Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
Department of English Language and Literature
Brno 2007
Declaration
Hereby I state that I have worked on this bachelor work by myself and that all the sources
of information I have used are listed in the references.
I agree that this bachelor thesis will be deposited in the Library of the Faculty of
Education at the Masaryk University and will be made available for study purposes.
Kateina Trachtulcov
I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Lucie Podroukov, Ph.D, for her guidance,
support and comments on my work.
Kateina Trachtulcov
Contents
Contents ................................................................................ 1
Introduction........................................................................... 2
THEORETICAL PART........................................................ 4
1. The nature of drama ...................................................... 4
2. Reasons for including drama in TEFL.......................... 6
3. Different learning styles................................................ 8
4. Basic drama techniques............................................... 10
5. How to succeed with drama in ELT............................ 12
PRACTICAL PART ........................................................... 15
LESSON PLAN 1: Welcome ........................................... 15
LESSON PLAN 2: The Environment .............................. 20
LESSON PLAN 3: What is important?............................ 25
LESSON PLAN 4: Friendship in our lives ...................... 28
LESSON PLAN 5: Family ............................................... 31
Conclusion .......................................................................... 36
Summary ............................................................................. 37
References........................................................................... 39
Introduction
This bachelor thesis deals with using drama for effective learning of English as a
foreign language. The aim of this thesis is to prove that drama is a very effective learning
technique and to show some examples of how to use it in the language lessons.
In the first place, it must be mentioned that drama as a teaching technique does not
mean any big end-of-term play. The word drama in this work indicates learning process
rather than rehearsing a performance. This kind of technique represents short drama
activities where students learn through drama. These activities are based on principles used
by actors in their training to stimulate their feelings and imagination.
This subject matter is worth studying because drama as a teaching technique
encourages students to learn language in a very effective way. This means that these
techniques give students opportunity to learn interactively, in context and to use their
creativity and imagination. Students have to react spontaneously without any preparation,
which is very important for fluency in language. As Juliet du Mont writes in her work,
most students of a foreign language want to be fluent. This ability means connecting
fragments of language and making them sound natural so that everyone could understand
them. The problem with fluency does not have to be in the learners level of knowledge.
The reason for difficulty in speaking can lie in the fact that fluency involves a skill in
performance because there is no time for preparation in communication. A lack of this
skill frustrates a speaker so that he/she can not communicate with self-confidence. Drama
is a very good way of practicing real fluent discourse in friendly environment. Drama gives
satisfaction not only to students but even the teachers enjoy teaching in this way, because
they see students learning with pleasure and fun.
Without a doubt this form of teaching practices most language skills at the same time.
Students work on speaking and listening while they perform. At the same time, it is easy to
include reading and writing into these activities. Drama is a very good teaching method,
which expands the repertoire of every professional teacher. It puts emphasis on meaningful
communicative activities instead of mechanical drills.
The bachelor thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is theoretical and
presents reasons for including drama in foreign language lessons from various points of
view. Furthermore, it gives a list of main drama techniques useful for teaching and deals
with clues on how to succeed with drama in ELT.
The second part of the work is practical and it demonstrates using drama in a foreign
language teaching. Drama techniques are incorporated into lesson plans, which are based
on the following topics: friendship, environment, values, familiarization and family. These
topics are only an illustration of the way of linking cross-curricular items into the drama
language lessons. These topics lead students to develop not only the language skills but
also qualities as originality, sensitivity, flexibility, cooperation, form moral attitudes,
toleration, imagination and creativity. At the same time I would like to show that drama
techniques do not have to be demanding for teachers or require special material.
My interest in drama techniques started when I participated in a workshop presented by
David Fisher in Jihlava in 2004. This seminar was called Using Drama Activities to Teach
Grammar. It was an illustration of the lesson where children play game and learn at the
same time.
This thesis is aimed at teaching English at primary school because I have been teaching
English for four years at the primary school in Havlkv Brod. I teach English to students
in the second grade. They are between twelve and fifteen years of age.
THEORETICAL PART
1. The nature of drama
Drama is doing. Drama is being. Drama is such a normal thing. It is
something that we all engage in daily when faced with difficult
situations. (Wessels, 1987)
According to this citation everybody in the world is an actor or an actress. Everybody
has to represent his/her everyday roles. These roles are e.g. the role of student or child.
Later they become employees and have to interact with their colleagues and customers.
Beyond these examples of some big roles there are many situations where people have to
react according to their positions and situations. Drama is a Greek word meaning action.
These facts imply that drama and acting is a very natural part of human life.
It is important to write a few words about the nature of drama in context of English
language teaching. According to David Fischers comparison both an actor and a teacher
have something in common. They both perform in front of people. These people are
audience for actors and class for teachers. They both try to engage their spectators. They
both want to convey some information to their viewers. However, there are many
differences between these two professions. Theatre is more visual and has more people and
resources involved whereas teaching is usually a one-man show. The second difference is
that actors prepare the performance a long time beforehand while teachers plan lessons a
lot quicker. Last but not least is the aim of these two places. The theatre should entertain
and it is very welcome when the attendant learns something during the performance while
in school the attendant should learn and it is very welcome when he/she entertains during
the lesson. (Fisher, 1)
The unlike focus of drama and teaching is also clear from the quote of Charlyn
Wessels:
Drama in education uses the same tools employed by actors in the
theatre. In particular, it uses improvisation and mime. But while in the
theatre everything is contrived for the benefit of the audience, in
classroom drama everything is contrived for the benefit of the learners.
(Wessels, 1987)
Drama also differs from the other teaching techniques. That is probably the reason why
both teachers and students, especially those of the traditional classrooms, feel insecure in
this area. It is necessary to ensure everyone that these drama techniques are different from
drama on stage. Drama in a classroom avoids the distinction between the performers and
the audience as during the lesson everybody is involved at the same time. Everyone can get
a role which will suit him/her best. There is usually a group of students who like
performing in public, on the other hand there are introvert students and they prefer
observation. In drama lesson a teacher can arrange suitable tasks for every student.
Further uncertainty can arise from the fact that students are not enough self-confident
at their language skills. But one of the good attributes of drama is that it can be enjoyed by
students of any level. Even with a little knowledge of language pupils can be a part of a
drama lesson.
Drama allows students to include their personal experiences, emotions and their
personality into the process of learning and this is great advantage. As this very old
Chinese proverb says, the involvement of students is the most important part of the
teaching process:
Tell me and I will forget.
Show me and I will remember.
Involve me and I will understand.
(Chinese Proverb)
Another advantage is that drama is the opportunity to enter another world and explore
various situations. It offers to escape from our everyday selves and to put on a role. It is
easier to speak as somebody else. It is like hiding behind the mask. It gives a person
freedom to express his/her feelings easier and without anxiety. This means that people feel
free to scream, cry, laugh, dance and do other things that they do not usually do without the
mask. The mask is great opportunity for shy people. It helps them to do the activities
listed above and obviously it helps them improve their speaking skills. (Cockett and Fox
10 - 12)
This point is especially useful in teenage classes because students in this age do not
want to reveal anything about themselves. The role gives them a chance to speak and not to
disclose their feelings.
Although this may be true, in teenage class which is not used to doing drama it is not
easy to start. It must be very gradual. The best way is to start with drama from the
beginning of the language teaching.
Drama activities integrate all language skills in a natural way. Students must listen
carefully to react to a teachers instructions and to their schoolmates discourse. At the
same time they must express themselves spontaneously. Many activities require reading
and writing, both as part of input and output. (Maley and Duff, 1)
A very important point is that it is easy to use drama as a means of exploring other
subjects in language lessons. Teacher can cover topics from other subjects in drama lesson
plans. He/she can introduce famous people from history e.g. by the drama technique Hot
seating or teacher can cover the ideas and issues that run through the curriculum, such as
sexism, respect for the environment and road safety. (Philips, 8) It is very useful to
incorporate more things together and do not teach them separately. It encourages thinking
in contingency. This is what is called interdisciplinary or cross-curricular teaching.
10
11
The sixth kind of intelligence, called interpersonal, represents usually extrovert people
who are sensible to others feelings. They are social and they can empathize easily with
others. They like group work and are good at cooperation.
The seventh intrapersonal intelligence is opposite area to the previous one. It denotes
introvert people. They prefer working alone to a group work. They are usually self-aware
and know their goals. They learn best when they concentrate on the subject by themselves.
The eighth kind of intelligence was added later. It is the naturalistic intelligence and
this area deals with nature and classification. People gifted by this naturalistic intelligence
have greater sensitivity to nature and the ability to interact with animals. They are also
good at classifying different species.
Instead of having only one from this list, it is claimed that students have several
different types of intelligences.
It stands to reason that teacher can not teach all children in the same way. Thanks to the
theory of multiple intelligences, educators can better understand the learners and their
needs. He/she should design the lesson to involve students with all kinds of intelligence.
(Guignon)
Drama has a potential to involve all types of learners in the lesson and gives them the
opportunity to learn in most effective way for each of them.
12
13
Teacher uses this type of activity early in the process to activate the students energy. It
is important to choose a right role. It does not have to be a central character. The next
relevant point is to clearly indicate when you are in or out of the role.
This technique is good because it takes away the usual hierarchy of the teacher-centred
class. And as Dorothy Heathcote adds, the teacher may find an expert or a colleague
willing to come into a classroom in role. This person should be coached beforehand.
Next technique useful for English teaching is called hot-seating or in another words
questioning in role. As Vani Chauhan describes the procedure, the class is told that they
are reporters and their task is to interview the character. The character (a learner who has
volunteered to take on the role) sits in the front, facing the rest of the class and answers
questions posed by the reporters. The role of the character is specified by a teacher, an
article or any other material. The class takes notes in order to write an article to a news
paper. Reporters work on their articles after the interview. This can be done as both
individual and team work.
Next possible drama technique called still image is a group activity where students
have to cooperate and create a photo using their own bodies. There is a theme or idea
they present. (Neelands, 11)
Next popular drama activities are so called drama games. Drama games are short
games and according to Charlyn Wessels they involve action, when students move freely
around the classroom. They involve imagination too, The learners are called upon to see
beyond the teachers presentation, and they involve both learning and acquisition.
Warming up and cooling down activities, group formation activities, statues, miming and
other rank among these drama games.
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15
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- Recording teacher uses a tape recorder or camera to monitor the activity. At the
end of the lesson or the next lesson, class listen back to the record and concentrate
on correction. This gives students more responsibility for their own learning, they
can be more aware of the gaps in their spoken English and recording makes them
to pay more attention to what they say as they are performing. (Donald)
Further problem while students work in groups preparing the activity is that they often
have tendency to use a mother tongue to communicate. It is acceptable to allow beginners a
limited use of the mother tongue in discussion. Indeed it may be impossible to prevent it.
But during the actual activity there should be a strict rule to use English. (Maley and Duff,
3)
The concluding point in this list is that drama is not a lesson full of chaos.
Nevertheless, children are noisy when they are involved in rehearsing a scene. It is good
when drama is full of laughter and language but screaming or noisy shouting does not have
place in this type of lesson. The solution to manage the class is establishing a stop signal.
This can be any concerted signal e.g. teacher puts the hand up and everybody must do the
same thing. Another possibility is that teacher uses a whistle, drums or a piano etc. The
signal means that children "freeze" in positions they are in.
17
PRACTICAL PART
LESSON PLAN 1: Welcome
Aims:
This lesson is organized for the very first day in the classroom. These
activities should help a class to get to know each other, to break the ice
among strangers, to encourage children to speak and to improve
imagination, creativity as well as group cooperation.
Language:
Other:
Language level:
Pre-intermediate
Age group:
All
Time:
90 minutes
Class size:
14 20 students
Materials:
-
Description
1
about their names. Next they ask them about their hobbies. You explain the rule: One
person points to the other one and says some of these words:
ZIP means LEFT pointed student must tell the name of the neighbour on the left
ZAP means RIGHT - pointed student must tell the name of the neighbour on the right
ZIP ZAP means that everybody changes their seats.
Variation: Instead of names or hobbies students can ask their neighbour about interests,
favourite food, favourite colour etc.
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letter as their first name. For example: Beautiful Bra, Elastic Eva, Frozen Frantiek, Lazy
Lenka, Naive Nina, Rocking Radka, Speedy Soa.
The student should then act out his/her adjective to the other students by introducing
him/herself Hallo, Im Lazy Lenka. The other students will then repeat the movement and
say: Hallo Lazy Lenka!
Variation: Teacher can encourage the students to look into the dictionary to find some new
and interesting adjectives. Than he/she asks them to write it on the board and explain and
act the new word to the schoolmates so that all understand it.
English word which somehow represents them. They can be inspired by the previous
activity or you can motivate them to devise themselves an Indian name e.g. Clever Fox or
Pink Pike. Encourage them to use a dictionary for new words.
After doing this give them paper and demonstrate tearing a shape of stone from it.
Everybody has his/her stone. They write their nicknames on it and decorate it as they like.
Prepare a large sheet of paper and glue all stones on it to create a wall. You can
decorate the classroom with this stone mirror of the class.
can use rope and put it on the floor or this division can be just fictive. The left part means
like and the right one means dislike. Then ask pupils to run to the part of the room
which indicates their answer on your question. Call out questions e.g. Do you like Chinese
food? or Do you like playing softball? Make sure that they make their choices
immediately. It must be very impulsive.
everybody is going to create a picture. Ask the first volunteer to run into the canvas space
and forms his/her body into a shape of whatever they choose. Then this student announces
what he/she presents. E.g. I am an old factory. Instantly the next person enters the scene:
19
I am a smoke-stack of the factory. The next person ads: I am a cat catching the mouse.
Other people then enter the picture until the whole group is involved. Repeat it as long as
the students enjoy it.
Make sure a different child starts a new picture. This process goes very fast. Do not let
the students think. It is better to divide them into two teams and paint two pictures with a
larger group
He/she is the leader. The leader points at one person and shouts an infinitive of an irregular
verb e.g. go That person then ducks down and the two people on either side are the
cowboys and pretend to shoot each other as quickly as possible by saying the past tense of
this verb went. The slower one has to leave the circle. When there are only two pupils left
they stand back to back and the leader says a series of words. If the word is a kind of sport
the two cowboys take one step away from each other, if the word is a job, they turn and
shoot.
Write this tongue twister on the blackboard and let the students repeat it. Then clean
one word and let someone repeat it again. Clean one more word after every repeating. In
the end when the board is clean ask the whole class to say the whole tongue twister.
Evaluation:
It is very difficult to teach the very first lesson of the course where the students do not
know each other. Another big problem of these starting lessons is that the teacher usually
does not have the course book in hand yet. I tried to show and prove that drama can be
very helpful technique for dealing with this period of time. I choose drama activities which
do not require experience with drama although there could be a problem with adults or
teenage learners. They may do not agree with this type of lessons but it depends on the
teachers ability to persuade them. I chose a group of 20 children for piloting this lesson
plan. They are 12 years old. It was not difficult to involve them.
20
The first activity Zip Zap introduction helped students to get to know many people
and their names and because it is not easy to remember the direction of ZIP and ZAP it was
fun and it supported friendly atmosphere. Picture 1 was taken during this game.
Picture 1
Next activity, the Name game, gave the space for introduction too. One small remark
is that teachers should give a few minutes to students to prepare their adjectives. This helps
them feel more comfortable while introducing themselves.
The Stone mirror project is a game where the children had time to get accustomed in
the class without speaking and get to know new information about their schoolmates.
During the game Black and white it depends on the teacher what information he/she
wants to know about the class. He/she asks questions and they answer though their body.
This activity is very good when teacher feels that it is time for some motion. On the other
hand it needs big space in the classroom.
The activity Making a picture was the first time when the class had to cooperate
during this lesson. I had to push a few shy students to participate in it. I gave them the
instruction that everybody has to take part and the whole class created one very big picture.
I took a photograph of one of our still images (Picture2). There is a bridge over the river
and a statue of a famous writer next to the school.
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Picture 2
The cowboy game helps to practice grammar and vocabulary at the same time. This
game must go very quickly otherwise the children who are already out of the circle could
be bored. In the end, during the duel, many different vocabulary topics can be alternated
e.g. fruit, vegetable, clothes, parts of the body, animals etc.
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Language:
Other:
Time:
90 minutes
Class size:
14 16 students
Materials:
- A picture of animal for every child
- A ball of string
- CD with Earth song by Michael Jackson
- The copy of Earth song lyrics by Michael Jackson for everybody Appendix 4
- Paper for palm drawing for everybody and pencils
Description
1 Warm-up: Imagine (10 minutes)
Instructions:
Students go around the class in a circle and react to what teacher says:
Imagine that you walk barefooted and:
there is cold snow on the ground
there are ten centimetres of water on the ground
there is a fire on the ground
there are sharp stones on the ground
there is mud on the ground
there is honey on the ground
there is melted chocolate on the ground
there are trunks of trees on the ground
there is a very thick bush in front of you, try to make your way
there is a pond on the floor and you walk across using stepping stones. Be
careful not to slip and fall in.
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Let students move freely around the room to the music. Play the Earth song by
Michael Jackson. After a while stop the tape and call out Molecule two! Students have to
perform molecule with two atoms. Repeat this with whatever number you like. As you
need groups of at least four students for the next activity, the last number should be four.
Ask students to discuss the word Nature in the groups. What do they associate with
this term? They have the ideas like e.g. trees, animals, forest, park, flowers, insect, sea etc.
Students will create a still image of a scene from nature in order to portray their ideas
from discussion. Give them about 5 minutes to prepare the live photos.
After this time limit let the first group perform their tableau. Help them with a signal
e.g. clap your hands in the moment they freeze. The rest of the class comments on the
picture. They describe what they can see.
4
Stand in a circle. Give every child a picture of an animal. This should be the revision,
but you can add one or two new animals. Hold the end of the string. Ask the class: Which
animal lives in a tree? A person who has a picture of a squirrel takes the ball of the string
while you still hold on to the loose end. The game goes like this till every student has
string in hand. Now ask: What does it look like?? A huge spider web!!!
And then the class has to go backward and say: My animal lives in a tree. etc. The
class then reacts with the name of the animal. The string is rolled back to the previous
person till the teacher has the ball again.
Here are some examples of animals and questions:
Which animal has a trunk?
Elephant
Giraffe
Parrot
Horse
Sheep
Monkey
Tiger
Fish
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Dog
humans?
Which animal eats mice?
Cat
Fly
Bird
Cow
Hen
Spider
Elephant
Giraffe
Parrot
Horse
Sheep
Monkey
Tiger
Fish
Dog
Cat
What is an insect?
Fly
Bird
Cow
Hen
Spider
Ask children to pretend that they are birds flying high over the Earth. Let them take
turns telling what they see e.g. flowers, bushes, trees, rivers, mountains
Then play the video of Earth song and give them the lyrics (Appendix 4). After this
discuss the song and ask children to find out all words connected with the nature and the
environment in the lyrics e.g. sunrise, rain, crying Earth, bleeding Earth, animals,
elephants, crying whales, seas, forest trails. Ask children: Why is the Earth crying and
bleeding? Why are the whales crying?
25
Ask children to pretend that they are the birds again after this debate. Ask them: Do
you see the same things? Children see rather different pictures of the Earth. They are
influenced by the song. They see e.g. factories, cut trees, killed animals, fighting people
etc.
Every child cuts out of a sheet of paper his/her hand and writes on it everything that
he/she can do to help the Earth e.g. I will not waste. I will sort the garbage. etc.
Create an exhibition of all the works and give the children time to see it.
Evaluation:
In this lesson plan I tried to integrate environmental education with the language
lesson. Environmental education is one of the requirements of the school curriculum.
Beside this fact it is very important to show the young generation the human impact on the
nature and guide them to think about these problems. I enjoyed this lesson with a class of
sixteen students. Their age is about 15 years.
In Picture 3 there is the groups tableau. Everybody represents an object from nature.
Picture 2
26
During the activity Earth view I asked children to write down a few things which
they saw as birds flying over the planet. We were too big a group to listen to everybody
and the class has similar vocabulary so they saw similar things. After flying we watched
a video. Children liked this a lot because they liked the music but I could see that they
were sorry for some images they saw e.g. the dead elephant with cut tusks. The evidence of
their feelings was seen in the change of their Earth view. Before the video they saw only
nice images e.g. oceans, animals, flowers, trees, hills, rivers etc. After the video they saw
suffering people and animals, cut rainforests, dirty rivers, smoke from factories, and a lot
of cars in the streets etc.
The Palm drawing was a very nice final activity. Picture 4 is an example of one
of the works.
Picture 3
27
Language:
90 minutes
28
Variation: Teacher elicits everything that students need for their happy birthday and
the class than works with the list.
3. Changing voices (20 minutes)
Write the first column of adjectives on the board and elicit the opposites from students.
They should understand all of them.
friendly
active
honest
tolerant
interested
happy
calm
old
unfriendly
lazy
dishonest
intolerant
bored
sad
angry
young
Tell the students that everybody will say the following sentence in one of the ways
written on the board:
The person, who will speak, chooses one pair of opposites e.g. active and lazy and says
the sentence in both ways. The rest of the class guesses which pair of the opposites he/she
used.
4. Teacher-in-role: Who am I? (45 minutes)
Introduce yourself as an attendant of a meeting and welcome all the guests (the class).
Stick a card from Appendix 2 on each students back. This sticker describes what his /her
job is. The students should not know what they have on their backs. They mingle at a
meeting for about 10 minutes and talk to each other. They should try to find out who they
are according to the way people behave to them and talk to them.
After this mingling everybody guesses what his/her job is and the others confirm or
clarify the right answer. Than they have five minutes to prepare a short speech about the
importance of their job. They should convince the audience that their work is the most
important one for the society.
Evaluation
I entitled this lessen What is important? because my aim was to make the students
think about their priorities. I tried this lesson plan with a group of fourteen years old pupils.
There were sixteen students in this group. The lesson started with the warm-up activity
which helped students control their breathing and develop concentration. They liked the
29
idea of having a birthday and the most popular point was the cake battle in the end. The
truth is that the children were quite nosy during this fight.
Consequently children worked in pairs and they discussed their priorities for their best
birthday. I often had to remind them to use English because during the discussion they
tried to negotiate in Czech. The final order of our class was this: Health, Friends, No
school, Family, Happiness, Money, Food and drink, Music, A lot of presents.
The next activity Changing voices is very good for the begging with the drama
techniques. Children have to control the tone of their voice to illustrate the adjective.
Sometimes, it was difficult to recognise the difference but children concentrated a lot and
they learned all the adjectives and the phrase We are late. Lets hurry.
The last activity was very interesting and children liked the mystery that they did not
know what they have written on their backs. This situation is seen on the Picture 5. They
practiced social interaction and learned a lot of vocabulary because they wanted to know
who their friends are. In the end they had to introduce themselves and persuaded the
schoolmates that their job is as important as the others and that everybody is important for
our society.
Picture 4
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Language:
Other:
Time:
90 minutes
Class size:
14 16 students
Materials:
- Copies of the pictures of famous friends from Appendix 1 for small groups of
children
- A piece of paper with a characteristic for each student from Appendix 2
- Monolingual dictionaries
- Pieces of paper for noting down the friends problems
- 8 strings for 16 students ( about 50 cm)
- Friends theme song on CD
Description:
1. Warm-up: Change your seat who.. (10 minutes)
The students sit in a circle. Put one chair away and ask the person who is left without
the chair to stand in the middle. He/she says something like, Everyone who is wearing red
colour. or Everyone who has a brother, or Everyone who is left-handed. Any
description that is likely to describe some and unlikely to describe all will do. Everyone
who fits the description must move to a different chair. The person in the middle of the
circle is also trying to get the chair. Usually a different person will be left standing in the
middle.
2. Introduction of the topic: Group discussion (5 minutes)
Give a copy of the pictures in Appendix 1 to students in groups of four. They can see
many TV characters there. Let them discuss the pictures and guess what the topic of this
lesson will be.
31
After group discussion ask students to say their tips aloud. They should find out that
the topic is friendship.
3. Character (25 minutes)
Cut-out the characteristics in Appendix 2 and give one to every student. Students first
task is to find out the meaning of the word in a dictionary and prepare an explanation for
the class with a sentence as an example e.g. optimistic is someone who always believes
that good things will happen. The example sentence: He is optimistic about the future.
The class is sitting in the circle and everybody introduces his/her characteristics.
Than teacher collects the small pieces of paper, mixes them up and distributes them
again. The students must mime his/her characteristic this time. The other students guess
what the name of the mimed characteristic is and if it describes a friendly or an unfriendly
person.
4. Group formation activity Strings (5 minutes)
Teacher holds about 50 cm long strings in his/her hand and lets the ends loose. He/she
invites students to take hold of one end of one piece of sting. Then teacher lets the stings
off and students holding the same piece of string are paired off.
5. Friends in action (35 minutes)
Elicit some friends problems from your students. Use brainstorming and ask them
which problems friends can have in their relationship? Write all the suggested answers on
the board.
Here are some example situations:
1. You are in love with your best friends brother.
2. You and your friend are both in love with one person.
3. You reveal a big secret of your best friend and he/she gets to know it.
4. You find out that your best friend tried to take drugs.
5. Your friend is moving very far away.
6. Your friend needs help with something but you dont have time.
7. Your friend wants to go for a holiday with you but you dont have money.
8. You fall in love with your best friend and he/she doesnt know it.
9. Your best friend started ignoring you and you dont know why.
10. Your parents dont have time for you. They devote their time to your sister. You
complain to your friend and you want some advice.
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To make the class think about the role of the family in our lives, to improve
imagination and creativity, to encourage group dynamics.
Language:
Other:
Students will think about the importance of relatives and the advantages of
not being alone. They will be encouraged to use dictionaries for their work.
Time:
90 minutes
Class size:
14 16 students
Materials:
-
Description
1
that you are enjoying a big wedding. There are many relatives both form the grooms side
and from the brides side. So this wedding is bringing together family members who have
not met yet. Let the students pretend to drink their toasts and go around the tables full of
food. Encourage them to take a role of any member of this big family. As they do so, they
should introduce themselves to other members of the family by using phrases such as: Hi,
my name is Nice to meet you. How are things? Arent you brides cousin? Are you that
popular Uncle Tom? Etc.
2
them write three things or qualities which Susan and Mike will need in their marriage and
which they - as the members of their family - wish them in order to live happily ever after.
Encourage them to use dictionaries for some new interesting words.
34
You came home and you see your Mum talking to a strange man. When they see you
he is quickly leaving. You do not understand it and ask your Mum to explain it.
Your daughter came home from school and saw you with your colleague who helps
you prepare surprise for your husbands birthday. You do not want anyone from your
family to know it.
Situation 2
You are father and you booked a great holiday for the whole family and you are
announcing it over the family dinner. You feel very happy that you have such a nice
surprise for your family.
You are mother and you are serving dinner to your family. You are saving money for
new furniture and you hope that nobody from the family wants to go abroad this year.
You are daughter and you long for a holiday by the sea.
You are son and you have planned to go to Italy for a summer job for the whole
holidays. Your parents do not know about it yet.
Situation 3
It is your birthday today and you expect your son to congratulate you.
35
You are sitting in the living room and watching a football match on TV. Your
favourite team is playing but your Mum is trying to speak with you.
Situation 4
You bought your favourite yogurt for breakfast and you put it in the refrigerator. It is
breakfast time but you cannot find it.
You came home late and you are very hungry. There was a yogurt in the fridge. So
you ate it. Now it is a morning and you are meeting your sister. She is looking for a
yogurt.
Probably that one you ate.
Situation 5
You live in a very small room with your brother and he is always leaving his clothes
everywhere.
You came to your and your sisters room and you put your jacket on your sisters bed.
Situation 6
You have a problem at school and your want to talk about it with your father.
You are very tired from work and you really want to have a shower. Right now!!!
36
You need to divide the class to groups of three or four. Cut-out different forms of
family members addressings from Appendix 6
Give everybody one piece of paper with an addressing and ask them to mime their
member of the family. All Mums, Dads, Nannies and Grandpas must group together and
stay in these groups for the next activity.
short poem in which they use words from the wishes in the hearts. They are allowed to use
dictionaries during this activity. After this group work they should prepare a presentation
of their poems.
Evaluation:
I started this lesson with the activity Big wedding party. It was a very nice
activity. Students enjoyed the idea of being at a party full of fun. I used a poster to
motivate them and I played their favourite music to set the atmosphere (Picture 6). They
spoke a lot, which was the aim. The only problem was their tendency to use the mother
tongue in case they needed some difficult word. So we had to agree on the following rule:
Do not speak Czech during the party!
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Picture 6
Next activity and they lived happily ever after was a calm
individual work. Picture 7 displays one of the works. They used
the dictionaries for words they did not know but wanted to use in
their works.
The activity Family Situations took place after this calm work. It
Picture 5
was very demanding on concentration. Some scenes were excellent and we laughed a lot
but during the shy students performances it was quite boring. On the other hand, I think
that it helped even the shy students to improve their communicative skills and to push
themselves into public performance.
The part of the lesson where my students were asked to create a poem was a big
challenge for them. It was the first time when they composed a poem. They realized that it
is more difficult in English than in Czech because of differences in pronunciation and
spelling of the words. It encouraged them to work together. They had to use the
dictionaries to get inspiration for their rhymes. They had to concentrate on pronunciation.
In the end they managed to create nice work. Here is one example:
We wish you a lot of love
While you wear a wedding ring
In your life no bad thing
And every day sweet as a pudding.
(Honza, Katka, Jana and Tom, 9.A)
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Conclusion
This work is aimed at giving the examples of drama techniques as a challenging source
for educating. As mentioned many times before the way of learning through drama gives
both teachers and students many opportunities to explore this completely new area of
learning. The advantages, as learning in context, involving all language skills together,
practicing creativity, imagination, cooperation and toleration are the reasons why the usage
of drama techniques stimulates the holistic learning. I wanted to prove that although the
lesson does not have a clear aim, students get a lot from it. They get confidence in using
the language and in presenting their own ideas.
Most of the drama activities require little or no special equipment or material. A
teacher can take advantage of things which are very common e.g. old clothes, string, cards,
small objects, pictures etc. On the other hand it is important to adapt it to suit the abilities,
ages and interests of the class. Most drama activities can be done at many different levels.
The lesson plans in the theoretical part of this bachelor thesis are mainly based on
drama techniques but most activities or ideas from drama education can be used separately
as a small part of any lesson. They can be applied for teaching new vocabulary or grammar
as well as for practicing communication while working with a course book. They do not
have to be separated into individual lessons.
There is my self-evaluation included after each lesson plan. It is divided into two parts.
In the first part, there is an evaluation of the complex lesson and than there is an evaluation
of individual activities.
The main goal of my thesis was to demonstrate that drama techniques have their place
in language teaching and that they should not be used only in drama education because I
am sure that students will remember drama language lessons.
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Summary
This bachelor thesis Effective Learning of English through Drama tries to prove that
using some activities from the area of dramatic education enriches the process of teaching.
Thanks to these drama techniques students integrate all language skills into their learning.
They practice even more than just speaking, listening, writing and reading. The students
discuss, react, cooperate, respect each other, listen to their schoolmates and think about the
opinions of the others during the drama lessons. Beside these important aspects of
communication, pupils develop fantasy, creativity and the ability to explain themselves.
These are virtues which the students need in their future lives within the society.
Drama is also a good technique how to integrate any topic into the language lessons.
Teacher can add any topics from other subjects or some ideas and issues that run through
the curricular. Drama is very variable and it teaches in many different ways. This is the
reason why it effectively teaches all pupils with different learning styles. Every student can
find his role in the lesson. There are ninety-minute lesson plans in the practical part of this
work. They are aimed for the students of the second grade at the elementary school. The
teacher does not need any demanding tools neither any special abilities. The aim of these
lessons is to practice the language in context, to practise the language skills and to motivate
the students.
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Resum
Tato bakalsk prce Efektivn uen anglickho jazyka pomoc dramatu se sna
dokzat, e pouitm nkterch aktivit z oblasti dramatick vchovy, se proces uen
obohat a zefektivn. Pouitm dramatickch technik pi uen studenti zapojuj vechny
jazykov dovednosti. Procviuj i mnohem vce ne mluven, poslech, psan a ten.
V hodinch v kterch jsou dramatick techniky zakomponovny, studenti diskutuj, reaguj
na sv spoluky, spolupracuj, vzjemn se respektuj, naslouchaj si a pemlej o
nzorech druhch. Krom tchto velmi dleitch aspekt komunikace ci rozvjej svou
fantazii, kreativitu a schopnost vyjdit se. Tyto schopnosti, kter ci v hodinch
zskvaj, jsou nezbytn pro jejich dal ivot ve spolenosti.
Drama tak dv prostor pro jakkoliv tmata. Uitel do hodin jazyka lehce
zakomponuje nkter z prezovch tmat z rmcov vzdlvacho programu a nebo
nkter jin pedmt v rmci mezipedmtovho vyuovn
Drama je velmi rznorod a zahrnuje tm vechny zpsoby vuky, dky emu je
velmi vhodnou metodou, kter oslovuje ky s rznmi styly uen. Kad k si bhem
vyuovn me najt svou roli a zapojit se.
V praktick sti tto prce jsou plny devadesti minutovch lekc anglickho jazyka.
Jsou sestaveny pro ky druhho stupn zkladn koly. Tyto hodiny jsou pipraveny tak,
aby nevyadovaly dn nron pomcky ani dn zvltn schopnosti a dovednosti.
V tchto hodinch nen hlavnm clem nauit nco novho, ale spe procviit ji nauen
uivo v kontextu, procviit mluven a poslech a v neposledn ad povzbudit a motivovat
ky do dalho uen.
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References
Primary sources
Almond, Mark. Teaching English with Drama. London: Modern English Publishing, 2005.
Dougill, John. Drama Activities for Language Teaching. London: Macmillan, 1987.
Hanpachov, Jana, and Zuzana andov. Anglitina pln her [English lessons full of games].
Praha [Prague]: Portl, 2005.
Maley, A. and A. Duff. Drama Techniques in Language learning. Cambridge: CUP, 1982.
Secondary sources
Cockett, S. and G. Fox. Keep Talking! Krakow: Wydawnictwo Naukowe WSP, 1999.
Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London and New York: Longman,
1991.
Ladousse, Gillian. Role Play. Oxford: OUP, 1987.
Internet pages
Donald,
Rudolf.
Error
Correction
2.
[quoted:
16
March
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/error_correct2.shtml
2007].
42
Appendices:
Appendix 1 Pictures of famous frieds
Appendix 2 - Characteristics
Appendix 3 Roles for activity Who am I?
Appendix 4 Earth Song Lyrics
Appendix 5 - Happy birthday
Appendix 6 - Group formation activity: Members of the family
Appendix 7 Family situations
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Appendix 1
44
Appendix 2
Friend:
Friendly
Active
Honest
Optimistic
Reliable
Good
Tolerant
Interesting
Unfriendly person:
Bad
Unfriendly
Lazy
Boring
Dishonest
Intolerant
Unreliable
Pessimistic
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Appendix 3
Waiter
Pilot
Doctor
Teacher
Cook
46
Cleaner
Shop assistant
Business man
Farmer
Nurse
47
Computer expert
Manager
Poet
Painter
Student
48
Hairdresser
Unemployed
Actor
Worker
Bricklayer
49
(ooo,ooo)
It's our planet's womb
(What about us)
What about animals
(What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us)
What about crying whales
(What about us)
We're ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man
(What about us)
Can't we set him free
(What about us)
What about children dying
(What about us)
Can't you hear them cry
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)
What about babies
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
(What about us)
What about the man
(What about us)
What about the crying man
(What about us)
What about Abraham
(What was us)
What about death again
(ooo, ooo)
Do we give a damn
Appendix 4
EARTH SONG LYRICS
What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain.. .
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores?
Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah
What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son...
What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine...
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth the weeping shores
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah
I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)
What about the bleeding Earth
(What about us)
Can't we feel its wounds
(What about us)
What about nature's worth
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Appendix 5
Happy birthday
Happiness
Family
Money
Friends
No school
A lot of presents
Music
Health
51
Appendix 6
Mum
Mother
Grandfather
Mummy
Grandpa
Mama
Granddad
Gramp
Father
Dad
Daddy
Poppa
Granny
Grandma
Grandmother
Nanny
52
You came home and you see your Mum talking to a strange man. When they see you
he is quickly leaving. You do not understand it and ask your Mum to explain it.
Your daughter came home from school and saw you with your colleague who helps
you to prepare surprise for your husbands birthday. You do not want anyone from
your family to know it.
Situation 2
You are father and you booked a great holiday for the whole family and you are
announcing it over the family dinner. You feel very happy that you have such a nice
surprise for your family.
You are mother and you are serving dinner to your family. You are saving money for
a new furniture and you hope that nobody from the family wants to go abroad this
year.
You are daughter and you long for a holiday by the sea.
You are son and you have planned to go to Italy for a summer job for the whole
holidays. Your parents do not know about it yet.
53
Situation 3
It is your birthday today and you expect your son to congratulate you.
You are sitting in the living room and watching a football match on TV. Your
favourite team is playing but your Mum is trying to speak with you.
Situation 4
You bought your favourite yogurt for breakfast and you put it in the refrigerator. It is
breakfast time but you cannot find it.
You came home late and you are very hungry. There was a yogurt in the fridge. So
you ate it. Now it is a morning and you are meeting your sister. She is looking for a
yogurt.
Probably that one you ate.
Situation 5
You live in a very small room with your brother and he is always leaving his clothes
everywhere.
You came to your and your sisters room and you put your jacket on a sisters bed.
Situation 6
You have a problem at school and your want to talk about it with your father.
You are very tired from work and you really want to have a shower. Right now!!!
54
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