Thanks to Raymond Kerr we had a breathtaking session on using drama in the classroom. It started quite  unexpectedly – Raymond got us to talk to his shoe! “This is my shoe. It knows more about me than anyone else. Ask it any questions”. And we did, and had a lot of fun! Later we discussed this with colleagues to find out who would use such an activity and how – what object they would choose to represent themselves and how they would justify the technique in their teaching context. We had some nice ideas, but we all agreed you got to have a lot of charisma to do something like that. :)

Then we acted out dialogues swapping roles. Now you’re a child, now you’re a parent, now the parent has no teeth, now you’re 2.5 years old, now you’re a film star, and so on. You can think of any other roles – the sky is the limit! And as we were repeating the same dialogue trying on different masks, some of the remarks were disappearing from the screen, so with each new role we had to repeat more lines from memory, and that’s great when you’re working with your students, because they’re sure to remember and be able to use the phrases and not just have fun taking off Marilyn Monroe or Arnold Schwarzenegger. :)

We also polished our body language by trying to give instructions without saying a word. Some instructions appeared to be really challenging, but that was fun, too!

And finally we acted out “Jack and the Beanstalk”. I played Jack, so I enjoyed a lot of attention, and felt very much like a drama queen. :) Seriously though, the scene was insanely funny! (My crazy pictures are all over Facebook now, I’m afraid). Besides, we discovered that not only extroverts would appreciate these activities; shy students might well enjoy them, too, because they can just put on some hat and be creative. Alternatively, they could be helping with the production, preparing prompts, not acting.  

To sum up, drama helps students to become more fluent, learn new vocabulary, appeals to kinaesthetic learners and encourages creativity. If it’s something big though, one should be careful not to overdo the whole thing, because it may be extremely time-consuming. However, if you manage to make elements of drama a natural part of the lesson, your student will benefit from it greatly.

Have a go! You might want to do the discussion differently, to have a debate or ask your students to say the same things showing different emotions. Raymond shared some patterns for discussion which you might find helpful:

The Fishbowl

The small group in the middle has a discussion and the students on the outside observe, make notes and give feedback on the discussion.

The Pyramid Steps

1. Individual task such as writing ideas
2. Share ideas in pairs
3. Introduce your partner’s ideas and find patterns in the group
4. Make a note of the main discussion points.

Buzz groups

 Pairs talk for a few minutes on a topic then move on to the next person in the circle.

Crossover groups

Part 1: Each participant gets a letter then students discuss an issue as a group.

Part 2: Participants form new groups with participants with the same letter to discuss ideas from the first group discussion.

For more information you might want to consult Spontaneous Speaking: drama activities for confidence and fluency, D. Heathfiled, Delta Publishing, 2005 – this book has a lot of drama activities to use in the classroom. Don’t forget to search the TeachingEnglish website for links to drama activities, too! :)