Panayotis Domvros, Drama Techniques in the Foreign Language Class, September 2022
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Introduction to the workshop
Drama games and theatre games are an ideal strategy for differentiated instruction. Students with language difficulties, learning disabilities, or physical or mental disabilities can shine in drama, whereas they often struggle in traditional schooling. Gifted, talented, and highly motivated students who need to be challenged can demonstrate their abilities and synthesize learning in drama. From the shy to the confident, and from the inexperienced to the advanced student, drama games include all levels of differentiated abilities in a positive successful creative experience.
Drama games and theatre games transform the traditional teacher-student relationship from one of authority-recipient to one of shared experience of discovery and creative exploration. It is easy to use drama as a teaching tool in any school subject. It provides a practical, effective, and empowering approach to teaching that transforms the learning environment.
- Observation and imitation are primary mechanisms for learning throughout infancy and childhood.
- People enact a number of different roles during their lifetimes, or even during the course of a day.
- Preparing, rehearsing, and performing for important life events (e.g., a job interview, college application, or wedding) is a natural part of the human experience in any culture.
- Emotion, gestures, and imitation are universal forms of communication understood in all cultures.
- History demonstrates the importance of imagination to human progress. The scientists, artists, activists, and politicians who dared to think differently are the people who have made the most lasting impact on the course of human history.
- Imagination is at the core of innovation, invention, problem solving, science and the arts.
- Imagination develops students’ writing, speaking, and creative self-expression.
- Drama teaches students to imagine, explore, create, and share in front of others.
- Drama teaches interpretation, personal creativity, and new ways of looking at the same.
- Students learn to trust and develop their creative imaginations by playing engaging drama games.
The activities are listed according to age.
Legend
U = All ages
E = Elementary School
J = Junior High School
S = Senior High School
The Activities
U – It’s anything but… (Prop it out)
Use an object of a manageable size and tell students that they have to imagine that it is anything but what it is. Call one student and ask them to interact with it as if it were whatever they choose it to be. The rest of the class try to guess what the “new” object is.
U – The Shape-Shifting Chair
A chair is placed in the middle of the room. Students are asked, in turn, to sit and interact with the chair according to its imagined type and its location. For example, students might mime sitting on a throne ruling, in a movie theatre watching a horror film, on a roller coaster or on a courtroom witness stand. They then give a line without, of course revealing the type of chair, to help their fellow students guess where the chair might be.
U – The Object of Creation
Coaches divide students into groups of four to six and then announce the name of an object or animal. The students then have a certain amount of time to work together to depict it in a frozen tableau. For example, one group might form a camel by having four students play the legs and form humps with their raised arms and hands with the fifth student playing the neck and head.
U – Yes, And…!
This is a classic improvisation game that teaches the value of accepting each other’s ideas and cooperating with one another. The game may be played in pairs or with the whole group in a circle.
First, demonstrate this yourself by making a simple statement. Tell students that you are going to make up a conversation between two people in which every sentence (except the first one) starts with the words “Yes, and…” Additionally, every new statement should become more exaggerated, furthering the scene.
Example:
- “The river is full of fish.” (opening statement)
- “Yes, and one of them is enormous.”
- “Yes, and he’s swimming toward us.”
- “Yes, and he looks hungry.”
- “Yes, and we are trapped in this boat.”
- “Yes, and he looks more like a whale than a fish.”
- “Yes, and now the motor won’t start.”
- “Yes, and he’s about to swallow us.”
- “Yes and I just remembered that this boat is also a plane.”
- “Yes and lucky for you I just got my pilot’s license.”
Next, have a pair of students go onstage to play the game. Coach as necessary to keep the statements moving quickly while escalating the action. Call ‘cut’ when a particularly interesting or funny moment occurs. Ending on a high-note makes the actors feel better.
Follow up: Ask questions like: What is the value of accepting each other’s ideas and building on them?
- How did it feel to have your ideas accepted?
- How does it feel when you have an idea and others don’t like it or put it down?
U – Environments
In this game, a group of players silently creates an environment within a few seconds. The players can be objects, characters, weather, etc. The lead player calls out a place such as ‘the beach.’ The stage players have ten seconds to form that environment without speaking. The lead player may count backward from ten to one aloud as the actors get into place.
Environment Examples:
- The beach
- A busy playground
- School cafeteria
- Public library
- Grocery store
U – Lead with Different Parts of the Body
Invite the entire class to get into a big circle and have them start walking while in a circle. First, ask them to start walking as they normally would. Next, ask them to imagine that there is a string attached to their nose, pulling it slightly forward. After a minute or so, coach them to walk normally again. Then, call out different parts of the body, always returning to normal walking in-between. (Examples of parts of the body to call out: chin; forehead; toes; knees; chest; stomach; pelvis; arms.)
Follow up for advanced students: After the activity is over, gather students and ask them what sensations they experienced. Ask if different types of walks evoked different attitudes. Write down the various parts of the body and ask the class for suggestions on which types of characters would lead with that part of the body.
U – A Great Wind Blows
The activity resembles musical chairs. Position chairs in circle Teacher declares “A great wind blows for everyone who loves to sing.” As soon as somebody stands you remove a chair at the same time everyone who loves to sing must run from their place and find a new place. Someone is then stuck in the middle and has to leave the game.
U – Conscience Alley
It is a drama strategy, sometimes referred to as a Decision Alley or Thought Tunnel. Ask the class to get into two straight lines about a metre apart, facing each other. The character will be passing between the lines listening to the suggestions given by his/her fellow students. At the end of the alley the character will have made an informed decision. Giving prompts to the students standing in the lines helps avoid deviation or mental blocks.
U – Name and Action
This is a classic theatre game used for name memorization! Have students stand in a circle. One at a time, each student states his name and makes an action that reflects his personality. In unison, the rest of the class repeats the student’s name & action. For a more challenging version, have one person say his name and do an accompanying action. The person to his right then repeats it, and says her name and makes her action. The third person repeats the first two and then adds her own. This continues around the circle. The last person will have to remember all of the names and actions of the entire group!
U – Memory
Bring in a tray with about twenty random items to class (Rubber band, comb, fork, an eraser, flower, pencil, rock, Band-Aid, etc.) or better make flashcards with words on them. Pass the tray around, or set the tray in the middle of the circle and allow kids to observe the tray for about one minute. Then take the tray away and have the kids list as many objects as they can remember on a sheet of paper. For younger children, have them take turns one at a time naming items.
U – Mine Field
Ideal for practising giving instructions. Fill the playing space with random obstacles such as turned over chairs, books on the floor. Blindfold one player and have her stand at one end of the playing space. Put one or two other players on the other end of the playing space. They will ‘guide’ her through the mine field by verbally calling out instructions.
E – Yes, Let’s
Have all players scatter about in the playing space. One student calls out an activity for everyone to start miming, the rest of the group members shout out “Yes, lets!” and then they start doing the activity. For instance, if someone calls out “Let’s start jogging in place!” the group responds with “Yes, lets!” and everyone starts jogging in place until someone calls out a new activity. Encourage players to only offer one suggestion until they sense that everyone else has had a chance to play. As an alternative, play in a circle, allowing each student a ‘turn.’
J/S – The Lie Detector Game (Two Truths and a Lie)
Each student around the circle in turn introduces himself by sharing three facts about himself with one of the facts actually being a lie. The rest of the group must then guess which one piece of information was untrue. To challenge the students to be convincing, drama coaches instruct them to choose unique facts like interesting places they’ve travelled, unusual hobbies or famous people they’ve met.
J/S – Get Into Character/Hot Seat
Students sit in a circle and one sits in the centre and assumes a character in a particular situation that the teacher gives her. Those sitting in a circle ask her questions, putting her on the spot. For instance, “You are Juliet on the night before you marry Paris. What are your feelings?” The ones in the circle can prompt her or question her — helping to give the character more depth and testing the skill of the student actor.
J/S – Characterization in Literature
Have students interview a character from a piece of literature. Pair them up and ask one student to be the interviewer and the other to be the interviewee. Students should aim to get a sense of what their character feels, how it would act in certain situations, speech mannerisms and temperament. Encourage students to use humour and creativity. Have students present their interview in front of the class. Allow the rest of the class to ask unscripted questions.
Variation: Instruct students to write a monologue from the perspective of a character in a novel you are studying. Monologues should involve the character talking to himself about an issue or situation in the novel at hand. Have students adopt the voice and speaking style of the character. Students should inhabit the character’s mind and flesh out feelings and attitudes that are only hinted at in the novel.
J/S – Continuing Emotions
Start a neutral scene with two players. For example, a customer goes into a store to return something. Have the two players act it out straight. Then, have them do it again, using emotion suggestions from flash cards that you secretly give to each player. For example: in the second round of play, the customer is fearful and the clerk is jubilant.
After the scene, ask audience players if they could name each actor’s emotion. (practicing adjectives)
Emotion Examples
- Fearful
- Bored
- Excited
- Depressed
- Anxious
- Hysterical
Situation Examples
- Doctor examining a patient
- Teacher scolding a student
- Talk show host interviewing celebrity
- Mechanic delivering bad news to car owner
- Detective interviewing suspect
J/S – Wink Murder
Have all players sit in a circle with their eyes closed. Choose one person to be the Murderer by tapping him lightly on the head as you go around the circle. Next, announce that the space has been transformed into a ballroom and everyone is at a big party. Tell everyone that there is a killer in their midst! Tell players that they should mingle and make small-talk, but if the killer winks at them, they are to die. However, they must wait ten seconds before dying a very dramatic death. If someone thinks they know who the murderer is, they may raise their hand and make a guess. If they are wrong, they are out of the game.
J/S – Professions/Jobs/Character traits
Work out the job/profession. Put a sticker on each student’s back with a profession/characteristic trait written on it. Students need to ask questions to discover “what” their profession is. e.g.
- Lion-tamer
- Top model
- Brain surgeon
- Astronaut
- Film actor/actress
- Dentist
- Bodyguard
- Trapeze artist
- Monk/nun
- Professional killer
- Tennis player
- Funeral director
- Magician
- Clown
- English teacher
- Giant
- Gardener
- Drug dealer
J/S – The Good News and the Bad News
For more advanced students. Each person in the circle contributes one line starting with “The Good News is…” or “The Bad News is…” The next person has to continue starting with the remaining phrase but the idea is not to cancel out what the person before you has just said – but rather to continue the story a little.
J/S – Conflicting Text
A situation card with notes on the relationship between the characters is given to two students. They have to interact with each other using an irrelevant text (from the text book). From their tone of voice the rest of the class has to guess the relationship.
S – Body Language Broadcast
Have students take turns posing in the front of the class using body language to indicate how they are feeling. Classmates can then write physical descriptions of their classmates to suggest how a character is feeling and create a scenario that describes why. For instance, “After Jim commented on her new clothes, Sue stood with her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes and smirking. None of the boys in the class wanted to go near her after that.”
S – Divulging Dialogue
Create different characters and describe them on index cards. They should include a brief bio of the person along with character traits. For instance, “Alan Argus is the oldest of four brothers. His mom has been sick, and he has been taking care of a lot of things at home while she recovers. Lately, his grades have been slipping and he has been acting mean to his classmates.” Then deal two of the cards to each student/group of students. Have the students create a dialog between the two characters that reveals their feelings and suggests why they are feeling that way.
S – Park Bench
Create a bench onstage using an actual bench or three chairs. Choose three players to be in the scene and ask them to choose a famous character out of a hat. Have the three players start a scene on the park bench in which the goal is for each character to try and figure out who the other two characters are. Once a player thinks she has identified another character, she should say a line that indicates that she knows who he is without actually naming him. For example, if she suspects that one of the players is the president of the United States, she might say, “I didn’t vote for you, but I think you are doing a good job anyway!” Once a character has been identified, he makes an elaborate excuse to leave and a new player takes his place.
S – Encounters (Role Play)
Suitable of more advanced students. The teacher hands out cards with roles written on them. The students then form arbitrary groups and reveal their identities. They are given 5 minutes to create a short script which involves all players and through its lines the identities are revealed without the role being mentioned. The rest of the class try to guess the characters when the script is acted out.
Bibliography
Αυδή, Α. , Χατζηγεωργίου, Μ. (2007) Η τέχνη του δράματος στην εκπαίδευση. Αθήνα: Μεταίχμιο.
Παπαθανασίου, Α. , Μπασλαβάνη, Ο. (2001) Θεατροπαιχνίδια. Αθήνα: Κέδρος.
Erion, P. 1996. Drama in the Classroom: Creative Activities for Teachers, Parents & Friends. Lost Coast Press.
Fulford, J., Hutchings, M., Ross, A. & Schmitz, H. (1990) Bright ideas: Drama. Warwickshire: Scholastic Publications.
Hendy, L. & Toon, L. (2001) Supporting Drama and Imaginative Play in the Early Years. Open University Press: Buckingham- Philadelphia.
Keller, B. 1988. Improvisations in Creative Drama: Workshops and Dramatic Sketches for Students. Colorado Springs: Meriwether Publishing.
Neelands, J. (2002) Making sense of Drama: A guide to classroom practice. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.
Peterson, L. and D. O’Connor. 1997. Kids Take the Stage: Helping Young People Discover the Creative Outlet of Theater. New York: Backstage Books. Deals mostly with play production (i.e. “how to put on a show”), but also has good standalone exercises on relaxation, sensory awareness, etc.
Pomer, J. 2001. Perpetual Motion: Creative Movement Exercises for Dance and Dramatic Arts. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc.
Readman, G. & Lanont, G. (…) Drama: A handbook for primary teachers. BBC: United Kingdom.
Spolin, V. 1983. Improvisation for the Theatre. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. Essential handbook of improvisational activities for skill-building and theatrical exploration.
Spolin, V. 1986. Theatre Games for the Classroom: A Teacher’s Handbook. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Winston, J. & T