Using Drama to Teach English

Monday is a Working Day

Miming

-Mimes in envelope
Miming

-Mimes in envelope
-Sounds are not allowed.
Miming

-Mimes in envelope
-Sounds are not allowed.
-Use your body to talk; to act out.
Miming

-Mimes in envelope
-Sounds are not allowed.
-Use your body to talk; to act out.
-Use your hands to act out an object.
Miming

-Mimes in envelope
-Sounds are not allowed.
-Use your body to talk; to act out.
-Use your hands to act out an object.
-Think about an interesting scene.
Miming

-Mimes in envelope
-Sounds are not allowed.
-Use your body to talk; to act out.
-Use your hands to act out an object.
-Think about an interesting scene.
-You can only use yourself and a partner if
needed.
How do people communicate?
How do people communicate?

-Sounds
How do people communicate?

-Sounds
-Words
How do people communicate?

-Sounds
-Words
-Intonation
How do people communicate?

-Sounds
-Words
-Intonation
-Facial expressions
How do people communicate?

-Sounds
-Words
-intonation
-Facial expressions
-Body language: examples?
Hot seat!
-Put students in groups of four or five (nms)
Hot seat!
-Put students in groups of four or five (nms)
-All students face the board except one or
two.
Hot seat!
-Put students in groups of four or five (nms)
-All students face the board except one or
two.
-Students who can see the board must
use other words to describe what the
phrase is.
Hot seat!
-Put students in groups of four or five (nms)
-All students face the board except one or
two
-Students who can see the board must
use other words to describe what the
phrase is.
-The student(s) who cannot see must guess
the correct phrase.
Hot seat!
-Put students in groups of four or five (nms)
-All students face the board except one or
two
-Students who can see the board must
use other words to describe what the
phrase is.
-The student(s) who cannot see must guess
the correct phrase
-Group that guesses first, wins a point.
Hot seat!
-One person will be the recorder and must
write down the key words used that helped.
-The recorder should be a new person
every round.
-New person should go in the hot seat every
round.
Strategies
-Use vocabulary that you already know.
-Try to think of another way to convey the
message.
-Describe the concept. Explain who uses it,
why it’s used, or where.
-Use a more general category word (fruit,
clothing, etc.)

-Explain what it is not

-Point and gesture
Let's practice!
Let's practice!

-Dog
Let's practice!

-Dog
-Doctor
Let's practice!

-Dog
-Doctor
-Love
Let's practice!

-Dog
-Doctor
-Love
-Flower
Let's practice!

-Dog
-Doctor
-Love
-Flower
-Gold
Now with full phrases
Now with full phrases

-Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Issyk Kul.

Now with full phrases

-Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Issyk Kul.

-Batman eats at Begemot.
Now with full phrases

-Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Issyk Kul.

-Batman eats at Begemot.
-Vladimir Putin wearing a Kalpak.
Now with full phrases

-Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Issyk Kul.

-Batman eats at Begemot.
-Vladimir Putin wearing a Kalpak.
-Michael Jackson drinks cummis.
Now with full phrases

-Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Issyk Kul.

-Batman eats at Begemot.
-Vladimir Putin wearing a Kalpak.
-Michael Jackson drinks cummis.
-Justin Bieber cooking eggs.
Review Words that Recorders
Wrote
-Review after each round briefly by asking
students to tell you the words that were
used
-Review at the end of the rounds.
Now with full phrases

-Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Issyk Kul.

-Batman eats at Begemot.
-Vladimir Putin wearing a Kalpak.
-Michael Jackson drinks cummis.
-Justin Bieber cooking eggs.
-Obama and Almazbek Atambaev fishing
together.
Now full phrases at once with only
one person
Now full phrases at once with only
one person
-Chicken eating a fish.
-Steve Jobs and Gulnar Satylganova at a
bar drinking tequila.

-Brad Pitt fights a bear

-A dog inside a house.
Can you come up with some
interesting phrases for your
students?

You have three minutes to come up with as

many as possible.
Teaching Circumlocution

-the use of many words to say something

that could be said more clearly and directly
by using fewer words
-circum- latin for round
-locutio- latin for speech
Means roundabout speech
Teaching Circumlocution

-a strategy defined as using a description of

an object, concept, place or action in place
of the target vocabulary when the target
vocabulary is not known.
-nouns, adjectives, verbs, prepositions, etc..
Airport Arrival

-You are in the airport terminal

-Divide students into even numbers
-Passengers will arrive on one side and
hosts will be on the others.
-Hand out cards to passengers with
guideline on how they should act.
Hand out descriptions to hosts of how they
can find their guests.
Airport Arrival

-The problem is that no one knows who

anyone is so everyone must greet each
other until they find the correct person.
-Remember that no one can say or ask who
they are.
How did this activity make you
feel?
-These were actually real ways that people
greet each other.
Multiculturalism & intercultural
communication

-Have you traveled to a new place a seen

strange things?
-Share your experiences.
Expert
-One student leaves the room
-The other students decide that the student
an expert in something. (anything-any
industry.
-Cheese expert: How long does it take to make?
Why does it smell? What is your favorite type?
-Student from the outside enters and is
welcomed with thunderous applause.
Expert

-Obviously the expert won't know what it is

at first but must give answers anyway.

-The audience must go along with it even of

the answer are ridiculous. Continue until the
person guesses correctly.
Hero/Superstar
Hero/Superstar

-The class is told that they are newspaper

reporters at a press conference to interview
a hero/character/superstar after their
victory/adventure.
-One student volunteers to be the main hero
that will be interviewed. For example, the
student could be President Obama.
Hero/Superstar

-The rest of the students are put into groups

who will represent a newspaper. Each
group can have a special name.(five
minutes to make questions)
Hero/Superstar

-Set up the room like a press conference

and allow students to ask questions for a
maximum of 10 minutes.

-The reporters not only ask question but

also take notes. After the interview is over,
each group must write a newspaper article.
Party Quirks
Party Quirks
-Divide you class into groups, the audience
and the performers.
-Assign each performer a party quirk card
and ask that they read and practice their
role.
One student acts as a party host and must
invite his guests, one by one, into the dining
room. The rest of the group must assume
the role on their card while the host and
audience guess their identities.
Party Quirks

-After several minutes of performers, ask

that the performers freeze and call upon the
audience and party host to guess the
identities of the party guests.
-Award points for accurate descriptions.
Reverse roles, distributing a new set of
cards to the new performers, and repeat the
activity.
Why are you late?

-Four characters: the boss, the late worker

and two other workers.
-The late worker leaves the room, and the
group decides together why that person was
late for work,
eg: She was late because there was an
earthquake at her apartment. She got to
work on her horse.
Why are you late?

-The scene will be set up with two workers

to one side, the boss in the middle and the
late worker entering the other side.
-When the late person enters, the boss
must ask, “Why are you late?”
-The late person must watch the two
workers who are behind the boss while they
mime why they are late.
Why are you late?

-After several minutes of performers, ask

that the performers freeze and call upon the
audience and party host to guess the
identities of the party guests.
Award points for accurate descriptions.
Reverse roles, distributing a new set of
cards to the new performers, and repeat the
activity.
Why are you late?
-If the boss sees the workers not working,
they are fired and then someone from the
audience can take their place. The workers
can pretend that they are typing, reading a
file, making photo copies or cleaning etc.
The late worker must keep making up
excuses why they are late. The boss can
help by saying, Ï don't think you have a car
but you use a natural form of
transportation.”
How do students benefit from
drama?
-Reinforces bodily-kinesthetic learning
ability (multiple intelligences)
Reinforces Interpersonal skills because
students are working together.
-Students can exercise their linguistic
abilities without worrying about grammar
-Total Physical Response (TPR) breaks the
mold of passive learning.
How do students benefit from
drama?
-Students who are shy can build confidence.
-Reflects real world situations.
-Having students act and try meaningful
language in a new creative way makes
learning memorable and effortless.
-It's fun!
Questions?

-Email: Gomezs1982@gmail.com