Using plays or drama in the language classroom can be both enormously

rewarding and enjoyable for teachers as well as students.

Here are some suggestions and guidance on how to get the best from your students.

Using plays with language learners can

Improve their reading and speaking skills

Encourage creativity

Help them experiment with language -tone of voice, body language and their
own lines if they are involved in writing the play.

Bring them out of themselves -some students like performing or find the script
gives them confidence

Involve the whole class non speaking parts can be given to learners who do
not wish to speak or are less confident. Technical parts of a production can give others
a role: sound effects, making scenery, being in charge of lights, props or prompting
their classmates from the wings.

Plays suitable for language learners

Short narratives based on very brief scenes of 2-3 lines maximum

Plays with more than one narrator and plenty of humour through action

Plays that can be broken up with songs.

One or two scene mini-plays based on stories familiar to the class.

Making your own plays

Work from a photo, a cartoon or a video clip

Devise mini plays based on recognisable characters from films the students like

Take a 10 minute sequence of the film. Tell the background story. Show with
sound off. Focus on a couple of exchanges. Imagine what the characters might be
saying. Assign roles to pairs and act out. Then allow students to make up their own
brief dialogues based on the roles. Bring together their suggestions and work on a class
script. Types of film that are good for this include; Toy Story, Harry Potter, The
Borrowers, Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate factory for Primary up to teens, but it
depends on student tastes.

Helping students learn their lines in plays

Break the script into chunks of learning. Scene by scene or each section of a
story.
Record rehearsals so students can hear themselves and, if you can, video a
rehearsal to look at together.
 Make your own recording of it with English-speaking friends to use in preparing
the play

It is great if students can have a copy of this for learning at home

Mark the stressed words in the script and check with a recording if you have it.
Look at intonation as you deal with each chunk.

Start learning without a script. If it tells a story work on getting the class familiar
with the story. Support the storytelling with visuals if possible (see the posters available
with Readers Theatre scripts)

Give students tasks to re order the narrative and move on to reordering dialogue
or giving half a scene and asking them to match the missing parts or tell you what
might be missing.

Use Readers theatre

These are very exciting short plays with 4 to 8 characters but many involve
performance parts for everyone in the class. Students work from a script which they
read at the front of the class. The script is a story told in parts by many narrators. The
stories that are freely available are suitable from Primary up to adult learners. The
power of the performance is in the timed reading and contrasting voices. Many
performances last no more than 10 minutes and can in some cases be thought
provoking, very funny or very sad. Suitable for a class of 22 as well.

Advantages of Reader's theatre

There's no need for anything but the simplest props, as all characters wear a hat
or one item of clothing to represent their character
The narrative tells a story which is easier for language learners to follow and
work on

Everyone in the class can be involved if different readings are attempted

Minimal teacher participation is required

No learning your lines as the performers read aloud from scripts

Internet links

This site has loads of free resources, scripts with visuals and written versions of the
narratives. This is Aaron Shepherds Readers Theater and the scripts are excellent for
language learners:

http://aaronshep.com/rt/

Some TeachingEnglish resources:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-drama-texts-classroom

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/drama-children-1

Author:
Clare Lavery
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