MIME

DEFINITIONS
A form of ancient Greek and Roman
theatrical entertainment in which
familiar characters and situations were
farcically portrayed on stage, often with
coarse dialogue and ludicrous actions.
The art of portraying characters and
acting out situations or a narrative by
gestures and body movement without
the use of words; pantomime.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
miming

BENEFITS
bridge the gap between the language of
the classroom and the world outside
give learners a chance to experiment
creatively with newly-acquired language so
they can communicate meaningfully in
real-life situations
giving students an opportunity to learn and
practise gestures, facial expressions and
other paralinguistic ways of
communicating.

ACTIVITIES
Mime a message
Students must get a message across to a person on the other side of the
room, without using any words, as if they were at a crowded and noisy party.
The teacher gives a card with a message on it to a student, who must then
use nothing but gesture and mime to make him/herself understood. The
other student(s) must interpret the message, which could be something like:
Its time to go.
Can I borrow your mobile?
Youve got a ladder in your tights.
Im having a terrible time.
I need something to eat.

 Whats my job?
One student mimes an action that is typical of the job they do. The other
students must then find out exactly what that job is by asking questions
to which the student can only answer yes or no. They are allowed only
ten questions. Cues can be put on the blackboard to help the students:
Uniform?
Regular hours?
Outside?
Common job?
Normally done by men?
Well-paid?

 Pass the parcel

The students sit in a circle. The teacher gives
every other student a card with the name of an
object (always the same object). This imaginary
object is then passed around the circle. The half
of the class who know what the object is must
give the other half of the class visual and verbal
clues (without actually naming the object) so
that they can guess what it is. They must, for
example,
hold it in a certain way, and say things like: Careful!
Dont squeeze it! or Its still a bit hot or If you hold
her like that, shell scratch you!

 Guess what the guest means!

Students are divided into groups of four or five. One, a guest staying
at a hotel, is given a card on which is written something they want or
need. The guest has a very bad cold and has lost their voice, so s/he
must make him/herself understood to the others in the group the
collective hotel receptionist entirely by the use of mime.
In trying to guess Could you tell me how to get to the mosque? for
example, the students might well come up with any of the following
things:
Wheres the mosque please?
Which way is the mosque?
Whats the best way to get to the mosque?

 Auditions
Students are told that the director of a
play is looking for a cast. They need, for
example,
a grumpy old man, an elegant lady, a shy
parish priest, a neurotic chain-smoking poet,
a sulky teenager etc. Students have to
audition for the different parts using both
speech and mime, and the class decides
who should be given each one.