design of the workshop: how to use drama in an english language

M ASARYK UNIVE RSIT Y

F a c u l t y o f E duc a t i o n

D e p a r t m e n t o f E n g l i s h L a n g u a g e a n d L i t e r a t u r e

Design of the Workshop: How to use Drama in an English Language

Class?

Di p l o m a T he s i s

Brno 2011 Supervisor: Written by:

Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová Bc. Lenka Křivková

Masaryk University – Faculty of Education Lenka Křivková Department of English Language and Literature Brno 2011

Design of the Workshop: How to Use Drama in English Class? 2

Declaration

I declare that I worked on my Diploma thesis on my own and that all the

information sources I used are listed in the bibliography.

I agree with storing my thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education of

Masaryk University in order to make it available for study purposes.

..........................................................

Bc. Lenka Křivková



Acknowledgements

I would like to give my cordial thanks to Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová for her kind

guidance that she provided me as my supervisor. I particularly appreciate her helpful

advice, insightful comments and most of all her enormous patience.

My cordial thanks also belong to Lic. José de Jesús Galván Muňoz for his

immeasurable support during the realization of this workshop and during my whole stay

at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City.



Contents

1 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................5

2 DRAMA EDUCATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING.............................7

2.1 English Language Teaching.............................................................................7

2.2 Traditional versus alternative methods............................................................8

2.3 Drama Education.............................................................................................9

2.4 Drama Education in English Language Teaching.........................................10

2.4.1 Motivation..................................................................................11

2.4.2 Meaning in context.....................................................................12

2.4.3 Learning styles and multiple intelligences.................................13

2.4.4 Affective filter............................................................................14

2.4.5 Psychological benefits................................................................15

2.5 Methods and techniques of Drama Education used in English Language

Teaching...............................................................................................................16

3 STRUCTURED DRAMA............................................................................................24

3.1 Concept of structured drama..........................................................................24

3.2 Selection of the motifs for structured drama.................................................25

3.3 Structure of structured drama........................................................................26

3.4 Structured drama in English Language Teaching..........................................28

4 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT.............................................30

4.1 Population of the project................................................................................30

4.2 Methodology of the project............................................................................32

4.2.1 General information about the workshop........................................33

4.1.2 Objectives of the workshop.............................................................33

4.1.3 Contents of the workshop...............................................................34

5 PRACTICAL PART.....................................................................................................37

5.1 Description and realization of the activities of the workshop.......................37

5.2 Feedback and evaluation of the workshop.....................................................97

6 CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................110

7 RESUME....................................................................................................................111

8 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................112

9 APPENDICES............................................................................................................116



1 INTRODUCTION

During my studies at the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in Brno I

was given a possibility to study the specialization in Drama Education. It was not only

an immense contribution to my academic education, but especially to my personal life

because these studies brought me an enormous amount of experience, adventures and

better understanding of myself and my possibilities. In respect to my study combination,

which is teaching English and French language and literature, I started to specialize in

the integration of my experience from drama classes and workshops into the foreign

language teaching.

Using Drama Education in teaching, particularly in teaching foreign languages,

provides countless advantages. That is why I decided to share my experience and

knowledge with my colleagues studying the study programme Teaching English at one

of the most prestigious universities in Latin America, Universidad Nacional Autónoma

de México in Mexico City. My target was to design and realize a four-day practical

workshop concerning Drama Education in English Language Teaching called ‘How to

use Drama in an English language class?’ The main aim of the workshop was to present

to the participants the basic concept of Drama Education and its possible exploitation in

English Language Teaching, with a focus on the contribution to the foreign language

acquisition.

When preparing the workshop I drew inspiration from my own experience of

practical drama courses and workshops I had attended during my studies, particularly of

the semester course Dramatické techniky ve výuce cizích jazyků designed by Mgr.

Šárka Dohnalová and of the three-day workshop of structured drama led by the British

lecturer Andrew John Kempe.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first, theoretical part concerns the

concept of Drama Education in English Language Teaching, particularly exploring the

field of drama methods and techniques and focusing on structured drama. It also

describes the theoretical foundation of the workshop, such as its population and design.

The second part deals with the description of realized activities and evaluation of the



workshop I created for the teachers who would like to learn more about drama in

English Language Teaching and how to practically use it in their classes.



2 DRAMA EDUCATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

We live in a global world where the knowledge of a foreign language,

particularly English, is almost a must. English has become a natural part of our

everyday lives, we can encounter it in media, advertising, shopping and it becomes

absolutely inevitable when it comes to travelling and making oneself understood

abroad. The knowledge of a foreign language gives young people considerable

advantage when looking for a job or simply communicating with peers from abroad on

the Internet. That is why students should not learn English just because it is a part of

most curricula, but because they can see its significance in their future lives. And that is

where English teachers should help them and encourage them.

2.1 English Language Teaching

Jeremy Harmer espouses a well-known theory of the second language

acquisition presented by a widely recognized American applied linguist Stephen

Krashen. In 1980’s Krashen came up with a theory about “two independent systems of

second language performance: ‘the acquired system’ and ‘the learned system’. The

‘acquired system’ or ‘acquisition’ is the product of a subconscious process very similar

to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language (...) Acquisition

requires meaningful interaction in the target language, natural communication, in which

speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they

are conveying and understanding. (...) The ‘learned system’ or ‘learning’ is, on the

contrary, the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which

results in conscious knowledge ‘about’ the language.” [1]

Taking into consideration the distinction between the “subconscious and

anxiety-free acquisition and conscious process where separate items from the language

are studied and practised in turn, Krashen suggested that teachers should concentrate on

acquisition rather than learning and that the role of the language teacher should be to

provide the right kind of language exposure, namely comprehensible input (which is

language that students understand more or less, even if it is a bit above their own level

of production)”. (Harmer, 2007: 47)



However, second language learners have much less opportunities to be exposed

to the language they want to learn than children who acquire their first language in a

natural way. That is why Harmer suggests that “a rich classroom environment should

not only expose students to language, but also give them opportunities to activate their

language knowledge (...) and to study language and the way it works”. (Harmer, 2007:

48) In other words, both acquisition and learning should be provided to language

learners because they both play an important role in the process of the second language

learning and teaching.

2.2 Traditional versus alternative methods

Traditional methods of foreign language teaching, such as frontal teacher-

centred instruction, are nowadays viewed as a relic. Today’s methodology admonishes

to be engaging, to keep the students focused, but let them enjoy, and therefore like, their

education at the same time. As Maley and Duff claim: “Much has changed in language

teaching, but it is still true that the conviction that Vocabulary + Essential Structures =

Language lies as the base of nearly every foreign language syllabus”. (Maley and Duff:

7)

Although drama is still seen as something rather alternative to the standard, it

has been an essential part of foreign language teaching for centuries. Using drama in the

language class provides students with the best opportunities for active and involved

participation and as Hamilton and McLeod state: “The use of drama techniques fits

naturally into the theoretical context of recent studies into the nature of language

learning.” (Hamilton and McLeod: 2)

Some language teachers feel rather unwilling to use drama in their classes. They

either do not know how or they do not feel creative or experienced enough to try this

teaching method. Butterfield, though, encourages such teachers to give it a try while

presenting some of the undisputable benefits of drama. “Drama as a way of working is

so unlike most other forms of learning that we must explore the nature of the concept

itself. For a great many teachers, not to say students, it is an untried method of

expression rarely used in education although extremely familiar through film, radio,

television and theatre as it is through life itself. But those who have experienced good



drama teaching can bear witness to its unique quality of integration, of holism, of

communication and of a warm humanity which can elevate the learning of a language

from a series of techniques to an understanding which embraces at once the language,

its cultural setting and the emotions and values of the student.” (Butterfield: 2)

Some teachers, on the other side, refuse to use drama because they are afraid of

losing respect as educators and authorities. As Wessels declares: “Since the use of

drama involves the formation of relationships and breaking down of barriers between

teacher and students, less confident teachers are understandably reluctant to use it.”

(Wessels: 14) However, these teachers should realize that working on the creation of the

positive and supporting atmosphere and environment of mutual trust is one of the

factors contributing most to students’ motivation and safe learning.

Drama accomplishes many current trends of modern teaching. One of them is to

take away attention from the teacher and give space to the learners instead who can

direct their own learning and learn how to be autonomous. Phillips supports this idea

while saying: “Dramatizing is learner-centred so that teacher can use it to contrast with

the more teacher-centred parts of the lesson” (Phillips: 8) and thus make the lesson

more active and diverse.

2.3 Drama Education

First of all, “what is Drama? Drama is above all doing.” (Wessels: 7) We know

it very well from our everyday life. For instance when we spill coffee on our boss’s

papers and pretend like nothing happened or when we are late for work and invent some

elaborate excuse. Briefly speaking, drama is something very natural to us that “we all

engage in daily when faced with difficult situations”. (Wessels: 7)

“Drama in education uses the same tools employed by actors in the theatre. But

while in the theatre everything is contrived for the benefit of the audience, in classroom

drama everything is contrived for the benefit of the learners.” (Wessels: 8) Drama in

education has a clear pedagogical aim concentrating on the personal and social

development of its participants. It should encourage learners to imagine, act and thus



reflect on human experience and the process of this social learning is highlighted above

the final product.

Drama Education can be exploited in the instruction in several different ways.

However, the most appropriate form of using Drama Education in the context of foreign

language teaching is to apply it as a method of work. Drama is based on the direct

experience of the participants through acting and that is why it develops the whole

personality of a learner, effecting on creativity, sensibility and sociability of each

individual.

Drama used in education gives participants the chance to submerge into fiction,

take on different roles, explore them, try things on their own, learn through their proper

experience and thus form their positions and attitudes to the surrounding reality. In this

manner, an experienced teacher using drama can link the language-learning experience

with the students’ own experience in life. Such personalization of the subject matter can

be very motivational and favourable for effective learning.

2.4 Drama Education in English Language Teaching

The relationship between drama and foreign language teaching naturally

flourishes by virtue of all its benefits we can observe in foreign language instruction.

Hamilton and McLeod describe this relationship as follows: “It is hard to imagine

anything else that offers to language teachers such as wide variety of types of talks, for

example monologues, paired speaking, role-plays, group discussions, reporting, talking

in response to other stimuli, problem-solving, developing scenarios, acting out, etc.

from explaining, complaining, praising, disagreeing to exhorting, apologising and

requesting – there is no language function that drama is not capable of easily

encompassing”. (Hamilton and McLeod: 5)

And drama does not have to be used just in order to practise language functions,

grammatical structures or particular vocabulary. It can be easily, and most of all

effectively, exploited in cross-curricular teaching when studying and exploring topics

related to the foreign culture or other school subjects. As Phillips suggests the teacher



using drama “can use topics from other subjects: the children can act out the scene from

history, or the life cycle of a frog; or he or she can work on the ideas and issues that run

through the curriculum, such as sexism, respect for the environment and road safety.”

(Philips: 8)

As already mentioned before, drama used in education provides many beneficial

factors, encouraging teachers to take advantage of its methods and techniques. In the

next sub-chapter, I have enumerated just some of the many particularly interesting

benefits of drama for foreign language teaching.

2.4.1 Motivation

Good motivation is one of the factors necessary for efficient learning. Jeremy

Harmer defines motivation as “some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do

things in order to achieve something”. (Harmer, 2001: 51) Drama gives students the

chance to learn by doing “where students are involved in experimentation in order to

arrive at knowledge” (Harmer, 2007: 20), which is much more engaging than just

learning by rote.

When concerning the student’s motivation, it is often referred to two types:

extrinsic, which “may be influenced by a number of external factors such as attitude of

society, family and peers to the subject in question (...), and intrinsic motivation that is

generated by what happens inside the classroom; this could be teacher’s methods or

activities that students take part in”. (Harmer, 2007: 20) Harmer also proposes that if we

“involve the students or excite their curiosity and provoke participation, we will help

them to stay interested in the subject.” (Harmer, 2007: 20)

The use of drama undoubtedly represents one of the methods of work used by

teachers to provoke intrinsic motivation. Not only does it help to build a good teacher-

student relationship, but it also actively engages all the students and all the time, so “in

a sense, motivation is not needed when working through drama, because the enjoyment

comes from imaginative personal involvement.” (Maley and Duff: 13) As Maley and

Duff further explain “drama activities also help to get rid of the diffidence and boredom

that come from being forced to stay passive most of the time”. (Maley and Duff: 13)



Maley and Duff also mention another motivating factor of drama, which is its

versatility and unpredictability. “If drama is motivating – and we believe it is – the

reason may be that it draws on the entire human resources of the class and that

technique, in its own way, yields a different, unique, result every time it is practiced.”

(Maley and Duff: 13)

Drama takes advantage of the concept of learning by doing to the full extent. Not

only is it motivating in terms of the reward of enjoyment when students are asked to get

up and actively explore the world around them through their own experience, but the

active participation also encourages the cognitive processes, such as memory

development and better information retention.

2.4.2 Meaning in context

Appropriate understanding of the context of the discourse is one of the most

important elements for understanding the meaning. As Harmer claims “meaning of

language depends on where it occurs within a larger stretch of discourse, and thus the

relationship that the different language elements have with what comes before and after

them. In other words, speakers and writers have to be able to operate with more than

just words and grammar; they have to be able to string utterances together”. (Harmer,

2007: 59)

Drama represents an ideal method of work if teachers want to put the meaning

for students into a sizeable context. Unlike in guided practice, students are involved in

real communication while they “activate language to communicate real meaning, rather

than just practising language” (Harmer, 2007: 270) and thus develop their

communicative competence in a natural way, using body language, making pauses and

interruptions, showing emotions, and creating relationships. Phillips encourages using

drama in second language teaching because “it encourages children to speak and gives

them the chance to communicate, even with limited language, using non-verbal

communication, such as body movements and facial expressions.” (Phillips: 6)

Moreover, making students focused on the process of the creation of the drama

rather than the final language product provides them with natural and purposeful need



for speaking, which describe Maley and Duff by stating that “the problem of not

wanting to speak or, more often, not knowing what to say is practically resolved

because the activity makes it necessary to talk”. (Maley and Duff: 13-14) According to

these educators “drama techniques have the singular merit of directly engaging

students’ feelings and, as a result, often making them aware of the need to be able to

express them appropriately”. (Maley and Duff: 11)

2.4.3 Learning styles and multiple intelligences

Jeremy Harmer stems from the theories of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming

and Multiple Intelligences and warns that “in any one classroom we have a number of

different individuals with different learning styles and preferences, which means that we

have to offer a wide range of different activity types in our lessons in order to cater for

individual differences and needs”. (Harmer, 2007: 16) Such classroom forms a perfect

environment for using drama work which includes all kinds of stimuli and can develop

all types of human intelligences.

The theory of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming introduces to the educational

theories different stimuli that students prefer while learning and that predetermine their

learning style. According to this concept, the learners can be divided between visual

learners, responding the best to the visual stimuli such as pictures, written texts and

diagrams; auditory learners, benefiting most from the auditory input such as traditional

lecturing or music; and kinaesthetic learners who “are the most successful when they

are aged with the learning activity. They acquire information fastest when participating

in a science lab, drama presentation, skit, field trip, dance, or other active activity.

Because of the high numbers of kinaesthetic learners, education is shifting toward a

more hands-on approach; manipulatives and other ‘props’ should be incorporated into

almost every school subject, from physical education to language arts.” [2]

Another concept of students’ individualities in learning that teachers should take

into consideration is the theory of multiple intelligences, first introduced in 1980’s by

an acknowledged American psychologist Howard Gardner. His theory claims that each

individual disposes of different types of intelligences defined as “abilities to solve

problems that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting or community. The



problem-solving skill allows one to approach a situation in which a goal is to be

obtained and to locate the appropriate route to that goal”. (Gardner: 15) An individual

can demonstrate an extraordinary facility in one of the seven described intelligences:

musical, bodily-kinaesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal and

intrapersonal; but each individual has usually developed several of them. An educator’s

task is to create a variety of learning activities that would help particular students to

develop their intelligences.

Considering the fact that drama includes all kinds of stimuli, visual, auditory,

and kinaesthetic, and encourages students to develop all the intelligences through active

exploration of reality and problem-solving, its use in education can be regarded as

extremely beneficial.

2.4.4 Affective filter

Stephen Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition presents five

hypothesis teachers should take into account when teaching a foreign language. The

hypothesis that could encourage teachers most to use drama in their classes is the

hypothesis of Affective filter that “embodies Krashen's view that a number of ‘affective

variables’ play a facilitative role in second language acquisition. These variables

include: motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners with high

motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better

equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem,

and debilitating anxiety can combine to ‘raise’ the affective filter and form a ‘mental

block’ that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition.” [1]

Drama helps students to overcome resistance to the foreign language and the

fear of making mistakes. It creates a natural need for speaking because it does not

concentrate on language itself, but on creating drama. Focusing on the creative process

more than on final linguistic output enables students to learn almost unconsciously. As

Maley and Duff opine “every student needs periods in which he or she has a chance to

practice what he or she knows without restraint, without fear of being wrong. Students

need the occasional chance to take risks in the language, to try out new ways of



combining words, and of course, to find out where the gaps are in their knowledge.”

(Maley and Duff: 14)

To provide learners with such opportunities for free practice, teachers using

drama in their classes should create a safe and comfortable atmosphere where students

would not be afraid of speaking in the target language. “This kind of stress-free, fun

teaching encourages pupils to participate without embarrassment” (Hamilton and

McLeod: 4) and it helps them to overcome the psychological barrier from speaking in a

foreign language.

Maley and Duff give a list of categories of language that learners use naturally and

without further thinking during drama activities:

� “Transactional language - the language needed for getting things done in a group

situation.

� Discussion language - used to come to agreement about something, to describe,

comment on, or recall the activity in questions.

� Performance language - it is the end product of some of the activities, but it is in

many senses the least important precisely because it involves the most

preparation. Clearly, almost any language function can come into play here,

depending on the nature of the activity.” (Maley and Duff: 17)

2.4.5 Psychological benefits

Charlyn Wessels provides the best definition of what drama in education is and

how it benefits students’ learning and personality development. “If a learner of English

asked you ‘What is a blind person?’, you might simply reply, ‘A blind person cannot

see’, and this would probably satisfy him intellectually. But if you replied, ‘Shut your

eyes and try to find your pen on the desk in front of you’, you would be involving him

in the actual experience of being blind, and would thus satisfy him not only

intellectually, but emotionally as well, and possibly inspire in him feelings of empathy

with all blind people. He would be more likely to remember the meaning of the word as

a result of this moment of direct experience.” (Wessels: 7)



As drama gives the direct experience of human reality, students are first getting

to know themselves and then also the others. They naturally develop empathy, by

creating and taking over different social roles and asking questions like ‘What is he or

she thinking?’ ‘What does he or she feel?’ ‘How would I feel being in their shoes?’, etc.

Hamilton and McLeod describe drama as a process of social learning: “Involving

relations with others, it promotes social and adaptive skills which in their turn feed into

the process of learning a foreign language. (...) Learners are encouraged to explore

themselves and their reactions in relation to the outside world in a way which can be

both strengthening and enriching.” (Hamilton and McLeod: 5)

Generally speaking, the most important aim of drama used in education is

overall development of a personal and social aspect of learner’s personality. Drama

stimulates creativity, imagination and also critical thinking as students are often asked

to find solutions to diverse problems. It also improves students’ self-esteem and self-

confidence as they are capable of performing in front of the audience, although the

audience is only composed of their classmates. At best, using drama in education forms

creative and socially susceptible individuals.

2.5 Methods and techniques of Drama Education used in English

Language Teaching

In general terms, a method represents the way how to achieve a certain goal and

a technique is supposed to constitute the tool helping to accomplish this goal. However,

the majority of the authors in the context of Drama Education does not differentiate too

much between the terms of methods and techniques and, on the contrary, underline their

mutual interference.

As already mentioned above, drama used as a method of instruction allows

students to explore and effectively master the subject. It takes advantage of the basic

theatre methods such as role play, improvisation and interpretation, but it also exploits

traditional methods of other school disciplines such as interview, description or debate.

However, these methods are applied in such a way that they become a part of the drama

and they result in the accomplishment of the set pedagogical, but also dramatic goals.



Methods and techniques of Drama Education are particularly useful for the foreign

language teaching because they give students the opportunities for natural

communication in a meaningful context.

Jim Scrivener mentions six most commonly used drama activities in English

Languages Teaching classes, stating that “by bringing the outside world into the

classroom, we can provide a lot of useful practice and there may also be a freeing from

the constraints of culture and expected behaviour, which can be personally and

linguistically very liberating.” (Scrivener: 363) Scrivener describes the most traditional

drama activities as follows:

� “Role-play – students act small scenes using their ideas or from ideas and

information on role cards.

� Simulation – a large-scale role-play. The intention is to create a much more

complete, complex ‘world’, say of a business company, television studio, etc.

� Drama games – short games that usually involve movement and imagination.

� Guided improvisation – you improvise a scene and the students join in one by

one in character, until the whole scene (story) takes on a life on its own.

� Acting play scripts – short written sketches or scenes are acted by the students.

� Prepared improvised drama – students in small groups invent and rehearse a

short scene or story that they perform for the others.” (Scrivener: 362)

It is true that these activities are the most traditionally used in English lessons.

However, in my practical workshop I wanted to show to the future teachers not only the

individual activities that can be simply inserted into the lesson, such as distributing role

cards and acting out the scene from the airport or acting a particular play script, but also

how they can emerge students into a complex fictional story and let them live it and

explore it on their own and thus ensure them a real dramatic experience. That is why I

decided to concentrate first of all on the structured drama and I drew inspiration

especially from the classification of the drama methods and techniques by the British

theatre pedagogues Jonothan Neelands and Tony Goode.

These theatre specialists consolidate the two terms, methods and techniques, into

one - the concept of conventions. In their book Structuring Drama Work they define

conventions as follows: “In theatre, meanings, social codes and interactions are



represented, shaped and crafted through the conventions of dramatic activity.”

(Neelands and Goode: 3) “The conventions of theatre are seen as vehicles for

experiencing and communicating meanings symbolically.” (Neelands and Goode: 97)

“Particular conventions will, therefore, emphasize different qualities in the theatrical

possibilities of time, space and human presence.” (Neelands and Goode: 4)

The classification of the conventions according to Neelands that I had chosen for

my workshop “have been developed in response to a certain basic needs required for

participation in dramatic activity:

� Need for a clearly defined context – theatre presents us with imagined situations

in which a shared understanding of place, time, characters and other contextual

information becomes crucial to the quality of involvement in the experience.

� Need to nurture and create an interest in ‘what happens next’ – theatre is defined

as a narrative form, like story and film, in which curiosity about the story line

and a sense of imminent action act as motivation for those acting or spectating in

the dramatic event.

� Need to recognize and create a symbolic dimension to the work – theatre

provides a means of looking beyond the immediate story or plot through the

symbols and imagery which are capable of crystallizing, projecting and holding

the essence of an experience.

� Need to reflect on the meanings and themes which emerge through the

experience – theatre provide a ‘mirror’ for participants to consider themselves

and their relationship to others.” (Neelands and Goode: 6-7)

Neelands’ classification of the theatre methods and techniques used for

structuring drama work facilitated me the preparation and structuring of my workshop

because he also defines in which context and for which purposes the particular

convention can be applied. Since Neelands’ enumeration of the conventions is very

extensive I will mention only those that I have somehow used in my workshop.

A. “Context-building action - enable a group to create or engage with the

dramatic context: the concrete particulars of the situation, characters or roles which will

inform and drive the action:

� Collective Drawing – small groups make a collective image to represent a place

or people in the drama.



� Defining Space – students learn how to take into account the perception of space

and how to reflect on relationships between context and action.

� Diaries, Letters, Messages – written in or out of role as a means of reflecting on

experience; or they are introduced into the drama by the teacher as a new

tension, or as evidence; or they are used as a means of reviewing work.

� Drama Games – rather put into the context of drama; to reveal game structures

in life situations – blocking, hiding, deceiving, etc.” (Neelands and Goode: 9-93)

Drama games are based on motifs from the real life; they often try to solve the

conflicts arising from the interference of people, their needs and attitudes, and

thus create dramatic actions.

� “Making Maps – used to represent problems diagrammatically and concretize

the environment of the story.

� Objects of Character – this convention allows for the creation of a character

through consideration of a carefully chosen assemblage of personal belongings.

The selection of the objects should give clues about the character. The items can

be ‘found’ as a means of introducing a character.

� Role on the Wall – an important, pivotal role is represented in picture form ‘on

the wall’; information is added as the drama progresses and contributes to the

concretization of the character.

� Soundtracking – realistic or stylized sounds accompany action, or describe an

environment.

� Still Image – the groups devise an image using their own bodies to crystallize a

moment, idea or theme.”

� “Unfinished Materials – an object, article of clothing, letter, or opening to a

story is introduced as a starting point for the development of a drama. The

participants build on the clues and partial information offered in order to

construct a drama, to explore and develop themes and meanings suggested by

the unfinished materials.

B. Narrative action - used to focus on significant events, incidents or

encounters which will be central to development of the narrative. They allow groups to

test out their hypotheses and speculations about the narrative through their dramatic

involvement.

� A Day in a Life – this convention works backwards from an important event in

order to fill in the gaps in the history of how the characters have arrived at the



event. It draws attention to the influences, and exposing the forces, which drive

a character to the moment of conflict or decision.

� Hot-seating – a character in the role is seated on a chair and is supposed to

answer the questions used by others for highlighting character’s motivations and

personality disposition.

� Interviews, Interrogations – encourage framing appropriate questions and

strategies.

� Mantle of the Expert – the group become characters endowed with specialist

knowledge that is relevant to the situation: historians, social workers, etc. The

power and responsibility move from teacher to group.

� Meetings – the group are gathered together within the drama to hear new

information, plan action, make collective decisions and suggest strategies to

solve problems that have arisen.

� Reportage – gives an interpretation/presentation of events through journalistic

conventions, for example in manner of TV news.

� Teacher in the Role – the teacher influences the dramatic context by adopting a

suitable role in order to: excite interest, control the action, invite involvement,

provoke tension, create choices and ambiguity, develop the narrative, and create

possibilities for the group to interact in role.

C. Poetic action - useful as a means of looking beyond the story-line, or

as a means of making a deliberate shift from the realism of narrative conventions to

conventions which heighten awareness of form and which allow for the exploration and

representation of key symbols and images suggested by the work.

� Mimed Activities – emphasize movement, actions and physical responses rather

then dialogue or thoughts.

� Re-enactment – an event that has previously occurred is re-enacted in order to

reveal what might have happened.

� Small-Group Play-Making – small groups plan, prepare and present

improvisations, as a means of representing a hypothesis, or to demonstrate

alternative views/courses of action.

D. Reflective action – used when there is a need to stand aside from the

action and review and comment on the action. These conventions provide a way for the

group to articulate what characters are thinking or to give ‘psychological commentary’

affording insight into the physical action.



� Choral Speak – the group are asked to prepare a choral reading of a stimulus text

using sound, repetition, emphasis and variety of voices in order to highlight the

essence of the material they are working on.

� Giving Witness – an individual gives a monologue purporting to be an objective

account of events, but which in effect is a highly subjective re-telling from the

witness’ point of view.

� Group Sculpture – an individual (or members of the group) models others in

order to reflect a particular aspect of the theme or issue under scrutiny. This

activity usually produces still images.

� Narration – can be in or out of the dramatic context. The teacher might provide a

narrative link, atmosphere or commentary, initiate a drama, move the action on,

create tension, etc.

� Spectrum of Difference – requires group members to place themselves

physically on an imaginary line linking two alternatives, indicating their

preference through their choice of position.

� Though-Tracking – reveals publicly the private thoughts of participants-in-role

at specific moments in the action so as to develop a reflective attitude towards

the action. Action may be frozen and participants ‘tapped for thoughts’, or

thoughts may be prepared to go with the presentation of a Still Image.”

(Neelands and Goode: 9-93) In Czech background this technique is better known

under the term of Voices in the Head which will be also used in the workshop.

� “Voices in the Head – a means of reflecting on the complexity of a difficult

choice facing a character in the drama.” (Neelands and Goode: 9-93) The main

character walks down the alley formed by the members of group who convey

him their pieces of advice or feelings. In Czech background this technique is

better known under the term of Alley of Opinions which will be also used in the

workshop.

Other methods and techniques that were used in the workshop, though Neelands

and Goode do not mention them, are:

� Role play – is the fundamental methodical principle of drama. The Oxford

English Dictionary defines it as “the changing of one’s behaviour to fulfil a

social role”. [3] Role play in an English classroom is usually used in its basic

form where students imagine themselves in some specific situation and they act



in this situation as if they were there. This is the easiest way how to bring

everyday reality to the classroom and how students can, in a certain way,

prepare for these potential situations linguistically. However, role play can

include even more complex levels where students either take on a social role of

someone else and act a typical behaviour of this character or take on not only the

social role but also the individual characteristics of the character he or she is

impersonating. This type of role play already requires a setting of the rich

situational context and emerging students into the fiction which they accept as

real. It also demands a great amount of empathy and psychological maturity of

the performers as it directly leads to the theatrical statement.

� Interpretation of dialogues and texts – is one of the essential methods of Drama

Education where students explore the literary texts through their own acting and

experience and convey its meanings and artistic contents by means of the

different drama methods and techniques, such as improvisation, role play, still

image, etc.

� Improvisation – next to the role play, improvisation is the basic method used in

theatre. It gives the opportunity to experiment and explore the given problems

and situations through unplanned spontaneous action to a certain stimulus. It

underlines an immediate acting in order to search for the best solution of the

problem, a thus it contributes to the personal and social development of the

participants.

� Narrative Mime – teacher narrates the story and students perform the actions

simultaneously as they listen to the story. It is essential that the story contains a

reasonable number of dramatic actions that can be performed by the medium of

mime.

� Props, Costumes – help students concretize the characters they are suppose to

embody, their physical appearance, movements, gestures and other personal

features. They develop students’ imagination and creativity when preparing the

costumes and at the same time they afford a sort of protection because shier

students feel safer when wearing a costume behind which they can ‘hide’.

Besides the various drama methods and techniques, it is very useful to have in

store an inventory of warm-ups or ice-breakers which help students to tune to the

learning activities, help them relax and thus concentrate better on more demanding



activities that will follow. They can also be included as a part of the drama as a lead-in

activity, assuring that all participants enter the drama in the same energetic and

emotional tuning. Some warm-ups have the only purpose which is to activate the group,

overcome self-consciousness or develop group sensitivity and cooperation and therefore

improve the relationships in the group and its interaction during learning activities.

What have most warm-ups in common is that mostly all of them use some kind of

physical movement and that is why they are motivational particularly for younger

students who always welcome change from the constant sitting and in majority prefer

kinaesthetic learning style.



3 STRUCTURED DRAMA

Structured drama is a particular form of a school drama created in the Great

Britain and introduced to the Czech educational background after 1989 through

mediation of the British drama lecturers holding here drama workshops and seminars.

The most acknowledged British drama pedagogues of the present days are Jonothan

Neelands, John Sommers, Warwick Dobson, Tony Goode and others.

3.1 Concept of structured drama

Structured drama is a specific form of drama based on social learning and

learning through experience. The principles of this type of the school drama were first

used by the British educator Peter Slade in 1970’s who in his book Child Drama

concentrated especially on the forming of child’s personality. In the 1980’s the new

movement using dramatic elements in education started to develop in the Great Britain

and it is used there as Drama in Education up to the present day. In the United States we

can encounter the term Process Drama denoting the same dramatic form.

Structured drama is an organized way of active learning based on the experience

and subsequent exploration and understanding of the reality of the real world and even

the player himself. Through role playing the students examine their own attitudes to the

given situation or problem, but also the attitudes of the others. The teacher only offers to

the students the initial situation and they themselves have to examine the problem and

search for the possible solutions. In other words, the teacher gives the students the tools

or the techniques, but the students themselves develop the story and draw conclusions.

The most important and determining element of structured drama is a strong

central theme, such as family, being different, etc. which participants of the drama

explore and which brings them better understanding of the reality, society and their own

personality. This theme is the centre line of the drama, which means that some parts of

the story can be omitted, some narrated by the teacher in the role and some, on the

contrary, can be examined from different angles and points of view several times, using

different techniques, in order to provide the understanding of the meaning of the key



situations in depth. The task of the teacher is to choose such activities that would best

accomplish this pedagogical goal.

3.2 Selection of the motifs for structured drama

The central theme forms the essence of the structured drama. That is why the

teacher searches for the appropriate motif only when he or she has a clear idea about its

central theme. Nevertheless, consideration of the pedagogical and social goals that the

drama wants to accomplish should precede the contemplation of the convenient theme.

The themes can then either stem from the subject matter the teacher needs to cover or

directly from the specific needs of the group in question. When searching for the right

theme, teacher should also consider the composition of the group, their drama

experience and maturity and if the group is going to be interested in the topic in the first

place. It is important that the chosen motif contains dramatic actions, conflict and

situations that can be divided into several dramatic moments.

Pavlovská (2004) mentions particular types of motifs suitable for the structured

drama:

� Motifs from the real world reflecting the current problems of the society and

individuals.

� Motifs from the history.

� Literary motifs - particularly suitable seem to be legends, fairy tales,

adventurous fiction or even science fiction. (Pavlovská, 2004: 23)

Machková (2004) offers different classification of the motifs based on the source

of the subject:

� Authentic, created by the teacher or by the group itself, motifs which stem from

the real life, which appeared in the news or on television, which were inspired

by a particular person, object or memory, etc.

� Taken from literature.

� Combined, which means using motifs from literature, but in rewritten form so

that they reflect the current needs of the teacher.

� Subject-matter implied by the curriculum. (Machková, 2004: 23)



There are an inexhaustible number of possible motifs for structured drama.

Teachers can draw not only from the literature, but also from the pieces of music or

imagery. The motifs can originate from the well-founded historical documents, the real

life situations such as conflicts in the family or relationships, but also from the subject-

matter of other school subjects, for instance by means of the projects. If we know the

group for who the structured drama is being prepared we can adapt the theme and motif

to suit exactly the group, to draw on their own experience or, on the other hand, to avoid

the topics they would most probably refuse (for example, the motif of the lovers

romance would not be the most suitable one for the group of 12-year-old teenagers).

Some motifs have the potential to properly combine both teacher’s pedagogical

goals and goals of the social learning we want to reach in our students. In English

language teaching teachers can use the detective story which is not only highly

motivating as the students are asked to solve the mystery, but the role of the investigator

encourages the natural need for asking and answering questions and thus develops

students‘communicative competence. When discussing and reflecting historical topics,

drama can draw students’ attention to interesting problems concerning the whole

society, society and individuals, and it can help empathize with the characters who find

themselves in difficult life situations. Such motifs can also explore the important

decisions in the history and give possibility to polemize about its legitimacy and

worthiness. Structured drama is also extremely suitable for teaching cross-curricular

topics, integrating subject matters of several disciplines into one project/drama.

To conclude, when choosing a motif for structured drama, it is essential to have

in mind the goal of the structured drama, which is to enrich the students for the better

understanding of the world through their own experience, and to consider the way how

to best accomplish this objective.

3.3 Structure of structured drama

Structuring drama work can be seen as a logical order of the steps and activities

that stem from the central theme. Therefore, while choosing appropriate methods and

techniques of drama, teachers should take into consideration not only this theme but



also the ways how students can make most of it for their learning. Kao and O’Neill

define the construction of structured drama as “careful sequencing and layering of

dramatic units or episodes, often in a non-linear way, to cumulatively extend and enrich

the fictional context”. (Kao and O’Neill in Liu: 13) The non-linear way represents the

importance of the key moments of the story that can be explored from several angles

using several different techniques, which is superior to the uninterrupted linearity of the

common narrative.

British drama lecturers Norah Morgan and Julia Saxton (2001) coincide in the

structure of their “Well-done play” with the classical theatre structure of ancient

Aristotle. They, however, omit the phase of peripetia (falling action), which usually

brings new changes and turnovers, and thus the crisis is directly followed by the

catastrophe and final reflection. Their structure of the structured drama hence consists

of:

� Exposition – introduces the story, emerges participants into the fiction.

� Collision (rising action) – teacher introduces activities that reveal relationships

between the characters in the story, the problem is explored from different points

of view through different techniques while respecting the suggestions of the

participants.

� Crisis (climax) – the climax of the tension that cannot be planned by the teacher.

It arrives at the moment when participants feel the emotional power of the

situation and they desire to solve the conflict.

� Catastrophe (dénouement) – resolution of the intrigue, it is necessary to take

time for reflection, let the participants understand and intellectually reflect on

their feelings and experience from drama. (Morgan and Saxton: 26-27)

Authors of the book Lessons for the Living (2008) submit the model of five

elements that should not be missing in any structured lesson. According to Warwick

Dobson, British university scholar specialized in theatre, these elements are:

� Lure – teacher must find the way how to draw students’ attention to the theme

and motif of the drama and engage them for the story.

� Building trust – teacher must motivate the participants in such a way so that they

trust the plausibility of the situation and accept to emerge themselves into the

fiction.



� Moving to action – teacher encourages participants to explore the story, the

situations and the relations between characters. The students begin to reveal the

plot of the story which does not need to be linear, though.

� Development – teacher should try to deepen students’ understanding of the gist

of the situation, reveal the theme of the story, encourage students to explore the

story from different points of view, offering different techniques.

� Reflection – is usually placed at the end of the drama, but can also take place

after important moments of the story. Students are given a chance to reflect on

what they lived and connect this experience to their own life. (Clark et al.: 122-

124)

The most important thing to consider if we want to assure the harmony and

complexity of the structured drama is a clear purpose of the drama. In other words, how

this particular drama will enrich the knowledge of the world in its participants. On

account of this reflection, teacher chooses appropriate methods and techniques and thus

defines the form of the drama. “Choices about which conventions are used and which

content is explored should respect the teacher’s purpose need to ensure that the work is

controlled, purposeful and effective.” (Neelands and Goode: 98)

3.4 Structured drama in English Language Teaching

Structured drama is not traditionally used for foreign language teaching so far.

Nevertheless, I decided to work with it in my workshop because I wanted to show the

English teachers its huge possibilities for introducing real life situations into the

classroom and help them understand the importance of emerging students into a rich

context of drama that they can create on their own. Not only is the structured drama

very motivating because it “requires language to be used in meaningful, authentic

situations, where the focus is on posing questions and seeking answers to those

questions” (Kao and O’Neill in Liu: 6), but unlike distributing simple role cards and

making students act situations tore out of the context, structured drama gives them

possibility to explore these situations and learn about themselves, each other and the

society and the world around them.



As states Italian linguist Di Pietro, who emphasizes the complexity of structured

drama used in foreign language classrooms, strategic interaction which creates the

essential basis for structured drama includes “the ability of language to create and

engage students in new roles, situations and worlds; dynamic tension; the motivating

and challenging power of the unexpected; the tactical quality of language acquired

under the stress of achieving a goal; the linguistic and psychological ambiguity of

human interaction; the group nature of enterprise; and the significance of context”. (Di

Pietro in Liu: 5)

Liu, in addition, stresses “the fluency and accuracy necessary to accomplish the

task with both support and challenge of the teacher who is also a participant in the

dramatic world”. (Liu: 6) Moreover, participants of drama use English almost

unconsciously because the language in drama has two levels, as describes Jonothan

Neelands: “Language is used in theatre as the organizing medium for discussing,

planning and implementing ideas. But language is also used symbolically as a means of

representing a situation or character’s speech”. (Neelands and Goode: 95)

So we can see that structured drama is enhancing students’ communicative

competence and their capability to express the reality not only in a practical way, but

also in a symbolic, artistic way. It has undisputable cognitive benefits because learning

by doing has favourable influence on students’ learning of facts and especially on its

long-term retention. Moreover, it is highly motivational, actively engaging all the

participants, including the teacher who generally takes over some role from the story as

well. And I would also like to point out the social aspect of the students’ learning

because structured drama is based on students’ cooperation and interaction, group’s

sensitivity and team work, leading to mutual trust and positive relationships in the

classroom.



4 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

The theoretical foundation of the project deals with the design of the drama

workshop which should introduce to the participants the basic concept and principles of

Drama Education and possible exploitation of its methods and techniques in English

Language Teaching. The whole workshop concentrates particularly on the concept of

structured drama that emerges students into the world of fiction and thus emphasizes the

importance of setting the drama into a real meaningful context that is essential for

successful and meaningful communication in a foreign language. The following sub-

chapters describe the theoretical frame and guideline for the whole project, the

antecedent defining the target population, the objectives and methodology of the

project, followed by the contents of the workshop.

4.1 Population of the project

The antecedent describes the population and situational context of the institution

where the project was realized and it determines the problem solved by the realization

of the project.

This project was designed for English teachers of all levels, but in particular for

the pre-service and in-service teachers who have already completed or were currently

completing their education in the study programme the Licenciatura en Enseňanza de

Inglés (Teaching English) provided by the Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán,

which is one of the campuses of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

(UNAM) in Mexico City.

Founded in 1551 under the name of Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico,

the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) is recognized as the biggest

and the most important teaching and research institution in Mexico and one of the most

prestigious ones in the whole Latin America. At present, it comprises a huge complex of

thirteen faculties and more than 40 research institutes and centres.



The Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán, a branch of Cuidad Universitaria

of UNAM, is considered one of the most important education centres in the northeast

metropolitan area of Mexico City. Considering the areas of study it offers, it is the most

diverse branch of the university with more than 20,000 people working and studying

there at present. One of the many departments of this faculty is Department of

Humanities, offering among Pedagogy, History and others, also the study programme in

English teaching, the Licenciatura en Enseňanza de Inglés (LEI).

The LEI, founded in 1975, was the first compact university study programme in

English Language Teaching in Mexico. The graduates of this programme are given the

academic degree of Licenciado (a four and a half-year Bachelor degree) and they are

considered pedagogues competent in methods of instruction and investigation in

English teaching/learning process, capable of creating and evaluating of study

programmes, using the theories and methods of applied linguistics. This programme

qualifies its graduates for the position of English teachers at all educational levels,

investigators in education and linguistics or alternatively for non-teaching positions

requiring excellent knowledge of English, such as translators or administrative

personnel.

I came to the LEI department as an exchange student in August 2009. The

Department of International Studies of my home Masaryk University selected me

among other candidates and sent me to the Mexican UNAM on the basis of the bilateral

contract between these two institutions. I studied at UNAM for the whole academic

year, which was inestimable experience, especially thanks to the chance I was given to

teach LEI students practical English course for the whole semester (10 60-minute hours

a week for 16 weeks). I also had the possibility to enrich my teaching experience in the

language centre of the university and at other educational institutions. Considering the

difference in the quality of teachers’ training at UNAM I am really grateful for this

academic contribution to my professional, but also personal development.

The study programme Licenciatura en Enseňanza de Inglés (Teaching English)

is really a highly complex programme. Nevertheless, according to the results of my

research on the curriculum of the LEI study programme, I noticed that LEI offers to its

students absolutely no course that would give at least minimal insight into the question



of using Drama Education in English Language Teaching. Considering this noticeable

curricular deficit, I decided to design and offer to the students of LEI the practical

workshop, which would provide them with the basic information about the whole

concept of Drama Education, particularly in English Language Teaching, and thus

contribute to their academic knowledge and personal experience in teaching/learning

process of English language. The head of the LEI department María del Rosario

Hernández Coló who had been observing my work during the whole year offered me to

integrate my workshop to the curriculum of LEI study programme as an inter-semester

optional course. Its participants were granted a certificate confirming their participation

in the workshop (see Appendix 1). The participants were invited to this workshop

through an email sent by the head of the department to all the current students and

graduates of LEI, and they could also react on the invitation poster hanging on the

official LEI notice board. The participants were therefore the enthusiasts who came to

the workshop voluntarily and out their own interest in the topic. The population sample

for the workshop then emerged from the accessible population of the target population

(LEI students).

Although this workshop was designed particularly for LEI students and

graduates, it is appropriate for English teachers of all levels as no previous knowledge

of Drama Education of its participants is required. It could be offered as an option for

the professional development course for English teachers because it helps to develop

many important features in teachers’ personality, such as their creativity in lesson

planning or establishing good teacher-students relationship.

4.2 Methodology of the project

The project is designed for the teachers with no previous experience in drama.

The course provides the participants with methodology and practical recommendations

and advice that should help teachers who want to start with integrating drama into their

classes, to understand its principles, complexity and planning drama activities. That is

why the work at the workshop was conceived as a work in a real class, which means

that the teachers were treated as regular students, first exploring very easy and simple

activities (that can be introduced into the lesson without any previous preparation or



context) where teachers became familiar with drama through simple activities with

sounds, space and body, before moving to texts and more complex structures.

After each activity, we reflected on and analysed the dramatic convention used

and talked about its possible further exploitation in English teaching. In structured

drama lessons, however, we left the analysis of the methods and techniques for the final

reflection taking place after the lesson in order to create authentic dramatic experience

and submerge the participants into the fiction and not to interrupt it by analysing each

stage of drama separately.

4.2.1 General information about the workshop

Name of the workshop: How to use Drama in English language class?

Number of hours: 15 x 60 min. distributed in 4 days.

(First 3 days - 4 hours, last day - 3 hours.)

Break: 15 min. each day (except the last one).

Number of participants: 20

Population for the workshop: Pre-service and in-service English teachers of LEI.

Prerequisite: Communicative knowledge of English (C1 level),

no previous experience in drama required.

Technical equipment: Spacious room, CD player, copies, props, real objects, flip

charts, newspapers, string, scotch tape, scarves, mobile

phone, tambourine.

Space adjustment: All chairs were removed from the classroom,

participants were asked to bring cushions or rugs so that

they could use them when sitting/lying/working on the

floor.

Realization of workshop: 14th – 17th June 2010

4.2.2 Objectives of the workshop

General objective:

At the end of this workshop, the participants will experiment individual drama

methods and techniques within the drama structures and analyse the way they were used



in order to intensify the zest of drama experience as well as the contribution to the

foreign language acquisition.

Specific objectives:

� The participants will discuss the basic principles of Drama Education,

particularly in English Language Teaching.

� The participants will identify, analyse and discuss the methods and techniques of

Drama Education that can be exploited in English Language Teaching, from the

simple activities that can be simply inserted into English language classroom up

to more complex dramatic structures that can last for several sessions.

� The participants will be given chance to express their imagination and develop

their creativity and critical thinking while searching for solutions to given

problems.

� The participants will formulate their ideas within the context of a drama

technique.

� The participants will examine and estimate their own self, their values and

positions through mutual interaction and communication with other participants.

� The participants will elaborate their ability to co-operate and work in teams in

order to accomplish given tasks within a drama technique.

� The participants will explore and appraise literary texts displaying various

cultural aspects and will evaluate them from different points of view.

4.2.3 Contents of the workshop

Concerning the content of the workshop, the first day is dedicated to simple

individual activities, graded in order to become familiar with the basic principles of

using drama in foreign language teaching. Other days are devoted to 3 different

structured dramas, underlining the significance of appropriate context for language

learning.

First two days of the workshop are based particularly on two courses, the

semester course Dramatické techniky ve výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4])

taught by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová, assistant professor at Department of English language

and literature, which I attended in autumn 2007; and workshop of structured drama led



by British lecturer of University of Reading Andrew John Kempe who visited our

university in spring 2008. A brief description of his course is also posted in the mood-

link-a course in [4], created by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová who was the official translator of

the whole event. I have used the activities of these experienced lecturers because they

perfectly reflected my needs and pedagogical purposes to explore the activities

gradually, first through sounds, then space, then movements and finally speaking. The

first structured drama is also highly inspired by both fore mentioned courses, though

slightly adapted. The remaining two structured dramas are mine own, although I have

been inspired by other dramas and activities I had experienced during my drama studies.

In my workshop I have also included other activities, which I had either

experienced or read in written sources, whose authors I recognize under each activity.

However, all drama teachers and lecturers in the world are usually accustomed to use

freely all the activities they had once experienced somewhere and they also encourage

their students to do so. Therefore, in most cases, it is practically impossible to identify

the real author of the activity as it appears in several adaptations in various sources.

That is why I always recognize the source where I have learnt given activity, though it

may not be the original one.

In terms of drama methods and techniques, the participants will get familiar with

the definitions, advantages, and possible practical usage of these particular conventions

(according to Jonathan Neelands and Tony Goode: 9-93):

1. Context-Building Action (techniques used to build the situation):

� Collective Drawing

� Defining Space

� Diaries, Letters, Messages

� Drama Games

� Making Maps

� Objects of Character

� Role on the Wall

� Soundtracking

� Still Image

� Unfinished Materials

2. Narrative Action (techniques used to evolve the story):



� A Day in a Life

� Hot-Seating

� Interviews, Interrogations

� Mantle of the Expert

� Meetings

� Reportage

� Teacher in the Role

3. Poetic Action (techniques used to provide symbolic content to the story):

� Mimed Activities

� Re-enactment

� Small-Group Play-Making

4. Reflective Action (techniques used to reflect on the story and its situations)

� Choral Speak

� Giving Witness

� Group Sculpture

� Narration

� Spectrum of Difference

� Though-Tracking – used as Voices in the Head

� Voices in the Head – used as Alley of Opinions

In addition to these conventions, the participants will get familiar with following

common methods and techniques that Neelands and Goode do not mention:

� Warm-ups, Ice-Breakers, Name Games

� Role play

� Interpretation of dialogues and texts

� Improvisation

� Narrative Mime

� Props, Costumes



5 PRACTICAL PART

The practical part of my Diploma thesis is concerned with the description of the

concrete activities included in the workshop. It describes its realization and evaluates

the feedback received from the participants.

5.1 Description and realization of the activities of the workshop

Description of the activities comprises the brief plan of activities for each day

that are subsequently detailed in structured points. These points specify:

� Techniques – name of the drama technique that is to be explored and analysed

after the activity.

� Objectives – describe what participants will achieve as a result of the activity,

considering not only drama experience, but also other areas of learning.

� Focus - linguistic focus on a language item or skill which can be practised with

the activity in question. Discussion about the language exploitation of the

activity followed after each activity.

� Time – approximate time needed for activity management, realization and its

evaluation.

� Material – material needed for the activity.

� Setting - specifies the starting position of the participants for the activity. This

point suggests that if the activity is carried on in pairs, the teacher should divide

the students into pairs before the beginning of the activity and explaining its

procedure.

� Teacher – comments underlining the connection between the activity and

principles of drama. These comments also provide the connecting bridge

between particular activities, ensuring the impression of flow and coherence of

activities.

� Procedure – describes in points the management and stages of the activity.

� Variations – provide with suggestions for possible exploitation of the activities.

� Notes – notes either on the realization of the activity or the solution to possible

anticipated problems that can arise while implementing this activity.



� Acknowledgement – recognition of authors and lecturers whose activities I have

used for this workshop, either in the same exact form or somehow adapted.

� Realization – notes reflecting on the reactions of the participants and the results

of their work or recording the instantaneous changes in the plan according to the

situation.

Not all these points of activity description are always present, only when the

description requires it for better understanding of the context or completing the

situations occurred.

I have also included here the opening introductory part of the workshop, as all

the basic information about the workshop (the objectives, contents and manner of work)

is explained here. For the smoother flow of the reading, I have left the short

introductory part in the first person in the way I presented it to the participants of the

workshop. First, I welcomed the participants and introduced myself. Then, the

participants introduced themselves and told us about their motivation to come to the

workshop. Then, I introduced the goals of the workshop and the discussion about the

drama and Drama Education and its benefits, particularly in the foreign language

teaching, was held. With that, I explained the contents of the workshop and we agreed

on the manner and rules of our work. To conclude the introductory part, we tried several

times the technique called Freeze so that I could use it during the workshop when

necessary.



Day 1: Introductory part

1) Welcome, Introduction of myself (5 min)

2) Introduction of participants, their motivation f or coming (20 min)

3) Introduction of the workshop: (15 min)

� Objectives of workshop, potential of drama

Viz. 4.2.2 Objectives of the workshop and 2.4 Drama Education in English

Language Teaching

Realization: When speaking about potential of drama and advantages of using drama

in the language class, the theme was talked over the vivid discussion of

the participants, while I summarized the main points at the end of the

discussion.

� Contents of workshop (from simple to complex activities)

Viz. 4.2.3 Contents of the workshop

� How shall we work?

There are just two simple rules, so that we can all work and feel at ease:

1. Voluntarism – it is totally up to you if you want to participate in the activities or not,

nobody can force you.

2. Observe time limits - try to always be on time, so that we do not have to wait for

anybody, the latecomers do not distract us and we can all enter the drama in the same

tuning.

4) Rule „Freeze“

Objectives: To fix the rule, to activate the group, to overcome self-consciousness, to

feel the rhythm

Time: 5 min.

Material : Tambourine.

Setting: All students stand.



Teacher: You can surely imagine that when you work with drama, the class can get

very noisy. That is why it is useful to set the Freeze rule when your

students simply freeze on the signal when you need to calm them down or

catch their full attention.

Procedure: 1 Students walk around the classroom to the rhythm of the tambourine.

2 When teacher stops playing the instrument and say Freeze, students

stop moving and freeze in exactly the same position they were when

Freeze was pronounced.

Acknowledgement: I have learnt this activity during my very first lesson of drama led

by PaedDr. Marie Pavlovská, Ph.D. However, this activity is so

commonly used in drama in education that it would be very difficult to

identify its original author.



Day 1

Plan of the activities:

I. Name Games

� Lazy Lenka + gesture

� Change position

� Dracula

II. Soundtracking

� Rain

� Soundtracking of environments

� Ghostly forest

III. Definition of space

� Observation of the room

� Death Taco

� Guiding a blind person

IV. Break (15 min) + warm-up (Like versus Dislike)

V. Miming

� Passing imaginary object

� Mirrors

� Miming actions

� Statues

� Still image (film scene + famous line)

VI. Interpretation of texts

� To be or Not to be

� Interpretation of a dialogue

� Interpretation of a text

VII. Relaxation (with music)



I. Name Games

1) Lazy Lenka + gesture

Objectives: To learn each other's names, to develop communicative competence

(verbal and non-verbal), to develop creativity, to overcome self-

consciousness, to develop drama expression (expressing through body).

Focus: Adjectives.

Time: 10 min.

Setting: All students sit in the circle.

Teacher: As we are going to work with each other for four days, first, we will try to

remember each other's names. If we want to use drama in our classes,

first, we need to create the atmosphere of relaxation, mutual trust and co-

operation where students feel confident and happy. (Wessels: 10) That is

why drama works a lot with group dynamics and reinforcing positive

relationships among its participants.

Procedure: 1 Students think of an adjective which begins with the same letter like

their name (for example “My name is Lenka, so I need an adjective

beginning with L – Lazy Lenka”).

2 Students add a gesture characterizing this adjective.

Acknowledgement: I have learnt this activity in the course Dramatické techniky ve

výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]) led by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová.

However, later on I have experienced it in many variations and

adaptations.

Realization: Students cooperated immediately; they were not ashamed at all to use

gestures. After the first round, they were all able to remember all the

names from the group.

2) Change position

Objectives: To fix knowledge of names, to develop group sensitivity, to activate the

group.

Time: 5 min.




Procedure: 1 Students change their position in the circle, but only if they know the

name of the person who challenged them (for example “I want to change

my position with Nancy. So I say her name and if she wants to change

position with me, she must say mine. Then, she continues and says the

name of someone who she wants to change the place with”).

2 Two or three couples of students start changing their position at the

same time.

3 The game culminates until the moment when all the participants are

changing places at the same time.

Variations: Change of instructions such as ‘Change positions if you like red colour, if

your name starts with L, if you want to go home, if...’

Acknowledgement: Activity included in the workshop of Andrew John Kempe held at

Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in Brno in spring 2008.

Realization: Students understood the principle of the activity immediately. When the

activity started, I let pass a few changes and then I started to change my

place simultaneously with the original couple. The students understood

quickly and without previous explanation they started to change places

spontaneously and the whole activity culminated as it ideally should.

3) Dracula

Techniques: Drama Game.

Objectives: To fix knowledge of names, to develop social sensitivity.

Time: 5 min.

Setting: All students stand in the circle, one student inside the circle.

Procedure: 1 The student inside the circle is Dracula who wants to catch a victim.

Dracula chooses his victim and starts to approach her.

2 The victim can save herself by eye contacting someone. When someone

is contacted by a victim and wants to save her, he or she must say her

name. If the name is correct, Dracula starts approaching the savour.

Acknowledgement: Activity included in the workshop of Andrew Kempe held at


II. Soundtracking



1) Rain

Techniques: Soundtracking.

Objectives: To choose drama expression (expression through sound), to develop

social sensitivity, to feel the rhythm.

Focus: Following the instructions, weather vocabulary.

Time: 5 min.


Teacher: Now we know each other's names, so let's start with the exploration of

the first drama technique – soundtracking. We will go gradually. First,

we will explore how we can use sounds, then space, then miming, before

we start working on activities where we need to speak. When we start

using drama in our English teaching, we should also go gradually, from

simple activities to more complex ones. First, we should let students

focus entirely on physical movements to communicate, like eyes, facial

expressions, hands and the whole body. Gradually, students learn how to

coordinate these physical activities with verbal activities, which will help

them with more natural communication in English language.

Procedure: 1 Students listen to the teacher and imitate her actions.

2 Teacher: “Imagine that you can see heavy clouds above your heads. It

is surely going to rain. And it has already started. You can hear little

drops bubbling around you (start to rub palms). Now you can hear bigger

drops falling on the ground around you (clap your hands and clap your

thighs). And now hailstones started to fall from the sky (stamp on the

floor). The rain is slowly fading down (decrease the noise according to

the same stages until silence).”

Variations: Soundtracking of wind.

Acknowledgement: Activity taken from the course Dramatické techniky ve výuce

cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]) led by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová

Dohnalová in autumn 2007.

Realization: We performed this activity twice. The students said that they had really

felt the rain. For strengthening the feeling and experience I would

recommend to realize the activity with eyes closed.



2) Soundtracking of environments

Techniques: Soundtracking, Improvisation.

Objectives: To choose drama expression (expression through sound), to feel the

rhythm, to encourage team work, to develop creativity, to develop

communicative competence (verbal communication and listening to each

other).

Focus: Discussion language in teams, vocabulary - environment.

Time: 15 min. (preparation time: 5 min)

Material : Slips with different environments.

Setting: 4 teams of 5

Procedure: 1 Students sound the environment that they select by lot (for example

rain forest, factory, horse race, etc.). During their presentation, they

cannot speak, but they can make all kinds of sounds.

2 Students perform one team by one their environment and the others

guess.

Note: Presentation: So that the performers do not feel ashamed, the audience

turns their backs to the performers. Students are also encouraged to close

their eyes in order to strengthen the audio effect and enhance

imagination.

Acknowledgement: Activity taken from the course Dramatické techniky ve výuce

cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]) led by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová in

autumn 2007.

Realization: One girl who had no previous experience with drama said that at first, she

had felt quite weird, but that the fact that the audience did not see her

really helped her to relax. The realization of the activity itself was very

successful.

3) Ghostly forest

Techniques: Soundtracking, Improvisation.

Objectives: To choose drama expression (expression through sound), to develop

group sensitivity (not to be afraid of a physical contact, listening to each

other), to develop creativity.

Focus: Following the instructions, vocabulary – forest.



Time: 15 min.

Setting: All students stand in the circle.

Procedure: 1 Students close their eyes and imagine that they are in a deep forest and

they can hear all its mysterious sounds. Students imagine all the sounds

they can hear there (trees, animals, etc.).

2 Students start to make the sounds, first silently, then graduating the

volume and then, lessening the sound again.

3 Students start to move like the objects/animals that they sound. If they

are a tree, they imagine and make its branches, if they are an animal, they

start to move like that particular animal.

4 But no forest grows in a regular circle, so the students get closer and

make a huddle of trees and branches. Students connect the movements

with the sound and set the forest in motion.

5 A volunteer can take a walk through the ghostly mysterious forest,

guided by a teacher.

Variations: Any other environment can be interpreted this way (e.g. the sea, the

jungle, etc.).



Realization: At the beginning, this activity did not go very well because almost

everyone was performing an owl. However, when we came closer

together and made naturally a huddle of trees, the students started to be

much more imaginative. A volunteer who wanted to walk through the

forest had to struggle with the branches and bushes, which evoked

general excitement. The students were not shy at all and did not seem

uncomfortable when they had to touch each other.

III. Definition of space

1) Observation of the room

Techniques: Definition of Space.

Objectives: To practice observation and attention to detail, to develop communicative

competence (verbal).



Focus: There is/are structure, classroom objects, colours, numbers, shapes,

discussion language.

Time: 5 min.


Teacher: For drama it is always important where it takes place. We need to

perceive the environment. But drama is also contributory for different

learning styles and intelligences. Working with space can be very

valuable for those students who have developed spatial intelligence.

Procedure: 1 Students walk around the room and have a good look at it.

2 (After 2 min) Students close their eyes and answer in their mind these

questions: What colour is the ceiling? What colour is the door? Is the

door open? Is anything written on the board? How many lights are

there?

3 Students open their eyes, share their impressions with the person next

to them and compare their answers.

Variations: Students can be divided into pairs and be seated back to back. They can

be asked to describe their partner (type of shoes, colour, etc.) without

possibility to look at him or her. Then, they compare their description

with the reality. (I first experienced this activity in a drama lesson led by

Mgr. Miroslav Coufal in 2006.)

Acknowledgement: Adaptation of the activity ‘Observation of the room’ in Maley and

Duff: 87.

Realization: The students were really successful. They immediately started on the

discussion how this activity could further exploited in English teaching

and they came up with many interesting ideas and contributed with their

own well-tried activities.

2) Death Taco

Techniques: Drama Game, Definition of Space.

Objectives: To explore and feel the space, to activate the group, to develop group

sensitivity, to overcome self-consciousness.

Focus: Any particular word can be practised (for example a word with difficult

pronunciation).



Time: 5 min.


Procedure: 1 Students say what their favourite food is (Tacos).

2 Students are all ... (tacos) and they walk around the room with their

eyes closed. The person who the teacher touches is Death taco (he also

walks around with his eyes closed).

3 Once someone walks into somebody else or touches somebody else, he

wants to ensure that it is not Death taco, so he asks Taco? If the person is

not Death taco, he will answer Taco and both move on. However, if the

person is Death taco, he will say Death taco and the original person is

killed. The killed person has to scream very loudly and clear away – sit

down around the classroom and watch others play.

Notes: Teacher must emphasize that students must keep their eyes closed all the

time!



Realization: Students really liked this activity. Some of them let themselves to be

caught so that they could observe the others.

3) Guiding a blind person – in break


Objectives: To develop empathy, to explore and feel the space, to develop trust

between partners, to develop social sensitivity, to develop communicative

competence (verbal).

Focus: Precision in giving instructions, following the instructions.

Time: 10 min.

Material : Scarves.

Setting: Students in pairs, standing.

Procedure: 1 Students decide in their pairs which one will be the blind person.

2 The blind student closes his eyes (or blindfolds them with a scarf) and

his partner will give him directions in order to leave the room and go to

the place where both want to spend the break. The leaders cannot touch

the blind in order to tell them where to go.



Variations: Competition: the obstacles can be placed in the middle of the classroom

and the blind cannot touch anything when fulfilling the instructions of the

leader. Otherwise, the couple is eliminated. (This variation is taken from

the activity ‘Leading the blind’ in Maley and Duff: 74.)

Acknowledgement: Activity inspired by PaedDr. Marie Pavlovská, Ph.D. and by

Charlyn Wessels: 7.

Realization: Most of the couples said that it had been an extraordinary, absolutely new

and enriching experience. They said that they had had troubles even in

walking straight. The classroom was situated on the second floor and all

the students finished the activity under the stairs.

IV. BREAK

(15 min)

Warm-up: Like versus Dislike

Objectives: To activate the group.

Focus: Vocabulary, I like structure.

Time: 5 min.

Material : String.

Setting: The class is divided by a string. Students stand in the middle of the

classroom.

Procedure: 1 Teacher explains to the students that the right side of the classroom

means ‘I like’ and the left side ‘I dislike’.

2 Teacher gives students a word and they have to run to the right or left

side of the classroom according to their likes. (Show an example:

Chocolate). Students do not think about the word, they act on impulse.

Words: the Moon, Monday morning, yellow, ice, school, Beethoven.

Variations: 1 Students can explain to each other why they like or dislike something.

2 Students can try to persuade the others from the opposite group why

they should like or dislike something.

Acknowledgement: Inspired by the activity ‘The Sun and the Moon’ in Maley and

Duff: 66 and by the activity led by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová in the course

Dramatické techniky ve výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]).



V. Miming

1) Passing imaginary object

Techniques: Miming.

Objectives: To choose drama expression (through body), to develop group sensitivity

(students have to concur), to develop creativity and imagination.

Focus: Vocabulary - shapes, smells, weight, etc.

Time: 5 min.

Setting: All students stand in the circle.

Teacher: Miming helps students to overcome their self-consciousness and students

learn how to use non-verbal communication naturally as a support of

communication.

Procedure: 1 Students pass to each other the object the teacher picks up from the

floor. They try to express by miming what is its shape, if it is heavy, if it

is nice, if it smells good, etc.

2 Students give vent to their imagination and take turns in choosing the

objects they are passing around the circle.

Variation : For the development of linguistic competence, students can describe

orally the objects they are passing around the circle (in term of weight,

material, colour, etc.)

Acknowledgement: Inspired by the activity ‘Exchanging objects’ by Maley and Duff:

103. However, I first experienced this activity during the drama

workshop led by drama teacher Pavla Racková in Studio Racek in 1999.

Realization: Students really surprised me with their creativity and initiative. They

were examining the imaginary objects through all senses. They also

discussed vividly how this activity could be further exploited.

2) Mirrors ( →→→→ progressive mirrors)

Techniques: Miming, Improvisation.

Objectives: To develop group sensitivity, to choose drama expression (through

body), to encourage team cooperation, to develop creativity.

Focus: Daily routine, progressive tenses.

Times: 10 min.



Setting: 3 teams of 6, pairs within teams.

Procedure: 1 Students face each other in pairs. The pairs in each group stand next to

each other (teacher helps with the setting and shows it on one group).

2 One person is a leader and begins to move. The other person must

imitate her as if she was a mirror reflection. Students will mime the

simple activities like daily routines (for example first, you wake up,

brush your teeth, etc.) Students change roles when the teacher claps

(approximately 2 min. for each turn)

3 (After 8 min) Students link up their miming in their teams so that it

looks fluent. The whole activity works without speaking or visual signals

and that is why students need to be attentive and observe each other

closely. (Teacher gives an example: first pair starts miming waking up

and brushing teeth, then the second pair fluently follows with dressing

up, etc.). Students try not to talk!

Variations: As a follow-up activity, students can talk about the activities they were

miming and practise appropriate vocabulary and tenses.

Acknowledgement: The activity with mirrors is described in Wessels: 36, the activity

with progressive mirrors is included in Rittenberg and Kreitzer in their

book English through Drama. However, it is again so traditional drama

activity, it would be impossible to recognize its original author.

Realization: Students had already known this activity so it did not cause them any

problems. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to try the linking

part twice. However, the second team learnt from the mistakes of the first

one and their movement was much more fluent.

3) Miming actions

Techniques: Miming, Improvisation.

Objectives: To choose drama expression (through body), to develop communicative

competence (non-verbal), to develop creativity.

Focus: Vocabulary - actions, progressive tenses.

Time: 10 min.

Material : Slips with actions and adverbs.

Setting: All students sit in a semi-circle.



Procedure: Volunteers select an activity by lot and they mime the activity. The rest

of the group guesses what they are doing. (Teacher shows the example:

blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.)

Variations: Students can mime some more complex actions; the others guess the

whole situational context, such as time, situation, characters involved,

etc.

Acknowledgement: Inspired by the activity ‘What am I doing?’ described in Maley and

Duff: 122.

4) Statues

Techniques: Still Image.


competence (non-verbal), to develop creativity.

Focus: Vocabulary.

Time: 5 min.


Procedure: Students walk around the classroom and they express the word the

teacher says by the medium of their body. (Teacher shows an example:

happiness)

Words: anger, puppy, toy, puma, universe, desert, laughter.

Variations: Specific vocabulary can be practised, such as adjectives, actions, sports,

phrasal verbs, etc.

Acknowledgement: The technique of still images is as old as theatre itself. However, it

is described for example in Jonothan Neelands and Tony Goode. I have

inspired myself by the activity used in the course Dramatické techniky ve

výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]) led by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová,

which I slightly adapted.

5) Still Image (film scene + famous line)

Techniques: Still Image, Animation of Still Image.


competence (verbal and non-verbal), to develop creativity, to develop

group sensitivity, to encourage team work.



Focus: Vocabulary, discussion language in teams.


Material : Slips with the names of the films.


Procedure: 1 Students select by lot the name of the film and they make a still image

representing a scene from this film.

2 Each performer also thinks of a famous line of his or her film character.

(For example I am Tarzan and my famous line is “Me Tarzan, you

Jane”).

3 Each team shows their still image to the others and the others guess the

name of the film.

4 Animation of Still Image: When students guess the film, the performers

will stay in their position and when teacher touches them, they will say

their famous line like their character would say it.

Variations: The grammar of the famous lines and the topic of films can be further

exploited.

Acknowledgement: The technique of still images and its animation is abundantly used

by all drama teachers. However, it is described for example in Jonothan

Neelands and Tony Goode.

Realization: Very successful and enjoyable activity. Students understood the

technique of animation of still images immediately; all the group

members were performing.

VI. Interpretation

1) To be or not to be

Techniques: Interpretation of a sentence/text.

Objectives: To realize the variety of means of expressing the same thing, to choose

drama expression (through body and words), to develop communicative

competence (verbal and non-verbal), to develop creativity.

Focus: Adverbs.

Time: 5 min.

Material : Slips with adverbs.



Setting: All students sit in a circle.

Procedure: Each student selects by lot a slip of paper with an adverb and reads the

famous Hamlet's line “To be or not to be, that is the question”

expressing that particular adverb. Other students guess what adverb is

being expressed.

Notes: Students can look up difficult adverbs in dictionary.

Acknowledgement: Concerning this activity, I have been inspired by two sources.

First by the activity ‘To be or not to be’ posted in the mood-link-a course

Dramatické postupy ve výuce angličtiny (can be found in [5]); and

secondly by the activity ‘Miming adverbs’ by Penny Ur published in her

book Five-Minute Activities.

2) Interpretation of a dialogue

Techniques: Interpretation of a dialogue/text.

Objectives: To explore a text, to choose drama expression (performance), to develop

communicative competence (verbal and non-verbal), to encourage

communication in team, to develop creativity.

Focus: General discussion language in pairs.


Material : Copies of a dialogue (see Appendix 2)

Setting: Pairs.

Procedure: Students receive a short dialogue that they will perform. They think about

the background of the dialogue (who is talking, why, where they are,

etc.). In order to make the situation clear for the rest of the group,

students can add one sentence at the beginning of the dialogue and one

sentence at the end.

Variations: Students can make a dialogue using only the lines of tongue twisters

(pronunciation practice and drama expression practice (through body).

Acknowledgement: I experienced this activity in the workshop called Dramatická

výchova směrem k divadelnímu tvaru led by the theatre director Jiří

Pokorný in spring 2008.

Realization: Students performed very diverse and creative interpretations of a simple

dialogue. After each performance, the rest of the group guessed the type



of the relationships of the characters and what was happening in the

scene (in most cases the first sentence of the dialogue was the most

important clue).

3) Interpretation of a story

Techniques: Interpretation of a story/text, Improvisation.

Objectives: To explore a text, to choose drama expression (performance), to develop

communicative competence (verbal and non-verbal), to encourage

communication in team, to develop creativity, to observe time limits.

Focus: General discussion language in teams, language of the literary text.


Material : Copies of the text Little Red Riding Hood [4] (see Appendix 3)


Procedure: Students are given the famous fairy tale story Little Red Riding Hood.

They read the text and act it out respecting the form that they select by lot

(soap opera, opera, like robots, thriller, etc.). The story cannot be more

than 2 min long. The performers need not stick to the text precisely.

Notes: It is important to measure time and subsequently evaluate how students

were able to observe the time limit or not.

Acknowledgement: The idea of performing a well-known story using a particular form

was given to me by the British lecturer Warwick Dobson during his

workshop on structured drama held at the Faculty of Education of

Masaryk University in spring 2008.

Realization: On account of the lack of time, we were obliged to realize this activity at

the end of the third day of the workshop. Students really enjoyed working

on this activity, they were incredibly creative, and they started making

their costumes and props immediately. When I saw how much they

enjoyed the preparations of the activity, I did not insist on observing the

time limit anymore (that could be another phase of the activity). The

theatrical forms the students interpreted were really amusing and original

(for example the representation of the soap opera ended up with the fight

between Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother because the

Grandmother found Little Red Riding Hood in bed with the Wolf).



VII. Relaxation

Relaxation with music

Objectives: To relax the group, to develop creativity and imagination, to reflect on

self-image.

Focus: Discussion language, describing pictures and emotions.

Time: 5 min.

Material : Music (used from the series Byousoku 5 Centimetres).

Setting: All students lie on the floor.

Procedure: 1 Students close their eyes and relax. Teacher tells them not to think of

anything and just listen to the music.

2 Students share with the person next to them a picture that the music

evoked in their head → → → → the whole group discussion.

Variations: Students lie on the floor with their eyes closed and the teacher makes

various sounds. Students then draw a picture depicting the sounds they

had heard. (This variation is taken from the workshop of Jiří Pokorný

held in spring 2008.)

Acknowledgement: Inspired by the activity described in Charlyn Wessels’ Drama.

Realization: Students enjoyed sharing their feelings. One girl said that she

immediately visualized the smile of her father.

Reflection on Day 1

I expected 20 participants, however, only 12 appeared, which gave us much

more time for activities and reflections. The students were really initiative, creative and

they immediately overcame their initial shyness. We created a great working

atmosphere; all the students got involved and actively participated in the discussions

concerning the possible ways how to use the methods and techniques in question in

their classes. They also had very inspiring comments on their own well-tried activities.



Day 2


I. Warm-ups

� Zip zap

� Walking warmers

� The seat on my left is free

II. Structured drama: The Girl's missing

� Introduction of the case

� Examination of corpus delicti/real objects

� Examination of character

� Examination of chief witnesses (Lisa's mother and stepfather)

� Examination of other witnesses

� Alibi

III. Break (15 min) + warm-up (Molecules)

IV. Structured drama – continuation

� Police Broadcast

� Mobile on the chair

� Text message home

� Final reflection

V. Relaxation (From seed to plant)



I. Warm-ups

1) Zip zap

Objectives: To activate the group, to encourage students to pay attention to each

other, to develop group sensitivity.

Time: 5 min.

Setting: All students stand in a circle.

Procedure: 1 Students send a Zip signal around the circle. Teacher starts, points to

the person on her left and say Zip. This person must as quickly as

possible send the signal to the person on her left saying Zip.

2 (After running a circle) Student can also block somebody by saying

Zap and refusing the signal with his hands (teacher demonstrates).

3 Student can send the signal across the circle by saying Zop.

4 The pace increases.

Acknowledgement: I first experienced this very common warm-up activity during the

workshop of drama teacher Pavla Racková in Studio Racek in 1999. It is,

however, mentioned in many different drama books.

2) Walking warmers

Techniques: Miming.

Objectives: To activate the group, to overcome self-consciousness, to choose drama

expression (through body).

Focus: Following the instructions, vocabulary, and progressive tenses.

Time: 5 min.


Procedure: Students walk around according to the teacher’s instructions.

Walk as if: you carry a heavy suitcase, you walk on ice, you don't want to

be seen, you walk on a really hot sand, you are 99 years old...

Variations: Specific vocabulary can be practised (for example actions, phrasal verbs,

etc.)

Acknowledgement: Taken from the book Five-Minute Activities by Penny Ur.

3) The seat on my left is free



Objectives: To fix names, to activate group.

Focus: Names, drill of a structure.

Time: 5 min.

Setting: All students sit in a circle (the place on teacher’s left is free).

Procedure: 1 Teacher says the phrase “The seat on my left is free and I'd like

_(Paco)__ to sit next to me”. This student (Paco) will move to the empty

place. The person who now has an empty place on her left will continue

(teacher shows the example).

Acknowledgement: Taken from Maley and Duff: 70.

II. Structured drama: The Girl's missing

1) Introduction of the case

Techniques: Teacher in the Role, Using Prop/Costume, Mantle of the Expert.

Objectives: To catch students’ attention, to submerge students into fiction, to create

atmosphere, to make students involved.

Focus: Careful listening, vocabulary.

Time: 5 min.

Material : Police cap, bag.

Setting: Students sit facing the teacher.

Teacher: I have promised you to see how drama activities can be used in more

complex drama structures. Let's see how we can use drama in context, so

that it submerges students into fiction and creates an authentic dramatic

experience.

Procedure: 1 Teacher explains to students that when she puts on the prop (in this

case a police cap), she becomes a police officer. When she puts it down,

she is the teacher again. (Note: It is not even necessary to explain this to

the pupils as they accept the function of representative props very

naturally.)

2 Teacher in the Role, students listen:

“Good afternoon, dear detectives. My name is chief detective Smith.

Thank you very much for coming to our police headquarters so quickly. I

have sent for you because I need your help with the case I cannot solve



myself. Early in the morning at 2 am we received a phone call at our

local police station. A woman announced that her 14-year old daughter

Lisa was not at home. We sent our patrol to the girl's home on Mexico-

Tacuba Street, Metro Colegio Militar and they proclaimed the girl as a

missing person. We started the investigation, but we have not found out

anything yet. That is why I need your help.”

Notes: Vocabulary concerning police investigation may be practised beforehand,

for example by reading a detective story or a newspaper article on a

crime.

Realization: Students accepted the reality of the story immediately and they got

involved in the story.

2) Examination of corpus delicti/real objects

Techniques: Teacher in the Role, Mantle of the Expert, Objects of Character,

Unfinished Materials.

Objectives: To submerge students into fiction, make them involved, to examine and

describe real objects, to develop communicative competence (verbal), to

develop imagination.

Focus: Description of objects, discussion language, making speculations.

Time: 15 min.

Material : Bag containing keys, cigarettes and a lighter, a bill from the shop from

last night, library book Veronica wants to die, a postcard from Lisa's

father from which it is evident she has not seen him for a long time, a

wallet with little money, a metro ticket, etc.


Procedure: 1 Teacher in the Role gives instructions to the students:

“The only evidence that we have is this bag that was found in Alameda

park next to Bellas Artes. I want each detective to take one thing from the

bag, examine it closely (think what this object says about missing Lisa,

why she had it, etc.)”

2 Detectives report to each other the results of their investigation, they

make speculations.



Realization: Students were very resourceful. While presenting the objects, they

immediately started to invent complicated hypotheses (for example that

Lisa probably comes from a well-off family because she had a whole box

of cigarettes, although Mexican teenagers usually buy cigarettes only

piece by piece because of its price). One student suggested interrogating

Lisa’s parents, which I chose as the next activity (after Role on the Wall

technique).

3) Examination of character

Techniques: Role on the Wall, Teacher in the Role, Mantle of the Expert.

Objectives: To study character, to distinguish the facts from assumptions, to describe

a physical appearance, to develop communicative competence (verbal),

to develop imagination.

Focus: Description of a person, facts and assumption, modal verbs.

Time: 10 min.

Setting: All students sit in a semi-circle facing the board.

Procedure: Teacher draws on the board an outline of Lisa and students, still as

detectives, say what they know about Lisa – about her personality, her

background, her family, and the places she certainly visited last night.

Students also tell the teacher where to write the information - the facts go

inside the figure and the things that they assume outside the outline.

Variations: Students can go and write the facts on the board themselves (but it takes

much more time).

Realization: After the first suggestion I asked if it was a fact or assumption. With it,

students told me automatically where to write their comments and

suggestions.

4) Examination of chief witnesses (Lisa's mother and stepfather)

Techniques: Role Play, Hot-seating, Interviews and Interrogations, Teacher in the

Role, Mantle of Expert, Role on the Wall.

Objectives: To get to know more information, to distinguish the facts from

assumptions, to characterize someone, to develop communicative

competence (verbal), to develop imagination.



Focus: Asking questions.

Time: 15 min.

Material : Cards for role play.

Setting: All students sit in a semi-circle facing the board.

Procedure: 1 Teacher picks up two volunteers acting the chief witnesses - Lisa's

mother and stepfather who announced that their daughter had gone

missing. They are given cards describing the situation a little and they act

Lisa's mother and stepfather. They are seated in a witness box on the

chairs in front of the detectives who will ask questions. They can add

their own ideas to the information on the card. The only rule is that they

cannot contradict each other (and that is why they have to listen to each

other very carefully). Teacher in the Role directs the interrogation.

2 (After the interrogation) If students/detectives do not have any more

questions, teacher goes back to the Role on the Wall activity and students

add what they have found out about Lisa (Teacher can help by means of

questions, such as What do you think about Lisa's relationship with her

mother/her father/her stepfather?, etc.).

Variations: Questions can be restricted in form (for example only yes-no questions,

only wh- questions, only questions about Lisa's family).

Realization: Students played their parts amazingly, they immediately started to

improvise and they did not let themselves distract by unexpected

questions. They managed to move the story forward without

contradicting each other. One student suggested we should interrogate

Lisa’s friends. That is why I used this idea in the following activity.

5) Examination of other witnesses

Techniques: Role Play, Interviews and Interrogations, Teacher in the Role, Mantle of

Expert, Role on the Wall.

Objectives: To get to know more information, to develop communicative competence

(verbal), to develop creativity, to choose drama expression (acting).

Focus: Asking questions.

Time: 20 min.

Setting: Pairs.



Procedure: 1 Teacher explains to students/detectives that more information about

Lisa is still needed.

2 Students are in pairs. One of them is still a police detective, while the

other is someone who knew Lisa (her neighbour, her teacher, her brother,

her friend, etc.). The detective asks questions about Lisa in order to get to

know her better and predict what could have happened last night, where

she can be now, etc. Detectives have 10 min to investigate.

3 If detectives do not have any more questions, Teacher in the Role can

go back again to the Role on the Wall activity and add what the

detectives had found out about Lisa (again the only rule is that they have

to listen to each other carefully and do not to contradict each other).

Variations: Again, the questions may be restricted in form (for example students who

act someone who knew Lisa cannot answer yes and no).

Realization: Students marked Lisa’s biological father as a main suspect. To give

students the chance to explore this possibility I included following

activity.

6) Alibi

Techniques: Role Play, Hot-seating, Interviews and Interrogations, Teacher in the

Role, Mantle of Expert.

Objectives: To convince detectives of your innocence – improvisation, to encourage

team work, to develop communicative competence (verbal), to develop

creativity, to practise information retention, to choose drama expression

(acting), to use discussion language.

Focus: Note taking, careful listening, asking questions, discussion language.


Setting: Pairs.

Procedure: 1 One person in the pair is Lisa's father who is now the main suspect. The

police think he has kidnapped Lisa. Lisa’s father must prepare his alibi

for last night from 8 pm to midnight and his partner must confirm it. Both

students claim to spend this time together, so they must be able to

account for everything that they did, saw, said, etc.



2 One of the couple is seated in a witness box on a chair in front of the

classroom and the detectives interrogate him, while his partner is waiting

outside. The interrogated person will be asked to give account of his

activities from last night and the detectives will take notes.

3 When the interrogation of one person is finished, the second partner

will be called in and will be asked to answer detectives' questions.

Notes: 1 Teacher can direct the interrogation as Teacher in the Role or

students/detectives can take turns in leading the interrogation.

2 Teacher can ask challenging questions during the interrogations, such

as ‘What was the weather like? What is the name of your co-worker?’,

etc.

Variations: Again, the questions can be restricted in form.

Acknowledgement: Used from Maley and Duff: 196.

Realization: Unfortunately, we only had time to interrogate two couples. When

students understood how the activity works, they started asking really

tricky questions. They really enjoyed the activity (particularly when the

statements of the suspects did not match).

III. BREAK

(15 min)

Warm-up: Molecules

Objectives: To activate group, to develop group sensitivity, to overcome self-

consciousness.

Focus: Numbers, vocabulary - body parts.

Time: 5 min.

Material : Lively music (Cafe Tacuba: Ojala que llueva).


Procedure: Students walk around the classroom. When teacher stops the music and

calls out, for example, “Molecule 3 – knees”, students must create trios

and be connected by knees (teacher shows an example). The numbers and

the body parts will change.



Notes: This activity can be used when teacher wants to make groups of a certain

number of students (for example pairs, trios, teams of 6, etc.)

Acknowledgement: This typical children’s game can be found for example in Maley

and Duff: 80 under the name ‘Atom 3!’.

Realization: Students enjoyed the most the final instruction ‘Molecules 11 –

shoulders’. When they realized that they all had to touch because they

were exactly 11, they made a line.

IV.

7) Police Broadcast

Techniques: Re-enactment, Reportage, Making Maps, Role Play.

Objectives: To interpret students’ ideas and assumptions, to develop communicative

competence, to choose drama expression (acting, improvisation), to

develop creativity, to encourage team work.

Focus: Discussion language in teams, description of a physical appearance, map

making – prepositions, instructions, prepositions, directions, modal verbs,

transactional language (for example ‘Give me the brown marker’, ‘Can

you draw it?’, etc.).


Material : Flip charts.


Procedure: 1 Students now have more information on Lisa and they have various

ideas about what could have possibly happened to her. Teacher asks

students to work in groups and prepare a police broadcast announcing

Lisa's missing including:

a) Introduction of Lisa as a missing person (the facts about her: hair

colour, age, where and when she was last seen, dress, etc.),

b) Re-enactment of what could have happened last night from 8 pm till

midnight. It can be spoken or mimed, through the technique of Still

Images, etc.

c) Ask the viewing public for help – to call the police if they have any

information about Lisa.



2 Students will also present a poster with a map of places where Lisa

certainly and possibly was last night.

Variations: 1 Students can make a character poster with a picture and description of a

physical appearance (Missing, Wanted posters).

2 Students can make an interview – publicist with a chief detective.

3 After map making students can confront the real map. Maps can be also

made with students’ bodies – each student represents some place –

position in the classroom - and tells the detective which place he

represents and how to get there from the police station.

Realization: Students started to work very enthusiastically and they wanted their

posters to be too elaborate. That is why I had to keep insisting that they

should start working on their improvisations. The reporters looked very

professional and performed brilliantly. The first group interpreted their

story by means of miming; it was very simple and legible. The second

group included speaking as well, which was a bit tedious. In order to

preserve the tension and symbolism of drama, I would recommend using

more artistic forms, such as Still Images.

8) Mobile on the chair

Techniques: Giving Witness.

Objectives: To interpret students’ ideas, to develop communicative competence

(verbal), to choose drama expression (acting), to develop creativity, to

develop group sensitivity.

Focus: Listening carefully, making phone calls (greetings, introducing yourself,

saying your home address. etc.).

Time: 10 min.

Setting: All students sit in a circle, an empty chair in the middle.

Material : Mobile phone

Procedure: A mobile phone is put on the chair. The phone represents the police

station. Anyone of the students can go, pick up the phone and make a

phone call to the police as a witness and give police some piece of

information about Lisa and what happened to her (again, there is a rule

that students cannot contradict each other)



Notes: This can be the end of the story as students decide what happened to Lisa

(if she is OK, dead, if she called the police herself, etc.) or it can lead to

other activities. All depends on students (if they want to explore the topic

more or not) and the flexibility and creativity of the teacher.

Realization: When the first student picked up the phone and called the police station,

another student immediately reacted and answered as a police detective.

Therefore the whole activity went on in a dialogue, even without my

previous instructions. Each student wanted to contribute, so almost

everyone took turn in roles of witnesses and detectives. At last, the

‘neighbour of Lisa’s boyfriend’ resolved the mystery and announced that

Lisa was sleeping over her boyfriend’s flat.

9) Text message home (Calming down activity)

Techniques: Message.

Objectives: To interpret students’ ideas, to develop communicative competence

(written and verbal), to choose drama expression (reading and writing), to

develop creativity, to reflect on self.

Focus: Writing a short message, reduction of language, discussion language.

Time: 15 min.

Material : Slips of paper.


Procedure: Students imagine that they are Lisa and they saw the police broadcast on

TV. They are writing a text message to their mother. (Question: What

would you write?)

Notes: 1 Another scene can be added if students are interested (for example the

encounter of Lisa with her mother).

2 As a final product activity students/detectives can write a police report

about the case.

Realization: Students calmed down quickly and they concentrated intensively. All of

them wanted to read their message, some of them were quite moving.

Everyone agreed that this structured drama would be a strong theme for

teenagers.



10) Final reflection (25 min)

Reflection on the theme: What was the story about? What was the story about for you?

What themes we could discuss (the world is dangerous and one needs to be

always careful; although you may not realize it, your family always loves you;

relationships in the family, communication, loneliness, etc.)

What is structured drama: The teacher gives students a starting situation and students

are encouraged to explore it using any means available. The teacher determines

the drama techniques for individual activities, but students are the ones who

determine the content and the conclusions. Thus, students actually create their

own story. You created your own end – Lisa was sleeping at her new boyfriend’s

place (other possible ends could be: Lisa was kidnapped, Lisa escaped from

home and went to see her father, Lisa killed herself, etc.)

Structured drama is a specific form of drama based on social learning and

learning through experience. Structured drama is determined by the central

themes (for example family, being different from the others, value of sacrifice,

etc.) that students explore through their own actions and thus learn to better

understand themselves and human behaviour. It develops empathy, creativity

and imagination, critical thinking and intellect.

Techniques: Focused on fluency, may be focused on forms (for example restricted

forms of questions) and functions as well (how to ask a 3-year old child, 14-year

old, grown-ups with different status, etc.)

Acknowledgement: The whole structured drama was based on two courses. First, on

the course Dramatické techniky ve výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]) led

by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová in autumn 2007 (especially the activity ‘Map

making’); and secondly, on the workshop of Andrew John Kempe held at


V. Relaxation



From seed to plant

Objectives: To calm down the group, to develop dramatic expression (through body).

Focus: Following the instructions, vocabulary.

Time: 5 min.

Material : Relaxation music (used from the series Byousoku 5 Centimetres).


Procedure: 1 Students imagine that they are a seed in the ground and they crouch

into a bobble.

2 When listening to the music, students start to grow very slowly and

spread their hands to the sun until they grow up in an adult plant or tree.

3 With the quieting music, the students go down again and end up in

original position of the seed in the ground.

Acknowledgement: Inspired by the activity ‘From seed to plant’ in Maley and Duff:

58.

Realization: Unfortunately, we did not have time to realize this calming-down

activity.

Reflection on Day 2

There were 11 participants, which gave us enough time for activities’

examination. The atmosphere and working enthusiasm was again very pleasant and

cheerful. Students immediately accepted the concept of the structured drama and they

really appreciated the chance to decide about the story themselves, about what would

happen next, which situations explore and how the drama would end. They assigned the

main themes of the drama as relationships in the family, communication in the family,

empathy, divorce and loneliness.

If I had the chance to change something, I would probably anticipate better the

time for particular activities so that we would still have time to do the last calming-

down activity. However, the participants were enjoying drama so much, I literally did

not have the heart to make them hurry through it or to skip some of its parts.

Nevertheless, in the exit questionnaire, one of the participants mentioned that he was

sorry that not all the ideas could have been sufficiently explored.



Day 3


I. Warm-ups

� Hands shaking

II. Definition of space

� Take your partner to the walk – map of Mexico

� Continent Machine

III. Structured drama: Moctezuma

� Creation of Tenochtitlan

� Demonstration of everyday life + Celebration

IV. Break (15 min) + warm-up (Horse race)

V. Structured drama – continuation

� Meeting

� Choral speak

� Discussion

� Alley of opinions

� Position on the Scale/Spectrum of Difference


VI. Relaxation (Thermometer)



I. Warm-ups

1) Hands shaking


Objectives: To activate group, to develop group sensitivity and empathy, to develop

communicative competence (verbal and non-verbal), to develop

creativity, to overcome self-consciousness.

Focus: Greetings, introductions.

Time: 5 min.


Procedure: This is a mingling activity.

1 In 30 seconds, students try to shake hands with and say hello to as

many people as possible. Students establish eye contact.

2 Students imagine they are at a party and they are 100 years old.

(Teacher asks questions: ‘How do you stand? How do you move?’, etc.)

3 Students imagine that they are at a VIP party and they are very snooty.

They think the other people there are losers and they just came in order to

be seen.

4 Students imagine that they are three years old and this is their first day

in the kindergarten after the holidays.

Variations: In order to develop communicative competence students can introduce

themselves.

Acknowledgement: I have found this activity in the mood-link-a course Dramatické

postupy ve výuce angličtiny (3). However, we can find very similar

variation in Maley and Duff as well.

II. Definition of Space

1) Take your partner to the walk – map of Mexico

Techniques: Definition of Space, Map Making.

Objectives: To get to know each other, to develop group sensitivity, to explore the

space, to develop communicative competence (verbal).



Focus: Past tenses, description of places and events, careful listening, cardinal

points.

Time: 15 min.

Setting: All students stand in pairs.

Teacher: Today we will talk about Mexico and a little bit of its history. In order to

tune to the topic, we will work with space and explore Mexico you know.

Procedure: Students imagine the classroom is the map of Mexico. At the door is the

North, at the windows the South. Students in pairs take turns and take

their partner to a walk to three places in Mexico:

A) where they were born,

B) where they have spent the best holidays,

C) where they have experienced a big surprise.

Students give instructions (for example ‘Let's go to the North-West to the

mountains and canyons of Chihuahua where I spent...’).

Variations: Particular vocabulary can be practised.

Acknowledgement: I was inspired by the workshop of Andrew John Kempe held at


Realization: The activity is highly personalized, which meant that students had really

liked it because they could talk about their own experiences and lives.

Some of the students were born at the same place (particularly in Mexico

City) or they were talking about the same places where they spent

holiday (especially Cancún and Mayan Riviera).

2) Continent Machine

Techniques: Definition of Space, Miming, Still Image, Collective Drawing.

Objectives: To choose drama expression (through body), to organize collective

drawing, to develop group sensitivity, to develop communicative

competence (verbal and non-verbal), to develop creativity, to encourage

team work.

Focus: Discussion language in teams (what to draw, who, where), map making –

giving directions, instructions.

Time: 25 min.




Material : Flip charts, markers.

Teacher: As you will see drama can be used for learning cross-curricular content

as well. This activity exploits students’ knowledge of geography, culture

and history and the structured drama we're about to start next explores

the specific historical period of Mexico.

Procedure: 1 Students in teams are given a flip chart and they draw collectively a

map of Mexico where they note several phenomena (natural, cultural,

historical, etc. – for example the mummies of Guanajuato). They have to

agree on what to draw/indicate. They have 10 min to prepare.

2 Students in their teams will choose one phenomena and make a

collective still image. When the still image is finished, students will

animate it with a movement and/or a phrase. They have 5 min to prepare

(teacher shows an example).

3 Animation of Still Image: when teacher claps, the whole group will

make the still image. When teacher touches someone, all performers will

animate and make their movements or sounds. The other teams will guess

which phenomenon is being interpreted.

Acknowledgement: I have found this activity in the mood-link-a course Dramatické

postupy ve výuce angličtiny (can be found in [5]).

Realization: My first intention was to make a continent map/machine where each

member of the team would choose different phenomena and the whole

map of Mexico would set into motion. However, because of the lack of

time, I simplified the activity and the whole team gave form to just one

element.

III. Structured drama: Moctezuma

1) Creation of Tenochtitlan

Techniques: Definition of Space, Arts and Craft, Problem Solving.

Objectives: To find solution to a problem, to develop creativity, to develop

communicative competence (verbal and non-verbal), to encourage team

work, to develop sensory-motor skills.



Focus: Discussion language in teams, procedural language (for example ‘Pass

me the scotch tape’, ‘cut it here’, etc.), presenting the work.


Material : String, scotch tape, toilet paper, newspapers.


Teacher: The story we will now explore goes back to the huge and powerful Aztec

Empire which was at the top of its fame and growth at the beginning of

16th century. As you all know the centre and the capital of Aztec Empire

was Tenochtitlan, an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco where present

Mexico City is now.

Procedure: 1 Students imagine how Tenochtitlan at the top of its fame looked like

and they try to build its main square. They can create The Great Pyramid

of Tenochtitlan Templo Mayor or any other structure that they will then

present to the others. Students can use whatever material they want

(newspapers, string, chairs, etc.). Teacher should emphasize the time

limit for preparation (only 20 min) and observe it strictly.

2 Students present what they created.

3 Students evaluate the aesthetics and height of the creations.

Notes: The feedback session could be held (Questions: who was the organizer?,

what was your role in the process?, etc.)

Acknowledgement: The idea of creating an ancient city was given to me by the British

lecturer Warwick Dobson during his workshop on structured drama held

at the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University in spring 2008.

Realization: Students started to work very enthusiastically and they took the

competition really seriously. They built high constructions from chairs

(the pyramids) which they decorated with newspapers, pillows, rugs, etc.

In the final reflection they stated that the fact they had to first build the

city helped them then empathize with the characters who were supposed

to lose it later on in the drama.

2) Demonstration of everyday life + Celebration

Techniques: Definition of Space, Still Image, Animation of Still Image.



Objectives: To learn about social system and customs of Aztecs, to develop group

sensitivity, to encourage team work, to develop creativity, to develop

communicative competence (verbal and non-verbal) and empathy.

Focus: Discussion language in teams, listening.

Time: 30 min.

Material : Aztec music (in the background).

Setting: The same 4 teams of 5.

Procedure: 1 Students discuss what they know about people living in Tenochtitlan

and their lives. Students think about the professions that people had in

Tenochtitlan.

2 Teacher tells students about the fact people were strictly divided in

castes: Pipiltin – nobles, such as king, priests, warriors, administrators

and merchants; and Macehualtin – artisans and cultivators.

3 Students choose one profession and prepare a still image clearly

representing it. Students set this still image into their Tenochtitlan.

Students also think of a name for their character and why they chose this

name. They have 3 min to prepare. (For example ‘I am maize grower and

my name is Tatanka, which means She who makes grass gold’.)

4 Animation of Still Image: When teacher claps, the whole group will

make a still image. The person the teacher touches will animate and say

her name and why she has this name.

5 Teacher tells the students: “But in Tenochtitlan people were not just

working. They also held a lot of rituals, ceremonies and celebrations. The

most important celebration of all was ‘tying of years’ ceremony at the

end of a 52-year cycle in the Aztec calendar, which was believed to bring

great changes.”

6 Students prepare a collective still image in their groups depicting this

ceremony/celebration. They also think of an animation of their still image

by movement or actions and sounds. They have 5 min to prepare (for

example I am drinking pulque, I am already pretty drunk). In the

presentation they animate one after another in order to create a fluently

progressive still image.

Notes: The social system can be extensively explored (especially the

vocabulary).



Realization: Students impersonated the characters immediately and they

spontaneously started to create costumes and to look for the props. The

presentation of the celebration went particularly well. The progressive

movement of the animated still images made really strong aesthetic

impression.

IV. BREAK

(15 min)

Warm-up: Horse race


Objectives: To activate the group, to develop group sensitivity, to choose drama

expression (through sounds and miming), to feel the rhythm.


Time: 5 min.

Setting: All students stand in a circle.

Procedure: Students imagine that they are riders preparing themselves for horse race.

Teacher is a horse race commentator and students will ride according to

her instructions.

Notes: Before actual performing the activity, teacher should practise with

students the horse race instructions and particular movements connected

to them. Horse race situations: riding left and right, obstacle, double

obstacle, wind, water jump, men, women and children audience, Japanese

tourists, home stretch.

Acknowledgement: I have learnt this activity in a semester course ‘Teaching children’

held at the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University and taught by

Ivana Hrozková in spring 2009.

V.

3) Meeting

Techniques: Meeting, Narration, Teacher in the Role, Role Play, Using Prop.

Objectives: To get students involved.

Focus: Careful listening, vocabulary.



Time: 10 min.

Material : Text of Moctezuma’s monologue (see Appendix 4), prop: beads.


Procedure: 1 Teacher tells students: “ Because of the end of Aztec calendar,

everybody knew that some big changes were drawing near. And sure

enough they were. The Aztec king Moctezuma invited all the inhabitants

of Tenochtitlan to an important meeting.”

2 Students imagine they are at the meeting. They all came in the

characters they were impersonating in the previous activity. Teacher puts

on the representative prop (beads) and becomes the king Moctezuma.

3 Moctezuma’s speech (Teacher in the Role):

“Dear Aztec people, welcome to this special meeting. I have summoned

you because I wanted to inform you about some very disturbing event

that had happened. I have seen a sign, an omen and I had our greatest

Totonaca wizard Itecupinqui to interpret the sign.

Here is what I saw:

‘The fishermen in the lagoon caught in their nets a bird, a bird of a

colour and size of a hawk, and that bird had in the middle of its head a

mirror. They have never seen anything like that. So they brought me the

bird into my palace, I was in the hall and it was after noon. I looked at

the bird and at the mirror it had in its head, it was round and glazed, and

looking into the mirror I saw the stars of the sky, the mamalhuaztli, the

stars of the Taurus constellation.

I got really terrified and I turned away in surprise. When I looked back

into the mirror that was in the bird's head I saw people riding strange

animals. Those people were coming in a huge crowd, all with unknown

arms. And when I saw this I got even more frightened. That is why I

summoned my tonapoulques, my astrologers and diviners and I asked

them “What was it that appeared to me?” and they were all really

puzzled and the bird disappeared and they got all really scared and they

weren't able to say anything.’ (Meza: 31)

That is why I called the famous Totonaca wizard to interpret the sign and

here is the prophecy he told me.”



4) Choral speak

Techniques: Choral Speak, Interpretation of a text.

Objectives: To perform choral poetry, to develop group sensitivity, to feel the

rhythm, to encourage team work, to develop communicative competence

(verbal), to develop creativity.

Focus: Pronunciation, prosody (intonation, rhythm, etc.).


Material : Choral reading text (see Appendix 5).

Setting: 2 teams.

Procedure: 1 Teacher gives students the prophecy the wizard predicted. Students are

in two teams and they are supposed to read the prophecy in their team

chorally. Students should agree which parts they will read silently,

loudly, which parts will be stressed, etc. They can even sing.

2 Prophecy:

“I wouldn’t like Oh King! to alarm your spirit, but the prophecy of

Quetzacóatl is about to come true. White and bearded men will come

from the Orient and our cities will be destroyed and ruined, our sons

dead and our gods chased out from the temples. Do not be alarmed any

more because what is going to happen cannot be avoided. Quetzacóatl

will return to take the possession of his land.” (Meza: 32)

Notes: The text can be exploited from the point of view of grammar, vocabulary,

etc.

Realization: Students decided on their own that they would stand in a line, each team

facing each other in order to strengthen the resulting dramatic effect of

the dramatized choral reading.

5) Discussion

Techniques: Narration, Teacher in the Role, Role Play, Using Prop.

Objectives: To discuss the problem, to present the conflict, to develop

communicative competence (verbal), to develop critical thinking.

Focus: Discussion language, considering pros and cons, defending students’

opinions and standpoints, formulating ideas.

Time: 5 min.




Procedure: 1 A new meeting has been summoned. Students are again in the role of

the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, waiting for the king to come and

wondering why there is another meeting in such a short time.

2 Moctezuma’s speech (Teacher in the Role):

“Dear inhabitants of Tenochtitlan, dear Aztec people. I have some grave

news to inform you about. Some terrible things have happened and a

decision is to be made. As you all know the white men have already got

ashore in the East and more and more are still coming. They want our

land and our treasures. And now the messengers of the white people, the

so called Spaniards, brought the message from their king. Spanish king

says that if we, Aztec people, surrender to the Spaniards, they will spare

our lives. Now it is time for us to decide – will we surrender or will we

fight?”

3 Students discuss the given problem in their roles.

Notes: It is possible to use the technique Devil’s advocate here.

Realization: Students were immediately engaged by the drama and looked up to

Moctezuma with respect. What surprised me most was that during the

discussion they immediately decided to fight. I was forced to use the

technique Devil’s advocate in order to elicit some discussion. Students

started to explain to me their views and positions; they even mentioned

scientific studies they had read about the topic. The discussion followed

about Mexican’s perception of their own identity, their conquest by

Spaniards, mixing cultures, their present attitude to Spain and Spaniards,

etc., which was very enriching for me as a foreigner. All participants

agreed that this topic would be really contributing and suitable for the

pupils of primary schools.

6) Alley of opinions

Techniques: Alley of Opinions.

Objectives: To give personal standpoint to the problem, to develop empathy, to

develop group sensitivity, to develop communicative competence

(verbal), to develop critical thinking.



Focus: Should/could, functions: giving advice, suggestions.

Time: 10 min.

Setting: All students stand in two lines facing each other.

Procedure: 1 Teacher tells students: “You have heard the conditions of Spaniards

and you have discussed the possible consequences with your neighbours.

Think what advice would you give to the king? What decision should he

make?”

2 Students stand in two lines facing each other and in their roles

formulate a piece of advice to their king Moctezuma. One of the students

is Moctezuma now (teacher hands him over the prop) and this student

will walk very slowly down the alley students had made. He will look at

a student (and establish eye contact) and a student will tell him aloud his

or her advice.

Acknowledgement: As already mentioned before, Neelands’ convention Voices in the

Head is in the Czech drama background better known as Alley of

opinions. I was first introduced to this technique by PaedDr. Marie

Pavlovská, Ph.D.

Realization: I handed over the beads (representative prop) to the only man in the

group because of his natural authority. The whole activity was

dramatically and emotionally very powerful. Almost all the participants

admonished Moctezuma to fight.

7) Position on the Scale

Techniques: Position on the Scale/Spectrum of Difference.

Objectives: To make a final decision, to reflect on drama, to develop critical thinking.

Focus: Following the instructions.

Time: 10 min.

Material : String.

Setting: All students stand, the string is placed in the middle of the classroom.

Procedure: 1 Teacher tells the students: “You all gave your piece of advice, which

means that you had made your decision for yourself. Now let's see what

your decision is. “



2 Students imagine that the string is a scale/spectrum. At one end, there is

a decision “I would definitely surrender to Spaniards in order to save our

lives”, at the opposite end, there is a decision “I would definitely fight

Spaniards”. Students pose themselves anywhere on the scale according to

their decision (teacher demonstrates).

3 Moctezuma will go last.

Notes: 1 Discussion about why students decided this or that way.

2 This technique is usually used for evaluation (Question: How much did

you like it?)

Acknowledgement: I have got the idea of using this technique for expressing opinion

or decision from Warwick Dobson who held his workshop in Brno in

spring 2008.

Realization: As expected, the entire group decided to fight, including Moctezuma

who, before joining the others, spontaneously gave a brilliant king’s

speech where he appreciated the bravery of his people. He said that,

initially, he wanted to vote for peace and salvation of his people and the

city they had to build with so much difficulty, but when he saw the

courage of his people, he finally decided to fight.

8) Final Reflection (25 min)

End of the story: As you know in the history the Aztec people fought and many of

them lost their lives. Maybe if they hadn't fought, Mexican nation could have

been very different from the present one. (Possible discussion about how they

think their nation would have looked like if Aztec people hadn't fought.)

Reflection on the theme: What was the drama about? What was is about for you? Did

you find it difficult to decide? Why have you decided for fighting/surrendering?

Could you imagine what the life in Tenochtitlan looked like? Did you learn

something new?

Possible exploitation: The historical and geographical texts can be further explored.

Techniques: Focused on fluency, direct experience from drama, empathy, development

of critical thinking (stating ideas, defending them, decision making, etc.).



Realization: Topic connected to Mexican culture made the participants really involved

in the story. They all agreed it would be really useful as a cross-curricular

project and they pointed out how important is to discuss about their identity,

history and its consequences with younger generation.

VI. Relaxation

Thermometer

Techniques: Position on the Scale/Spectrum of Difference.

Objectives: To calm down.

Focus: Following instructions, vocabulary.

Time: 2 min.


Procedure: Students imagine that they are a thermometer and they show how much

they are looking forward to the next day. Up is 30 degrees Celsius and

down is minus 20 (teacher demonstrates an example).

Acknowledgement: I have taken this activity from the Diploma thesis written by

Martina Bártová.

Realization: All students put their hands up; some of them even stood on tiptoes or

jumped high. We all left in a great mood.

Reflection on Day 3

There were 10 students. The theme deeply wedded to the culture of the

participants appeared to be extremely engaging and motivating. A very interesting

debate arose about Mexican identity, their slight inferiority complex when it comes to

the foreigners, their relationship to the Spanish culture, etc. The rather slow building-up

activities such as the construction of students’ own Tenochtitlan and representation of

Aztecs’ everyday lives really paid off because they amplified the fellow-feeling towards

the Aztec ancestors and their decisions. In the exit questionnaire many participants

stated that they had liked Moctezuma’s story best of all workshop.



Day 4


I. Warm-ups

� Blindfold (group makes circle, square, triangle, line from the tallest to

smallest)

II. Structured drama: Anne Frank's Diary

� Portrait/picture of Anne Frank

� Examination of archive material

� Introduction of the diary

� Jewish restrictions

� Hiding

� A Day in the Life

� Solving the conflict


III. Relaxation (Giving presents)



I. Warm-ups

1) Blindfold - the group makes circle, square, triangle, line from the tallest to

smallest


Objectives: To activate the group, to develop group sensitivity, to overcome self-

consciousness.

Focus: Following the instructions, vocabulary – shapes.

Time: 10 min.


Procedure: Students spread around the classroom (in order not stay in the circle) and

close their eyes. They perform instructions of the teacher:

“Make a circle. Make a square. Make a triangle. Make a line from the

tallest to smallest.”

Notes: For this activity students should already know each other quite well.

Otherwise, it can feel uncomfortable to touch and be touched by others.

Acknowledgement: I have learnt this activity in the drama lesson led by Mgr. Miroslav

Coufal in autumn 2006.

II. Structured drama: Anne Frank's Diary

1) Portrait of Anne Frank (picture)

Technique: Role on the Wall, Character study.

Objectives: To study the character, to develop communicative competence (verbal).

Focus: Physical description, making assumptions, adjectives, (moods, colours,

etc.)

Time: 10 min.

Material : Picture of Anne Frank [7] (see Appendix 6).


Teacher: Let's start the very last drama of our course. This drama will show us

how it feels to be different and how we can work with it in our class. It

will also take us to one specific and very important point in the history.



Procedure: Students are given a picture and they study the character in it. First,

students describe her physically (Questions: How old is she?) and then,

they try to see behind the picture and think of the questions like What

does she like doing? What colour does he like? What kind of person is

she? What nationality is she? When and where was the picture taken?,

etc.

Variations: 1 The character can be performed by a teacher through the technique

Hot-Seating.

2 All the facts and assumptions can be written down as in the Role on the

Wall technique.

Acknowledgement: Creating character according to the picture is very well-known

drama technique. We can find it for example in Maley and Duff: 128 in

the activity called ‘Portraits’.

Realization: Students did not know immediately who the person in the picture is,

though they found her familiar. They made assumptions about her Jewish

origin, her age, etc. until one student remembered it is Anne Frank. Then,

all the students who knew her started remembering her life story.

2) Examination of archive material /investigative journalists

Technique: Mantle of the Expert.

Objectives: To get to know Anne's background, to investigate material, to select

material, to develop communicative competence (verbal), to encourage

team work.

Focus: Reading, giving report, careful listening, dates.

Time: 30 min.

Material : 2 boxes containing geographical, historical, and personal material (for

example Anne’s toy, stocking, earring, her picture, her Jewish star,

summary of her biography, etc.)


Procedure: 1 If students do not recognize Anne Frank in the picture, teacher will tell

them it's her (Questions: What do you know about her? Does her name

imply you anything?).



2 Students imagine that they are contemporary investigative journalists

and their publisher asked them to write a complex article about Anne.

That is why students do not want to find out things just about Anne, but

also about her whole background. There are 2 boxes on the tables

containing different kinds of material that they should investigate

(geographical, historical, and personal). Each team will closely

investigate one box.

3 Students/journalists report to their colleagues what they have found out.

They should concentrate especially on facts, names, dates and events

from Anne's background.

Variations: 1 Again, Role on the Wall technique can be used to summarize the

reports.

2 The editor can be performed by the technique Teacher in the Role.

3 Project can be assigned – students research on the Internet about Anne

Frank, they ask their grandparents about World War II, etc.

Acknowledgement: I have found this idea in Charlyn Wessels’ book Drama.

Realization: Some participants were very interested in the contents of the boxes and

wanted to investigate everything, so in the end, I gave them more time to

investigate all the material they wanted. Then, the natural discussion

arose where the students/journalists mutually reported everything they

had found out or remembered. One student mentioned the diary, which I

introduced in the following activity.

3) Introduction of the diary

Technique: Work with Diary Entry (reading).

Objectives: To submerge students into fiction and get them interested in the topic, to

develop imagination.

Focus: Listening.

Time: 5 min.

Material : Diary sheets (see Appendix 7).


Procedure: 1 Teacher connects the drama and students listen: “Now we have learnt a

lot about Anne and about the social and political background she lived in.



I have got some terrific news for you – some ripped off sheets from her

original diary were found, so we can investigate even this authentic

material. Let me read to you one of her introduction passages where she

writes why she actually started to write a diary”

2 Teacher reads the diary entry (see Appendix 7):

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1942

Now I'm back to the point that prompted me to keep a diary in the first

place: I don't have a friend. Let me put it more clearly, since no one will

believe that a thirteen year-old girl is completely alone in the world. And

I'm not. I have loving parents and a sixteen-year-old sister, and there are

about thirty people I can call friends. No, on the surface I seem to have

everything, except my one true friend.

This is why I've started the diary.

To enhance the image of this long-awaited friend in my imagination, I

don't want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would

do, but I want the diary to be my friend, and I'm going to call this friend

Kitty. (Frank: 10)

Variations: Students can explore and read from the diary on their own (it is more

effective, but it also takes more time)

Notes: Teacher should definitely let students see and inspect the diary pages

before reading it.

Realization: Students were passing the diary to each other and each student explored it

and wanted to read it individually. That is why I invited one student to

read the extract aloud, but unfortunately, no one was able to read the

handwriting (as the Mexican use only capital handwriting). That is why I

read the diary to the students myself.

4) Jewish restrictions

Technique: Work with Diary Entry (reading), Still Image, Animation of Still Image,

Voices in the Head.

Objectives: To develop empathy, to develop communicative competence (verbal and

non-verbal), to encourage team work, to develop group sensitivity and

creativity.



Focus: Prohibitions, modals, imperatives, listening, discussion language in

teams.


Material : Diary sheets (see Appendix 8).


Procedure: 1 Teacher connects the drama and tells the students: “As your colleagues

have already informed us the Jews during WWII were undergoing many

restrictions before Nazi started to transport them to the concentration

camps. Anne describes some of the restrictions she and all the Jews had

to undergo before she was forced to go into hiding.”

2 Teacher asks students to listen very carefully to the restrictions for

Jews and in their teams create a still image representing one of the

restrictions. In the still image, one of the characters will be Anne and the

still image will show how that particular restriction affects her.

3 When a still image is finished, each character will think of a phrase he

or she impersonates. (Teacher gives an example: Jews are not allowed to

use public transport, so Ann walks on the street in the winter. People

from the tram observe her saying: You cannot go here. You filthy Jew. I

am so sorry for you, etc.)

4 Teacher reads the diary entry (see Appendix 8):

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 1942

Our lives were not without anxiety, since our relatives in Germany were

suffering under Hitler's anti-Jewish laws. After the pogroms in 1938 my

two uncles fled Germany, finding safe refuge in North America. After

May 1940 the good times were few and far between: first there was the

war, then the capitulation of Holland and then the arrival of the

Germans, which is when the trouble started for the Jews. Our freedom

was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were

required to wear a yellow star; Jews were required to turn in their

bicycles; Jews were forbidden to use street-cars; Jews were forbidden to

ride in cars, even their own; Jews were required to do their shopping

between 3 and 5 P.M.; Jews were forbidden to be out on the streets

between 8 P.M. and 6 A.M.; Jews were forbidden to attend theatres,

movies or any other forms of entertainment; Jews were forbidden to use



swimming pools, tennis courts, hockey fields or any other athletic fields;

Jews were forbidden to take part in any athletic activity in public; Jews

were forbidden to sit in their gardens or those of their friends after 8

P.M.; Jews were forbidden to visit Christians in their homes; Jews were

required to attend Jewish schools, etc.

You couldn't do this and you couldn't do that, but life went on. My friend

Jacque always said to me, "I don't dare do anything anymore, 'cause I'm

afraid it's not allowed." (Frank: 11)

5 Animation of Still Image: Once the team is ready, teacher will clap and

the students will do their still image. When teacher touches someone, he

or she will say their phrase.

6 After Animation of the Still Image, anyone from observing students

can stand behind Anne and say what she feels (Question: How would you

feel in her shoes?). Real Anne will express her phrase as the last one.

Notes: A short discussion about how students felt can follow, teacher should ask

especially the student acting Anne, as it was very emotional for her and

teacher should help her step out of the role and express her feelings.

Acknowledgement: Although Neelands’ mentions the name of the convention

Thought-Tracking, in Czech drama background it is more common to

call it Voices in the Head. I was first introduced to this technique by

PaedDr. Marie Pavlovská, Ph.D.

Realization: Very intriguing, dramatically and emotionally powerful activity. All

students performed the inner voice of Anne.

5) Hiding

Technique: Work with Diary Entry (reading), Narration, and Narrative Mime.

Objectives: To develop empathy, to agree on rules, to encourage team work, to

develop communicative competence (written and verbal), to develop

creativity, to choose drama expression (through body).

Focus: Listening, discussion language in teams, acting according to the

instructions, imperatives.

Time: 30 min.

Material : Diary sheets (see Appendix 9 and 10), sounds of war.



Setting: All students sit in a circle, 4 teams of 5.

Procedure: 1 Teacher connects the drama: “The situation became unbearable and

Anne, her family and another family had to go into hiding. There were 8

people hiding in the Secret Annexe placed at the back of the office of

Anne's father's company. These 8 people were completely dependent on

people who were helping them.

But life in hiding is not easy. There is a permanent fear of being

discovered and dragged to the concentration camp. That is why these

people had to be really careful and observe very strict rules. Listen to the

diary.”

2 Students listen to the diary entry (see Appendix 9):

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1943

Dearest Kitty,

We've decided that from now on the stove is going to be lit at seven-thirty

on Sunday mornings instead of five-thirty. I think it's risky. What will the

neighbours think of our smoking chimney?

It's the same with the curtains. Ever since we first went into hiding,

they've been tacked firmly to the windows.

Sometimes one of the ladies or gentlemen can't resist the urge to peek

outside. The result: a storm of reproaches. The response: "Oh, nobody

will notice." That's how every act of carelessness begins and ends. No

one will notice, no one will hear, no one will pay the least bit of

attention. Easy to say, but is it true? (Frank: 127)

3 Students imagine they are people hiding in the Secret Annexe and they

have to write a list of rules everyone has to observe in order not to be

discovered (for example ‘Do not splash the toilet after 6 pm’). They have

10 min to prepare their lists.

4 Students present their lists. A small reflection can follow here.

5 Teacher connects the drama: “But life in hiding is also difficult because

you are closed in a very small space, war is rearing everywhere around

you and you cannot escape, you cannot do anything.”

6 In order to imagine this aspect of Anne's life students listen very

carefully to the diary entry the teacher is going to read and they will

mime everything they hear (for example biting nails with fear).




WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1943

Dearest Kitty,

Last night the guns were making so much noise I was shivering, as if I

had a fever, and begged Father to relight the candle. He was adamant:

there was to be no light. Suddenly, we heard a burst of machine-gun fire.

This was followed by a loud boom, which sounded as if a firebomb had

landed beside my bed.

"Lights!

Lights!" I screamed. I was certain our house was ablaze.

The house shook and the bombs kept falling. I was clutching my "escape

bag," more because I wanted to have something to hold on to than

because I wanted to run away. I know we can't leave here, but if we had

to, being seen on the streets would be just as dangerous as getting caught

in an air raid. It was very scary, and the whole time I kept thinking,

"Here it comes, this is it."

I can assure you that when I went to bed at nine, my legs were still

shaking.

We haven't had a good night's rest in ages, and I have bags under my

eyes from lack of sleep.” (Frank: 94)

Acknowledgement: The technique called Narrative Mime can be found in many

literary sources, for example in Valenta’s Metody a techniky dramatické

výchovy. I first experienced this technique during the course Dramatické

techniky ve výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4]) led by Mgr. Šárka

Dohnalová in autumn 2007.

Realization: Some of the rules the students wrote were really strict (for example it is

forbidden to speak or even whisper, one can communicate only through

signs). The natural discussion arose if it is possible to live like this for

two years. The students really empathized with the Frank family. During

the Narrative Mime I realized that there were not so many actions to

mime (all the students were most of the time huddled into a bobble).

However, when discussing how students felt during this activity, they all

said it was extremely emotional to hear all the sounds and explosions of

the war so near them and that they felt really scared. In the exit



questionnaire some of the students declared to have liked this activity

most.

6) A Day in the Life

Technique: Work with Diary Entry (reading), A Day in the Life, Still Image, Sketch.

Objectives: To understand the relationships – empathy, to develop group sensitivity,

to develop creativity, to develop communicative competence (verbal and

non-verbal, written), to choose drama expression (through body, acting),

and to encourage team work.

Focus: Writing a sketch, discussion language in teams, performance language,

listening, acting according to instructions.

Time: 30 min.

Material : Diary sheets (see Appendix 11)


Procedure: 1 Teacher connects the drama saying: “Let's see the most disturbing

aspect of living in hiding. Imagine being closed in such a small space

with 7 other people. For a year, two...”

2 Students will listen to the extract describing graduating conflicts

appearing among the inhabitants of the Secret Annexe and they make a

still image in their groups while teacher is reading. When the teacher

finishes the extract, the still image is supposed to be ready. Students try

not to communicate verbally (teacher gives an example).


SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1943

Dearest Kitty,

You mustn't get the idea that Dussel's starving. We found bread, cheese,

jam and eggs in his cupboard. It's absolutely disgraceful that Dussel,

whom we've treated with such kindness and whom we took in to save

from destruction, should stuff himself behind our backs and not give us

anything. After all, we've shared all we had with him! (Frank: 91)

4 Teacher connects the drama: “As you could see the conflicts were

graduating and here comes the last and the most serious one.”



5 Students in their teams make a short sketch of the most serious conflict

beginning by the phrase “Don't!” The sketch will end in its climax, the

tensest moment (for example the old Mr Dussel is approaching Anne and

wants to strangle her – conflict not solved (reconciled). It will start in the

still image, and then students will perform their sketch and finish again in

a still image. The sketch can be a dialogue of only two people or more

people can participate.

Acknowledgement: The technique A day in the life can be found in many literary

sources, for example in Valenta’s Metody a techniky dramatické výchovy

or in Neelands and Goode. I first experienced this technique during the

course Dramatické techniky ve výuce cizích jazyků (can be found in [4])

led by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová in autumn 2007. The activity of writing a

sketch beginning with the phrase ‘Don’t!’ can be found in Wessels: 85.

Realization: Students managed to accomplish the first task of the activity very well

because when I stopped reading, they were all standing in Freeze

position. All the students participated in the sketch, both teams

interpreted the same conflict (the first team interpreted Dussel stealing

the food; in the second team not only did he steal food, but also read

Anne’s diary).

7) Solving the conflict

Technique: Group Sculpture.

Objectives: To solve problem, to develop empathy, to develop group sensitivity

(touch), to develop creativity and intellect.

Focus: Following the instructions.

Time: 10 min.

Setting: The same 4 teams of 5.

Procedure: Teacher points out that all sketches finished in the tensest moment, so

now it is the time to calm things down and make a truce. Students create

the final still image again and any one from the other team can come and

sculpt the statues in such position so that the conflict could be solved and

reconciled (what the characters need to do to reconcile).



Variations: The sculptor can give just oral instructions to the statues in order to

practise the communicative competence.

Realization: Students immediately understood the task and they started to shape their

colleagues without feeling awkward or ashamed. The reflection was an

important part of activity, so that we could speak about the things the

characters needed in order to reconcile (empathy, patience, wisdom, etc.).

8) Reflection (10 min)

Reflection on themes: What was the drama about? What was is about for you? Were

you able to empathize with Anne Frank and her family? Did you learn

something new? Possible themes to discuss: being different, relationships,

compromises, pacifying conflicts, observing rules, overcoming fear, etc.

Possible exploitation: 1 Students can write an article about Anne to the

newspapers (as original investigative journalists).

2 Students can write a diary entry.

3 Students can write a letter to Anne.

4 Students can write a letter to the man who denounced

them in hiding.

Techniques: Focused on fluency, direct experience from drama, empathy, cross-

curricular content.

III. Relaxation

Giving presents

Objectives: To award each participant/to thank each other, to calm down and relax, to

express feelings and emotions.


Time: 5 min.

Material : Relaxation music, slips of paper.

Setting: All students lie on the floor in a circle.



Teacher: We have spent some wonderful four days together and I would like to

thank you for everything we have experienced. In order to thank the

others a little bit for their kindness, sensibility and creativity, we will give

each other a present.

Procedure: 1 Students lie down, relax and think of a present they would like to give

to the person on their left. They can also give some present to one more

person, whoever they want.

2 When everyone has their present in mind, they write the present on a

piece of paper, get up and hand over the present with an explanation what

it is and why.

Notes: This activity was led in this way in order to show the participants how

they can use it with their pupils. In every class there will be pupils who

would receive 10 gifts and also the ones who would not receive anything.

That is why the instruction “Give a present to the person on your left”

was given and then students got the chance to be spontaneous and choose

one more person they wanted to gift.

Acknowledgement: I was inspired for this activity by a drama lesson led by Mgr.

Miroslav Coufal in autumn 2006.

Realization: Although we ran out of time, all students wanted to stay for final

relaxation activity which they really liked. Some of the students gave

presents to just one person; some of them gave presents to everybody. I

received four presents but all the participants came to say goodbye in

person and thanked me for the course. (We stayed and talked for more

than three hours after the end of the workshop).

Reflection on Day 4

There were 10 students. The atmosphere was great again. The drama of the

fourth day evoked really powerful dramatic and aesthetical experiences in all

participants. Students really liked examining the materials and gradual learning about

Anne through the diary. In the exit questionnaire many attendants said that they

appreciated the drama about such powerful and most of all real and authentic topic and

that they really found themselves empathizing with the characters. In the final



reflection, we had quite an interesting discussion about holocaust, concentration camps

and the Second World War in general because I was interested in how much Mexicans

know about these historical realities that had happened in Europe. As I expected it was

revealed to me that Mexican educational system almost does not cover these topics at all

(at least not on the European continent), which was one of the main reasons why I had

chosen this theme for my workshop in the first place. I believe that this workshop could

be used in Mexican primary schools in order to get their pupils’ better familiarized with

the European history.



5.2 Feedback and evaluation of the workshop

All the participants were asked to fill in the entry and exit questionnaire

(Appendix 12 and 13) in order to verify to which extent they had gained some insight

into the methods and techniques of Drama Education that can be used in English

Language Teaching. The questionnaires consisted of close questions, where participants

were supposed to tick off the items that held for their answer or opinion, open questions,

where they were supposed to specify or amplify their answer/opinion, and semi-closed

questions which were the combination of both types. The questionnaires were

anonymous.

The entry questionnaire was distributed the first day of the workshop and the

participants filled it in even before the introductory part of the workshop. It consisted of

8 questions. The exit questionnaires were filled the last day of the workshop at the very

end and they contained 12 questions. Both questionnaires were divided into

introductory part containing identical questions, serving only for obtaining the basic

information about the participants such as sex and level of their studies; and detecting

part which provided data for the evaluation of the workshop. One of the detecting

questions asked the same information both in the entry and exit questionnaires. This

particular question observed changes in participants’ knowledge and familiarity with the

drama methods and techniques, which the workshop pursued.

Data obtained by means of the questionnaires are quantitative and the

information is interpreted as follows: the closed questions are presented in tables, the

open questions are interpreted by presenting the most frequent or interesting statements

and the semi-closed questions are recorded as a combination of both. Considering the

fact that some participants could not attend the last day of the workshop, they sent me

the filled questionnaire via email so that I could evaluate the information from all the

attendants.

The introductory part (identical for both the entry and exit questionnaire):

1) Sex:

□ male



□ female

Sex Number of participants Male 4 Female 8 Total 12 Table 1: Sex of the participants.

2) Which semester at LEI have you just completed?

□ second

□ fourth

□ sixth

□ eighth

□ I have already finished the Major

□ other.................................................................................................................................

Semester completed Number of participants second 6 fourth 0 sixth 3 eighth 1 I have already finished the Major 2 Table 2: Semester completed at LEI study programme.

The majority of the participants had just finished their first year in the LEI study

programme. There was only one participant who was finishing her studies and other two

who had already been working.

Entry questionnaire

3) What was your motivation to come to this workshop?

□ I was interested in the topic

□ to learn something new

□ to learn more about drama

□ I want to use drama in my own English teaching

□ to develop my communicative competence (in English, in general)

□ to develop my creativity and imagination

□ to meet new people



□ to have fun

□ other................................................................................................................................

Note: Participants had the possibility to tick off as many items as held for their answer.

My motivation to come Number of participants I was interested in the topic 4 to learn something new 5 to learn more about drama 1 I want to use drama in my own English teaching 4 to develop my communicative competence (in English, in general) 3 to develop my creativity and imagination 3 to meet new people 0 to have fun 1 Table 3: Participants’ motivation to come to the workshop.

All the participants came with intention to learn something. They either sought

to learn something about using drama or to improve their communicative competence in

English. Some did not have very clear idea about what they were going to learn, but all

the attendants seemed very positively motivated in a pro-learning way.

4) What do you expect from this workshop?

Almost all the respondents stated that they wanted to learn some new techniques

that they could use in their own teaching. They expected to get to know some new,

creative, useful and meaningful ideas about how to teach English.

5) Do you have any experience with drama/theatre?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, please specify what:.............................................................................................

Number of participants yes 4 no 7 Table 4: Drama experience of the participants.



Most of the participants did not have any previous experience with drama. Two

respondents stated that they had taken a semester course of theatre which was not

practical at all and they did not like it. The other student attended three months of

unspecified theatre classes and the last one performed in three short school plays.

6) Do you have any teaching experience?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, please specify where and for how long: .................................................................

Number of participants yes 3 no 9 Table 5: Teaching experience of the participants.

Most of the participants did not have any teaching experience. However, one of

the participants passed a two-semester teaching practice at the faculty where the

workshop took place, another one had a five-month teaching experience at primary

school and the third respondent had been teaching in a well-known Mexican language

school for 16 years.

7) Do you use any these most common methods and techniques of drama in your

own English teaching?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, which one:

□ drama games

□ role play

□ dramatized reading

□ interpretation of dialogues and texts

□ miming activities

□ improvisation

□ interviews/interrogations

□ still images/tableaux



□ soundtracking

□ definition of space

□ making maps

□ props, costumes, masks

□ diaries, letters, messages

□ other...............................................................................................................


Number of participants yes 5 no 7 Table 6: Participants’ usage of common drama methods and techniques in practice.

Methods and techniques Number of participants drama games 0 role play 4 dramatized reading 1 interpretation of dialogues and texts 3 miming activities 0 improvisation 3 interviews/interrogations 0 still images/tableaux 1 soundtracking 0 definition of space 0 making maps 1 props, costumes, masks 0 Table 7: Usage of particular drama methods and techniques.

Most of the participants did not use any of the most common drama methods and

techniques in their own teaching or teachers’ training. However, according to those

respondents who sometimes used them, the most used are certainly the most common

ones - role plays, interpretations of texts and improvisations.

Exit questionnaire

3) Did this workshop fulfil your expectations?

□ yes, completely

□ yes, except for a few imperfections



□ partially

□ only little

□ not at all

Number of participants yes, completely 12 yes, except for a few imperfections 0 partially 0 only little 0 not at all 0 Table 8: Satisfaction with the fulfilment of participants’ expectations.

4) Do you think that this workshop was useful for you, that you gained some profit

from it?

□ yes

□ no

Please specify why: ...............................................................................

Number of participants yes 12 no 0 Table 9: Participants’ view on the utility of the workshop.

All the participants stated they had really liked the workshop and that they

would definitely find the way how to somehow use it in their own teaching. They all

appreciated they had learnt some new ways of teaching, especially in a dynamic and

attractive way. One respondent wrote “It brought me different resources to work

creatively, meaningfully and in a funny way in the target language. It also helped me to

relate topics to the classroom and to develop consciousness in my students”. Another

student said that she had learnt “how to experience English through drama”. In the

group there was also one psychologist who stated “I can apply this experience in many

ways in my profession, for example to make people understand the situation they are

living”.

6) Which methods and techniques of drama do you see as particularly valuable for

teaching English?



□ drama games

□ role play




□ improvisation



□ making maps



□ soundtracking


□ role on the wall

□ teacher in the role

□ mantle of the expert

□ a day in the life

□ hot-seating

□ voices in the head

□ alley of opinions

□ position on the scale

□ structured drama

□ other......................................................................................................................


Methods and techniques Number of respondents drama games 8 role play 10 dramatized reading 9 interpretation of dialogues and texts 9 miming activities 8 improvisation 8 interviews/interrogations 9 still images/tableaux 6 making maps 6 props, costumes, masks 6



diaries, letters, messages 8 soundtracking 5 definition of space 4 role on the wall 5 teacher in the role 6 mantle of the expert 3 a day in the life 9 hot-seating 7 voices in the head 5 alley of opinions 7 position on the scale 5 structured drama 8 Table 10: Participants’ view on the utility of particular methods and techniques.

The vast majority of participants stated they thought all the methods and

techniques given were very useful for English Language Teaching. However, we can

observe a certain preference for the most commonly used conventions such as role play,

interpretations of texts, dramatised reading or improvisations. The course attendants

also highlighted the value of interviews and interrogations, particularly useful for

teaching foreign languages because they provide the natural need for asking and

answering questions, the usage of authentic written materials such as diaries, letters and

messages, structured drama which motivates students by emerging them into the

meaningful context, and technique A day in the life, which was particularly successful

when performed by the participants during the last day of the workshop.

7) Do you think you will use some of the methods and techniques of drama

presented in this workshop in your own English teaching?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, please specify which ones:

□ drama games

□ role play




□ improvisation





□ making maps



□ soundtracking






□ hot-seating





□ other..............................................................................................


Number of participants yes 12 no 0 Table 11: Participants who will use the information from the workshop in practice.

All the respondents declared that would use some of the drama methods and

techniques presented in the workshop, which was the main objective I had wished to

achieve when preparing this workshop. Several participants stated they would like to try

to use all the conventions that they had experienced. The others pronounced these

preferences:

Methods and techniques Number of respondents drama games 9 role play 9 dramatized reading 8 interpretation of dialogues and texts 9



miming activities 10 improvisation 9 interviews/interrogations 9 still images/tableaux 9 making maps 8 props, costumes, masks 7 diaries, letters, messages 7 soundtracking 7 definition of space 8 role on the wall 6 teacher in the role 9 mantle of the expert 4 a day in the life 8 hot-seating 6 voices in the head 5 alley of opinions 8 position on the scale 6 structured drama 7 Table 12: Particular methods and techniques participants will use in practice.

Again, the most commonly used drama methods and techniques in the repertoire

of the participants of this workshop will probably be the best-known ones. Nevertheless,

the respondents also expressed the wish to use techniques like still images, teacher in

the role, definition of space, alley of opinions and miming activities. In general, all the

participants stated they really appreciated the practical aspect of the workshop and that

they had found its content very inspiring for their future teaching carrier.

8) During your work on this workshop, what did you like most and why?

The answers to this question varied considerably. Almost each participant liked

something different. The majority of them liked most structured dramas because they

were set into a realistic or even historical context. The attendants liked especially

building the scenario in the story of missing Lisa, creating their own Tenochtitlan and

Anne Frank’s diary because, as one respondent wrote, “it deals with the real issue, it

makes me feel part of it, understand feelings of others and at the same time we had

opportunity to talk in English and create”. Other students liked still images and role

plays, also the nice atmosphere and kind guiding and experience of getting to know

each other during the drama work. One student highlighted the final reflections on

topics about which she had never thought before. Another girl liked the fact they could



“participate and live the experience by themselves and they could see an application of

drama in the English class”.

9) What did you like least and why?

Almost all participants responded that they liked the whole workshop very much

so that they did not have an answer to this question. Two respondents wrote that acting

out was difficult because they were shy and they had problems to be spontaneous. One

of them, however, appreciated the fact that she had to overcome her shyness and that

she gained more self-confidence. One student complained about working on the floor,

although she understood why I had led the workshop this way.

10) What did you find the most difficult and why?

A few respondents stated they had problems with coming up with ideas quickly

because they did not feel that creative and spontaneous. Some of them again mentioned

miming and acting out because of the shyness with which they had to struggle. Two

participants mentioned they had difficulties to get into agreement with other members

of the team because they all had too many ideas and sometimes because of the level of

English that was not corresponding to the anticipated knowledge. This problem clearly

points to the significance of the ability to work in teams, which should be by means of

drama supported in every class.

11) What would you like to change in this workshop?

The large majority of the respondents answered that they would not change

anything. They stated that this workshop provided them with a very nice way to practise

English; one student said “Perfect, I learnt while I was having a great time”. One

participant suggested using more music and interceded for not skipping the relaxation

parts (which we were skipping only because of the lack of time).

12) How do you think you will use this experience in your own English teaching?

All the participants responded they would use the experience somehow. Some

enumerated the specific activities such as warm-ups; the others would use the activities

to practise speaking skills, to provide communicative activities and to establish good

relationships in the classroom and nice working atmosphere. Three respondents also



stated they got inspired by my guiding and that they would start working on themselves

to become more creative and cheerful teachers.

In both entry and exit questionnaire I included one identical question which is an

important indicator of participants’ acquiring of some knowledge and familiarity with

uncommon drama methods and techniques used in English Language Teaching. It

concerns the question number 8 from the entry questionnaire and question number 5

from the exit questionnaire.

Do you know these methods and techniques of drama (how they work, how they

are used)?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, which one:

□ soundtracking




□ still image



□ hot-seating






Entry questionnaire Exit questionnaire yes 3 12 no 9 0 Table 13: Participants’ knowledge of the drama methods and techniques.

The inquiry shows that before the workshop the large majority of the

participants were not familiar with most of the less commonly used methods and



techniques of drama that can be exploited in English Language Teaching, which,

however, changed at the end of the workshop where all participants demonstrated

considerable advancement in their knowledge of given dramatic conventions.

Methods and techniques Entry questionnaire Exit questionnaire soundtracking 2 9 definition of space 0 9 role on the wall 1 8 teacher in the role 0 10 still image 1 11 mantle of the expert 0 5 a day in the life 1 9 hot-seating 0 8 voices in the head 1 7 alley of opinions 0 10 position on the scale 0 9 structured drama 0 8 Table 14: Participants’ knowledge of particular drama methods and techniques.

The main objective of this workshop was to present the participants the methods

and techniques of Drama Education in English Language Teaching. In this inquiry

question I concentrated on less commonly used conventions and from the answers we

can see the significant change in respondents’ knowledge and familiarity of given

conventions, their description, use and function in instruction. That is why I consider

my principle goal of the workshop as accomplished.

Advancement of Knowledge

2

01

01

01

01

0 0 0

9 98

1011

5

98

7

109

8

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

soun

dtrac

king

defini

tion of

spac

e

role

on th

e wall

teac

her in

the r

ole

stil l

imag

e

man

tle o

f the

exper

t

a day

in th

e li fe

hot-s

eating

voice

s in th

e he

ad

alley

of o

pinions

posit

ion o

n the s

cale

struc

ture

d dram

a

Num

ber

of p

art

icip

ant

s

Entry questionnaire

Exit questionnaire

Graph 1: Advancement in participants’ knowledge of given dramatic conventions.



6 CONCLUSIONS

The ambition of this Diploma thesis was to study all the theoretical information

about Drama Education I had gained during my studies and try to apply it in practice.

During my studies I have realized several drama lessons with my colleagues and

cooperated on several drama projects. This final project, however, gave me the

possibility to prepare the whole four-day workshop on my own, from the initial ideas,

through preparation of all the activities and materials, organization of participants,

communication with the institution (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México),

provision of equipment and space, to the longed-for realization.

In my eyes, the realization of the workshop fulfilled all my expectations as well

as the expectations of the participants (which results from the exit questionnaires).

Moreover, the participants were creative and initiative beyond my expectation and we

succeeded in creating a really nice atmosphere and in having a really good time

together. The objectives of the workshop were accomplished as well because

participants were introduced to the concept of Drama Education in English Language

Teaching and its methods and techniques and learnt how to use them in teaching

through their own experience. Thus they understood one of the basic principles of

Drama Education, which is learning by doing. Probably the most valuable parts of my

thesis concern two final structured dramas which I prepared on my own, from the initial

searching for appropriate themes, through looking for corresponding motifs to the final

realization with the target group. The best feedback on my work I have been given were

emails from several participants of the workshop writing me about their own experience

and experimenting with my activities in their English classes, describing me their

success and asking me for further tips.

The preparation and the realization of the workshop itself provided me with a

priceless academic, working, but most of all personal experience for which I feel really

grateful. This experience, which gave me opportunity to successfully represent my

university at such prestigious institution as Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,

definitely stimulated me to continue on this path and to further integrate Drama

Education into the foreign languages I teach.



7 RESUME

This Diploma thesis deals with the use of Drama Education in foreign language

teaching. It is divided into two main parts. The first, theoretical part is concerned with

the concept of Drama Education in English Language Teaching and concentrates on its

particular methods and techniques, especially in structured drama. It is also concerned

with the theoretical background of the project introduced in the practical part. The

second, practical part describes the project of the four-day practical drama workshop

called ‘How to use Drama in an English language class?’, realized with the students of

Training in teaching English at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico

City. The considerable part of the workshop is based on the practical drama courses led

by Mgr. Šárka Dohnalová and Andrew John Kempe.



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9 APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Certificate confirming the realization of the course

Appendix 2: Copy of a dialogue

Appendix 3: Copy of the text Little Red Riding Hood

Appendix 4: Moctezuma’s monologue

Appendix 5: Choral reading text

Appendix 6: Picture of Anne Frank

Appendix 7: Diary entry 1





Appendix 12: Entry questionnaire

Appendix 13: Exit questionnaire

Appendix 14: Photo documentation



Appendix 1: Certificate confirming the realization of the course



Appendix 2: Copy of a dialogue

A: Yes.

B: Why yes?

A: Because yes.

B: And if I say no?

A: Why no?

B: Because no.

A: No?

B: No.

Appendix 3: Copy of the text Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood

“NARRATOR Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a village near a

wood. When she went out, she always wore a red cloak with a red hood,

so everyone called her ‘Little Red Riding Hood’.

One day, her mother said to her:

MOTHER Your granny is ill. Please will you take these cakes to her?

NARRATOR Little Red Riding Hood was reminded by her mother not to stop at all on

the way. She must go straight to her grandmother’s house and not talk to

any strangers. So she promised to be careful, waved goodbye to her

mother and skipped off through the woods. It was a lovely sunny day and

Little Red Riding Hood saw some beautiful flowers growing. The

flowers were so pretty that she forgot her promise to her mother, knelt

down and began to pick some. But someone was lurking behind the trees.

It was a crafty, hungry wolf.

NARRATOR Mr Wolf walked up to Little Red Riding Hood and spoke to her in a nice,

friendly voice.

MR WOLF What is your name little girl?

LITTLE RRH I’m Little Red Riding Hood.

MR WOLF And where are you going?

LITTLE RRH To my granny’s house down there in the woods.



NARRATOR Mr Wolf thought that Little Red Riding Hood looked very tasty and he

cooked up a cunning plan. Off he ran as fast as he could to Granny’s

house. He knocked on the door. Granny sat up in bed.

GRANNY Who is it?

NARRATOR Mr Wolf put on the sweetest voice he could.

MR WOLF It’s me, Little Red Riding Hood.

GRANNY Come in, come in!

NARRATOR Mr Wolf let himself in. He went over to Granny, opened up his mouth

and gobbled her up whole. He let out a large burp!

MR WOLF (Rubbing tummy) A bit tough!

NARRATOR Mr Wolf put on one of Granny’s nightgowns, one of her frilly sleeping

caps and her glasses. Then he got into Granny’s bed and waited for Little

Red Riding Hood to arrive. A short time later there was a knock at the

door. Mr Wolf spoke in his friendly, sweet voice again.

MR WOLF Who is it?

LITTLE RRH It’s me, Little Red Riding Hood.

MR WOLF Come in my dear.

NARRATOR But when Little Red Riding Hood went into the cottage, she thought her

Granny looked very, very odd.

NARRATOR Little Red Riding Hood looked carefully at Granny.

LITTLE RRH Oh Granny, what big ears you have!

MR WOLF All the better to hear you with.

LITTLE RRH But Granny, what big eyes you have!

MR WOLF All the better to see you with.

LITTLE RRH But Granny, what big teeth you have!

MR WOLF All the better to eat you with and I’m going to eat you up!!

NARRATOR Mr Wolf leapt out of bed and began to chase Little Red Riding Hood.

She ran round the room with the wolf behind her, screaming loudly. A

woodcutter, chopping logs nearby, heard the screams and ran quickly to

the cottage. He bonked the wolf on the head and slit him down the

middle with his axe. Out popped Granny.

GRANNY (Looking startled) Oh my goodness!

NARRATOR Then Little Red Riding Hood, Granny and the woodcutter filled the

wolf’s tummy with stones. They sewed him up and took him deep into



the woods. Mr Wolf had a very bad tummy ache when he woke up.

Everyone felt very relieved.

LITTLE RRH From now on, I will always do as mother asks and never speak to

strangers.

NARRATOR Granny, the woodcutter and Little Red Riding Hood sat down together to

have tea and cakes and were never bothered by that wicked Mr Wolf

again.” [4]

Appendix 4: Moctezuma’s monologue

“Dear Aztec people, welcome to this special meeting. I have summoned you

because I wanted to inform you about some very disturbing event that has happened. I

have seen a sign, an omen and I had our greatest Totonaca wizard Itecupinqui to

interpret the sign. Here is what I saw:

‘The fishermen in the lagoon caught in their nets a bird, a bird of a colour and

size of a hawk, and that bird had in the middle of its head a mirror. They have never

seen anything like that. So they brought me the bird into my palace, I was in the hall

and it was after noon. I looked at the bird and at the mirror it had in its head, it was

round and glazed, and looking into the mirror I saw the stars of the sky, the

mamalhuaztli, the stars of the Taurus constellation.

I got really terrified and I turned away in surprise. When I looked back into the

mirror that was in the bird's head I saw people riding strange animals. Those people

were coming in a huge crowd, all with unknown arms. And when I saw this I got even

more frightened. That is why I summoned my tonapoulques, my astrologers and diviners

and I asked them “What was it that appeared to me?” and they were all really puzzled

and the bird disappeared and they got all really scared and they weren't able to say

anything.’ (Meza: 31)

That is why I called the famous Totonaca wizard to interpret the sign and here is

the prophecy he told me.”

Appendix 5: Choral reading text

“I wouldn’t like Oh King! to alarm your spirit, but the prophecy of Quetzacóatl

is about to come true. White and bearded men will come from the Orient and our cities



will be destroyed and ruined, our sons dead and our gods chased out from the temples.

Do not be alarmed any more because what is going to happen cannot be avoided.

Quetzacóatl will return to take the possession of his land.” (Meza: 32)

Appendix 6: Picture of Anne Frank

[7]

Picture 1: Picture of Anne Frank


SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1942

Now I'm back to the point that prompted me to keep a diary in the first place: I

don't have a friend. Let me put it more clearly, since no one will believe that a thirteen

year-old girl is completely alone in the world. And I'm not. I have loving parents and a

sixteen-year-old sister, and there are about thirty people I can call friends. No, on the

surface I seem to have everything, except my one true friend. This is why I've started the

diary.



To enhance the image of this long-awaited friend in my imagination, I don't

want to jot down the facts in this diary the way most people would do, but I want the

diary to be my friend, and I'm going to call this friend Kitty. (Frank: 10)


SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 1942

Our lives were not without anxiety, since our relatives in Germany were

suffering under Hitler's anti-Jewish laws. After the pogroms in 1938 my two uncles fled

Germany, finding safe refuge in North America. After May 1940 the good times were

few and far between: first there was the war, then the capitulation of Holland and then

the arrival of the Germans, which is when the trouble started for the Jews. Our freedom

was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were required to wear a

yellow star; Jews were required to turn in their bicycles; Jews were forbidden to use

street-cars; Jews were forbidden to ride in cars, even their own; Jews were required to

do their shopping between 3 and 5 P.M.; Jews were forbidden to be out on the streets

between 8 P.M. and 6 A.M.; Jews were forbidden to attend theatres, movies or any

other forms of entertainment; Jews were forbidden to use swimming pools, tennis

courts, hockey fields or any other athletic fields; Jews were forbidden to take part in

any athletic activity in public; Jews were forbidden to sit in their gardens or those of

their friends after 8 P.M.; Jews were forbidden to visit Christians in their homes; Jews

were required to attend Jewish schools, etc.

You couldn't do this and you couldn't do that, but life went on. My friend Jacque

always said to me, "I don't dare do anything anymore, 'cause I'm afraid it's not

allowed." (Frank: 11)


WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1943

Dearest Kitty,

We've decided that from now on the stove is going to be lit at seven-thirty on

Sunday mornings instead of five-thirty. I think it's risky. What will the neighbours think

of our smoking chimney?



It's the same with the curtains. Ever since we first went into hiding, they've been

tacked firmly to the windows.

Sometimes one of the ladies or gentlemen can't resist the urge to peek outside.

The result: a storm of reproaches. The response: "Oh, nobody will notice." That's how

every act of carelessness begins and ends. No one will notice, no one will hear, no one

will pay the least bit of attention. Easy to say, but is it true? (Frank: 127)


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1943

Dearest Kitty,

Last night the guns were making so much noise I was shivering, as if I had a

fever, and begged Father to relight the candle. He was adamant: there was to be no

light. Suddenly we heard a burst of machine-gun fire. This was followed by a loud

boom, which sounded as if a firebomb had landed beside my bed.

"Lights! Lights!" I screamed. I was certain our house was ablaze.

The house shook and the bombs kept falling. I was clutching my "escape bag,"

more because I wanted to have something to hold on to than because I wanted to run

away. I know we can't leave here, but if we had to, being seen on the streets would be

just as dangerous as getting caught in an air raid. It was very scary, and the whole time

I kept thinking, "Here it comes, this is it."

I can assure you that when I went to bed at nine, my legs were still shaking.

We haven't had a good night's rest in ages, and I have bags under my eyes from

lack of sleep.” (Frank: 94)


SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1943

Dearest Kitty,

You mustn't get the idea that Dussel's starving. We found bread, cheese, jam and

eggs in his cupboard. It's absolutely disgraceful that Dussel, whom we've treated with

such kindness and whom we took in to save from destruction, should stuff himself

behind our backs and not give us anything. After all, we've shared all we had with him!

(Frank: 91)



Appendix 12: Entry questionnaire

Entry Questionnaire

Hello,

I would like to ask you to fill in this short entry questionnaire which serves to detect the

information concerning the workshop “How to Use Drama in English Class?” held

from June 14th to June 17th 2010 at LEI, FES Acatlán, UNAM, Mexico. The

questionnaire consists of close questions, where you are supposed to tick off the items

that hold for your answer or opinion, and open questions, where you are supposed to

specify or amplify your answer/opinion. This questionnaire is anonymous and it will

serve only to the purposes of my Diploma thesis and the final project of the

specialization of Drama Education.

Thank you very much for your time!

Lenka Křivková, student of the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University in Brno,

Czech Republic.

1) Sex:

□ male

□ female


□ second

□ fourth

□ sixth

□ eighth


□ other.............................................................................................................................

3) What was your motivation to come to this workshop?

□ I was interested in the topic

□ to learn something new

□ to learn more about drama



□ I want to use drama in my own English teaching

□ to develop my communicative competence (in English, in general)

□ to develop my creativity and imagination

□ to meet new people

□ to have fun

□ other................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

4) What do you expect from this workshop?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

5) Do you have any experience with drama/theatre?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, please specify what:

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

6) Do you have any teaching experience?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, please specify where and for how long:

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

7) Do you use any methods and techniques of drama in your own English teaching?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, which one:

□ drama games



□ role play




□ improvisation



□ soundtracking


□ making maps



□ other................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

8) Do you know these methods and techniques of drama (how they work, how they are

used)?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, which one:

□ soundtracking




□ still image



□ hot-seating







Appendix 13: Exit questionnaire

Exit Questionnaire

Hello,

I would like to ask you to fill in this exit questionnaire which serves to detect the

information concerning the workshop “How to Use Drama in English Class?” held

from June 14th to June 17th 2010 at LEI, FES Acatlán, UNAM, Mexico. The

questionnaire consists of close questions, where you are supposed to tick off the items

that hold for your answer or opinion, and open questions, where you are supposed to

specify or amplify your answer/opinion. This questionnaire is anonymous and it will

serve only to the purposes of my Diploma thesis and the final project of the

Specialization of Drama Education.

Thank you very much for your time!

Lenka Křivková, student of the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University in Brno,

Czech Republic.

1) Sex:

□ male

□ female


□ second

□ fourth

□ sixth

□ eighth


□ other...............................................................................................................................

3) Did this workshop fulfil your expectations?

□ yes, completely

□ yes, except for a few imperfections

□ partially



□ only little

□ not at all

4) Do you think that this workshop was useful for you, that you gained some profit from

it?

□ yes

□ no

Please specify why:

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

5) Do you know these methods and techniques of drama (how they work, how they are

used)?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, which one:

□ soundtracking




□ still image



□ hot-seating





6) Which methods and techniques of drama do you see as particularly valuable for

teaching English?

□ drama games

□ role play






□ improvisation



□ making maps



□ soundtracking






□ hot-seating





□ other.................................................................................................................................

7) Do you think you will use some of the methods and techniques of drama presented in

this workshop in your own English teaching?

□ yes

□ no

If yes, please specify which ones:

□ drama games

□ role play




□ improvisation





□ making maps



□ soundtracking






□ hot-seating





□ other.............................................................................................................................

8) During your work on this workshop, what did you like most and why?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

9) What did you like least and why?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

10) What did you find the most difficult and why?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................



11) What would you like change in this workshop?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

12) How do you think you will use this experience in your own English teaching?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................



Appendix 14: Photo documentation

Photo 1: Guiding the blind.

Photo 2: Progressive mirrors.



Photo 3: Still image (film scene + famous line) – Romeo and Juliet

Photo 4: Still image (film scene + famous line) – Terminator



Photo 5: Police broadcast – creation of the poster and map making

Photo 6: Police broadcast – presentation of the poster



Photo 7: Continent machine – mummies of Guanajuato

Photo 8: Continent machine map



Photo 9: King Moctezuma on the meeting in Tenochtitlan

Photo 10: Choral Speak – Aztecs in Tenochtitlan



Photo 11: Moctezuma in the Alley of opinions

Photo 12: Thermometer



Photo 13: Investigative journalists examine Anne Frank’s personal objects

design of the workshop: how to use drama in an english language

Documents