DRAMA AND THE

LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
2
 WHY USE PLAYS?

Meaningful context
Acquisition
Memorisation
Oral Skills
Confidence
Fluency
Pronunciation
Non -verbal features

Involvement
Motivation
Group cohesion

Pupils exposed to Language in conversation

What someone really means.
Ordering and sequencing in conversation
Status and relationships
 WHY USE PLAYS?

Affective factors may impede the

desired progress of pupils in the
acqusition of a new langauge.
Anxiety
Inhibition
Introversion
Drama activities gradually help to
remove these as pupils begin to relax
while participating.
 WHY USE PLAYS?

Drama can help overcome learners

conscious or unconscious resistance to
learning a new language.
learning the new language an
enjoyable experience
realistic targets for learners can be set
by the teacher
the language-learning experience can
be linked with the student's own
experience of life.
 WHY USE PLAYS?

According to Wessel (1987), drama can

create a need to learn a language:

by the use of 'creative tension' (situations

requiring urgent solutions);
by putting more responsibility on the
learner, as opposed to the teacher.'
 WHY USE PLAYS?

The teacher can design activities in

accordance with the levels of
achievement and ability of the learners
Identifying the story, characters, plot
Identifying the author's / characters'
viewpoint, attitude or opinion
Understanding the work in relation to its
socio-cultural and historical-political
context
Giving a personal / creative response
 WHY USE PLAYS?

As the format of plays on paper can be

rather tiresome for younger learners it is
advisable to find ways of getting them to
become familiar with the text.

When using drama it god to focus on

speaking, acting and movement rather
than spending a lot of time on reading
lines.
 WHY USE PLAYS?

For the younger ones, vocabulary may

be pre-learnt through
songs
flash-cards
Games
Words can be acted out individually

 DRAMA

In the EFL or ESL classroom the teacher

may decide to work through a whole
play, or two very different plays.
Even though, modern plays tend to
offer both useful language transfer
and insights into contemporary social,
political or cultural aspects using
classical plays also allows learners to
see the evolution of language and
conventions.
 DRAMA

Most of the activities used for narrative

can be adapted to plays as well as
poems.

Nowadays losts of plays are available in

digital format which make them suitable
for listening exercises.
 ACTIVITY WITH SHORT EXTRACT

An acitivity which may be carried out

with extracts is to remove some lines for
pupils to insert.

This is a good way to get students to

become aware of how conversation is
linked or connected. They have to find
the connections in the text to enable
them insert the missing lines. See
following example:
 MISSING LINES

1. Teacher: Dyou have a spare tea bag?

2. Rutter: No.
3. Teacher:
4. Rutter: No.
5. Teacher:
6. Rutter: Thats right. No!
7. Teacher: But why?
8. Rutter: Buy your own.
9. Teacher:
10. Rutter: So, what dyou want me to do about it?
11. Teacher: A cup of tea, please?
12. Rutter: No.
13. Teacher:
 MISSING LINES

a) I would if I could but I cant

b) I see Whats happened to the fellowship of man,
brotherly love?
c) No?
d) Perhaps I could share the one you have?
 SOLUTION: MISSING LINES

a) I would if I could but I cant 9

b) I see Whats happened to the fellowship of man,
brotherly love? 13
c) No? 5
d) Perhaps I could share the one you have? 3
 MISSING LINES

The actual language used may also be

treated by asking learners questions.
Why does Teacher use perhaps and
could to make his request?
Because their use makes his request
more tentative and polite.
Could the request be made in another
manner? Would it change things?
I can share your cup of tea.
 MISSING LINES

Intonation in language use and what it

may imply regarding meaning can also be
pointed out.
Line 5 Teacher says No?. Learners may
practice saying this no? with different
intonations.
A further activity could be to revise
adverbs of manner by putting students in
groups to say no while the others guess the
adverb of manner.
 MISSING LINES

When teacher says I see Whats

happened to the fellowship of man,
brotherly love? , what does he really
mean?
What is he implying about Rutter?
He is being sarcastic
That Rutter is unfriendly, uncaring,
mean.
 MISSING LINES

What is the relationship between the two

characters?
They appear to be on equal footing as
Rutter does not back down even
though Teacher insists on sharing his cup
of tea. Rutter continues to answer in the
same way.