types of Assessment 153
9.1.2 Frequency of Assessment 154
9.1.3 Assessment Techniques 155
9.2 Writing the Lesson Plan 158
Summary 161
Key Terms 161
References 161

COURSE GUIDE

Copyright © Open University Malaysia
COURSE GUIDE  ix
COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

You must read this Course Guide carefully from the beginning to the end. It tells
you briefly what the course is about and how you can work your way through
the course materials. It also suggests the amount of time you are likely to spend
in order to complete the course successfully. Please keep on referring to the
Course Guide as you go through the course materials as it will help you to
clarify important study components or points that you might miss or overlook.
INTRODUCTION
HBET4203 Teaching of Drama and Poetry in ESL is one of the courses
offered at Open University Malaysia (OUM). This course is worth 3 credit hours
and should be covered over 8 to 15 weeks.
COURSE AUDIENCE
This is a core course for all learners taking the Bachelor of Education (TESL)
programme. For the TESL practitioner, this course will assist you in preparing to
teach, impart, and present drama and poetry effectively in the Malaysian
classroom.
As an open and distance learner, you should be able to learn independently and
optimise the learning modes and environment available to you. Before you begin
this course, please ensure that you have the correct course materials, understand
the course requirements, and know how the course is conducted.

x  COURSE GUIDE
STUDY SCHEDULE
It is a standard OUM practice that learners accumulate 40 study hours for every
credit hour. As such, for a 3 credit hour course, you are expected to spend
120 study hours. Figure 1 shows the student learning time (SLT).
Figure 1: Student Learning Time
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, you should be able to do the following:
1. Construct lesson plans that reflect the sound principles and practices of
teaching drama and poetry.
2. Rationalise each of the teaching steps in the lesson plan.
3. Design activities and materials for the teaching of the elements of drama
and poetry.

COURSE GUIDE  xi
COURSE SYNOPSIS
This course is divided into 9 topics. The synopsis for each topic is listed as
follows:
In Topic 1, you will learn the different parts of the lesson structure in teaching
drama and poetry. You will also learn about the factors that should be
considered when you construct the lesson structure.
In Topic 2, you will be presented with suggested activities for teaching the
elements of drama.
In Topic 3, you will be presented with suggested activities for teaching the
elements of poetry.
In Topic 4, you will learn some basic principles in designing classroom activities
such as structuring cloze passage activities.
In Topic 5, you will be shown the types of visual and audio materials that you
can consider to support your teaching of drama and poetry.
In Topic 6, you will be given suggested activities for teaching drama.
In Topic 7, you will be given suggested activities that you can consider using
when teaching poetry in an ESL class.
In Topic 8, you will learn the procedures and steps for putting up a school play.
In Topic 9, you will learn about ways to assess students in a drama and poetry
class. You will also learn the steps in coming up with a complete lesson plan.
TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

Before you go through this module, it is important that you note the text
arrangement. Understanding the text arrangement will help you to organise
your study of this course in a more objective and effective way. Generally, the
text arrangement for each topic is as follows:
Learning Outcomes: This section refers to what you should achieve after you
have completely covered a topic. As you go through each topic, you should
frequently refer to these learning outcomes. By doing this, you can continuously
gauge your understanding of the topic.

xii  COURSE GUIDE
Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

throughout the module. It may be inserted after one subtopic or a few subtopics.
It usually comes in the form of a question. When you come across this
component, try to reflect on what you have already learnt thus far. By attempting
to answer the question, you should be able to gauge how well you have
understood the subtopic(s). Most of the time, the answers to the questions can be
found directly from the module itself.
Activity: Like Self-Check, the Activity component is also placed at various

locations or junctures throughout the module. This component may require you to
solve questions, explore short case studies, or conduct an observation or research.
It may even require you to evaluate a given scenario. When you come across an
Activity, you should try to reflect on what you have gathered from the module
and apply it to real situations. You should, at the same time, engage in Higher
Order Thinking skills (HOTs) i.e. analysing, synthesising and evaluating instead of
only recalling and defining.
Summary: You will find this component at the end of each topic. This
component helps you to recap the whole topic. By going through the
summary, you should be able to gauge your knowledge retention level.
Should you find points in the summary that you do not fully understand, it
would be a good idea for you to revisit the details in the module.
Key Terms: This component can be found at the end of each topic. You should
go through this component to remind yourself of important terms or jargon used
throughout the module. Should you find terms here that you are not able to
explain, you should look for the terms in the module.
References: A list of relevant and useful textbooks, journals, articles, electronic

contents or sources can be found in this section. The list may appear in a few
locations such as in the Course Guide (in the References section), at the end of
every topic or at the back of the module. You are encouraged to read or refer to
the suggested sources to obtain additional information and enhance your overall
understanding of the course.

COURSE GUIDE  xiii
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Learners are required to have completed HBET4103 Introduction to Drama and
Poetry.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Please refer to myINSPIRE.
REFERENCES
Main Texts
Harmon, W. (2011). A handbook to Literature . Pearson.
Stobaugh, J. P. (2013). Handbook for literary analysis, book 1: How to evaluate

prose fiction, drama and poetry. Harvard Square Editions.
Additional Readings
Gale. (2015). Poetry for students: Presenting analysis, context, and criticism on
commonly studied poetry. Gale Publishers.
Johnson, M. (2007). The drama teacherÊs survival guide. Meriwether Publishing.
Lee, J. (2012). The Bedford introduction to drama (7th ed.). Bedford/St MartinÊs.
Mackey, S., & Cooper, S. (2000). Drama & Theatre Studies (6th ed.). Stanley
Thornes.
Mark, A. F. (2014). Enjoying literature: Classroom-ready materials for teaching

fiction and poetry analysis skills in the high school grades. Rowman &
Littlefield.
Sanger, K. (2001). The language of drama. Routledge.

xiv  COURSE GUIDE
TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS)

DIGITAL LIBRARY
The TSDAS Digital Library has a wide range of print and online resources for
the use of its learners. This comprehensive digital library, which is accessible
through the OUM portal, provides access to more than 30 online databases
and several of them are shown in Figure 2. As an OUM learner, you are
encouraged to make full use of the resources available through this library.
Figure 2: Among the Online Databases Available at TSDAS Digital Library

To pi  The Lesson
Structure
1
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to do the following:
Identify the factors to consider in structuring a lesson plan.
Identify the key parts of a lesson structure for the teaching of drama and poetry in the English as a Secon
Discuss the various steps/stages of a lesson plan for the teaching of drama and poetry.
Identify the materials needed for the teaching of drama and poetry.
 INTRODUCTION
Do you think planning a lesson is much better than entering your class without
any planning at all? Through experience, you will probably realise that entering a
class with a well-thought-out lesson is much better than entering one unprepared
and not knowing what to do. As Barry Sesnan says, good teachers are those
who probably did a lot of work before entering a class (Sesnan, 1997).
Many students in our secondary schools do not have much liking for poetry and
drama. This is because the language of poetry is compact, as you have learned
in HBET4103 Introduction to Drama and Poetry . Consequently, students find
it difficult to unravel the meaning of poems. As for drama, some students find it
difficult to perform in front of a class, probably due to a shy and passive nature.

2  TOPIC 1 THE LESSON STRUCTURE
Thus, it is important to think and plan a lesson before entering a class, as the
last thing teachers would want is to alienate their students further from the
appreciation of drama and poetry. A good, structured lesson will invariably draw
students into liking drama and poetry and subsequently, move into appreciating
the aesthetics of language (i.e., the finer points and beauty of language use).
1.1 FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN

STRUCTURING A LESSON PLAN
Before you learn about the key parts of a lesson plan for a drama and poetry class
and the suggested activities for each stage of the lesson plan, you need to think of
several important considerations. One of the first considerations is the purpose of
the drama and poetry class.
1.1.1 Purpose
A drama and poetry class seeks to teach linguistic elements, which means that its
primary purpose is to impart language.
Gwin (1990) believes in valuing „literature [i.e., drama and poetry] as a tool to use
as a focus of language teaching‰. At a specific level, Gill (1996) claims that due to
the use of drama techniques (such as role-plays and simulations) in her class, her
studentsÊ vocabulary „appeared to have increased‰ and they „appeared to be more
confident when speaking in English‰. Similarly, Brown (1994) claims that „longer,
more involved dramatic performances have been shown to have positive effects
on language learning‰. According to Saratha (1991), poetry „is an effective
language teaching resource [⁄] because it establishes patterns through
rhyme, rhythm, line length, and sentence structure‰.
Another reason for the teaching of drama and poetry in the ESL class is the
impartation of culture and values.
Tibbetts (1998), for example, claims that students generally have „some interest
in the culture‰ that is embodied in the target language and this interest „may
be fostered by the use of poetry in the classroom‰. The ultimate goal of the
impartation of culture and values through drama and poetry is for students „to
indulge in the study of humanities itself‰ (Rosli & Jayakaran, 1994) . Similarly,
Miccoli (2003) writes that:

TOPIC 1 THE LESSON STRUCTURE  3
Finally, another purpose of teaching drama and poetry is to allow students „to
Learning a language cannot be divorced from culture learning. Yet in a
enter and inhabit the landscape of a text that touches emotions and invites
foreign language teaching situation, this can be quite difficult, since
personal involvement‰ (Hess, 2003).
culture includes aspects such as how (native speakers) hold their bodies,
In how
other far theydrama
words, stand and
apart, where
poetry arethey
usedlook
in thewhen
ESLthey
classtalk, how students
to draw men
shake their
to achieve andhands with each
appreciate other,
a sense how children to
of aestheticism, talk to their parents
appreciate [⁄] of
the beauty
how anxiety or excitement
literature for what it is worth. are expressed, or how culturally accepted
intonation is used to deliver humour or anger [⁄]. Drama is a way of
bringing
Thus, the issues
the purpose abovedrama
of using naturally into theinlanguage
and poetry the ESLclassroom.
class will chart the
direction of your lesson plan. For example, if language development is your aim,
then most of the activities and materials that you use in the class will be
linguistic- based, aimed at improving your studentsÊ language proficiency.
You may find the above reasons familiar as they are taken from the Model for
Teaching Literature by Carter and Long (1991). Refer to the HBET3703
Teaching of Literature in ESL module.
1.1.2 Texts
The texts used in drama and poetry classes in Malaysian schools are prescribed
by the Ministry of Education. The poems taught in the Form 1 literature
component are The Lake Isles of Innisfree, The Dead Crow, and LifeÊs Brief
Candle, while the poems for the upper secondary level are Sonnet 18, Si
TenggangÊs Homecoming, ThereÊs Been a Death in the Opposite House, The
Road Not Taken, and Monsoon History. There are no drama texts in the
literature component of the English syllabuses for the lower and upper secondary
levels.
Students may choose to sit for the Literature paper in the Sijil Pelajaran
Malaysia or SPM (Malaysian Certificate of Education) examination. The
following notes list the poems in the 2004 SPM Literature Paper (some of the
poems can be obtained from the web links provided).

Notes
Poems
Piano by D. H. Lawrence
 Parents by E. E. Cummings

 A Figure Forgotten in Hours Not-of-Need by Kee Thuan Chye
 A FatherÊs Words for a Lost Child by Suhaimi Haji Muhammad
 Grandmother by Kemala
We are Seven by William Wordsworth
 Tea in a Spaceship by James Kirkup


Manners by Elizabeth Bishop
w
 The Gardner by Louis MacNeice

 Heir Conditioning by M. Shanmughalingam
 Dance by Fadzilah Amin
 The Midnight Satay Vendor by Ghulam Sarwar Yousof
Miracles by Walt Whitman
https://poets.org/poem/miracles
 My Clever Pupils by Omar Mohd Noor


 Nocturne by Muhammad Haji Salleh
 Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara
 At the Door by Wong Phui Nam
Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

The poems for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia or STPM (Malaysian
Higher School Certificate) Literature Paper are selected poems of John Keats and
Thomas Hardy and the collected poems of Nissim Ezekiel.
For the drama genre, the plays for the SPM paper are as follows:
Notes
Drama
 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

 The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw
For the STPM paper, the drama text is Hamlet or As You Like It by William
Shakespeare.
Some considerations to take note of in choosing poetry or drama texts are as

follows:
(a) Culture
In a study by Jayakaran (1993), he concludes that many students (i.e., the
respondents in his study) had „problems dealing with foreign cultural
elements in the (literary) text.‰ This means students who read texts
with many unfamiliar foreign elements may encounter difficulty in
comprehending and understanding them. As an example, see the
anonymous poem (taken from Maley and Duff, 1989) in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Season Song

The main difficulty of the poem (especially for students who have never
been to a country where there is winter and have never watched any shows
that depict winter time), is understanding and comprehending the winter
season as presented by the poet. What goes on during winter? How does
one feel? What does one see during winter? Why did the persona in the
poem say,
„thatÊs my time‰?
(b) Gender
Another factor to consider when choosing texts is gender. Studies have
shown that students may be influenced (in their perception and behaviour
in life and gender relations) by the texts that they read or study in school.
For example, texts that tend to centralise males and make no mention of
females may give the impression that only males can have their say in this
world while females should remain passive.
Take If by Rudyard Kipling (in the upper secondary level Literature

component). From the gender point of view, what gender bias is presented
through this poem?
(c) Level of Difficulty

A poem or playÊs level of difficulty should be considered as well. Its
lexical items should not be too difficult, as this may put off students (or
worse, put them to sleep!). Another understanding of the level of
difficulty is syntactical structures. Bear in mind that the language of
poetry is quite different from everyday spoken language. Poems use
compact language and are full of hidden or ingrained meanings that the
reader is supposed to decipher and find out. In a play, the level of
difficulty may increase if there are many sub-plots within a main plot;
unless students actually take part in the play, they may not fully
comprehend it. Bright and McGregor (1970) suggest that teachers use
texts which have „few difficulties of vocabulary and grammar‰.

Take the following poem, Cargoes by John Mansfield in Figure 1.2, as an

example.
Figure 1.2: Cargoes

What do you think are the difficulties of this poem? Read it without
referring to a dictionary. How many words do you NOT know? How many
words do you think your students may NOT know?
Now, compare it with the following poem, Dance by Fadzilah Amin, in

Figure 1.3. The poem, if you remember, is one of the poems for the SPM
Literature paper.
Figure 1.3: Dance

Now, how many words of this poem do you not know? How many words
do you think that your students may not know? Between the two, which
poem do you think will be more suitable for your students? How about
ronggeng? Have you seen people doing this dance? Do you get the idea
that is presented through this poem? Do the words in the poem hinder you
from comprehending it fully?
SELF-CHECK 1.1
What are the factors to consider when planning a poetry or drama lesson for an ESL class?
Name two factors to consider when choosing texts for a poetry or drama class.
1.1.3 Framework
When structuring your drama or poetry lesson in the ESL context, think of a
framework that you would like to employ. A framework means a plan or an idea.
The following are some frameworks that you may like to consider:
(a) Framework for the Teaching of Poetry

This first framework, adapted by Saratha (refer to Figure 1.4), is taken from
the Guidelines for Teaching in Singapore Secondary Schools, 1989.
Although it is modelled for the teaching of poetry, it can be adapted for the
teaching of drama.

Figure 1.4: Framework for the Teaching of Poetry

If you employ the framework in Figure 1.4, it means that you should
structure questions or activities in your lesson that ask students about the
subject matter of the poem or drama. You should also ask questions to get
your students to think about the theme of the poem or drama. The same
goes with form, style, and mood or atmosphere. However, do remember
that you are teaching poetry and drama in an ESL context. Decide whether
to follow the framework strictly or to adapt the framework to your
classroom situation.
Remember that a framework is just a theoretical structure. As a practitioner,

you are free to change or adapt the framework for your class.
(b) I-Model for the Teaching of Literature

Ibsen (1990) presents another framework, which is a generic model for the
teaching of literature. The framework, called the I-Model, comprises two
stages, as described in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1: I-Model for the Teaching of Literature
Primary Stage Secondary Stage
 Impetus
Involvement
 Input
 Identification
Interaction
 Incubation
 Initiative
Interpretation
 Integration
The primary stages represent a learning process within each student while
the secondary stages represent the methodological pre-conditions and
approach, which are as follows:
 The impetus stage is when introductory activities are given. An

example of an introductory activity is pre-reading. During this stage,
students open themselves up to accepting a text (poem or play). It
evokes their interest, which results in them wanting to know more
about it.

 In the input stage, the students are presented with the poem or drama
piece. Activities that can be done during this stage are extensive
reading, finding facts, exploring themes, and problem-solving tasks.
This stage involves conscious learning.
 In the identification stage, the students explore a theme, character,

plot, etc. through imaginary situations. They try out different viewpoints
to practise and share a variety of literary responses. For a play, for
instance, the students should be given the opportunity to play different
characters so that they can understand and see the different viewpoints
or perspectives of a particular situation. For a poem, the teacher can ask
the students to take up different roles within the poem. For example, for
the poem If by Kipling (one of the poems for the Form 4 Literature
component), students can play the role of a father or mother giving the
advice, and then the role of the child listening to the advice. Afterwards,
they can present their viewpoints.
 The incubation period is a time for pause. Students take a break from
the activity to think and reflect. They can be given short questions to
help them reflect on their role in a play, the activities they carried out,
the language used in a poem, etc.
 The initiative stage is when the students share what they have learned
with one another. They can share in their respective groups, after which
the leader of each group summarises what they have discussed and
shares with the whole class.
 Finally, the integration stage is when language and literature are put
together or integrated. This is the time for language work and
students are given opportunities to build up their language
proficiency.
ACTIVITY 1.1
Imagine that you are teaching at a private college and you have to use Macbeth as part of your text to te
Share and compare your teaching methods with those of your coursemates in myINSPIRE.

(c) Generic Framework for the Teaching of Literature

Another framework that can be used is described by Talif (1995). It is a
generic framework for the teaching of literature, as shown in Table 1.2.
Table 1.2: Generic Framework for the Teaching of Literature
Stage Activity
Initial Preparation
Middle Exploration (pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading)
Final Extension
 In the initial stage, students are introduced to the themes and relevant
issues that may emerge in a poem or play. They may be asked to write
the definition of the genre of the text (e.g., What is a poem?).
 In the middle stage, the students get into the drama or poetry text.
They are introduced to the relevant content in the drama or poem.
Then, they may be asked to predict events, such as the plots in the
drama.
Comprehension questions are also asked to ensure that the students

understand the text. Creative writing or summary writing can be done at this
stage.
 In the final stage, extension activities can be carried out. These refer
to supplementary or follow-up activities. For example, students may
be asked to role-play a poem (or write a poem based on a play). They
may also be asked to do a project.
These are extension activities suggested by Edwin (1992) in Extension Activities

in the Literature Classroom :
 Write a letter in response to a poem or play to its author.
 Create a new character in a play and integrate it into the plot. Or, add a scene
into a play or an extra stanza into a poem.
 Write an epitaph for a character who died in a play or poem. For example,
for Hamlet, write an epitaph for HamletÊs father, Old Hamlet, the King of
Denmark, who was murdered.

 Assume characters in a play or poem while another student plays a

psychiatrist. Take part in a therapy session, and describe oneÊs feelings in
relation to oneÊs character.
 Take part in a mock trial. For example, assume different characters from
Hamlet and go through a mock trial of HamletÊs uncle, Claudius (who
murdered HamletÊs father, took over the throne, and married HamletÊs
mother). If you have read Hamlet, you know that Claudius dies in the play,
but let us assume that he is alive, is caught, and given a fair trial).
ACTIVITY 1.2
Compare the three types of framework provided in this topic and choose the one you deem most suitabl
1.2 PARTS OF LESSON STRUCTURE

In this subtopic, you will look at the parts of a lesson structure. As in any
other lesson, there must be an introductory stage (remember that you are
teaching drama and poetry in an ESL context).
1.2.1 Introduction
The introduction of a lesson is important because it „sets the scene in terms of
the content, raises the studentsÊ interest, and ideally, introduces some of the key
vocabulary and ideas which will come up‰ in the later part of the lesson (Lewis
& Hill, 1993). The introduction is also the stage in which students are
familiarised with a poem or drama. The following are some activities that you
may consider using during this stage:
 When presenting a poem, students listen to a recording of the poem, or the

teacher reads the poem aloud. This will give the students an idea of what the
poem is all about.
 Songs related to the poem or drama may be played during the beginning of
the class. This will help the students to enjoy the texts they are reading. For
example, when teaching LifeÊs Brief Candle, you may consider putting on
the song, Candle in the Wind, by Elton John as part of your teaching work so
that your students can gain confidence in language use.

 Consider using illustrations that may accompany a poem or drama to start off
a discussion. For example, in the textbook for the lower and upper secondary
levels, the poems in the textbook are furnished with illustrations. The teacher
can exploit these drawings by asking questions based on the pictures.
Through this activity, students are given the opportunity to tap into their
schemata (background knowledge) and discuss further issues in another
section of the lesson.
 When presenting the script of a play, the least satisfactory way is to ask
students to read the play aloud because this may lead to problems of
pronunciation, misinterpretation, and embarrassment (Dougill, 1987). The
best way to introduce the script is by getting students to listen to it using
audio of scripted scenes which the teacher has recorded. The teacher may also
outline the social, political or historical background of the play while the
students take notes. Another pre-reading activity is for the teacher to provide
hints on the genre of the play, i.e., whether it is a farce, melodrama, comedy,
Absurdist drama, etc. The students may then make predictions about the
genre of the play.
1.2.2 Getting into Drama and Poetry (Presentation)

After the introduction, the next part of your lesson structure will involve students
getting into the drama or poetry. Students will learn and explore themes, plots,
characters, and elements, and probe deeper into the text. It is a stage of
experience, not just knowing but experiencing the inner workings of the drama or
poetry. The following are some suggested activities that you may wish to
consider:
(a) Choral Activity

One activity that involves the whole class is choral speaking or reading.
Choral speaking is defined as an oral presentation in unison without a
script, while choral reading is reading in unison with a script.
Choral activity is a good way to get students to work together. It will help
shy students to speak aloud as whatever mistakes they think they are
committing will be drowned by the voices of the whole group. It may also
boost confidence in speaking. In addition, choral activity allows students to
practise rhyme, stress, rhythm, and intonation.
First of all, the students must listen to a model. This means the teacher has
to read the poem or the lines from a play aloud so that students will know
how the lines ought to be read. Then, practise line by line, stanza by stanza.
This will familiarise students with the rhyme, stress, rhythm, and intonation
of the poem or play. Finally, get the students to speak or read the whole
text.

Remember to vary the activity. For example, break the class into groups.
One group can read or speak one stanza of a poem or the lines of one
character aloud. Another group can read or speak the next stanza or the
lines of another character aloud. Also remember to appoint one of the
students as a conductor to conduct the oral activity. The conductor uses his
or her hands to prompt the other students to speak or read their lines aloud
(like the conductor of an orchestra).
Choral reading also works well with drama texts. Have several students
read aloud a character from a play, instead of just one person. Improvise by
having them inject emotions into their voices, instead of acting, much like
taking part in a radio play (where there are no audiences, only listeners).
(b) Discussion
Another activity to get students into drama or poetry texts is discussion.
Allow students to discuss the elements of a drama or poem in class, either
in groups or pairs. Provide stimuli to the students. Do not just tell them,
„Discuss the drama or poetry.‰ What are they to discuss? Give out
worksheets or guidelines. For example, ask, „Is the rhythm (of the poem)
fast or slow? What effect does this rhythm have on you? Why do you think
the poet employs a fast/slow rhythm?‰ Also, have students discuss the
choice of words used in the poem or drama.
(c) Dictation
For this type of activity, a form of dictation that can be effectively used is
dictogloss. Students sit in groups while the teacher reads lines from a poem
or drama aloud. The lines have to be unfamiliar to the students, i.e., lines
from a drama or poem that is not from their recommended texts.
The students listen only once (or twice) to the lines and then jot down as
many words as possible. They are not supposed to jot down line by line but
any word they can catch. Next, they share their words within their groups.
With the pool of words, each group then reconstructs the poem or drama
lines to be as close as possible to the one read by the teacher. There will be
variations in the poem or drama lines given by each group. These variations
can serve as a springboard for further discussion.
In a variation of the dictogloss activity, students sit in their groups and

listen to a poem or drama lines read out by their teacher. While listening,
they do not write down anything. After listening once (or twice), they jot
down whatever words they can remember. Then they pool these words in
their groups and come up with a poem or drama lines that are as close as
possible to the one read by the teacher.

(d) Fill in the Lines

Another activity is to have students fill in a poem or drama lines based on
their understanding of the title. This is how the activity goes:
 Take the poem In the Kitchen by John Cotton as an example. Introduce

the title of the poem and ask students what they usually see in a kitchen.
 Briefly discuss the function of the items mentioned. Give a short

description of the items. Suggest sounds that these items make (e.g., a
knife will go „chop, chop, chop‰).
 Next, give the students the worksheet shown in Figure 1.5. At this point,
they still have no idea of the complete poem, so they have to guess the
words of the poem.
Figure 1.5: Sample Worksheet for Filling in the Lines of a Poem

 After the students have filled in the worksheet, they discuss the poem as
a class. Ask the students why they chose certain words. For example, if
they wrote „the murmurings of the refrigerator‰, ask them why they
chose „refrigerator‰.
Figure 1.6 shows the complete poem.
Figure 1.6: In the Kitchen
(e) Rewrite a Dialogue

This activity is for students to rewrite a dialogue between two characters.
The following is how the activity goes:
 Before the play is actually read, you can sensitise the students to the
comic characters created by Oscar Wilde in his play, The Importance of
Being Earnest.

 Divide the students into two groups. Give one group AlgernonÊs lines
only, and ask them to write JackÊs responses. Give the other group
JackÊs lines only and ask them to write AlgernonÊs lines.
 When both sides are ready, pairs can act out JackÊs and AlgernonÊs
parts. Then, they can compare their version with the original lines.
Figure 1.7 shows a sample dialogue between the two characters which
you can use for this activity.
Figure 1.7: Sample Dialogue

1.2.3 Creative Writing

The drama or poetry class should allow for creative writing. In the first two
stages, students are presented with a model (the poem or drama). By now,
they may want to explore writing pieces of their own. The following are a
couple of suggested activities for poetry which you may adapt for drama:
(a) Activity 1
You can conduct this activity if you have introduced the poem, The
Dead Crow (a poem prescribed for Form 1), to your students. This
poem is generally about pollution and its effects on the environment and
human beings. Students can substitute the nouns in the poem with
others. For example, instead of „crow‰, what other birds can your
students think of? Since the poem is about pollution, give them the
following structure and ask them to write a poem of their own:
 a kind of pollution
 colour associated with pollution
 name a person
 what happened to the person as a result of this pollution
 why
 what did you do
The following is an example of a poem based on the structure mentioned

previously:
Noise
red
Andy
had his ears blown off
Noise was too loud
I buried his ears

(b) Activity 2
Do you remember what concrete poetry is? Ask students to come up with a
concrete poem. For example, you can ask them to rewrite The Dead Crow
in the form of a crow. Ask the students to use colour freely and find out
their reasons for choosing certain colours. They may rewrite The Lake Isles
of Innisfree (another poem for Form 1) in the shape of an island. Get them
to write the poem using different colours (instead of just pen or pencil).
Have them give their rationale for choosing certain colours. For example, a
student may write the poem with a green colour pencil. Ask why he or she
chose green.
ACTIVITY 1.3
In your opinion, why are creative writing skills essential for students in the drama and poetry classroom? Shar
1.2.4 Extension Activities

Exploit the poem or drama further by having extension activities (remember
the extension activities mentioned in Subtopic 1.1.3[c]?). For example, based
on the poem, The Dead Crow, have students role-play a parliamentary
session where they act as members of parliament debating a bill to protect the
environment. Ask some students to act as opposition members so that they
can learn to argue out details and points.
After reading a play, students select a few episodes of the play and write a
summary linking these episodes, which are then delivered by a narrator. Another
follow-up activity is for students in pairs to invent mini biographies for the
characters in a play by imagining a past for them. These are then read aloud to the
class and compared.

1.2.5 Conclusion
Finally, conclude your lesson. How you conclude it will depend on the
framework you used or the purpose of your class. Is language development the
primary purpose of the class? Then, give exercises to consolidate the language
items that they have learned. Is the class for the impartation of values and
culture? In that case, perhaps you could give a real-life situation and ask students
to propose solutions (e.g., after teaching The Dead Crow, ask students what they
can do to reduce pollution at home or school).
You may wonder whether it is possible to do all these things within one period of
study. Obviously not. You can structure your lesson over two periods or so.
Remember, do not rush through your lesson. Many teachers like to rationalise
that they have to finish the syllabus. It is important that what we teach has
quality, not quantity.
• There are three factors to consider when structuring a lesson plan for
teaching drama or poetry lesson:
– the purpose;
– the text; and
– the framework.
• When choosing drama or poetry texts, there are three factors to consider:
– culture;
– gender; and
– level of difficulty.

• There are three frameworks in planning a drama or poetry lesson:
– the one adapted from Saratha (1989);
– the I-Model; and
– the generic framework.
• The lesson is structured into the introduction, presentation, and extension

(production) stage. Each stage has certain activities.
• The presentation stage can include these activities:
– choral activity (speaking or reading);
– discussion;
– dictation;
– filling in lines; and
– rewriting of dialogues.
Choral activity Generic framework

Creative writing I-Model
Dictation Linguistic elements
Extension activities

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Theory and techniques for the Secondary Stage . Longman.
Brown, H. D. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language

pedagogy. Prentice Hall.
Carter, R., & Long, M. N. (1991). Teaching literature. Longman.
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078400003126
Edwin, M. (1992). Extension activities in the literature classroom. The English

Teacher, 21(1), 24–32.
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Gill, C. S. (1996). Using drama techniques to encourage oral interaction. The

English Teacher, 25(1).
Gwin, T. (1990). Language skills through literature. English Teaching Forum,

28 (3), 10–17.
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ELT Journal, 57(1), 19–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/57.1.19
Ibsen, E. B. (1990). The double role of fiction in foreign-language learning:

Towards a creative methodology. English Teaching Forum, 28 (3), 2–9.
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cultural elements for the Malaysian class reader programme. The English
Teacher, 22(1).

Lewis, M., & Hill, J. (1993). Source book for teaching english as a foreign language .
Macmillan.
Maley, A., & Duff, A. (1989). The inward ear: Poetry in the language classroom.
Cambridge University Press.
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Journal, 57(2), 122–129. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/57.2.122
Rosli Talif, & M. Jayakaran. (1994). Using literature in an advantaged situation:

Issues and prospects. The English Teacher, 23(1).
Rosli Talif. (1995). Teaching literature in ESL – The Malaysian context . Penerbitan
Universiti Pertanian Malaysia.
Saratha Sithamparam. (1991). Strategies for the use of poetry in the language
classroom. The English Teacher, 20(1).
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Tibbetts, D. (1998). Poets in the classroom: Creative, communicative drills

and meaningful repetition. The English Teacher, 27(1).

To pi  Presenting
Elements of
2 Drama
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Describe the principles involved in structuring activities for the presentation of the elements of English
Construct activities for the presentation of the elements of English drama following the principles taugh
Explain the rationale for choosing certain activities for the presentation of English drama.
 INTRODUCTION
In this topic, you will examine five elements of English drama: setting,
characters, dialogue, plot, and theme. Then, you will be given activities to
incorporate these elements of drama in your classroom teaching.
2.1 TEACHING SETTING

What can you recall about setting? Think of the examples of settings from plays
that were introduced to you in the module, HBET4103 Introduction to Drama and
Poetry.

28  TOPIC 2 PRESENTING ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
Setting is the where and when of a play. This element of the play can be a mere
suggestion of background, or it can be very prominent. Sometimes, we recall a
story not for what happened or who was in it, but for an atmosphere that was
powerfully evoked, that made us feel we were actually there. The setting can help
reveal the theme by showing:
 the effect of a particular environment on a character (and, by extension, on

society); or
 particular moods the atmosphere brings to the character (despair, alienation,

terror, inspiration).
A very simple activity to present setting is to ask literal-level questions.

Remember, setting does not necessarily mean only the location. It entails the
condition of the location. This means you should ask questions that not only
ask „Where?‰ but
„What?‰ as in „What was the weather like?‰ and „What objects add to or
reinforce the gloomy setting?‰ and „When?‰ as in „What time did the event
take place?‰ It also involves sound. For example, the kind of music that a
character is listening to or background noises. The following notes show some of
the simple questions that you can ask your students about setting.
Notes
Simple Questions to Ask About Setting: The Place/Space/Scenery

 Where do you think the drama takes place? Which words suggest this?

 What is the weather like? How do you know this?

 Which period of time did the play take place? What time of the day do you think it is?
 Identify the lines and phrases which show the setting.

Which words are used to describe the place and time of the incident? In what season did the incident tak

Do you think this drama took place indoors or outdoors? Which words suggest this?
What kind of stage is the drama performed?

TOPIC 2 PRESENTING ELEMENTS OF DRAMA  29
What you have read in the notes above indirectly presents one basic principle of
teaching the elements of drama – do not ask questions that require students to
think one dimensionally. Get your students to think in multi-faceted
perspectives. In application, do not just ask your students, „Where?‰, but
also „What?‰ and
„When?‰ To get them to read and understand the play from different angles,
you have to structure your questions likewise.
ACTIVITY 2.1
The paragraph above mentioned that one of the basic principles of teaching the elements of drama is not
Post in the myINSPIRE forum the activities that you thought of and discuss them with your coursemate
2.1.1 Sample Activities

In this subtopic, two sample activities are provided for your classroom reference.
(a) Activity 1
This activity incorporates play extracts to guess the setting of a play. In this
activity, three extracts from different plays are given to students. They read
and fill in details in a grid given in a worksheet.
By providing more than one play extract, students are given practice in
scanning for specific details in texts.

Figure 2.1: Text A (Activity 1)

Figure 2.2: Text B (Activity 1)

Figure 2.3: Text C (Activity 1)

Figure 2.4: Worksheet for Activity 1
(b) Activity 2
Sometimes, you may want to consider giving the set descriptions of plays.
Thus, the descriptions of the setting are given explicitly. Students just read
and find answers to the questions asked. This kind of activity is appropriate
for students who are beginning to be introduced to drama. They are not
burdened with unravelling the complexities of a play. This is another
principle to remember, one that you will have learned from other modules
in this programme: start easy and progress to difficult questions.
Students are asked to read the set descriptions given for Plays A, B, and C.
They then answer the following questions based on the description given:
 Where do you think the drama takes place? Which words suggest this?
 What is the weather or season like? How do you know this?
 Which period does the play take place in?
 What time of the day do you think it is?

 Identify the words, lines, and phrases which show the setting.
 Do you think this drama takes place indoors or outdoors? Which words
suggest this? On what kind of stage is the drama performed?
Figure 2.5: Play A (Activity 2)
Figure 2.6: Play B (Activity 2)

Figure 2.7: Play C (Activity 2)
One extension activity that you can have in teaching about setting is to ask
students to draw out a setting based on the description given. You may
consider grouping students and giving each group a different extract of a
play. Ask each group to come up with a drawing that depicts the setting of
the extract they have. Each drawing is then passed on to another group
which has to guess the play extract that is presented through the drawing.
Conversely, to encourage creativity, students in each group are to draw a

picture of a landscape or setting. This picture is then passed on to another
group who will then write out a 5-minute short play based on the picture.
2.2 TEACHING PLOT

The plot is the now and what happens of a play. In a drama, there must first of all
be a story to tell.
Plot can be defined as „the sequence of events in a story with an element of causation‰.

The following notes list some simple questions that you can ask your students
about a plot.
Notes
Simple Questions to Ask About a Plot:

 What is the story in the play?

 Describe the sequence of events in the play.

What is the conflict in the play?
What caused the conflict? What happened before that? How is the problem solved?
 What are the events that led to the conflict?


 What are the ups and downs in the drama?

 How does the play end?
What is the anti-climax in the play? Identify the main events in the play.
To teach plot, you may have to ask your students to read the whole play so that
they can answer questions related to the plot adequately. If a teacher were to
consider the time given to teach literature in the ESL class, this may be a difficult
task. To overcome this, you can break up the play into several parts. For example,
for the first few acts, you can summarise the plot. Then, ask your students to read
the extract of plays from subsequent acts.
In addition, you can ask your students to predict the plot of a story. This can
be done several ways. You can, for example, get the movie version of the play
(if there is one). Play the first few parts of the movie and ask the students to
predict what happens in the subsequent parts of the movie. If there is no
movie, ask the students to predict what happens after another incident, before
they proceed to read the play.

A variation of this activity is to list out the characters in a play. Trace the first
few parts of the plot and subsequently, ask the students to predict the later parts
(such as the climax or resolution). Then, the students read the play to find out
how true their predictions are.
2.3 TEACHING CHARACTERISATION

The character is simply the who of the play. The bare record of action (plot)
cannot in itself reveal the meaning of the play. The creation of character adds
reality to the play. It creates understanding through identification, and arouses
feeling and judgement through approval, admiration, condemnation, and disgust.
about characterisation.
Notes
Simple Questions to Ask About Characterisation:

 How many people are there in the drama?

 Pick out words which tell you more about the people in the drama.

 What is the relationship between the people in the play? Who do you think is the main character?
Describe the mood of the actors. Identify words or phrases which show the mood.
 How are phrases used to describe the characters?


Draw a description of a character, with the help of words or phrases in
the script.
What are the words that suggest the feelings of the characters?

In the following activity, students are asked to read the description of several
characters. They read to pick out key words from the text that suggest
characterisation.
Activity 3
Read the description of characters taken from four different plays (A, B, C, and
D). How do these descriptions suggest characterisation?
Figure 2.8: Play A (Activity 3)

Figure 2.9: Play B (Activity 3)
Figure 2.10: Play C (Activity 3)

Figure 2.11: Play D (Activity 3)
You may also consider having students write a portfolio of their favourite
character. In the portfolio, they not only describe the character, but can also put in
drawings or pictures of the character. They have to give reasons why they
consider the character their favourite.
Another follow-up activity when teaching characters is to hold a debate. Students

sit in two opposing groups and argue why a character is or is not the best
character in the play.
An interesting technique for the teaching of characters is miming. Students sit in

two groups while the teacher gives out names of characters written on cards. One
person from each group mimes the characters while the other members of the
group guess who the characters are. The group with the most correct guesses
wins the game.
(Note: You have probably played this game before, it is called charades).

2.4 DIALOGUE
Dialogue refers to the language of the play. In this subtopic, we are interested
to find out if the dialogue spoken by the characters in a play represents real
conversation.
about dialogue.
In the following activity, students are asked to read descriptions of several

Notes
characters. They then pick out key words that suggest characterisation.
Simple
Activity 4 Questions to Ask About Dialogue:
Read
 aloud the following
Dialogue has three extract from Caryl
major functions advance a Top
ChurchillÊs
– to plot,Girls. In this
establish play,
setting
sometimes a character starts speaking before the other has finished
(the time and place of action), and reveal character. Is the language in the or even
continues speaking
dialogue of a right throughand
play simple anotherÊs speech, or
straightforward, andformal
this isand
marked with (/).
ponderous?
How realistic does the language seem? Is the language formal or colloquial
(informal)?
 DoesDoes the language
the language reflect the
help reveal the characters
class of theinspeaker?
dialogue by means of
dialect, unique expressions or humour?
 Which does the language correspond with – the reality or the fantasy of
the play?
 Do the words and the rhythm of the sentences contribute to the mood,
atmosphere or total impact of the play?
 Imagery – Does the language evoke pictures in the mind?

Figure 2.12: Dialogue for Activity 4

One extended activity that you can consider is to give the different parts of a play
to different groups. Ask each group to paraphrase the lines in the play. For
example, you can have your students paraphrase lines from a play by
Shakespeare, using contemporary English. Then, have each group read aloud or
dramatise their paraphrased scripts. This activity may help your students to apply
their creative thinking skills. As mentioned elsewhere in this module, remember
to allow your students to use their thinking skills so as to pave the way for them
to be creative.
2.5 THEMES IN PLAYS

A theme is the totality of meaning that is conveyed through a play, whether that
meaning emerges primarily from the setting, plot, character, language, or point of
view.
For students who are just beginning to be exposed to plays (and literature) as a
whole, finding the theme in a play can be a daunting task. This is because a play
can be quite lengthy (unless you choose a short play for beginners). In addition,
students tend to confuse theme with plot.
The meaning of the word „theme‰ has to be explained to students. Give

examples from extracts of plays, but not long ones as there would not be enough
time to go through the whole play. Besides, you only want to train your students
to understand what theme is. From the extracts of plays, ask your students to list
out key words (words which they believe are important to the central meaning of
the play). Group the words together and tell your students to categorise them
under one central, generic term. This generic term may be considered as one of
the themes of the play.
For example, ask your students to list out key words from the Top Girls extract
given earlier.
The following is an example:
 wasted life
 rotten life
 went hungry
 lives were rubbish
 dreams
 bad nights and bad days

 working class
 lazy and stupid
 he hit her
 she had nothing
Based on these key words, ask your students to think of a sentence that may tie the
words together. It may be as follows:
The other method is to work conversely. Give the above sentence, „The
The unprofitable or bad life of a working-class woman.
unprofitable or bad life of a working-class woman‰, and ask your students to
find evidence from the text to support the sentence.
You can also ask your students questions to elicit responses with regard to the
possible themes of the play. The following notes list some questions that you can
ask your students about theme.
Notes
Simple Questions to Ask About Theme:

 What is the main idea conveyed in the drama?

 What is the moral value found in the drama?

 Which words in the drama convey the message?

What do you think is the purpose of the drama? Is it didactic? What is the common message/idea throug
What is the significance of these phrases in relation to the play?
(Give examples of phrases from the play)

Activity 5
Read these phrases taken from a play, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, and
suggest possible themes for the play.
Figure 2.13: Excerpt from Pygmalion 1 (Activity 5)
Possible Theme
The superiority of the upper class is not by virtue of birth or heredity. Through
education, proper language accent, and social etiquette, one can move from one
social class to another.

Possible Theme
Class distinction in English society contrasts with a world where there is equality
of souls in a classless paradise.
Possible Theme
Poverty versus middle-class morality.
If you have problems getting your students to describe the theme of plays, you
could lead them with easy activities such as giving a cloze passage or multiple-
choice questions. Once your students are familiar with spotting themes, you may
proceed to open-ended questions, as suggested in this activity.

2.6 WARM-UP ACTIVITIES

One final principle that should be shared, which has been discussed in previous
topics and will be discussed in subsequent topics, is to begin your lessons with
warm-up activities. Ensure that the warm-up activities correlate with the
elements that you are teaching.
For example, when teaching character, you can consider a warm-up activity that
requires your students to act out or mime different moods (angry, happy, guilty,
disheartened, euphoric, etc.). When teaching setting, get your students into groups
and give them pictures of landscapes. Get them to dramatise the setting. For
example, show them a picture of the Petronas Twin Towers and ask them to act it
out, i.e., two students act as the twin towers while another student stretches his or
her hands to be the connecting bridge. Several other students can pretend to be
trees.
SELF-CHECK 2.1
State whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. To teach pupils the setting of a play, a teacher only has to ask

questions that begin with „Where‰.
2. The setting can point to the theme of a play.
3. To teach setting, we can ask questions that begin with „Who‰.
4. Reading the description of a play can tell us more about the setting.
5. Teachers should ignore stage settings when teaching setting.
6. Instructing pupils to draw a setting from a play is considered an

important and primary activity.
7. Predicting what happens after an incident is one way of teaching

the plot of a play.
8. Teaching the plot alone will help pupils to get the meaning of a
play.
9. The teaching of creative thinking skills should be separated from

the teaching of drama.
10. Extended activities should be conducted at the beginning of a

lesson.

• This topic discusses five elements of teaching drama:
– setting;
– characters and characterisation;
– dialogue;
– plot; and
– theme.
• For each element, sample activities and questions are discussed to illustrate
how a lesson can be conducted.
Characterisation Plot
Close passage Setting
Dialogue Theme
Extended activities

To pi  Presenting
Elements of
3 Poetry
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Structure activities for the teaching of elements of poetry.
Identify the elements of poetry briefly.
Explain a brief lesson structure for the teaching of the elements of poetry.
 INTRODUCTION
In this topic, we will look at some suggested activities to teach elements of poetry
such as rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration. Before you read this topic, we suggest
that you review the elements of poetry presented in HBET4103 Introduction to
Drama and Poetry. Remember, this course is about teaching drama and poetry
in an ESL context. As a practitioner (i.e., teacher), you are the best person to
decide how to present these elements in your class. You should first decide
whether the elements should be taught, or whether linguistic items are the ones
that should be given focus. Decide also whether it is appropriate to teach your
students the elements of poetry.
The main purpose of this topic is to suggest ways of teaching selected elements
of poetry. At the end of this topic, we will also discuss a brief lesson structure for
the teaching of these elements.

50  TOPIC 3 PRESENTING ELEMENTS OF POETRY
3.1 TEACHING THE PERSONA

We will now look at some suggested activities to teach some elements of English
poetry. We will start off with teaching about the persona.
According to The UVic WriterÊs Guide, the persona is as follows:
Some
⁄ students may need
the character of theideas on the narrator
first-person conceptinofverse
persona. Younarratives,
or prose may consider
giving them
and the the worksheet
speaker shownThe
in lyric poetry. in use
Figure 3.1.term
of the Ask„persona‰
them to guess who they
(as distinct
think could
from be saying the sentences. You may even ask them to guess where the
speakers are.
„author‰) stresses that the speaker is part of the fictional creation,
invented for the authorÊs particular purposes in a given literary work.
Figure 3.1: Worksheet for the Teaching of Persona
(The Department of English, University of Victoria, 1995)

TOPIC 3 PRESENTING ELEMENTS OF POETRY  51
ACTIVITY 3.1
Suggest variations to the above activity by coming up with a few other sentences of your own. Share
In the next step, introduce the concept of persona as used in poetry. Explain that
the persona is a fictitious character. It may even be a tree as in The Pruned Tree
by Howard Moss. Taking ThereÊs Been a Death in the Opposite House by
Emily Dickinson as an example (this poem is used in Form 4), before students go
into the text, ask them what they would expect to see or observe if one of their
neighbours were to die. What would go on in the neighbourÊs house? What
would they see? Who would be the people going into the house? How would they
feel or behave?
Next, introduce the poem and ask students to compare what they had written
with what is mentioned in the poem. You may even ask them to write a poem
from a family memberÊs point of view. How will the poem be different from
the one written by a neighbour as given by Dickinson?
For further reading, visit the following website for some hints on the teaching of
persona based on one of Robert FrostÊs poems:
https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans/poems-tell-story-narrative-and-
persona-poetry-robert-frost
3.2 TEACHING RHYME

Rhyme is one element that is easy to teach. Children are usually taught rhyme
from young. Introduce your students to words that sound the same, such as bun-
gun, two-shoe, and apple-jingle. Rhyme deals with the repetition of similar
sounds. You may use the same principles when teaching alliteration (repetition of
initial sounds of words) or assonance (repetition of vowel sounds).
Give students a worksheet in which they have to choose words that rhyme with
certain words in the exercise. Then, give them a poem with selected last words of
a line deleted. Ask them to fill in the blanks with words that rhyme.

Teaching rhyme can also be in the form of a listening task. You can give your
students a worksheet such as the one in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2: Worksheet for the Teaching of Rhyme
Ask your students to listen while you read out some words. As they listen, they
should mark A, B, C or D for words that rhyme with the words given in the
worksheet.
Read aloud the words in Figure 3.3.
Figure 3.3: Rhymed Words for the Teaching of Rhyme
You may even consider doing this activity as a reading task. Instead of asking
students to listen to options that are spoken, ask them to read options on the
board. They then have to choose the best answer.

3.3 TEACHING RHYTHM

Rhythm is another element that is easy to teach. Students should have a model to
follow, either the teacher or a recorded audio. This is because they may have
faulty rhythm and if they are not told, it might become ingrained in them. The
teacher may read aloud a poem with the correct rhythm for the class to listen to.
Then, the teacher trains the students line by line. Finally, the students present or
read aloud the poem by themselves.
One more activity is to prepare the lyrics of a song continuously without

punctuation or capitalisation (except in the case of first-person pronouns and
proper nouns). The following song, Lay a Whisper by Roxette, is an example.
As students listen to the song, they need to put a slash „/ „at the spots where
Lay a whisper on my pillow leave the winter on the ground I wake up lonely
pauses occur. Thus, the song will be indicated as follows:
thereÊs air of silence in the bedroom and all around touch me now I close my
eyes and dream away it must have been love but itÊs over now it must have
been good but I lost it somehow it must have been love but itÊs over now
Lay a whisper / on my pillow / leave the winter / on the ground / I wake
from the moment we touch till the time had run out make believing weÊre
up lonely / thereÊs air of silence / in the bedroom / and all around / touch
together by your heart in the outside I turn to water like a teardrop in your
me now / I close my eyes / and dream away / it must have been love /
palm and itÊs a hard winterÊs day I dream away it must have been love but
but itÊs over now / it must have been good / but I lost it somehow / it
itÊs over now itÊs all that I wanted now I am living without it must have been
must have been love / but itÊs over now / from the moment we touch / till
love but itÊs over now itÊs where the water flows itÊs where the wind blows it
the time had run out / make believing / d together / by your heart / in the
must have been love but itÊs over now it must have been good but I lost it
outside / I turn to water / like a teardrop / in your palm / and itÊs a hard /
somehow it must have been love but itÊs over now from the moment we
winterÊs day / I dream away / it must have been love / but itÊs over now
touch.
/ itÊs all that I wanted / now I am living without / it must have been love /
but itÊs over now / itÊs where the water flows / itÊs where the wind blows
/ it must have been love / but itÊs over now / it must have been good /
but I lost it somehow / it must have been love / but itÊs over now / from
the moment we touch.

Next, a poem is given (typed similarly as the previous example, i.e., continuously
and without any punctuation). As the teacher reads the poem aloud with the
proper rhythm (i.e., pausing in the right places), students listen and indicate the
pauses in the poem with a slash.
A variation of this activity is to have students listen to the first few stanzas of a
poem with the pauses indicated. They then guess the pauses in the following
stanzas. After that, they listen to the next few stanzas, which are read aloud, to
check their answers.
Undoubtedly, the best way for students to learn rhythm is by reading a poem
aloud. Get your students to read aloud in pairs or groups and in different rhythms.
Ask them whether they find any differences in understanding the poem. For
example, for DickinsonÊs poem, ThereÊs Been a Death in the Opposite House,
ask your students to read the poem in a fast rhythm and then in a slow rhythm.
Get them to identify which rhythm suits the overall meaning or intent of the
poem best and justify their answer.
3.4 TEACHING THEME

What do you think of this question: „What is the theme of this poem?‰
Does a poem have only one theme? Do you think the question implies that there
is only one possible theme to a poem, and do you think this question is valid?
Theme basically answers the question „What is the poem about?‰ or „What is
the main message of the poem?‰
One thing to remember (and this is perhaps a very important thing, yet most
teachers and examiners tend to forget it) is that for most literary texts, there will
always be more than one theme. Thus, there is no such thing as the „correct‰
theme or „the‰ theme. You may ask, „What is one of the themes of this poem?‰
rather than „What is the theme of this poem?‰ The former question recognises
that there is potentially more than one theme in a poem. The latter question
assumes that a poem has only one theme.
The implication here is that teachers must allow students to be bold and
courageous in articulating what they think the theme of a poem is. Do not
discourage them by saying that a theme that they suggest is wrong. As long as
there is evidence in the poem to substantiate or exemplify what they say, their
suggestions should be allowed and taken into consideration.

You may argue, „ArenÊt some of the themes obvious?‰ The theme in A. Samad
SaidÊs The Dead Crow, for example, is obviously pollution. It is also a call to
preserve our environment. It may also be about humansÊ destructive character or
a lament about Mother NatureÊs deterioration due to their selfishness or lack of
love for her.
To teach theme, you may ask students to list out important or key words in a
poem. Then, ask them to associate the words with common connotative
meanings. For example, what does a crow represent? What is it associated with?
What does one think of when someone mentions a crow? You may consider
playing a simple game (which you had played as a child). Ask students to list out
associated meanings when they listen to a particular word. For example, when
you say „red,‰ what do they think of? List out the words as quickly as possible as
they are not supposed to think of the associated meanings but give the first word
that comes to their minds. After a few words, give words that are taken from the
poem. Write the associated words of the words from the poem on the board, and
use them as a guide to come up with a possible theme.
Let us assume that you are teaching Sonnet 18. Read out the following words and
ask students to quickly give words which come to their minds the moment they
hear these words:
 tiger
 car
 white
 book
 light
 laksa
Then, give the following words but do not tell them that these are from the poem:
 summer
 complexion
 lovely
 fair
 rough

 death
 winds
 may
Write the associated words on the board. Go through them and ask your students
whether they can make sense of them.
3.5 TEACHING ONOMATOPOEIA

Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound almost exactly as they sound in nature.
An example is splash, which is quite similar to the sound made if a stone is

thrown into a pool of water. Another example is hiss, which is like the sound
made by a snake. Poems may contain onomatopoeia and it is one of the elements
that make poetry more imaginative and creative. Can you find out an
onomatopoeic word from The Lake Isles of Innisfree (the poem for Form 2
English)?
However, before asking your students to identify onomatopoeic words in a poem,

you may want to give a short practice to reinforce the concept of onomatopoeia in
the studentsÊ minds. List out the words in Table 3.1 and ask your students to
guess what might cause the sounds.
Table 3.1: Words in the Teaching of Onomatopoeia
Words
 crunch  rustle
 
 splatter  murmur
 plop crash bump  scratch
smack ring
 
slam
 
 
 
 screech  boom
crack
rumble creak
rattle roar

Conversely, you can record some sounds, play them in class, and ask your
students to write out the sounds they hear and invent new words. For example,
you may record the sound of a zip closing. The sound may be written as zoop or
zip.
To teach onomatopoeia, you have to give the meaning first. Then, go on to the
activities mentioned. The next step is to ask students to identify onomatopoeia
from a poem. This can be done during the comprehension activity.
One more activity is to substitute the original onomatopoeic word in the poem
with another word by the students. Ask them how the change of words could
affect the poem. They can also create sounds to accompany the reading aloud of
the poem. For example, when reading aloud The Lake Isles of Innisfree, they
can make the sound of bees, birds, or water when these words are mentioned.
3.6 TEACHING SYMBOLS

A symbol is an important element of poetry that refers to something concrete which is used to represen
For example, a sickle may symbolise communism while a skull may symbolise
death or poison.
Remember one important principle in teaching: start from the known and move
to the unknown. In other words, use symbols that are simple or common,
known, and used in our everyday life. What does red symbolise? When you see a
moon and a star, what do these symbols mean? What does a pink triangle
symbolise? Brainstorm on common symbols and write the associated meanings
on the board. For example, a computer screen or an apple. Ask students to list
down the qualities, ideas, concepts or things that they associate with those
words.
Now, move on to the unknown. What does summer (as in ShakespeareÊs

Sonnet 18) symbolise? What are the ideas associated with this word? Ask
students to find evidence in the poem that may support their answers.
YeatsÊ The Lake Isles of Innisfree is full of symbolism. Get students to write
out in a journal or list out ideas or concepts that they associate with certain words
picked from the poem such as „cabin‰ and „cricket‰. Ask them what words they
would change in the poem if the persona were to be from a quiet place and

wished to live in a noisy city.

A word of advice: accept any plausible interpretation of symbols. This is

because some symbols are open-ended and subject to a variety of interpretation.
One example is BlakeÊs The Sick Rose, as shown in Figure 3.4.
Figure 3.4: The Sick Rose
If you use BlakeÊs poem in Figure 3.4 to teach symbolism, you can use it for
students who are already familiar with interpreting symbols. This poem can
be explained in a variety of ways and instead of making it easy for students, it
makes them bewildered.

3.7 TEACHING TONE

Tone refers to the attitude taken by the writer of a poem.
Is the writer hostile, sarcastic, honest, or happy about something? What are the
words used to convey a particular tone? To know the tone of a poem, we have to
look at the words used in the poem. We have to ask why certain words are
chosen. For example, in William WordsworthÊs I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud ,
„golden daffodils‰, „breeze‰, and „dancing‰ may suggest a tranquil or peaceful
tone.
To help students become aware of tone, you may consider playing a variety of
songs. Ask your students to listen and decide which song portrays a sombre or
sad tone and which one presents a joyful tone. Then, move on to the poem.
Ask the students to list out certain words in the poem that bring into effect a
particular tone. In ThereÊs Been a Death in The Opposite House, words
such as „numb,‰
„died‰, and „stiffly‰ all bring into effect a sombre tone. Ask the students to
change the words to see whether it would bring about any change in the effect.
This can be done by providing them with a worksheet containing the poem with
the key words (that bring into effect the tone of the poem) deleted. Ask the
students to fill in the blanks with words of their choice and then compare their
work with the original poem and the work of other students.
ACTIVITY 3.2
Describe how you would teach tone using the poem Mirror by Sylvia Plath. Discuss with your coursem

3.8 TEACHING IRONY

Students should be aware that there are different kinds of irony.
Verbal irony (or rhetorical irony) means that a writer says one thing but means
another, while dramatic irony refers to a situation in which the audience knows
something a character in a play does not. Irony of situation refers to the
difference in or discrepancy between expected and actual results or
consequences.
To teach the concept of irony, get your students to look at antonyms or binary
representations (e.g., bad/good, tall/short) in cartoons, posters, advertisements,
etc. For example, The Simpsons, a cartoon show on television (refer to Figure
3.5) is a good example to exemplify irony. Ask your students to watch the show
and list out the differences between the lives of the Simpsons and normal,
everyday human beings (e.g., the Simpsons have four fingers, we have five; they
are always running into bad luck, while our lives have ups and downs).
Figure 3.5: The Simpsons
Next, you can consider asking your students to create situations that show irony
based on certain statements. One example is the statement below:
The parents waved happily to their son, „Goodbye!‰

Students can create a situation to present irony. For example, the parents are
happily waving goodbye to their son because they are glad that he is leaving
home. Perhaps he had been a troublesome boy and they are happy to see him off.
Give other sentences and ask your students to come up with ironic situations.
Next, work on longer sentences. Give your students sets of three or four lines and
ask them to detect irony in the sentences. For example:
Ask students to orally present the irony in the sets of sentences. This can be done
He is a very clean man. His clothes are clean, without a speck.
in pairs or groups.
He took out a piece of tissue and wiped some dirt off his
Then, look at some ironic situations in poetry and explain them in class
so pocket. Then hecan
that students threw the atissue
have on understanding
better the ground and walked
of how irony works in
poetry. For example, read The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop (refer to
away.
https://poets.org/poem/fish-2). Can you find the irony in the 5th and 6th lines
of the poem? The irony is that the fish is presented as warrior-like
(„frightening gills‰), yet it is said to have not fought at all. The final line of
the poem is also ironic in that the persona, after having gone through great
trouble in catching the fish, decided to let it go.
3.9 STRUCTURING THE TEACHING ELEMENTS

OF POETRY IN A LESSON PLAN
Deliberate on the factors that should be considered in structuring a lesson plan to
teach the elements of poetry. How should you cater to studentsÊ different needs
and attitudes towards learning poetry?
Will you use one full period, or two, to teach one or a few elements of poetry
or incorporate the teaching of the elements of poetry into your lesson plan? It
all depends on your students. Some students may find learning the elements
of poetry boring and prefer releasing their creative energies in more exciting
ways, like writing poems or reading them aloud. Some may find it intriguing
and exciting as they perceive understanding the elements of poetry as a kind
of game – solving a mystery (the poem) based on clues (the elements).

Whichever approach you take, remember the basic principles laid out in Topic 1:
 allow for the reading aloud of the poem (poems are meant to be read aloud);
 allow students to write; and
 do not make the lesson too mechanical.
After all, remember that you are teaching poetry in an ESL context (unless of
course you are teaching a literature class).
Table 3.2 presents the outline of a lesson plan to teach English using The Lake
Isles of Innisfree. We will assume that we want to teach symbolism.
Table 3.2: Lesson Plan for the Teaching of Symbolism
Step Activity
Ask students to brainstorm where they want to go for their holidays or

Introduction
relaxation. Students should give their rationale or reasons.
Ask students to give one symbol for the given holiday destination.
For example, if one of the destinations is Genting Highlands, ask
Step One
them to choose one object to symbolise it (e.g., rollercoaster, pine
trees, hotel) or Penang (e.g., a pagoda, beach, Komtar building).
Introduce the concept of symbolism. Give other examples of symbols

Step Two
that we use in our daily lives.
Choose key words from the poem and ask students to interpret what
Step Three
the words symbolise (e.g., what does „cabin‰ symbolise?).
Step Four Read aloud the poem.
Ask comprehension questions leading onto questions about the

Step Five
meaning of the symbols used.
Students write a similar poem based on their holiday destination,

Step Six using the symbols that they have brainstormed about during the
introduction.
Conclusion Select students to read aloud their poems.

3.10 FINAL HINTS FOR TEACHING

Before we leave this topic, consider the following pointers when teaching poetry
in class (we will discuss some of the following in the next topic):
 Treat each studentÊs poetic work (his or her response, reaction, suggestion)
with respect. There are no right or wrong answers in poetry. Encourage
independence of thought.
 Encourage students to be self-critical.
 Where possible, link poetry with other topics that students are studying so as
to present poetry as relevant to the curriculum. For example, for Robert
FrostÊs The Road Not Taken, discuss the different kinds of jungles or forests
in various climatic conditions. Would a path be more obvious in a tropical
jungle than in a forest in a cooler climate? Why?
 Do not explain a poem when students can work it out by themselves. Allow
and encourage them to speculate, comment, criticise, and respond.
 Encourage students to move beyond their textbooks or module so that they

can explore various types of poetry, not just the ones prescribed in the
syllabus.
 Reinforce the elements taught by having students write creative poems

focusing on the elements. For example, if you have taught rhyme (and other
associated elements like assonance and alliteration), ask students to write a
poem which rhymes, assonates or alliterates. When teaching onomatopoeia,
you may want students to write a poem that contains a lot of onomatopoeic
words.
Look up the following websites to explore poetry further:
 http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms
 A downloadable PDF copy of the article, Teaching Poetry: Generating

Genuine, Meaningful Responses (ERIC Digest, 1989 April) by Charlie
Frankenbach, can be obtained from the following website link:
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED307609

SELF-CHECK 3.1
1. To teach the concept of irony, have your pupils look at antonyms

or binary representations (e.g., bad/good; tall/short) in cartoons,
posters, and advertisements.
A. True
B. False
2. The teacher should always remember to have a read-aloud session

in a poetry class.
A. True
B. False
3. In a poetry class, pupils should be taught the correct interpretation

of a poem.
A. True
B. False
4. When teaching rhyme, pupils should be taught to differentiate

between the sounds of various words.
A. True
B. False
5. Teachers should concentrate only on poems prescribed in the

syllabus.
A. True
B. False
6. When teaching the theme of a poem, studentsÊ suggested themes

should not be considered.
A. True
B. False
7. When teaching students about persona, we only have to tell them

that the persona is the poet.
A. True
B. False
8. We should explain the meaning of a poem to our students.

A. True
B. False

 This topic discusses eight elements of poetry:
– persona;
– rhyme;
– rhythm;
– theme;
– onomatopoeia;
– symbols;
– tone; and
– irony.
 Each element is explained with some examples and tips on how to implement
it in classroom teaching.
 This topic also gives a sample structure to teach the elements in an ESL
classroom.
Binary representation Rhythm

Irony Symbol
Onomatopoeia Tone
Rhyme
The Department of English, University of Victoria. (1995). The UVic writerÊs guide.
University of Victoria.

To pi  Designing
Classroom
4 Activities for
the Teaching of
Drama and
Poetry – The
Basic Principles
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Explain the principles that guide the construction of classroom activities for the teaching of drama and poetry.
Construct classroom activities for the teaching of drama and poetry that adhere to the pedagogical principles d

TOPIC 4 DESIGNING CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES FOR THE TEACHING OF DRAMA  67
AND POETRY – THE BASIC PRINCIPLES
 INTRODUCTION
In the last topic, we have looked at the lesson structure, the elements, and how to
teach them in a drama and poetry class in an ESL context. In this topic, we will
look further into some principles in designing activities for the drama and poetry
class. These principles are laid out to guide teachers in designing task sheets for
the ESL class. Why is it necessary to follow the principles? WonÊt our students
still learn something regardless of whether the pedagogical principles are adhered
to? Undoubtedly, they may learn something new even if the teacher fumbles in
the classroom or designs tasks that are not pedagogically correct. However, if
certain principles are adhered to, the students will not only have a better grasp of
the concepts but may also have a better conceptual framework to work their tasks
in. Moreover, there is a sense of integrity and professionalism if teachers
structure and conduct tasks that are clear, succinct, and appropriate.
This topic discusses the principles involved in designing activities. Topic 5 will
focus on the principles involved in designing materials. Thus, the term „activities
‰ has to be defined first. Activities refer to the things that you do, such as
miming, singing, choral reading, and drawing. In contrast, materials refer to the
hardware that you use, such as photocopied materials. These will be discussed in
the next topic.
4.1 PROVIDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Based on your own classroom experience, do you think students should be
equipped with some background knowledge on what is to be taught during your
drama and poetry lesson? Do you think this will help enhance their learning
process?
It is necessary that our students know or at least have some idea of the content of
our tasks. This is to ensure that their schematic knowledge will be drawn upon
when doing tasks. How is this applied to the construction of activities in the
classroom?

68  TOPIC 4 DESIGNING CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES FOR THE TEACHING OF
DRAMA AND POETRY – THE BASIC PRINCIPLES
Before explaining further, look at the worksheet in Figure 4.1.
Figure 4.1: Worksheet A
Note: The extract in Worksheet A is taken from Adventure Story: A Play in Three Acts
by Terence Rattigan, produced in 1949 at St JamesÊs Theatre in London.
What may be wrong with Worksheet A? Think for a while before reading the
following section. Remember the statement earlier about drawing on studentsÊ
schematic knowledge.
Cloze passages are common activities in many ESL classrooms. Although there
may be critiques of this technique, it is a good device for the teaching of
vocabulary and syntax. Students are required to think of appropriate words that
can fit into the blanks. However, as mentioned, for students to think of the
appropriate words, they need to have some idea of the content. To ensure this, do
not have blanks in the first or first two lines and the last line.

Thus, the above cloze can be improved, as shown in Worksheet B in Figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2: Worksheet B
Do you think the improved version has made a difference for students in
answering the cloze passage?
ACTIVITY 4.1
Construct a cloze passage with blanks in the first and last lines. Give it to your colleague to answer. Nex

You may feel a bit confused at this point. As mentioned earlier, those materials
will be discussed in the next topic. The main idea is that students must know or
have some background knowledge of what they are doing. The activity discussed
here is doing cloze passages. In the next topic on the discussion of materials, we
will discuss, for example, the material on which the cloze passage is presented
(e.g., photocopy, transparency, mahjong paper).
Let us illustrate this principle of having background knowledge or knowing

the content with another example. Assuming that you want to do a choral
reading of The Lake Isles of Innisfree, will you go straight into the choral
activity without explaining the words, what the poem is about, etc.? Perhaps
you can. A better alternative is to tell the students what the poem is about and
explain some words (not all as you may want to leave some for vocabulary
expansion) so that the students will be able to read the poem aloud with some
understanding instead of just reciting the words.
Do not overdo this, of course. For example, it will not be necessary to tell your
students what Macbeth is all about (although it may help – it all depends on how
good your students are) before you teach LifeÊs Brief Candle. However, instead
of telling the whole story of Macbeth, you can tell the circumstances in which
LifeÊs Brief Candle was spoken (i.e., when Macbeth received news of the death
of his wife, he was preparing for battle).
SELF-CHECK 4.1
Why should students be given background information on an activity?

4.2 PROGRESSION OF DIFFICULTY OF

QUESTIONS
Before we continue the discussion, read the drama excerpt in Figure 4.3. It is taken
from Act III of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
Figure 4.3: Drama Excerpt

Now, based on the drama excerpt in Figure 4.3, do you know where it is taken
from? Do you know who wrote the play? Write out five comprehension
questions, assuming that the text is for an ESL class at Form 5 level. Assume also
that the students are above average students.
Now, look at your questions carefully. Pass them to a friend and ask for some
comments. Next, read the following principles and see whether you had followed
the principles given in constructing the questions.
One very common activity conducted by teachers is asking students questions.

So, the next principle is that comprehension questions should progress from
simple or lower order to difficult or higher order. What is meant by lower and
higher order? You may be familiar with Thomas BarrettÊs Taxonomy of
Cognitive Difficulty of Questions. According to Barrett (1968 as cited in
Alderson & Uquart, 1984), there are five levels of complexity of questions:
 literal comprehension
 reorganisation
 inferential
 evaluation
 appreciation
Let us discuss these five levels of difficulty. The first two levels require a person
to take details from the text explicitly. The reader is to recognise and recall
details, main ideas, comparisons, cause-effect relationships, and character traits.
In reorganisation, the reader is to classify, outline, summarise, and synthesise.
The next three levels require the reader to think and go deeper into the reading
text. In the case of drama and poetry, this may be important as we want our
students to reach deeper into the finer details of drama and poetry, instead of just
the superficial, literal level.

Inference requires the reader to form some understanding based on personal

experience. At the evaluation level, students form some judgment while at the
appreciation level, they give some emotional response or reaction to the text.
Now, read the questions that you have structured based on the excerpt from The
Importance of Being Earnest. What levels are your questions at? Do they
progress from the literal level to the appreciation level?
Table 4.1 provides examples of questions for each level.
Table 4.1: Levels of Complexity of Questions for The Importance of Being Earnest
Level of
Example of Questions
Complexity
 Where does the scene take place?

Literal
 Who are the two characters in this scene?
Comprehension
 What do they agree to do at the end of the passage?
 The passage mentions „they‰. List the things they have done or
Reorganisation
are doing.
 In your opinion, do you think Gwendolen and Cecily are good

Evaluation
friends? Why do you say so?
 If your class were to put up the play, which character would you
Appreciation
like to be, Gwendolen or Cecily? Why?
Now, read the excerpt from ShakespeareÊs Macbeth in Figure 4.4. Write out five
questions, if possible, one from each level based on the text. Assume that the
questions are for above average Form 6 students.

Figure 4.4: Excerpt from Macbeth

Please note that the levels of difficulty are for your guidance. It does not mean
there MUST be one question from each level. On the other hand, we must ensure
that our questions are NOT all from the same level. If our questions are all from
the lower level, there is no „inducement (for the students) to think, to become
personally involved in understanding and communicating, and therefore in
actively processing input‰ (Tollefson, 1989, p. 7).
Do not start with the higher-level question first. Start off with a lower-level
question and progress to a higher level so that students will be encouraged to go
along with the activity. If students are given higher-order questions, they may not
be able to answer the questions, and this may discourage them from probing
deeper into the literary text.
ACTIVITY 4.2
To enhance your understanding, choose any poem and write out questions that exemplify the different l
4.3 CLEAR AND SUCCINT

Related to the structuring of questions or tasks in your classroom, ensure that the
instructions are clear and to the point. The rule of thumb is not to assume that our
students understand or know what to do.

Read the following example in Worksheet C.
Figure 4.5: Worksheet C
Can you spot what may be lacking in the activity in Worksheet C? There does
not seem to be anything wrong with the cloze technique used. However, the
instruction can be improved. Remember, do not assume that our students know
what to do. Even though they may have done hundreds of cloze passages during
their school life, the instruction should still be clear. Thus, it can be improved to
read, „Fill in each blank with one word only.‰
In relation to this, ensure that all your instructions, especially stage instructions
and directions (when asking your students to put up a play) are clear and leave no
doubt in your studentsÊ minds.

4.4 GROUP ACTIVITIES

Try to structure your activities to be learner-centred, rather than teacher-centred.
This does not mean that all your activities have to be learner centred. There is a
place and time for everything. Sometimes, teacher-centred activities (such as
reading aloud by students, followed by comprehension questions) are necessary,
but do not rule out learner-centred activities which are necessary at other times,
so that students have the opportunity to „process their own learning experience
and to formulate their own feelings about the literary text‰ (Shu Wei, 1999).
For example, when you teach Si TenggangÊs Homecoming which contains

six stanzas, have each group do a different stanza (such as paraphrasing the
poem into prose). This way, you can cover the poem in a shorter time.
Another method is to have all the groups do the whole poem, but each group
focuses on a different task. One group may summarise the poem, a second
group may present the mental images conjured while reading the poem, a
third group may associate the poem with personal life experiences, and a
fourth group may evaluate the elements of narration. Each group then presents
its answers orally.
4.5 APPROPRIATENESS
An important question to ask when structuring activities is „Are the activities
appropriate?‰ The next question we have to ask is „Appropriate for what?‰
or
„Appropriate for whom?‰
Let us first consider the latter. The activities we plan should be appropriate for
our students. There are several factors to consider in terms of appropriateness,
shown as follows:
 studentsÊ age or maturity
 receptivity
 cultural background
 gender
 level of language proficiency

The text given earlier, The Importance of Being Earnest, may not be appropriate
for Form 1 students. Some students may not be open to the possibility of doing
Shakespeare in class (i.e., they have low receptivity). Some students may have
conflicts in terms of culture (and religious beliefs). Inadequate schematic or
background knowledge may prove to be a barrier for students in doing your
planned activities adequately well. Furthermore, if you use texts such as
Shakespeare in their original form, you will have problems with students whose
language proficiency is low.
Let us now consider each factor.
4.5.1 Age and Maturity

The activities you design should match the age and maturity of your students.
Even if some students are in Form 1, they may feel or think as if they are in
Form 5 or 6. Thus, you have to be cautious if you are to introduce dramatisation
in teaching poems. For example, you would not ask your students to flap their
hands like the wings of bees and birds in class, while a group of students choral
read The Lake Isles of Innisfree.
It is important to note that just because an activity in a textbook or teachersÊ

book is recommended for literature class, it has to be carried out indiscriminately.
Think of your students and their maturity. More importantly, consider what they
will think if you were to carry out childish activities.
In contrast, if you think that your students are mature enough to take on more
challenging activities, such as having a debate or forum, then by all means, go
ahead with those. For example, based on The Lake Isles of Innisfree, students
can discuss, argue, and debate on whether serenity and peacefulness can really be
obtained from nature.
4.5.2 Receptivity
The next factor to consider is your studentsÊ receptivity. What do you think
would be the best way to gauge your studentsÊ reception towards literature?
What sort of activities can you carry out to do this?
In the first place, how open are they to literature? You may have a big problem
if you discover that your students are not receptive to literature and prefer
mathematics, science, and principles of accounts. What you can do is find out
what they expect from the English class (English, not literature!). The very basic
principle in teaching drama or poetry in an ESL classroom is that literature
is

taught through language (the small „L‰), not as literature per se (the big „L
‰). If the majority say they expect to learn grammar and writing, then focus on these
two aspects, using literary texts as your base or starting point.
Let us illustrate this with an example. Imagine that you have a class of students
who do not see any benefit in reading literary texts. They want to learn English
grammar instead. First, look at your scheme of work. What grammatical items
are to be taught for that week? Teach the grammar items first. Then, show them
how the grammar items are used in sentences. Show them clips from newspapers,
bulletins, posters, etc. on how the grammar items are used. You should also show
them how the grammar items are used in the poem that you are teaching. For
example, if you are teaching the active voice (and you are to teach ThereÊs Been
a Death in the Opposite House), then show examples of sentences from the
poem in which the active voice is used.
Receptivity has to do with motivation as well. If our students are motivated to

learn, they will have high receptivity. How then can our students be motivated?
There are basically two forms of motivation. One form is intrinsic, which means
that motivation comes from within the student. This type of motivation is better
and may have a longer lasting effect as the student wants to learn simply because
he or she wants to. Extrinsic motivation comes from external forces. For
example, students may want to learn literature to gain the full 10% for the
Literature component in English. They may be motivated to answer questions and
do the activities so as to gain some points, get some prizes or obtain the teacherÊs
approval.
To motivate your students, you may tell them about the benefits of learning
literature. Also tell them the objective of the lesson you are conducting. Inform
them of the learning outcomes of the lesson, and what you expect the students to
achieve at the end of the lesson. There is nothing wrong with extrinsic
motivation, so do have games or activities that will push the students to do their
best so that they can earn prizes, points or praises from the teacher.
Also consider getting your students to read as many books as possible. When you
observe some improvements in their language proficiency, praise them.
Encourage them and say that their reading is not futile.
Note: Books for reading are available from the Class Reader Programme (CRP) .
Assuming that your school has not thrown them away, make full use of them
by encouraging your students to read. For example, you can offer prizes for the
student who reads the most books.

SELF-CHECK 4.2
What is CRP? How can it help in our teaching of literature?
Briefly explain the role of motivation in the teaching of literature.
4.5.3 Cultural Background

Differences between the culture in studentsÊ domain and the culture that emerges
in literary texts may hinder students from fully comprehending the texts. For
example, some students in Malaysia may be insulated from the culture and
traditions of the Peranakan people. Many may wonder what counting „silver
paper for the dead‰ means. Is Peranakan culture a patriarchal culture as is
demonstrated by the portraits of grandfathers hanging in the parlour (and there is
no mention of portraits of grandmothers)? Why did Shirley Lim subvert the
order, from baba nyonya, as is commonly used, to nyonya and baba? These are
some points to exemplify the need to bridge the cultural, traditional, and even
religious differences that exist between students and texts. Bridging these gaps
may help the students in comprehending the texts even better.
ACTIVITY 4.3
Read Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. What may be the gaps that exist between your students and the text
4.5.4 Gender
Gender is another factor to consider in planning activities for the classroom. In
some situations, girls may be passive students (and may be more active in other
situations). You have to consider whether a mixed-gender group is appropriate
for your activities (while some schools abhor the thought of mixing boys with
girls in group activities, there are other situations where this is the least of all
concerns).

Some ways to know what your students want is through observation, interviews
or by giving them a questionnaire at the beginning of the class. Analyse the data
obtained and see whether there is any correlation with gender. If there is a
significant relationship, it would be prudent to consider gender in structuring
your activities.
SELF-CHECK 4.3
What does it mean to consider gender when considering the appropriacy of an activity?
4.5.5 Language Proficiency

How about students with low English proficiency? What can be done to help
them? Topic 9 will explain more about teaching poetry and drama to students
with low proficiency in English, but at this point, do take note that you should
adapt the text for these students. Some ways to adapt the text are as follows:
(a) Simplify
To simplify is to make sentences shorter or to use words that are of common
usage. For example, instead of using „my plenteous joy,‰ say „I am very
happy‰ or „I am excited.‰ You may even consider shortening the sentences,
while making sure that the main details or contents are not deleted.
Of course, simplification may not work with poems because the essence of
the poetic structure and meaning will change.
(b) Adapt
For drama, you may consider localising the characters. Instead of Macbeth
and the King of Scotland, use Rahim and the Sultan of Jawa. If possible,
localise the setting as well. This approach has two-fold benefits. First,
students may have a better grasp of the situations presented through drama.
Second, the students may be able to better identify with local needs, values,
and culture. For example, they could relate more to the values presented
through a localised, adapted version of Macbeth.

(c) Shorten
As mentioned earlier, you can consider shortening sentences. You may
even consider shortening the text. For example, instead of going through all
five acts of Macbeth with your students, you could summarise the main
events of Acts 1, 2, and 3, and then use Act 4 in your ESL class (it has only
three scenes), and ask your students to predict the events for Act 5. So,
instead of doing the whole text, you only do part of it with your students.
Remember that your students are learning literature in an ESL context.

They are not learning literature per se.
Similarly, for very long poems, you can consider using part of a poem for
your ESL class instead of going through the whole poem.
ACTIVITY 4.4
You can go to https:// rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834 for the complete work of ColeridgeÊs The R
4.6 OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Another consideration in planning activities is the time that may be taken by your
students to do the activities. Do not be too ambitious by cramming too many
activities into one lesson. It is better to teach a bit at a time so that the students
will be able to absorb whatever new knowledge that is taught, than to have many
activities, only to realise that the students did not learn anything. Moreover, too
many activities may result in too little time to finish off what you plan to do.
In addition, activities that require your students to speak aloud should be held in
the resource centre or in locations where students in neighbouring classes will not
be disturbed. You may even consider having your activities in the field, canteen
or any other suitable place outside the classroom.

ACTIVITY 4.5
Based on the play Macbeth, plan an activity for your students. What are the considerations that you will
 The very basic principle in teaching drama or poetry in an ESL classroom is

that literature is taught through language (the small „L‰), not as literature per
se (the big „L‰).
 There are five principles involved in designing activities or materials:
– background information;
– progression of difficulty of questions;
– clear and succinct;
– group activities; and
– appropriateness.
 Providing background information is necessary to assist students in relating

the content to their surrounding context.
 The progression of difficulty of questions should be from simple or lower

order to difficult or higher order.
 Thomas BarrettÊs Taxanomy of Cognitive Difficulty of Questions is a

familiar approach in designing activities or materials.

 According to BarrettÊs Taxonomy, there are five levels of complexity of

questions:
– literal comprehension;
– reorganisation;
– inferential;
– evaluation; and
– appreciation.
 It is important to be clear and succinct in designing activities or materials,

especially in instructions and directions.
 Group activities are designed for lessons to be more learner-centred instead of

teacher-centred.
 Factors to consider when applying the principles of appropriateness are: (a)

studentsÊ age or maturity, (b) receptivity, (c) cultural background, (d) gender,
and (e) level of language proficiency.
 Other considerations in planning the activities or materials are time and place.
Appropriateness The big „L‰

Receptivity The small „L‰
Succinct
Alderson, C., & Uquhart, A. H. (1984). Reading in a foreign language. Longman.
Shu Wei. (1999). Literature teaching. English Teaching Forum, 37(3), 25–27.
Tollefson, W. (1989). A system for improving teachersÊ questions. English Teaching

Forum, 26(1), 6–9.

To pi  Using Materials
in the Teaching
5 of Drama and
Poetry
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Describe some materials that are used in the teaching of drama and poetry.
Explain or give reasons for the use of chosen materials in the teaching of drama and poetry.
Describe techniques or steps in using materials effectively and appropriately for the teaching of drama a
 INTRODUCTION
Materials are important in language teaching as the appropriate and effective
use of teaching materials will lead to improved effectiveness in teaching the
language. Since one of the primary objectives of teaching literature in the ESL
class is to teach linguistic elements, it is imperative that the materials we use are
presented in the most effective and appropriate manner.

86  TOPIC 5 USING MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING OF DRAMA AND POETRY
A variety of materials can be used in literature class. This topic seeks to discuss
these materials and suggest how to use them in the most effective way, so
as to facilitate maximum learning by our students. This topic is not intended to
be comprehensive, but representative; whatever is presented exemplifies the
principles of using materials and these principles can be used for other kinds of
materials. Some books categorise materials into referential and representational.
In contrast, this topic will look at the types of materials according to two sensory
categories, namely, visual and audio.
5.1 VISUAL MATERIALS

Visual materials require visual sensors (i.e., eyes) to perceive. The types of visual
materials include:
 posters
 pictures
 transparencies
 print materials (e.g., books and workbooks)
 pictorial materials (e.g., comics)
ACTIVITY 5.1
StudentsÊ attention span generally differs; some may be focused while others have a rather short attention spa

TOPIC 5 USING MATERIALS IN THE TEACHING OF DRAMA AND POETRY  87
5.1.1 Print Materials

The textbook used in the ESL literature class can be used extensively to generate
interest among students. The front cover of the book, for example, can be used to
elicit questions from students, which in turn, can serve as a springboard for
further discussion and activities in the classroom.
For example, one edition of Macbeth may have a picture of a woman in the
foreground. She has an outstretched hand while the other is holding a cup. She is
being watched by a man and a woman in the background. You may have a
different edition or one from the Internet. Regardless of the edition that you use in
your class, the picture on the front cover can be used to ask students to guess what
is depicted or represented. You can make use of this picture to ask questions such
as:
 Who is the woman?
 What do you think she is doing?
 Why are the two persons watching her?
 What do you think is her name?
 What do you think is her role in the drama?
Alternatively, you can have the students generate the questions. Tell them when
they see the picture, they probably will have some questions running through
their minds. Ask them to articulate those questions. Write them on the board.
Later, use these questions for discussion. These questions can also be used as
signpost questions. This means that when the students read through the drama (or
poem), they will read with the purpose of finding answers to those questions.
Photocopy materials are also print materials. However, do be aware of

copyright laws. Some plays that are presented on the Internet may be
downloaded for use, free of charge, by the public. These may be photocopied
without any reservation (but for ethical reasons, it is best to confine the use of
the drama to your ESL class). Ensure that each student has a copy of the
material (making sure also that it is readable as some photocopies are quite
faint). Students sharing scripts will be problematic especially when they have
their respective roles. If a student is sharing a photocopy with another student,
when it is that particular studentÊs turn to read aloud his part of the dialogue,
there may be a break or gap as the student may want to have a closer look.
Such interruptions may disturb the flow of the play.

Another form of print material that can be used are word cards or strips of
cardboard on which are written some words (taken from a poem or drama).
The word cards or sentence strips must be big enough so that students at the
back of the class can read them. It should not, however, be very big as it may
appear too clumsy. Moreover, it is not economical when a smaller card or
strip may be sufficient. Students can rearrange the cards or strips to form a
stanza or a part of a dialogue from a drama (the disadvantage of this activity
is that more than one answer is probable).
(a) Original or Abridged Version?

One of the biggest concerns for teachers of literature in the ESL class is to
decide on the appropriacy of a text. For teachers in government service, the
texts are prescribed by the Ministry of Education. However, there are no
drama texts prescribed for lower and upper forms. The principles that can
be considered in choosing a text have been discussed in Topic 1. Refer to
that topic once again.
The following are some other considerations in choosing a text for your class:
 The availability of texts should be taken into account; for example,

some drama texts may not be available easily for students. However, the
Internet is of great help and one may access even full drama texts (such
as ShakespeareÊs works) online. You can obtain the texts by typing in a
keyword (e.g., „full text of Macbeth‰) in Google. A list of webpages
that contain the full texts will appear. Books, too, can be bought through
the Internet. You may try www.amazon.com to search for your texts.
Some works by local authors are still not available online, so you will
have to buy them from bookstores in this country.
The price of the text should be considered. If students are coerced

into buying an expensive book, they might feel resentment towards the
subject and lose interest in literature.
 Choose texts that provide a representative selection. For example,

choose poems that are American, British, local, Asian, originate from
various centuries, and were written by various authors (both men and
women), etc. Do not choose poems from one particular country alone.
Literature, after all, aims to widen our studentsÊ perspective of the
world, cultures, and values.

 Be courageous in choosing texts that are outside the established

canon. There are many new, emerging writers who should be
considered for your literature class. This is not to say that their works
are par excellence, but they will provide your students with the
awareness that literature is not confined to boring or outdated poems
and dramas from dead poets and playwrights from past centuries.
 Breadth or depth are also important. Some teachers prefer to teach a

wide selection of texts so that students will have an overview of various
literary texts from a particular time or place. This is breadth. Other
teachers argue that it is better to know a particular text in depth than
to have superficial knowledge of various texts. There is no correct
resolution to this. You have to make the decision, unless the texts are
already prescribed for you.
Even if the texts are prescribed, you may still choose to teach your
students other texts. This will depend a lot on whether you have the
time, interest, and zeal.
Remember, ultimately it is your students who will be reading and

studying the texts. So, choose texts that are accessible and reader-
friendly for your students. Now, back to the main question: Choose the
original or simplified version?
ACTIVITY 5.2
At present, no drama texts are prescribed for the upper secondary Literature in English component. Dec
Post your choice in myINSPIRE, and have a look at your coursematesÊ preferences and rationales.

There are arguments for and against selecting the original version of a
drama in the ESL class, as elaborated in Table 5.1.
Table 5.1: Advantages and Disadvantages of Original Version of a Drama
Advantages of Original Version Disadvantages of Original Version
 The syntax, grammar, and  The original version contains

choice of lexical items by the words and linguistic structures that
playwright contribute to the are outdated, such as the plays by
literary quality of the work. A Shakespeare.
watered-down or
 Students will be put off by the
simplified version may not
difficulty of the text.
capture the quality or literary
nature intended by the writer.  The text may contain cultural
elements that are foreign or
 Certain literary elements that are
inappropriate. Subsequently, the
in the original may be lost in the
text may need to be edited so
simplified or abridged version.
as to make them presentable to
Subsequently, it may be difficult to
our students.
do a deeper reading of the play. As
Carter and Long (1991) assert,
„the lower the level of the
simplified reader [...] the more
non-literary the language is likely
to be‰.
 Students may need to know
original quotations that are
popularly used such as „To be
or not to be, that is the
question.‰ Such quotations
may not be in the simplified
version. Knowing popularly
used quotations gives
students a sense of gratification or
satisfaction that they have learned
something of cognitive and literary
value.
At the end of the day, it is you, the teacher, who has to select an appropriate
text. On the other hand, if the text is already prescribed, you have to think
of ways to make the text reader-friendly for your students.

(b) Class Reader Programme

One print material which we should not forget is the Class Reader
Programme (CRP) implemented in secondary schools in 1990. Now, we
have the literature component and most teachers may have forgotten the
CRP. Nonetheless, the books are still available in some nook or corner of
your school or English Panel Cupboard. You are encouraged to look them
up and make them accessible to your students.
The CRP contains books that are graded. For example, in the Elementary
series, you will find books like Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert
Louis Stevenson. The stories are of course simplified for the elementary
level. The Advanced level contains stories in which the vocabulary
sentence structure, concept, plot, and content are more complex than at
the Elementary level. Together with the CRP are teaching files that contain
suggested activities that can be used in the classroom.
The CRP aims to expose students to materials written in English. In

addition, it is hoped that students will be motivated to read so as to increase
their language proficiency. It is also aimed at generating interest in the
study of literature.
Many of these books may have been put in cold storage since the Literature
component in the secondary school English syllabus came into being. Ask
the senior teachers of your school who may know where the books are kept
(if they have not been sold). Salvage and use them because like many other
literary texts, they can also be used for reading comprehension in the ESL
class.
A final note with regard to the CRP is that most of the books are prose.
However, there are some books that are plays, such as:
 English Plays 1 by Hyacinth Gaudart (Form 2 Elementary)
 Plays for School 1 by Patrick Yeoh (Form 2 Advanced)
 Three Mystery Plays by Donn Byrne (Form 4 Elementary)

For poems, there are a few books such as:
 An Anthology of Poetry for Young People by Beatrice Thiyaga Rajah

(Form 2 Intermediate)
 Only the Moon and Other Poems by Othman Zaiful (Form 4

Intermediate)
 An Anthology of Poetry by Zainudin (Form 4 Advanced)
5.1.2 Pictorial Materials

Pictorial materials can be in the form of comics and drawings. Let us also look
into the use of transparencies to enhance the drama and poetry lesson.
(a) Comics and Drawings

The focus of this discussion about pictorial materials such as comics and
drawings will not include posters and pictures, which will be focused on in
another section. Videos are another example of pictorial materials and
these, too, will be discussed in another section.
It will be difficult to obtain copies of Macbeth (or any other plays) in

pictorial form. You may, however, order animated versions of selected
plays of Shakespeare from www.amazon.com or various other
entertainment media websites.
An alternative is to have students draw pictures. Taking Macbeth as an

example, you can start a project in which students with a penchant for
drawing draw scenes from the play. These drawings can be used in future
lessons to introduce the play to students.
However, how about students who do not know how to draw? What can
they do? The drawing project can be a whole class affair. While some
students draw, others can be storyboard constructors. They can describe the
frames based on their reading of Macbeth. The artists will then draw out the
pictures based on the storyboard. An example of a storyboard for a part of
MacbethÊs Act 1 Scene 1 is given in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1: Example of Storyboard
Another variation of this activity is to have students draw important

scenes that will fit into the pyramid structure of the drama. Do you
remember FreytagÊs pyramid? Can you identify the parts of this
pyramid with regard to Macbeth? What are the scenes from the drama
that fit into this structure? Which part of the drama, for example, would
you consider to be the rising action, climax or falling action? Give some
students the task of deciding these while those interested in drawing
illustrate the parts of the pyramid.
You can also consider having students draw characters from a drama. These
characters can be used in subsequent lessons. Just cut them out and stick
them on a flannel board. Or use blue tacks to stick them on the chalkboard.
For poetry, you can ask students to draw the setting presented in the poem
or any other elements that can be illustrated. For example, for the Lake
Isles of Innisfree, you can ask students to draw the image presented in the
poem. A variation of this activity is to assign a line from the poem to
different students. Each student will then illustrate the line with a simple
sketch.
Pictures can be used to introduce a poem that you are going to teach. For
example, using the illustration in the Form 5 literature book, photocopy the
illustration given for Robert FrostÊs The Road Not Taken on a
transparency. Be sure to cover the words of the poem as what you want on
the transparency is just the drawing. Show the picture on the overhead
projector (OHP) and ask questions based on the picture. Now, letÊs discuss
a little more in depth about using transparencies.

(b) Using Transparencies

Using transparencies is an excellent way to direct studentsÊ focus to a
particular subject. For example, have the illustration from The Road Not
Taken photocopied onto a transparency. When you show this on the OHP,
cover the left side of the transparency so that your students will pay
attention to the right side. Ask them some questions based on the part that is
shown. Then, cover the right side to show the left side. Ask some questions
based on this part. Finally, show the full picture and ask your students some
more questions.
Be creative. Use multiple transparencies which can be placed overlapping

one another on the OHP. For example, if you are teaching The DroverÊs
Wife (Form 4 short story), draw a picture of a woman on a transparency and
show it on the OHP. Ask questions such as the following:
 Who do you think this woman is?
 What is her name?
 Where does she live?
 Who does she live with?
Then, place a separate transparency which has the drawing of a boy on

top of the transparency with the woman. Now, ask questions such as the
following:
 Who do you think this boy is?
 How do you think they are related?
Next, on top of these two transparencies, place a transparency with the

drawing of a dog. Then, ask some questions such as „What do you think is
the name of the dog?‰
Finally, ask students to predict what transparency will be put on next.

What character or animal will they see next? Put this transparency
overlapping the others (drawing of a snake) and then ask students to
predict possible happenings in the story.

5.1.3 Posters and Pictures

Posters (such as those that you see in cinemas which announce new or current
movies) are usually attractive as they are colourful. They may draw the
interest of students, so they are good teaching materials and should be
considered as aids for introducing a poem or drama in an ESL class.
In addition, posters are usually big, so they can be easily seen by students who
sit at the back of the classroom. Magazines, too, are good sources of pictorial
materials. You can also consider pictures from the Internet (that is, if your school
provides computers for students). However, pictures are more suitable for group
activities as their small size may hinder them from being seen easily by students
who sit at the back of a class.
Posters can be made or drawn on manila cardboards. Tell students that they
are graphic designers and have to draw a poster for Macbeth. They can draw the
poster in groups. Teachers can keep all the posters for use in another class as
visual material aids.
Some activities that you can do with posters and pictures include the following:
(a) Jigsaw
As an an introduction to a lesson, get a picture that relates to the poem or
drama that you are teaching. For example, you can get a picture of three
witches for Macbeth or a picture of a man on a boat for Si
TenggangÊs Homecoming. Cut the picture into pieces. Students, seated in
groups, can then assemble the pieces together. This can also be done for
posters. Use the completed picture for further activities leading to the
presentation of the drama.
(b) Description
Ask students to sit in groups. One member from each group is shown a
picture that relates to your drama or poem. The other members do not see
the picture. The member who has seen the picture has to orally describe the
picture, draw it, or describe it using hands, like charades. The other
members must guess the picture from the description given. Once a correct
guess is made, the teacher can lead the students to further presentation of
the drama or poem.

(c) Bit by Bit

Get two posters of three witches (assuming that you are teaching Macbeth).
Cover the posters fully with about 10 pieces of paper. Divide the class into
two groups. Give an oral quiz based on Macbeth to the students. If a group
answers correctly, take out a piece of paper to reveal a part of the poster.
The group that has all the pieces of paper taken off first wins the quiz.
(d) Which One?

This activity can be done at the end of the syllabus. Show some pictures
related to the poems that have been taught. For example, for a Form 4 class,
you can have some pictures of eyes („or eyes can see‰ in Sonnet 18), a village
(Si TenggangÊs Homecoming‰), and a mattress (ThereÊs Been a Death in
the Opposite House).
5.1.4 Videos
Videos are also good sources of teaching aids that can be used in literature class.
They can be used to introduce a lesson. For example, if you are introducing
Romeo and Juliet, you can get a modern adaptation of this Shakespearean play in
feature film format, which stars Leonardo de Caprio and Claire Danes (see Figure
5.2). Another Shakespearean play, Hamlet, also has a modern adaptation starring
Ethan Hawke (see Figure 5.3). Instead of showing the entire film, show only
curated parts (which may be freely available on streaming video platforms like
YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). Then, ask students to predict what will happen next. Use
this introductory part to present some characters or the tone of the drama. You
can also use this prediction exercise to introduce the plot of the drama.

Figure 5.2: Movie Poster of Romeo+Juliet
Figure 5.3: Movie Poster of Hamlet

Another activity that can be done after the class has read through the drama is
to show clips from the video and ask students to guess from which act and
scene of the drama are the clips taken from.
ACTIVITY 5.3
Discuss with your coursemates and construct other activities that involve the use of videos in literature class. W
Undoubtedly, the biggest disadvantage of using videos in literature class is the

difficulty of getting the videos. Unless your school has a comprehensive library
of video recordings, it may be difficult to find video clips of poetry recitations or
drama adaptations. Alternatively, you may want to compile your own set of
videos that may be of help in the ESL class by purchasing DVDs or Blu-ray
Discs, or downloading video clips from the Internet. Even if you do not use it
immediately, it may come in handy in the future. For example, one might have a
copy of Romeo and Juliet bought years earlier that may come in handy when one
is teaching Form 6 students who will be sitting for the STPM literature paper.
5.2 AUDIO MATERIALS

Audio materials are widely used in ESL classes. Like videos, the main problem in
wanting to use audio materials is getting them. However, unlike videos, it is
easier to produce your own audio materials. For example, for poems, you can
group your students and ask each group to read aloud a poem from the Form 5
Literature in English component. Record each groupÊs presentation. You can use
these recordings in another class.
Audio materials are primarily for listening activities. One advantage of using
them is that students will focus on what they hear, and will not be distracted
by any visuals (some teachers will argue that visuals will actually enhance
understanding, not distract). You can consider having the class listen to a
recorded presentation and fill in the blanks in a worksheet (assuming that you
are using a poem that is not prescribed in a textbook).

The fundamental principle that should be adhered to in using an audio

material is to ensure that it is loud enough for every student in the class to
listen to. You must also remember that if you use audio materials in the
classroom, turning the volume to the maximum level may distract students in
the next class.
When using audio materials, consider songs that are widely available on such as
those on streaming platforms like YouTube and Spotify. Generally, students love
to listen to songs, so playing songs in the ESL class may break the monotony of the
everyday practice of ELT teaching. For example, after presenting If by Rudyard
Kipling, you may consider using the song Que Sera Sera for discussion. Students
can compare and contrast the message presented through the poem and the song.
They can listen to the song (the lyrics may be given on a piece of paper) and answer
questions based on the song. The teacher can then lead the class to discuss the
similarities and differences between the lyrics of the song and the words of the
poem. For example, while the poem allows for some decisions to be made by a
person by using the conditional „if‰, the song leaves oneÊs fate entirely to chance
(„que sera sera, whatever will be, will be‰).
Songs can also be used effectively to teach the mood or tone of a drama or poem.
Choose several songs to be played to the class after the reading of a poem or drama.
Then, ask students to choose a song that best matches the tone or mood of the
poem or drama.
For example, after presenting and studying Sonnet 18, play the following
songs (you do not have to play them in full, just parts):
 The Power of Love by Celine Dion
 Staying Alive by Bee Gees
 Money, Money, Money by Abba
 Picture of You by Boyzone
Ask students to choose the song that matches the poem the most. They must give
reasons or rationale for their choice. Alternatively, you can tell students to
imagine they are working on a movie based on the poem. Ask them to choose a
song that can be best used as the theme song for the movie. (Most likely, your
students will choose The Power of Love or Picture of You).

ACTIVITY 5.4
When choosing poems or dramas, the selection should be representative. Briefly explain what this means.
Suggest some extension activities that you can do to teach poetry in an ESL class after students have listened t
Based on your answer to No. 2, how will you use this principle to teach drama in an ESL class?
Share your response/ideas in the myINSPIRE online forum.
 This topic discusses audio and visual materials in the teaching of drama and
poetry in an ESL classroom.
 The visual materials discussed are:
– print materials;
– photocopy materials;
– word cards or sentence strips;
– pictorial materials;
– posters and pictures; and
– videos.
 This topic also discusses factors to consider in choosing a text for a lesson,
including whether to use the original or abridged version and the advantages
and disadvantages of choosing either one.
 Audio materials include authentic recordings of studentsÊ presentation of

poems and songs.

Abridged version Representational materials

Audio materials Storyboard
Print materials Visual materials
Referential materials
Carter, R., & Long, M. N. (1991). Teaching Literature. Longman.

To pi  More Activities
for the
6 Teaching of
Drama
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Explain the steps in using activities for the teaching of drama.
Construct original activities for the teaching of drama.
Give the rationale for using particular activities for the teaching of drama.
 INTRODUCTION
In the last few topics, we have looked into the principles of teaching poetry and
drama. In those few topics, some activities that you can consider using when
teaching poetry and drama in the ESL class have been suggested. This topic
attempts to look at the teaching of drama and its activities.
The teaching of drama in the ESL class is, unfortunately, not widely documented
in the Malaysian context. One possibility is that it is not commonly practised as
teachers may feel that it is a waste of time since students do not learn anything
concrete from the activities. Subsequently, the teaching of drama in the ESL
context is degraded to the mere teaching of grammar and vocabulary, and perhaps
reading comprehension. However, another primary reason for the lack of a
widespread practice of drama activities in the ESL class is that teachers
themselves are ill-equipped, that is, they may not know what activities to do.

TOPIC 6 MORE ACTIVITIES FOR THE TEACHING OF DRAMA  103
In light of the above, this topic aims to suggest some activities that can be
considered when teaching drama in class. These activities can be incorporated
into your lesson plan for other teaching points.
The activities are divided into three categories:
 warm up: activities for the introductory lesson or beginning of a lesson
 while: activities conducted during the lesson proper, i.e., when the drama
has already been presented to the students
 post: activities after the lesson proper is taught and are considered extension
activities as described in Topic 1. Some activities in the „while‰ category
can also be considered for the „post‰ stage.
6.1 ACTIVITIES FOR THE “WARM UP” STAGE

Warm-up activities help to loosen up students, especially those who are shy and
not willing to open up to drama. However, it is not guaranteed that these
suggested activities will work, as our students come from varied backgrounds,
expectations, and attitudes. One suggestion you could consider is to lead students
slowly into drama instead of plunging them into activities that may further
alienate them from fulfilling the objectives of your lesson. Go slow, guide them
gently, be kind and compassionate. Most of all, be understanding. Do not set your
expectations too high. If you find your students slowly responding to your lesson,
be grateful and expect things to improve in the next lesson.
The next paragraphs will discuss several activities that perhaps could be
implemented in your classroom.
6.1.1 Moving Hands

In this first activity which can be called moving hands, ask your students to sit in
circles of four to five students each. A leader is to be elected by each group. The
students should hold each otherÊs hands so that they are linked to one another.
Tell the leaders that they are the initiator and then play a song. The leaders have
to move their hands (any way they like) and other members have to follow (while
holding each otherÊs hands). You should play various types of songs (fast, slow,
rock, ballad, etc.). The hand movements will depend on the type of song played.

104  TOPIC 6 MORE ACTIVITIES FOR THE TEACHING OF DRAMA
The purpose of this activity is to make students aware of mood and setting. After
playing the songs, you can perhaps read aloud an excerpt from a drama. Choose
an excerpt that allows for various types of tone and mood. As you read aloud
(with all the dramatic effects of stress, volume, and tone), your students should
move their hands in accordance with your reading. After the activity, have them
briefly explain why they moved at certain speeds (fast when the tone was „angry
‰ or slow when the tone was „sad‰) at certain parts of your reading aloud.
6.1.2 (S)He Who Laughs First is Out

Usually played by children, this is a good game that can be used in teaching
drama. Ask students to sit in groups or pairs. The objective of the game is to
make the other person smile or laugh. No verbal jokes are allowed, as only
actions can be made (e.g., a member may make a monkey face). The first person
who smiles is out and the game continues until the last person remains.
This may be considered an ice-breaking activity to break down the walls of

embarrassment or shyness. Once you have got your students to loosen up, it is
possible to conduct other activities smoothly or without much coercion.
6.1.3 Imagined Objects

Student sit in a circle. Starting with the first person, the teacher calls out „cat.‰
The person passes an imaginary cat to the next person. As the imagined object is
passed around the group, the teacher changes it to something else, for example,
„snake,‰
„bomb‰ or „money.‰ However, be aware of religiously sensitive objects.
This is a good activity to lead students to show their facial expressions. After all,
drama is an imagined situation that is brought to life or reality by the actors and
actresses who perform with expressions.
6.1.4 Real Objects

This activity is similar to the one in 6.1.3 but uses real objects. If the real
objects are not available, get pictures of them. Use objects that are mentioned
or implied in the drama that you are going to teach. For example, for
Macbeth, you may consider objects related to royalty (such as a crown), the
army (sword) or the supernatural (a witchÊs hat), as shown in Figure 6.1.

Figure 6.1: Using Real Objects (Theatre Props) to Teach Drama
Students sit in a circle. It can comprise the whole class but smaller groups
would be best, for example, groups of eight. They pass around a picture or object
while showing various expressions. For example, student X shows an expression
while passing the picture of a hat to Y and then Y shows another expression
while passing the picture to Z, and the activity continues.
6.1.5 Roundabouts
This activity is taken from Drama Techniques in Language Learning (Maley &
Duff, 1982, p. 48). In small groups of eight to nine, one person is chosen to stand
in the middle of the group. The group stands about one foot away from the person
in the middle. The person in the middle, with arms folded, falls in any direction.
The group then pushes him or her gently into another direction.
This activity is aimed at building „a strong sense of mutual confidence and

cooperation‰ (Maley & Duff, 1982). It subsequently leads to the building of
psychological trust, an important element in activities that involve creative
interactions.
6.1.6 Volleyball
Students in groups of six to eight play with an imaginary volleyball. As they
imagine a ball, they also do all the volleyball drills with the ball such as spiking,
blocking, digging, and setting. Instead of volleyball, you can also think of other
games. Allow the students to be imaginative. This kind of activity will allow
them to be creative, in addition to building relationships with one another and
paving the way for them to be free from their inhibitions. In addition, vocabulary
items (such as the volleyball activity terms mentioned) can be taught.

ACTIVITY 6.1
Suggest a variation for the volleyball activity in 6.1.6. Post your suggestion in myINSPIRE. Check out your co
6.1.7 Imaginary Duel

Similar to imaginary volleyball, students pretend they are dueling with one
another. They can use imaginary swords, keris, machetes, Shaolin-type spears,
etc. Like the previous activities, this activity allows for creative thinking, in
addition to tearing down walls of shyness and embarrassment.
6.1.8 Orchestra
Students need creativity for this activity as well. Ask each group to bring
recordings of any music that they like (preferably in English, since it is an ESL
class). Do not inform them what the music is for. When they turn up for the
following lesson with the music, play it and ask the members of the group
to imagine themselves as the musicians. They are to play imaginary musical
instruments following the music.
Vocabulary items can be presented after this activity is completed. For example,
one of the students might imitate playing a flute despite not knowing it is a flute.
You can then tell the class that it is a flute.
6.1.9 Forming Objects

In groups of eight or so, the group leader says a number. The members of the
group individually form the number. After a few rounds, the leader says out two-
digit numbers (such as 23 or 41) and then three-digit numbers. A variation of this
activity is to form the letters of the English alphabet, followed by words. As a
follow-up activity, the group can form animals such as a dinosaur or an elephant.
They could also mime the parts of a machine (e.g., a machine to make pasta). The
group leader then gives a verbal explanation of the functions of each part of the
machine. A variation of this activity is to form other objects such as a musical
instrument or gadgets (can opener, handphone, lights, radio, etc.).

6.1.10 Catwalk
In groups of six to eight, students pretend that they are models. At first, they do a
solo catwalk to show their imaginary clothes. Next, they do a catwalk in pairs,
synchronising their steps. Like previous activities, this activity allows for
creativity and cooperation. It can be followed by an oral activity whereby one
group member announces the models in a group and describes their imaginary
clothes.
6.1.11 Guess the Leader

A student is chosen to guess the leader and asked to wait outside the class. The
rest of the class sits in a circle so that they can see one another. One student is
chosen to be the leader. Cue cards are given to this leader who then mimes the
character or action written on the cards. The rest of the students follow the
leaderÊs actions. The student waiting outside the class is then asked to come in
and see the mime that is going on. The leader has to change his actions every 15–
20 seconds for the others to follow. This will allow the guesser a chance to find
out who the leader is.
When preparing the cue cards, it is best to write characters or actions that the
students will read about in the drama that will be taught. For example, for
Macbeth, it may be „a witch,‰ „a king,‰ „sleep walking,‰ „killing with a
dagger‰, and „a horse‰.
ACTIVITY 6.2
Suggest some words that you can use from the Trifles. How big do you think the cue cards should be? W
What is the role of drama activities in the introductory part of the drama lesson in the ESL context?
Share your answer to the above in myINSPIRE.

6.2 ACTIVITIES FOR THE “WHILE” STAGE

What types of activities do you think should be conducted during the „while‰
stage? What is the purpose of conducting such activities at this stage of the
lesson?
In the „while‰ stage, the drama would have been presented to the students. So,
students would more or less know the plot, theme or setting of the drama. Thus,
at this stage, drama activities are conducted not for the sake of drama per se but
for the presentation or practice of certain teaching points, such as an activity to
practise or present vocabulary or to practise a language skill. The drama activities
at this stage function as complementary activities to the primary activities of
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These activities, with some variations,
can also be considered for the „post‰ stage.
6.2.1 Exchanging Objects

This activity requires students to describe an object without using any verbal
cues. Prepare cue cards with names of objects or animals (e.g., chair, pencil, fan,
eagle, lion). Choose objects or animals that appear in the drama you are teaching.
For example, if you are teaching Macbeth, you may want to write „eagles,‰ and
„lion‰ (Act I, Scene II) or „flower‰ (Act I, Scene V). A student is given a cue
card and is asked to describe the object using hands and facial expressions. No
words are to be used. After a time limit (e.g., after one minute), the student passes
the object to another student who will have to guess what it is and verbally
describe the object as well as give the Act and Scene in which it is mentioned.
ACTIVITY 6.3
Discuss with a coursemate about the possible benefits of the activity of exchanging objects. Share the conclu

6.2.2 New Dialogues

In this activity, students act on an impromptu basis. They pick out a part of the
drama text and read it aloud. Other students (who do not know which part of the
text it is taken from), listen to and mime the dialogue. A variation to this activity
is for the students who pick out the part to make variations to the dialogue. They
read aloud the newly structured dialogue and concurrently, the other students
listen and mime the dialogue.
6.2.3 Other Possible Things

In this activity, students practise their vocabulary and speaking skills. Similar
to the activity in 6.2.1, they are given cue cards with names of objects (objects
only, no animals). For example, „sword‰ or „gun.‰ The students think of other
possibilities (which can be silly) that one can use the object for. They mime and
orally describe the other possibilities. For example, for „sword‰, one possibility is
that it can be used to cut a piece of roti canai. Students mime making the roti
canai and using the sword to cut it into pieces.
6.2.4 Guessing the Character

Students are given cue cards with names of characters from the drama they have
learned. They mime out the dramaÊs characters and other students guess them.
For example, if a student gets a card with „witch‰ and „Lady Macbeth‰ written
on it, he or she mimes a witch and Lady Macbeth. Other students then guess the
characters.
This activity allows students to read the drama carefully as they need to know
who the characters really are in order to correctly mime them. It also makes the
students read the drama thoroughly so that they will know more about the
characters.
6.2.5 Guessing the Costume

Characters in the drama that you are teaching may be presented as wearing a
particular type of costume. Students who receive a cue card with the name of a
character have to describe the costume in a non-verbal manner, using hands only.
The other students in the group or class have to guess the character. A variation
to this is instead of naming characters, they read out a line from the drama which
belongs to the character. For example, a king wears a crown and a robe, and has a
sword while a witch has ragged clothes and a pointed hat (these are stereotypical
characteristics).

6.2.6 Paired Lines

The teacher takes lines from the drama and writes them on a piece of paper.
The paper is then cut into two, dividing the lines into two distinct parts. One
part is given to a student, while the other part is given to another student.
Similarly, other students are given other lines. One student is asked to mime
out the lines given (not read the part aloud, but to mime it), while other
students look and guess the mimed line. They do not guess by speaking out
their lines, but miming them.
Here is an example taken from Macbeth, Act II, Scene II.
Student A receives a paper that reads as follows, „Whence is that knocking? How
isÊt with me when every noise appals me?‰
Student B receives a paper that reads, „What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out
mine eyes.‰
Student C has a paper with the line, „Hark! more knocking.‰
Student D has a paper that reads, „Get on your nightgown, lest occasion calls us.‰
Student A mimes out the lines „Whence is that knocking? How isÊt with me
when every noise appals me?‰ Other students watch and if they think they have
the line that continues after the line that was mimed, they come up and mime the
continuation.
For example, if student B believes that he/she has the line that follows student
AÊs line, student B mimes out his/her part („What hands are here? Ha! they
pluck out mine eyes‰). If he/she is wrong, his/her line is given to another
student and the game continues.
This activity coerces students to memorise the lines of the drama. It also allows
for their creativity to be channelled towards miming the lines. Obviously, this
activity will not work if the teacher picks lines from various parts of the drama. It
will be unfair to expect students to know exactly which part of the drama the
lines are taken from. It is best done when students have completed three to four
pages of the drama so that they still remember the part where the lines are taken
from.
So that students can familiarise themselves with the way this activity is to be
carried out, you can use sentences which are not from the drama, for example,
„ThereÊs a cow in the fridge‰ and „A cow? How stupid!‰ One student receives
a card that says, „ThereÊs a cow in the fridge.‰ Another student has the latter
sentence. The student with the first sentence then mimes out the given part of the
drama.

6.2.7 Completing the Set

This activity may require some preparation before class. Assuming that you are
teaching Macbeth, list out some characters that you want to use in the activity,
for example, Duncan, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, and a Witch. Then, list out items
that are related to each of these characters. For Duncan, it may be a sword, a
crown, and a horse; for Lady Macbeth, it may be a dress, a letter (see Act I,
Scene V), and daggers. Write each item on a card. Distribute these cards to all the
students in the class. Each student is to go round the class to look for the
complete set for each character (e.g., sword, crown, and horse for Duncan). The
students are not to show their cards or say out their items. They are to mime or
use their hands to describe the objects.
A variation of this activity is that instead of just objects, you can list out
personalities and actions (e.g., guilt for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth;
sleepwalking for Lady Macbeth). Like previous activities, this one encourages
students to probe deeper into the characterisation of each character in a drama.
The activity can be made more difficult by having objects that overlap
characters, for example, daggers for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, but what
differentiates these two characters is „sleepwalking‰.
A more difficult variation can be done if students have completed more than one
play (the more plays, the better). Instead of objects or personalities, each student
has a card that describes a part of a plot or a setting from a drama. They are to act
out these plots or settings to find matching sets. For example, assuming your
students have read Macbeth and Trifles, the cards shown in Figure 6.2 can be
prepared.
Figure 6.2: Activity Cards for Macbeth and Trifles

A student gets one of the cards mentioned and keeps miming the descriptions
given in the card while going round the class looking for the complete set. Once a
set has been completed, each of them mimes in order of the structure of the plot
(e.g., student with Card B mimes first, followed by student with Card A).
6.2.8 Different Situations (1)

Students write out imaginary situations that did not happen from a drama. The
following are examples based on Macbeth:
 The murdered king, Duncan, haunts Lady Macbeth.
 Macbeth pleads with Macbeth not to kill Duncan.
 Macbeth gets angry at the witches and kills them.
The situations are written on cards which are then distributed to the students.
The students who receive a card act out the situation. Other students watch and
orally describe the situation that is mimed. This activity can be followed up by
comprehension questions such as „What actually happened?‰ For example, with
reference to situation (c), the teacher can ask questions such as „How did
Macbeth react when the witches predicted his future?‰ and „What do you think
will happen if Macbeth had killed the witches?‰
6.2.9 Different Situations (2)

This is another activity in which students are required to mime different
situations. Write the following sentence on the blackboard:
(Note: The sentence is taken from Macbeth, Act II, Scene II). Write the following
I am afraid to think what I have done.
situations on cards:
 Say the sentence in a humorous manner.
 Say the sentence in a sad manner.
 Say the sentence with a heavy heart.
 Say the sentence in a mocking manner.

The cards are then rolled and put in a box which is passed round the class. Each
student takes out a rolled card and reads the situation. They then mime the
situation, saying the sentence in the manner that is written on the card.
This activity allows the students to get used to different ways of saying things in
varied situations. They will get to know that sentences spoken in a different tone,
volume or stress convey different moods. If a student is not able to say a sentence
in the manner required by a card, pass the card to another student who will
attempt to do so. The teacher will be the role model if none of the students say it
correctly.
6.2.10 Interpretation from Inkblots

Prepare a series of inkblots with ink or paint. Put the ink or paint on one side of a
piece of paper. Fold the paper into half so that the ink or paint stains the other
half as well. Open the fold and you will see a symmetrical image. Make several
pieces of these inkblots.
Get your students to sit in groups and give each group several pieces of
inkblots. Ask them to interpret the inkblots and come up with a story. Next,
they should dramatise the story.
A variation of this activity is after teaching a part of the drama, students interpret
the inkblot in light of the characters. For example, students may interpret an
inkblot as follows: „This inkblot looks like two witches holding hands. They look
evil because of these horns growing from their heads.‰ Students then mime the
two witches.
This activity allows students to be creative in interpreting the inkblots. Their

speaking skill is also practised when they present their interpretation orally.
Instead of oral interpretation, they can also do a written interpretation to practise
their writing skills.

6.2.11 Pass the Message

In this activity, students practise their writing and speaking skills. Once again,
they sit in groups. Two students, the „performers‰, are chosen to dramatise
or mime a particular situation taken from the learned drama. They stand
outside the class. Another person from the group is chosen to function as the
„messenger‰. The messenger goes out of the class to meet the performers
who dramatise or mime the situation given to them. No dialogue is spoken.
The messenger does not know beforehand the situation that will be presented
to him or her. Thus, the messenger has to only rely on the dramatisation of the
performers.
The messenger goes back to his group and relates what he thinks he saw. The
other members of the group, the „writers‰, may ask questions if necessary. The
writers write what they gathered from the messenger on a transparency. After the
activity, the transparency is shown, and the teacher corrects any grammatical
mistakes.
To follow up on the activity, the teacher could give the corrected version to
another group, who will then choose two persons to dramatise or mime the
situation given. The teacher could also consider having both pairs of performers
(from the first and latter groups) present their dramatisation. The rest of the class
chooses the pair that performs better.
6.2.12 Musical Box

This idea is taken from the musical chair party game. A box is circulated around
the class. The box contains layers of newspaper covering. On each layer is a
piece of paper which has a few lines from the drama being learned. The teacher
plays some music while the box is passed around. The teacher stops the music
and the student holding the box has to read aloud the dialogue that is pasted on
the layer of newspaper. The student has to read with full expression. The activity
continues and the next person who gets the box tears off the previous layer and
reads aloud the new dialogue.
This activity practises reading aloud as well as reading with the proper intonation,
stress, and volume. Students have to show matching facial expressions when they
read the dialogues.

The activity can be done after the teacher has taught a particular Act (e.g., Act 1
of Macbeth). If so, the dialogues on the newspaper coverings should only be
taken from Act 1. Subsequently, the students will be able to better understand and
remember the dialogues spoken in the drama. The music used in this activity
should be appropriate, that is, it should match the mood of the drama.
ACTIVITY 6.4
Consider a variation for any of the activity mentioned which you can use to teach your students. Discuss
6.3 ACTIVITIES FOR THE “POST” STAGE

By the „post‰ stage, students should have already finished reading the whole
drama. What do you think would be the appropriate activities here? What sort of
information do you want to elicit from your studentsÊ learning experience?
The activities suggested in this subtopic are to be conducted with the assumption
that students have already finished reading the whole drama. Drama is a means
of using language points and skills to communicate ideas and messages.
Therefore, it is important to remember that these activities utilise language skills
and points. These activities can also be considered after the teacher has done the
main teaching points of the lesson.
6.3.1 Chain Story

After having finished reading the drama, students are expected to know the plot
of the drama. One activity of consolidating the understanding of the plot is
through chain story. Write out the plot of the drama that you have taught. Each
sentence is written on a separate slip of paper. The slips of paper are then given
to the students. They are to mime the sentence that they received (without any
dialogues, although you can have a variation of this activity in which students
construct their own dialogue). After watching every student mime their parts,
they decide on the order of the mimes. They then mime again, this time in the
order of the plot. A follow-up activity is to have the students write out the plot.

6.3.2 Entering Heaven

Students sit in their respective groups. Each group is to think of one character.
The characters are at heavenÊs gates. They can only enter heaven if they show
the doorkeeper the good deeds that they had done. The students are to mime the
good deeds, which can be from their own creativity but must be based on the
drama they have learned. For example, for Lady Macbeth, a possible good deed
(although she is characterised as an evil, manipulative woman) is that she
supported her husband. Thus, the group members are to perform the support that
is shown to Macbeth (such as Macbeth doubting if he should carry on with his
plan and Lady Macbeth encouraging him).
The main disadvantage of this activity is that some students may not share the
belief in entering heaven through good deeds. Another disadvantage is that
students are asked to subvert clearly evil, immoral deeds that are presented in
the drama as good deeds. To overcome these disadvantages, instead of entering
heaven, you can set a situation in which students are to mime something so that
they can enter a prestigious club. The mime may not necessary be based on a
good deed, but on other possible situations such as a feeling or emotion.
6.3.3 Which Part of the Drama is It?

Students sit in their respective groups. Each group writes out part of a dialogue
(of about 15 lines or so) taken from any Act in the drama that is taught to them.
The dialogues are then given to other groups. This means that each group will get
dialogues that are written by other groups.
The groups now have to determine which part of the drama the dialogue is taken
from. They have a time limit to do so, for example, about 30 seconds. Within
this short period, they also have to decide who is going to act out the dialogue.
Through this activity, the students practise reading parts of the drama with the
appropriate expressions. This activity also encourages the students to remember
the parts of the drama better.
This game can have a few variations. For example, in one variation, the group
that writes out the dialogue paraphrases the dialogue. This means the group does
not copy the dialogue directly from the drama, but paraphrases the dialogue using
conventional language. In this way, the group members practise their reading and
writing skills. The group that gets the dialogue may experience some difficulties
as they have to read the paraphrased dialogue and interpret which part of the
drama the dialogue is taken from. This may be perceived as a challenging activity
especially for students of a higher language level.

Another variation is to have one group write the dialogue continuously on a

piece of paper, without any breaks or punctuations. Another group has to
decipher the dialogue, putting the lines in proper groupings (i.e., which
character speaks which line). It then dramatises the dialogue.
6.3.4 Storytelling with Objects

Students sit in their respective groups. Each group is to put into an envelope one
object each, such as a coin, an eraser, a pencil, and a pen. This envelope is given
to another group. Thus, each group receives an envelope from another group.
Each group opens the envelope and looks through the objects received. The
teacher gives each group a part from the drama that they have learned. The
teacher need not give the dialogue but only a part of the drama (such as Act 1,
Scene 1 of Macbeth or towards the end of Trifles when the men walk down the
stairs). Using the objects, the students of each group act out the part given to
them. They are allowed to change the drama if they wish. For example, if a group
has an eraser, pencil, and coin and it has to act out Act 1 Scene III of Macbeth,
the students acting as witches can use the pencil as their magic wand and the
eraser as their crystal ball in which they see MacbethÊs future.
Interpretation and creativity are important in drama. In this activity, students

come up with their own dialogues which are the result of their group
discussion and creative powers. Many dramas today are actually adaptations
of classic dramas. Through this activity, students use their creativity to adapt
the part of the drama that they are asked to dramatise. They write their own
dialogues and come up with their own parts.
ACTIVITY 6.5
Briefly explain one factor to consider when planning drama activities in the class.
Briefly describe an activity that can be done after a full drama has been taught.
Share your answers to the above in myINSPIRE.

 This topic discusses some activities for the „warm-up‰, „while‰, and „post
‰ stages of drama lessons.
 There are 11 activities for the „warm-up‰ stage, 12 for the „while‰, and 4
for the „post‰.
 Even though the activities are designed for a particular stage, teachers can use
their own creativity and innovation to adapt an activity from one stage to
another.
Cue cards Storytelling

Impromptu
Maley, A., & Duff, A. (1982). Drama techniques in language learning. Cambridge
University Press.

To pi  More Activities
for the
7 Teaching of
Poetry
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Describe some activities for the teaching of poetry in the ESL class.
Explain the rationale for the activities for the teaching of poetry.
Describe variations for the activities discussed.
 INTRODUCTION
In Topic 6, we have looked at some suggested activities for the teaching of drama
in an ESL class. These activities can be adapted for the teaching of poetry. In this
topic, we will look at some other activities for the teaching of poetry in the ESL
context. We will focus especially on the poems taught in the Literature in English
component for the lower and upper secondary levels. We will also look at
selected poems that are used in the SPM and STPM English Literature papers.
This topic is organised into several sections. The first section looks at ways of
preparing our students for poetry. Next, suggested activities for working into the
poem, followed by activities for working out from the poem, will be discussed.
There will be miscellaneous sections in which there are suggested activities for
the practice of language skills and points.

120  TOPIC 7 MORE ACTIVITIES FOR THE TEACHING OF POETRY
Note: When teaching students literary texts, you may also refer to the
HBET3703 Teaching of Literature in an ESL Context (pp. 59–61), for the task
specifications set out by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Many of the
activities suggested here are adapted from The Inward Ear: Poetry in the
Language Classroom by Maley and Duff (1989), published by Cambridge
University Press. If you wish, you may get the book for your own reference.
7.1 PREPARING STUDENTS FOR POETRY

You may wish to prepare your students so that they will have high receptivity for
the learning of poetry. One may sigh or complain about having to rush through
to complete the syllabus and not having the time to prepare students for poetry.
However, it does not take a full month to prepare them as it may only take
one lesson or so. Furthermore, language skills (reading, writing, listening, and
speaking) and language points (grammar, vocabulary, etc.) are also presented to
the students. So, they are learning something in this preparatory stage.
7.1.1 Using Stimuli

You can use various stimuli to get your students to think creatively. This is an
important element in understanding poetry because the language of poetry
usually demands the reader to think not just at the superficial level, but also to
probe deeper and think creatively, looking at the poem from various angles.
For students to have these creative thinking skills, teachers need to train them,
and make them aware of the various possible interpretations that one can
make in response to a stimulus.
Visual stimuli such as pictures, videos, posters, and drawings will be discussed
first. Use a picture that suggests a theme instead of one that explicitly presents the
poem. For example, when teaching A. Samad SaidÊs The Dead Crow, instead of
showing a picture of a crow, you may use pictures of other dead animals, a
picture of a dirty or clogged up drain or a picture of a jungle that has been cleared
(you can also show video clips that present the clearing of a jungle. You can use
National Geographic documentaries or show a scene from The Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers in which SauronÊs armies cut down trees and clear part
of the forest. Also show the later part where the „walking tree‰ goes towards
SauronÊs tower and discovers that many of the trees, which were his „friends‰,
have been cut down.

TOPIC 7 MORE ACTIVITIES FOR THE TEACHING OF POETRY  121
After presenting the visual stimuli, ask students to brainstorm or write out all the
ideas related to the stimuli. This can be done in groups. The groups gather ideas
and the group leaders present a summary of the ideas. The students then have to
think of a title for their ideas.
Instead of ideas, you may consider asking your students to think of adjectives to
describe the picture or adjectives to describe the feeling that one has when
looking at the picture. Another variation of this activity is to ask students to think
of childhood memories that may be triggered by the stimuli. They share those
memories with their group members or the class.
Asking students to give their personal reaction to sounds (such as music) can also
be considered. Play several pieces of different genres of music (rock, pop,
classical, country, etc.) and ask students to describe their feeling, memories or
ideas that are triggered by these songs. Alternatively, instead of music, play
sounds of objects or actions. For example, you can record a person typing on a
computer keyboard, turning the pages of a newspaper, opening a drawer, cutting
potatoes or some fruits, and opening a can. Ask students to guess what the sounds
are and what feelings or memories emerge in their minds when they hear the
sounds.
Another variation is to play the first few parts of an advertisement or programme.

Ask students to guess from which advertisement the music is taken from and
what their ideas or feelings are when they listen to the music.
The ideas or responses generated from the students can be divided into two
categories. On the blackboard, draw a line to indicate two columns. One column
is for positive responses and the other is for negative responses. Ask students to
categorise their responses into these two categories (other possible categories are
„favourite‰ and „least favourite‰).
Other possible stimuli for the suggested activity are touch and smell. For touch,
have several objects (make sure they are NOT sharp objects) put into a plastic
bag. The students touch the objects without looking at them. They guess the
objects and give their responses about them.
SELF-CHECK 7.1
Give two examples of visual stimuli.
Suggest one difficulty when planning to use video in poetry class.
Suggest one way to overcome the difficulty you mentioned for Question 2.

7.1.2 Life Line

A major complaint about the prescribed poems for the lower and upper secondary
school English syllabuses is that the poems are too difficult and students are not
able to match their experience to the poems. For example, students may not have
adequate experience to relate to ShakespeareÊs LifeÊs Brief Candle and Sonnet
18. In light of this, the teacher has to carry the burden of bringing some
awareness of life and the experiences of life to students.
Let us take LifeÊs Brief Candle as an example. To prepare students for the
poem, you can show pictures of accidents (which you can get from newspapers).
Ask the students questions about the accidents, such as „How do you think the
accident happened?‰ „Who were involved in the accident?‰ and „How old do
you think the victims were?‰ Use news articles related to these accidents (it may
be better to choose articles about young accident victims) and ask questions based
on the news articles. Ask your students to think about life and death, and how
death can happen to anyone, young or old. Ask your students to define life. This
need not lead to a philosophical discussion. Tell your students that simple one-
word answers are acceptable, such as „football‰ („Life is about playing football
‰) or
„food‰ („Life is about eating the best food‰). Write out all their responses on
the board.
Note: Instead of a picture, you can also consider using a news article.
You can also ask your students to draw their life line, such as the one shown
in Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.1: Life Line

On the life line, they write important events that they have been through and
the important events that they predict will happen. For more advanced
students, ask them to elaborate on the life line (i.e., not as simple as illustrated
in Figure 7.1).
For further practice, you can ask your students to use a red pen to draw a vertical
line at any part of the life line. Tell the students that this red line represents death.
Seek their responses to this. Ask questions such as „How would you feel if you
know that you are going to die at a certain point in your life?‰ Tell students that
they are going to argue with Death to allow them to live longer. Ask them to list
out their arguments for wanting to continue living.
The main disadvantage of this activity is that many Asian students tend to be
superstitious in dealing with the subject of death. For some students, discussing
death might mean that it will turn to reality, and that they will die sooner than
expected. Tread carefully when doing the activity. If you find some students
getting agitated or uncomfortable, do not proceed and go on to the next part of
your lesson.
7.1.3 Using Other Poems

Do not confine yourself to the poems prescribed by the ministry. You can
consider other poems, perhaps easier ones that can lead to discussions about the
main theme that emerges in the prescribed poems. For example, for Sonnet 18,
you can consider using the poem in Figure 7.2 to introduce the theme of love.
Figure 7.2: Poem by Bernard de Ventadour

You may also use a poem by Robert Burns, the first stanza of which is shown in
Figure 7.3.
Figure 7.3: Excerpt from A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
Another possible poem to introduce the theme of love is To Friends at Home

by Robert Louis Stevenson, as shown in Figure 7.4.
Figure 7.4: To Friends at Home by Robert Louis Stevenson

Here is another poem that you can use, entitled I Love You Not, by Bruce Lansky
(Figure 7.5).
Figure 7.5: I Love You Not by Bruce Lansky
Many of the poems are long (longer than the poem that you intend to teach).
What you can do is to take an extract from the poem to show the theme of
love. For example, the poem by Burns in Figure 7.3 has four stanzas. Only the
first stanza is presented.
If you are teaching LifeÊs Brief Candle, you may want to start off with some
poetry about death. Figure 7.6 shows one such poetry, which is humorous in tone
and mood. Before you proceed with the activity, you need to explain to your
students what an epitaph is. After explaining the word, give your students the
poem for them to fill in the blanks.

Figure 7.6: Poem on Death

After students have filled in the blanks, select a few students to read out their
work. Next, discuss death and slowly bring in LifeÊs Brief Candle.
7.1.4 Questionnaire
Construct a questionnaire related to a particular theme of a poem. For example, if
you are teaching The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, you can give the
following questions related to making choices in life:
1. What do you plan to do after your studies?

A. Work
B. Continue studying
C. DonÊt know
2. When do you plan to get married?

A. Before 30 years old
B. Before 40 years old
C. After 40 years old
D. Not planning to get married
E. DonÊt know
3. When do you plan to get your first car?

A. Not getting a car
B. Before 30 years old
C. After 30 years old
D. DonÊt know
Construct about 10 questions or so. Each question has the option „DonÊt know.
‰ If students continuously put „DonÊt know,‰ use this as a springboard for
further discussion. Discuss whether it is important to have some objectives in life.
The discussion can be done in groups. After the group discussion, have the leader
of each group present a summary of their discussion.

Leaving students to discuss by themselves may be problematic for some. This is

because students tend to discuss things other than what the teacher wants them
to discuss. Come up with a worksheet with points for discussion, such as the
following:
 How many of you plan to work after you have finished studying in school?
 How many of you plan to continue studying?
 How many of you donÊt know what to do?
 Give three reasons for each of the above.
 How many of you do not plan to get married? Give two reasons.
7.2 WORKING INTO A POEM

Working into a poem does not necessarily mean only reading a poem. It implies
that the teacher brings the students to work with the poem by using it. The
activities draw the attention of the students to a poemÊs language, apart from its
ideas or contents. The fundamental aim is to have students comprehend and
interpret the poem. Thus, many of the activities involve comprehension.
Some of the activities suggested in the previous topic can be used to lead students
to work into the poem. Some of the activities mentioned here may have already
been mentioned in previous topics but the difference is that in this topic, further
explanation and suggested work for the students are given. Poems that are taught
in the lower and secondary levels will be used.
7.2.1 The Best Choice

Assuming that you are going to teach Monsoon History to Form 5 students, give
them the worksheet in Figure 7.7 before reading the poem. In all probability, they
may not have read the poem yet, and even if some did, they may not have
memorised it. Ask them to choose the best answer from the options given in the
brackets.

Figure 7.7: Worksheet for „The Best Choice‰ Activity

Next, ask selected students to read their poems. Ask students to think about the
choices made. Why, for example, did they choose „mattresses‰ and not „pillows
‰ or „blankets‰?
7.2.2 Completing the Piece

A variation of the activity in Figure 7.7 is to give the poem in incomplete phrases.
For example, if you are going to teach ThereÊs Been a Death in the Opposite
House by Emily Dickinson, you can give the worksheet shown in Figure 7.8.
Figure 7.8: Worksheet for „Incomplete Phrases‰ Activity

Similar to the activity in 7.2.1, ask students to read out their poems and give
reasons for their choices. This sentence-building activity is valuable for students
in trying out words for acceptability. It also leads them to „useful interaction
centring on the meaning‰ of the poem (Maley & Duff, 1989, p. 43).
7.2.3 Using Video

Using video is another way of getting students to work into a poem. The
following activity is adapted from Maley and Duff (1989, pp. 45–46).
Play the video right through without a break. Afterwards, students in pairs or
groups try to recall it as accurately as possible and list out the order of the
images. If there are images that they are not able to recall, they can list them as
gaps. Next, the video is replayed and students make corrections to their lists.
The poem is then given to the students. They match parts of the poem to the
images that they have listed. Finally, they share their answers with the class.
This activity allows for discussion when the students are in their groups. This
does not necessarily mean analysing the poem, as exemplified by the activity
mentioned. In addition, presenting the video may make it possible for students to
discuss ideas or contents which may not emerge if they were to only read the
poem.
The problem is to decide the kind of video to match the poem that you are
going to teach. You may record and show a programme from The National
Geographic (if it is about nature or pollution) if you are teaching The Dead
Crow or The Lake Isles of Innisfree. If you are teaching LifeÊs Brief Candle,
you may consider clips from movies which show people getting shot or killed
(war movies, police stories, etc.).
ACTIVITY 7.1
Suggest a video to be used for this activity if you were to teach Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. Exp

7.2.4 Line by Line

Write the first line of the poem that you are going to teach on the board. Ask
Wh- questions based on this first line. For example, if you are teaching The Lake
Isles of Innisfree, ask questions such as „Where do you think the persona wants
to go?‰ or „Why do you think he wants to go to that place?‰
Then, write the second line and follow the same procedure of asking
Wh- questions. Repeat with subsequent lines.
This activity helps students to focus on specific meanings, to predict answers or

to anticipate. A variation of this activity is to start from the last line of the poem
and work backwards towards the beginning.
Another variation is, instead of giving the subsequent lines and asking
Wh- questions, write the title of the poem and the first line and ask students to
guess the second line. After listening to various suggestions, write the second line
and ask students to guess the third line. Follow the procedure until the whole
poem has been written out.
7.3 WORKING OUT FROM THE POEM

Some extension activities that you can consider doing were suggested in Topic 1.
These activities allow students to work from the poem, which is to relate their
personal experiences and tie them to the poem being studied. This section
discusses similar activities that can be considered so as to help students relate
what they know to what they read.
7.3.1 Be the Judge/Critic

Your students might have watched Malaysian Idol or Akademi Fantasia. Tell
them that they are to take on the role of judge or critic as shown in the two talent
shows. Instead of judging singers, they are to judge the best poem. This activity
can be carried out after going through all the poems prescribed by the ministry.
Ask students to come up with criteria for their critique. They are also to give the
rationale for their answers.

7.3.2 Interview
Ask students to sit in groups and role-play an interview based on the theme or
content of a poem. For example, if the poem is ThereÊs Been a Death in the
Opposite House, ask students to take on the role of the next-door neighbours, the
children, etc. and have one student as the interviewer. Present the interview to the
rest of the class. If the poem is Si TenggangÊs Homecoming, have students take
on the role of Si Tenggang, his wife, family members, friends, etc.
7.3.3 Drama
You can also consider dramatising a poem. Another option is to use the
theme of the poem to come up with a short sketch or play. For example, if the
poem is by Dickinson, have students come up with a short play about
neighbours looking outside a window and wondering aloud what had
happened and describing what they saw. If the poem is about preserving
nature as in The Dead Crow, have students come up with a short sketch
about taking care of nature.
7.4 MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES

Miscellaneous activities can be used to teach poetry. Some of these are discussed
below:
(a) Students are divided into two broad groups:
 One group is asked to list as many nouns as possible. They write the list
individually. In another group, the students list individually as many
adjectives as possible. Give a time frame, for example, 30 seconds.
 When the time is up, pair one student from one group with another
student from the other group. So, each pair comprises one student with
a list of adjectives and another student with a list of nouns.
 Using the list of adjectives and nouns, they have to write a short article
or poem based on the theme of the poem. If it is a poem, ask them to
write one stanza. After this, put one pair with another pair to form a
group of four students.
 Follow the procedure and ask the new group to come up with the
second stanza (using the lists of adjectives and nouns that they have).

(b) Students work in groups:
 Each group is given one adjective that describes a mood, for example,
angry, cynical, anxious, suspicious, happy, depressed, etc. Explain the
meaning of the words if necessary and provide examples.
 The groups then discuss and decide on how best to interpret the chosen
poem (the poem that you are teaching or have taught) so as to convey
the feeling described by the adjective given to them. The groups then
present their poems after the discussion.
(c) The following writing activity, Consequences, is taken from Maley and Duff
(1989, p. 149):
 The class brainstorms to come up with 15 to 20 abstract nouns (e.g.,

hope, faith, love, and courage) and 15 to 20 concrete nouns (e.g., bread,
money, table, and knife).
 Next, the class brainstorms for 15 to 20 adjectives that describe a value-

judgement e.g., boring, exciting, popular, repulsive, and pleasant.
 Write all the adjectives and nouns on the board.
 Students then sit in pairs and write four questions beginning with „What
is⁄?‰ They complete the question using nouns listed on the board. Each
question is answered by the structure „ItÊs ⁄‰ using the adjectives. The
following is an example taken from Maley and Duff (1989, p. 149):
(i) What is bread ? (ii) What is water ?

ItÊs boring. ItÊs stupid.
(iii) What is sand ? (iv) What is hope ?

ItÊs deceitful. ItÊs sincere.
 Students learn the language skills when they discuss to choose the four
items. Advanced students should be asked to give their rationale for
their choices. For example, why is water considered stupid?
This activity can be adapted to teach Rudyard KiplingÊs If (Form 4 poem).

Instead of nouns, ask students to think of occupations or adjectives. For
example:

Complete the following structure:
 What will I be in years?

IÊll be .
What if I am a ?
IÊll be .
 E.g.:
What will I be in 10 years?
IÊll be a pilot.
What if I am a chef?
IÊll be disgusted.
ACTIVITY 7.2
Suggest one activity that will encourage students to think of the lexical items that they choose for a poem
 This topic has looked at some activities that can be conducted in the class
when teaching poetry. These activities can be adapted for the teaching of any
other genre.
 It is important that the activities are adapted according to the studentsÊ level
of proficiency. Do not frustrate them with an activity that may be more
difficult than the poem.
Best answers Questions

Brainstorm Visual stimuli

Maley, A., & Duff, A. (1989). The inward ear – Poetry in the language classroom .
Cambridge University Press.

To pi  Putting Up a
Play
8
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Explain the aspects of play production.
Discuss the factors to consider when doing a play production.
Explain the steps in putting up a play.
 INTRODUCTION
As English teachers, you may be asked by your school authorities to take charge
of putting up a play. For some teachers, this may be a daunting task. This topic
aims to minimise that potential fear by listing out the steps of putting up a play.
A play at the end of the school term can be regarded as a major project which
many students may look forward to. However, putting up the play may become
tedious for the students if the teacher is detached from the responsibilities of
guiding and advising them. However, what are the steps and aspects of putting up
a play that one should look at? What are the preparations needed? This topic aims
to answer these and other related questions. A word of caution before you
proceed: this topic discusses the putting up of a play in the school context and not
in the professional context. This means certain aspects will not be discussed or
presented as they are not necessary for a school play. For example, you may not
need a person to be in charge of wardrobe as there may not be a wardrobe in a
school play.

138  TOPIC 8 PUTTING UP A PLAY
8.1 PRE-PRODUCTION
The pre-production stage is when all preparations for the play are made. It
involves a host of decisions such as deciding on the play, costumes, and
performers.
8.1.1 Organisation
First, you have to decide on the play. What kind of play do you want to put up?
Do you want to put up an original play or do you want to adapt a play? Writing
an original play is easier said than done. However, with a group of teachers
(willing teachers!) and students, the product may come out to be a surprise. To
write a play, you must first think of a theme. What will the play be about? You
may want to consider themes that are familiar to the students (since they are the
ones who will be performing the play), such as coping with abusive parents or
facing the challenges of being a teenager (peer pressure, sex, obsession with
looks, relationships, etc.).
Next, think of ways to present the theme. This refers to the plot of your play.
How many characters do you want to put into the play? Do the characters have a
role or are they included just to fill the numbers? Remember, characterisation is
not done without a purpose. Each character contributes to the central theme of the
play. Try to think locally because we are more familiar with our surroundings. If
you were to think of a plot with a foreign setting, the play may turn out to be
unconvincing, stereotypical or idiotic. For example, if you want to portray the life
of school gangs, you may want to think of school gangs in Malaysia rather than
the gangs in New York which you may be totally unfamiliar with.
Once you have come up with a storyline, decide on each sequence of events, how
the characters will move, the dialogue they will speak, the lighting, the sound
effects (if any), and any other stage directions. You may want to consider a
storyboard such as the one shown in Table 8.1.

TOPIC 8 PUTTING UP A PLAY  139
Table 8.1: Storyboard for a Play
Scene
Setting/Lighting Directions Dialogue
No.
Scene On a beach. Lin and Kavitha Lin: So⁄ what do you

One Sound of ocean sitting side by side plan to do?
waves. Dim light on the ground,
Kavitha: I donÊt know
to show evening. looking towards the
(exasperated). IÊm stuck.
audience.
Really stuck [⁄]
When deciding on the type of play, you should also think about the setting and
costumes. If the play is set in the olden times, will it be easy for you to get hold
of the costumes? Will it be easy for you to do the setting? Or would you want to
adapt the play to a modern setting?
What kind of stage does your school have? Will it allow for your play to be
conducted? Some plays have a lot of scene changes. This may disrupt the flow of
the drama (think of school plays where you have to wait endlessly in the dark for
the next scene to come on). Choose plays with as few scene changes as possible.
If this is not possible, do not confine your play to the stage. The students can
have some scenes acted off stage, near the audience. This will be discussed
further in another section.
What is the time period for you to put up the play – three months, five months, a
year? Decide on a time schedule which will include the number of times for
practice and a full-dress rehearsal. You may even want to consider having a dress
parade. These are some considerations that need to be well thought of.
Remember, a wrong decision at this point in time may affect the overall running
of the play later, by which time it may be difficult to change decisions.
ACTIVITY 8.1
Suggest one thing that you will think of when deciding on a script. Explain the rationale for your choice

8.1.2 People in Charge

Once you have decided on the play and schedule, you need to decide on the
people who will be involved in the running of the play.
You will need a:
 director: usually the teacher
 designer: choose a student who is good in art and ask him or her to have a
team to paint the backdrop or prepare items for the stage
 lighting person: place a student in charge of the lights, i.e., switching the
lights on and off.
Add any other positions that you think are necessary.
To choose the performers, you can hold an audition. Remember that if you cannot
get very good actors or actresses during the audition, you can always train them
up.
You also need seemingly unimportant people to run the drama, but their tasks
are just as important as the performersÊ. For example, ushers (to show
members of the audience to their seats), the „cue giver‰ or „prompter‰ (to
give cues to performers to enter the stage or to quietly prompt performers who
forget their lines), and a make-up person (make-up is necessary to define the
features of the performersÊ faces).
ACTIVITY 8.2
Let us say you are organising a play with your students. What are the factors that you should consider when de
Share your thoughts with your coursemates in myINSPIRE.

8.1.3 Scenes
Scene changes are common in many plays. Although there are plays with only
one scene, most plays have more. If not done well, scene changes will spoil
the flow of the play. This may make the audience restless, and the play will be
perceived as flawed. There are a few techniques to change scenes. One way is
to use stage curtains and another is through a blackout. The disadvantage of
having too many scenes is that the curtains will keep opening and closing or
the lights will keep switching on and off, causing the play to become more
irritating than enjoyable. You may consider another technique, which is to
incorporate the scene changes into the action of the play.
Projection is another way of changing scenes in a play. If your school has a slide
projector or video projector, use it to project scenes onto the wall of the stage.
You do not need to project the scene onto the whole wall as the performers will
be using the stage as well. You only need to project the scene onto a part of the
wall, sufficient enough to inform the audience where the play is taking place.
8.1.4 Props
Props mean properties and this covers furnishings (such as sofa, chairs, and
table), dressings (paintings, rubber plants, real plants, etc.) and hand props (such
as swords, glasses, scrolls). When writing or adapting the script of the play, list
out also the props that are needed. Put this on a checklist so that you will not
forget any important item.
If you wish to have elaborate props for your play, you may wish to consider
renting some items (subject to your budget, of course). Go into Google search,
type
„drama props‰ and „Malaysia‰, and you will come across companies that rent
out props.
8.1.5 Lighting
If your school stage has lighting, use it to the maximum (but use it effectively) as
lighting is considered to be the fundamental element of all staging techniques.
Lighting is important to ensure that the audience could see the performers acting.
In addition, it is an important technique to focus the audienceÊs attention on a
particular character or action, such as by using light of a different colour.

It is important to decide where to have the lights (some school stages have
spotlights that are movable), which lights to put on (if there are more than one
light), where to point the lights, and to have what colour in which lights.
When planning or structuring your script, you should write out the lights
needed so that the person in charge of lighting will know what to do.
Some schools may be well-equipped with lighting. There may be the „follow spot
‰ which is the spotlight used to follow actors around the stage. It has a
„sophisticated pan and tilt mountings for smooth movement‰ (Reid 1995, p. 61).
If you are asked to be in charge of the school stage and you have the money to
buy lighting, you may want to consider these types of lighting:
 floods: Useful for lighting large scenic areas, these are unsuitable for lighting
actors because the beam size and shape cannot be controlled. The light is
pointed to the stage and manipulated by pivoting devices that can move up
and down or left and right.
 focus spots: This is the simplest form of spotlight and can control the beam
size.
 profile spots: This gives „accurate control of beam size, shape, and quality‰
(Reid, 1995, p. 60). The lamp and reflector are stationary but the lens can be
moved to adjust the quality of the beam.
8.1.6 Sound
Sound is another aspect of the play production that you need to look at. Sounds
produced by electronics have three primary functions:
 reinforce the level of vocal and instrumental sounds produced by the

performers;
 add to sound effects; and
 communicate.
Let us break down further the main sound components in the production of a play:
(a) Training Voices

You need to train your performers to project their voices so that they can
speak their lines loudly. You may need to position the seating for your
audience (such as putting the chairs closer to the stage) so that each and
every member of the audience is able to listen to the performersÊ dialogue.

The following are some steps that you can ask your students to take to train
their voices:
 Read aloud a passage or a page from a book every day. Do not just
recite the words but assume the role of the character that you are
reading.
 Do breathing exercises to improve voice quality. Table 8.2 presents a

few simple exercises which are extremely helpful in learning to breathe
correctly. These have been mostly compiled from the International
Association of Conference Interpreters and the University of Central
Lancashire websites.
Table 8.2: Breathing Exercises for Voice Training
Exercise A
 Lie on your back on the floor. Place one hand on your abdomen.
 Breathe in quickly and deeply and feel it rise as you do so. Your chest
should not move.
 Hold your breath for a few seconds, then breathe out slowly, making a
hissing noise through your teeth, till your lungs are absolutely empty.
Feel your abdomen sink as you do this.
 Concentrate on what you are doing all the time.
 Do this exercise in bed every night, concentrating on the breathing
process.
 You will drop off to sleep very quickly and at the same time, form the
habit of correct respiration.
Exercise B
 Same as Exercise A, but with hands relaxed on the floor.

 As you inhale, pull your legs up, knees bent over chest.
 Clasp hands over knees and hug the latter to your chest as you exhale.
Exercise C
 Same again, but raise your head from the floor as you bring your knees up.
 Try to touch your knees with your head as you breathe out.

Exercise D
 This exercise is aimed at strengthening the diaphragm. Lie on your

back on the floor, supporting your head with something hard, such as
a telephone directory or a stack of books.
 Ensure that your spine is in a straight line. Your arms should be by
your sides with the palms facing upwards. The feet should be shoulder
width apart and relaxed so that they angle away from each other.
 If there are parts of your body that feel tense, clench that area on an in-
breath, then relax as you breathe out. Repeat this until the tension drains
away.
 Next, concentrate on your breathing. Your aim is to control the
diaphragm, a sheet of muscle that lies below the lungs at the bottom of
your rib cage. When it is relaxed, the diaphragm is arched upwards.
 To increase your lung capacity, the diaphragm needs to stretch down
into the abdomen. If you are breathing correctly, your stomach area
will push outwards on each in-breath as the diaphragm moves
downwards.
 On a count of four, breathe in, hold the breath for another count of four,
and breathe out to a count of four. This may be difficult at first, but will
get easier.
 When you are completely comfortable with this breathing pattern, try to
increase the count.
 With practice, you should be able to manage a count of 12.
Exercise E
 This is aimed at improving posture. Stand with your feet shoulder

width apart.
 Have a good, gentle stretch. Reach up above your head first with one
arm, then the other. Feel your ribcage opening up.
 Shake your hands and feet.
 Now, allow your body to flop forward like a rag doll.
 Make sure your jaw is relaxed and shake your head and shoulders.
 Raise your upper body as if you are uncurling one vertebra at a time.
The very last thing to uncurl should be your head and neck.
 Your head should feel as if it is balanced at the top of your spine.
Your throat should feel long, and your ears should be in line with your
shoulders.

Exercise F
 This is an exercise to warm up the voice.

 You can do this by keeping your lips together and making a gentle
humming sound which should barely touch the sides of your throat.
 The hum should not be forced. Push the breath up using the diaphragm.
Exercise G (Intake)
 Put your fist just below your chest so that you can feel the top of the rib
cage.
 Now, picture yourself breathing „into‰ your fist. Inhale slowly.
 When you think you have taken in all the air you can, hold for 3 seconds.
 Now, take in as much air as you can by picturing the air filling up the
space between the ribs.
 You are using the diaphragm. It is lowering and making way for the
lungs to truly fill to capacity.
 Exhale.
 Repeat slowly, at least 10 times. Stop if you feel dizzy – it means you
have gone too fast or taken in too much air.
Exercise H (Outflow)
 Form your mouth in the shape of a „shh‰ consonant.

 Slowly push air out through your mouth. Do this as slowly as you can.
The flow of air must be perfectly even. The idea is to control the air as it
is used.
 This exercise is aimed at controlling the air so that it can be projected into
a large space. In addition, the person will have control of his or her voice.
 This control will be attained when one does the exercise regularly.
If you are interested to find out more techniques for improving

performance in a play, look up The Alexander Technique at this
website:
https://alexandertechnique.com/musicians/

(b) Microphone
Microphones are easily available in schools nowadays. However, if used
wrongly, the effect on the overall impact of the play will be dismal. It is
therefore important that the teachers in charge of a play also know the
electronic equipment used. This section will focus on the microphone
because, as mentioned earlier, it is the most available electronic item in
school.
There are basically two types of microphones, dynamic and condenser.

The latter gives better quality (but is more expensive and needs more
careful handling). In theatres, condenser microphones are usually used in
the main positions while the dynamic microphones are used in subsidiary
positions.
Different types of microphones have different functions. The „figure-of-

eight‰ microphone is sensitive to the front and rear but insensitive to
the sides. Cardiod and hyper-cardiod microphones are very useful in
theatres as they pick up sounds from the front but are dead to the sides
and rear. Consequently, they pick up sounds from the desired part of the
stage production.
The microphones need to be positioned on the stage as unobtrusively as

possible, so as to not distract the audience and performers. Some schools
may have radio microphones which can be hidden in the performersÊ
clothing. The disadvantage of using the microphone is that it tends „to bring
the sound of a straight play to a level which strains the credibility of any
attempt at naturalism in the acting‰ (Reid, 1995, p. 70).
(c) Sound Effects

Sound effects may be considered to make the drama real and believable.
There are three ways that sound effects are produced:
 live effects: As far as a school play production is concerned, this is best

done for simple sounds like door slams. You should, however,
experiment with different types of sounds to produce sounds that are as
real as possible. For example, you can use coconut shells for the sound
of horsesÊ hooves.
 reinforced live effects: This simply means the use of microphones and
an appropriately positioned loudspeaker to make the sound effects
louder.

 taped/recorded effects: These are more commonly used. It is best to

record all the required sound effects onto a tape or CD, according to the
sequence of the script. Write out the sound effects on a list or on the
drama script so that the person in charge of the tape will not be confused
as to which sound effect to play. If the tape player has a digital marker,
it is advisable to write the digital number when the required sound effect
is to be played.
8.1.7 Stage Managing

One of the main functions of the stage manager is to be in charge of giving cues.
In professional play production, the stage manager is also in charge of the
production when the director or an appointed deputy director is not around. He
or she ensures that the performance „does not make any substantial departure
from the original‰ (Reid, 1995).
However, for school plays, the stage managerÊs main job is giving cues. He or
she gives cues for the lighting, sound, and curtain. Each member of the
production crew should have a walkie-talkie so that it will be easy for the stage
manager to communicate with them.
Nonetheless, the functions of the stage manager in a school production may not
be necessary. Students, with sufficient practice, should be able to know when
their cues are to perform a particular task. Each of them should have a prompt
book, which not only „forms a complete record of the production‰ but provides
„a running reference point for giving the cues in performance‰ (Reid, 1995). In
some school productions, it is the teacher who takes on multiple roles; the teacher
becomes the director, stage manager, wardrobe manager, etc.
ACTIVITY 8.3
Write a checklist for the pre-production stage of a play. Post it in myINSPIRE and compare it with thos

8.2 STAGING THE PLAY

Finally, you have come to the staging of the play after going through much
toil and trouble with your students. What are the final pointers that you need
to convey to your students at this stage?
Before practising the play, remind your production crew and performers of the
schedule. Remind your students, especially the performers, to always be on time
(being amateurs, they may need more practice than professional performers).
Remind all the members of your production crew of the date lines. More
importantly, make sure that your students turn up early on the day of
performance. Get their handphone numbers and contact details and keep them
handy so that you can contact them quickly.
The performers need to familiarise themselves with all the sets on stage. So, after
they have done sufficient practice off stage, make sure they also practise on stage,
with all the props in the right places. Ensure that your schedule allows rehearsals
with all the production crew involved (such as the students in charge of lighting,
sound, and curtains).
You may wish to have the play performed to an audience before its official
presentation. For example, if the play is to be performed during the English
Drama Night (which parents are invited to watch), you can have a preview
performance for students from the lower secondary in the afternoon. Reid (1995)
advises that this preview performance is not „for experiment but to allow the
production to mature with the help of audience response‰.
8.2.1 Staging a Dance

Some of your students may have some training in ballet or dance. You may
consider staging a dance and presenting their talent on stage after gaining
confidence in staging plays at your school.
Instead of a full dance act, you may consider incorporating dance into your play.
However, do not insert a dance just because you want to. Include it only if it will
complement your play.

Lighting is usually important for dance acts so that the dancersÊ movements are
emphasised adequately. Ensure that the lights are positioned such that they do not
cast too many shadows when the dancers move. Shadows may irritate the
audience. Some choreography may not necessarily use the whole stage. Instead,
stationary dancers with subtle movements are sufficient. You need to select a
well- lighted area for this kind of stationary movements.
8.2.2 Staging a Musical

You may even consider staging a musical, which will involve additional people
as singers and perhaps dancers, apart from the usual performers. More rehearsal
time is needed because apart from the play, the singers and dancers also need
rehearsals.
Generally, a musical „has more scenery than a play: more volume, more
complexity and more changes‰ (Reid, 1995, p. 107). Consequently, it is much
appreciated that every member of the production crew, in addition to the
performers, dancers and singers, have as many rehearsals as possible, so as to
familiarise themselves with the scenes and scene changes.
8.3 POST PRODUCTION

It is always good to have a post-mortem and a session for all the people involved
in the play to get together and share their feelings after the play. Remember,
although the project (of staging a play) may do wonders for your position as a
teacher in your school, it is the students who make the play happen. Take a
humanistic approach towards the whole play production. Show appreciation to
the students. Do not hold grudges and take the challenges that happen during and
before the play as lessons for future productions. List out the problems that you
and your students faced. The list may come in handy the following year should
you be interested in staging another play.
Finally, remember that experience is the best teacher. Do not be daunted by the
fact that you have never staged a play before. There is always a first time, a time
in which much experience can be gained.

 In this topic, we have looked at some considerations in staging a play. The

steps that have been presented are divided into pre-production, staging, and
post production.
 Keep to a schedule, continue encouraging and praising the students, and

reward them for a task well done.
Dress paradePrompt book
Reid, F. (1995). The staging handbook. A&C Black.

To pi  Assessment and
Writing a
9 Complete
Lesson Plan
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Identify important guidelines to consider in structuring an instrument to assess students.
Identify principles that the teacher should consider in structuring a lesson plan.
 INTRODUCTION
In this last topic, ways of assessing students in a drama and poetry class will be
discussed, followed by a detailed discussion on writing a complete lesson plan.
Assessment is an important component of the teaching and learning processes.

This is because it is through assessment that the teacher knows how much the
students have made progress in learning. It is also through assessment that the
teacher will know not just what the students understand, but also what they do
not understand. If assessment is an important component of the teaching and
learning process, then what is imperative is what the teacher will do after the
assessment. You should take note of this and factor post-assessment strategies in
your lesson plan.

152  TOPIC 9 ASSESSMENT AND WRITING A COMPLETE LESSON PLAN
The lesson plan is a structure which, by now, you would be very familiar with
since it is the most fundamental aspect of the teacherÊs life. What is presented in
this topic certainly would have been presented in many other modules as well. In
addition, the lesson plan would have been taught during your teacher training
days. Nonetheless, reinforcing aspects of the lesson plan is important. These
aspects would have been taken for granted by teachers because they encounter
lesson plans on a daily basis.
Read again the contents in Topic 1 which deal with parts of the lesson structure.
The suggestions and ideas presented in that topic are important and should be
considered in writing out the lesson plan.
9.1 ASSESSMENT
What is the purpose of assessment? According to Heaton (1975), assessment
functions as a means „to reinforce learning and to motivate the student‰ in
addition to „assessing the studentÊs performance‰ in the class. Therefore,
assessment is an important practice which should not be ignored in literature
class.
The teacher must strike a balance so that students will not be intimidated by
assessments to the point that they lose out in appreciating the aesthetics and
learning the lessons of life that literature has to offer. The teacher should
constantly encourage students to be brave and courageous to discover truths by
themselves instead of relying on the teacher or answer schemes. This is because
many of our Malaysian students seem to be conditioned to accept answers that
are approved or come from those in authority (such as the teacher, textbook
writer or Ministry of Education).
In light of the above, the teacher should always be reminded that as far as the
interpretation of the novel or the short story is concerned, there are no right and
wrong answers, as long as students draw logical substantiation from the texts.
If multiple interpretations are possible, then as far as literature is concerned, there

are no precise guidelines as to what is acceptable and what is not. How then can
assessment be made?

TOPIC 9 ASSESSMENT AND WRITING A COMPLETE LESSON PLAN  153
The assessment will depend on the objective of your lesson or the purpose of
teaching drama and poetry in your ESL class.
 If your objective is using drama texts and poetry to teach linguistic items
such as vocabulary, tenses, and syntax, your assessment should focus on the
linguistic items. It will be unfair to the students (and to your conscience!) if
the focus of the lesson is on the conditional „if‰ in Rudyard KiplingÊs If and
your assessment is on the theme of the poetry. Conversely, if the objective of
your lesson is focused on the literary devices used in the poem, then your
assessment should be on the literary devices, not the linguistic items.
 If both linguistic items and literary elements are taught in the lessons, you
must first decide on the proportion of items taught. The assessment should
follow the proportion. For example, if the lessons are heavily focused on
linguistic items and only an approximate 10% of class time is spent on
literary elements, this should be reflected in your assessment. More questions
should be based on the linguistic elements, and only about 10% on the literary
elements.
9.1.1 Types of Assessment

There are basically two types of assessment:
 summative: Assessment is conducted at the end of the programme to

evaluate the knowledge and skills that your students have learnt. This is
usually the term test or final examination.
 formative: Assessment is aimed at finding out how much progress has been
made by your students. The purpose of the formative assessment is to decide
on the next course of action – steps to take or items to teach which the
students failed to learn, as reflected in the results of the formative assessment.
The assessment can be done formally (such as a quiz, class test, end-of-week
test, and monthly test) or informally (comprehension questions during class,
class assignments, homework, poetry recital, etc).

Another way of categorising assessment, according to Heaton (1975), is the

attainment test (such as the class progress test and achievement test), proficiency
test, aptitude test, and diagnostic test. However, it is not within the scope of this
module to explain the different types of tests (that will be another subject).
9.1.2 Frequency of Assessment

How often you should conduct assessments depends on the policy of your school.
However, informal assessments should be conducted at every lesson as you need
to know whether the objectives of your lessons have been achieved or met.
As mentioned earlier in the introduction of this topic, it is imperative that the

results of your assessment determine the next course of your teaching strategies.
What have your students not learned? What have they failed to grasp? What
deficiencies are reflected in the test results?
Feedback should be given to them to enhance their learning. Ensure that the
feedback you give is positive, constructive, and detailed. The assessment should
not be a tool to tell you something about your students only, it should be a tool
for the students to know themselves.
Steps should be taken to fill in the gaps or impart necessary skills or

knowledge that the students had failed to grasp initially. Conduct a second
assessment to ensure that they have learned what they are supposed to. You
need to consider that one possible reason that students fail to show the
required results in an assessment is that the questions are too difficult,
confusing or vague. Ensure that the questions that you give your students are
aimed at finding out what they have learned and NOT aimed at failing them.

9.1.3 Assessment Techniques

Figure 9.1 shows some ways that you can consider using to assess your students.
Figure 9.1: Assessment Techniques

Let us elaborate a little on these techniques:
 cloze passage or a modified cloze: The modified cloze is just like a cloze
passage but options are given for each blank. Students have to choose the
correct option to fill in the blank.
 comprehension questions (written or oral): Remember BarretÊs Taxonomy

when structuring your comprehension questions. Start off with the simple,
literal kind of questions and progress to more difficult questions that require
students to evaluate and appreciate (this is very much determined by the
objectives or purpose of your lesson).
 dictation: Students write down a poem or a passage from a play read by the
teacher.
 vocabulary test: This is based on a poem or drama.
 poetry recital: This assesses rhythm, tone, pronunciation, etc.
 readersÊ theatre: This assesses pronunciation, appropriateness of tone, etc.
 listening assessment: Students listen to a poem and answer comprehension

questions or do a text completion exercise.
 writing essays: For example, students write an essay to discuss reasons why
they like or dislike a poem.
 drama presentation: Students retell a drama after listening to it on the radio

or after reading it.
ACTIVITY 9.1
What are some other considerations in assessing a drama presentation by your students? Share your thoughts o

If your assessment is a poetry recital, there are several principles or guidelines that
you have to consider, such as the following:
 Make the criteria for assessment of presentation clear, so that the students
know what is expected of them.
 Get students to negotiate the criteria themselves or give them the opportunity
to question the criteria you set.
 Ensure that the students know the weighting of your criteria.
 Allow the students to have a rehearsal so that they will become more
confident (it is also good to give some constructive feedback after the
rehearsal so that they can learn from the experience).
 Consider having your students assess each otherÊs presentations.
 Be realistic as to what can be achieved. Remember, the assessment is not

meant to fail students but to evaluate what they can achieve within a
reasonable period. There is also another rule of thumb: if you cannot pass the
assessment, neither can your students! (Brown et al., 1996, p. 54).
The following are some pointers to consider in assessing a drama presentation by

students:
 Minimise competition as far as possible so as to lower the stress that the

students may be experiencing. Inform them that they are to do their best and
have fun performing.
 Be aware of stresses during the performance such as stage fright, glitches in

the sets or forgotten lines. Remember that they are doing a drama presentation
in an ESL context at school, not a project for a performing arts course.
Comfort your students by informing them that such glitches do not mean
failure. (Brown et al., 1996, p. 61).
ACTIVITY 9.2
Ponder on other ways to assess your students. Ask them to suggest methods through which they would l

9.2 WRITING THE LESSON PLAN

By now, you would have gone through many topics on writing out a lesson plan.
You have learned how to write a lesson plan in HBET3703 Teaching of
Literature in an ESL Context, for example. To refresh your memory, ensure that
your lesson plan has an introduction (the pre-presentational stage or set
induction), the presentation, and the closure (see pages 189–190 and 241–243 of
HBET3703, where sample lesson plans are given). Also refer to pages 39–41 of
HBET4403 Teaching of Novels and Short Stories in an ESL Context.
The lesson plan (as taught in the previous modules) should consist of the
elements shown in Figure 9.2.
Figure 9.2: Lesson Plan

The most important parts of your lesson plan are the aims and objectives. These
determine the course of your lesson. You should think of your aims and
objectives well before starting with the planning of the lesson proper. Think of
questions such as the following:
 What do you want to teach?
 What is the purpose of the lesson?
 What do you hope your students will achieve at the end of the lesson?
 What will you do to find out whether your students have achieved the
objectives that you have set?
Remember, the objectives of the lesson should be measurable. Try not to write
obscure objectives such as „By the end of the lesson, students should be able to
write an essay.‰ What sort of essay are the students required to write
(descriptive, argumentative, etc.)? How long should the essay be? Thus, the
objective can be better written as „By the end of the lesson, students should be
able to write an essay of about 50 to 70 words, that describe and interpret the
literary elements that are employed in the poem learned.‰ Thus, the objective
has to be written specifically and not obscurely.
You have to ensure also that the objectives are attainable. Do not be over-
ambitious and set objectives which students cannot achieve as this will frustrate
them. Related to this, ensure that the questions given to the students (to find out
whether they have learned anything in the lesson) are not trick questions,
something which many teachers are fond of doing.
Do not set too many objectives. Be practical. You have only 35 to 40 minutes per
lesson. Moreover, you will not be teaching literature in every lesson of the week.
For the introduction, it may be helpful to have activities that deal „with what
exactly you want the (student) to have learned from the (previous) lesson‰
(Gwilliams, 1991). This may help in helping the students to bring back to
memory what they have learned. Besides, most lessons are built on one another,
for example, Lesson 3 continues from Lesson 2, which continues from Lesson 1.
For the development of the lesson, ensure that items taught in previous lessons
are recycled. For example, if a literary term is taught in one lesson, bring it up
again in the next lesson.

For the closure, consider having activities that reinforce the items taught.
Remember to provide feedback to the students if assessment is conducted during
the lesson. The feedback can also be a time to encapsulate what has been taught
in the lesson.
Some of these items have already been given in both the modules mentioned
earlier (HBET3703 and HBET4403). However, letÊs reiterate the following
principles in writing a complete lesson plan:
 Whatever you plan to structure in your lesson plan needs to be rationalised.

What is the purpose of applying a certain technique? Why use a certain
technique? Will the technique help the students to achieve the objectives of
the lesson?
 Remember to allocate some time in your lesson plan to re-teach items that
your students failed to grasp – the items that your students failed to show
understanding and knowledge of in the previous assessment.
 Students differ from one class to another, thus „a lesson that is very
successful with one group may flop with another‰ (Gwilliams, 1991) . So, it
is important to plan a lesson that is tailor-made for your class. If you plan to
use „set lessons‰ (taken from guidebooks or teacherÊs resource books),
remember to adapt them.
SELF-CHECK 9.1
Answer „True‰ or „False‰ to the following statements:

Difficult or trick questions are considered good forms of assessment.
Modified cloze is a cloze passage where options are given for each blank.
The aims and objectives of a lesson plan are optional.
The criteria for class assessment should be kept secret from students.
An assessment should be based on the objectives of a lesson.

 In this topic, we have discussed guidelines for doing assessment and writing
out a lesson plan. Most of these items have already been taught in previous
modules and it is recommended that you refer to those modules again.
 It is imperative that a teacher does some planning or preparation before

entering a class.
 Assessment is not aimed at failing students but to help them become aware of
what they do not know and want to learn more.
Achievement test Diagnostic test

Aptitude test Proficiency test
Class progress test
Brown, S., Race, P., & Smith, B. (1996). 500 tips on assessment. Kogan Page.
Gwilliams, E. (1991). TeachersÊ tricks of the trade – Everything you ever

wanted to know about teaching but were afraid to ask. Pearson
Education.
Heaton, J. B. (1975). Writing English language tests. Longman.

MODULE FEEDBACK
MAKLUM BALAS MODUL
If you have any comment or feedback, you are welcome to:

1. E-mail your comment or feedback to modulefeedback@oum.edu.my
OR
2. Fill in the Print Module online evaluation form available on myINSPIRE.
Thank you.
Centre for Instructional Design and Technology (Pusat

Reka Bentuk Pengajaran dan Teknologi )
Tel No.: 03-78012140
Fax No.: 03-78875911 / 03-78875966


HBET4203 Teaching of Drama and Poetry in ESL - Esept21

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HBET4203

Teaching of Drama and Poetry in ESL

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Developed by Centre for Instructional Design and Technology, OUM.

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

Topic 1 The Lesson Structure 1

Topic 2 Presenting Elements of Drama 27

Topic 3 Presenting Elements of Poetry 49

Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

3.8 Teaching Irony 60

Topic 4 Designing Classroom Activities for the Teaching of Drama and 66

Topic 5 Using Materials in the Teaching of Drama and Poetry 85

Topic 6 More Activities for the Teaching of Drama 102

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6.1.6 Volleyball 105

Topic 7 More Activities for the Teaching of Poetry 119

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7.4 Miscellaneous Activities 133

Topic 8 Putting Up a Play 137

Topic 9 Assessment and Writing a Complete Lesson Plan 151

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Copyright © Open University Malaysia (OUM)

COURSE GUIDE DESCRIPTION

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Figure 1: Student Learning Time

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

2. Rationalise each of the teaching steps in the lesson plan.

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In Topic 6, you will be given suggested activities for teaching drama.

TEXT ARRANGEMENT GUIDE

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Self-Check: This component of the module is inserted at strategic locations

Activity: Like Self-Check, the Activity component is also placed at various

References: A list of relevant and useful textbooks, journals, articles, electronic

Copyright © Open University Malaysia

Harmon, W. (2011). A handbook to Literature . Pearson.

Stobaugh, J. P. (2013). Handbook for literary analysis, book 1: How to evaluate

Johnson, M. (2007). The drama teacherÊs survival guide. Meriwether Publishing.

Mark, A. F. (2014). Enjoying literature: Classroom-ready materials for teaching

Sanger, K. (2001). The language of drama. Routledge.

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TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS)

Figure 2: Among the Online Databases Available at TSDAS Digital Library

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Copyright © Open University Malaysia

1.1 FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN

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 Tea in a Spaceship by James Kirkup

 My Clever Pupils by Omar Mohd Noor

Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

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Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw

Some considerations to take note of in choosing poetry or drama texts are as

Copyright © Open University Malaysia

Figure 1.1: Season Song

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Take If by Rudyard Kipling (in the upper secondary level Literature

(c) Level of Difficulty

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Take the following poem, Cargoes by John Mansfield in Figure 1.2, as an

Figure 1.2: Cargoes