learning english through drama
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Learning English through Drama
An introduction to the drama technique
Traditional perception of drama
• sketches, role-plays, plays
• emphasis on interpretation, rehearsal and performance
• text comes first: students have to deal with it
Drama as a method
• provides techniques that improve creative
skills
• appeals to different intelligences
• personalises experiences
• increases the learners’ capacity to concentrate
Drama technique for English learners
• to improve speaking, listening, reading, writing, thinking and memorizing skills
• to practise vocabulary, pronunciation, stress, intonation, grammar, spelling
• to explore feelings, thoughts, situations
Structure of the workshop
• warming-up / concentration
• body / movement / miming
• voice / pronunciation
• improvisation / story-telling
→ focus: the benefits for learners of English
Warming-up / concentration
• Slap/slap/clap/clap
• I want somebody sitting next to me who…
Body / movement / miming
• Face-throwing
• Word formation
• Freeze-frame
• Back-writing
Voice / pronunciation
• Stepping: American; Japanese; Japan; complication; fascinating; interesting
• I didn’t say ...
I didn’t say I’d give you £10,000. I didn’t say you stole Mum’s chocolates.
→ How many subtexts are there?
Improvisation / storytelling
• Tenses Race
• Story-telling warm-up
• Story telling in pairs (walking around)
• Tell me about elephants
Beyond English
• Drama provides tools for language learning
• It prepares for acting and performing
• It increases self-confidence
• It enhances empathy + open-mindedness
• It trains learners to be creative, to find solutions
and come up with ideas