QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #87

English through drama

Research suggests that those learners with the least inhibition, those most willing to take risks, are often those who learn the most. While students often feel shy about speaking before others, many lose their shyness when asked to take on a role.

Even the smallest school library tends to have a collection of dramatic literature available for putting students on stage. When that fails, the trusty Internet can provide plays both ancient and modern. For more on approaches to using drama in the language classroom, see the resources whose links appear below.

http://www.tesol-france.org/articles/Colloque05/Carkin05.pdf

„Acting is the pedagogy of doing. Through the action, the student learns to make him/herself clear when speaking and express feeling through the paralinguistics of intonation, pitch, stress, gesture, and movement. S/he is guided by the understanding of a character’s objectives that, by nature, are based upon the values of a particular society/culture. The pull of the objectives produce the thought that produces feeling and the feeling, now culturally conditioned, produces again the speech. The student achieves

this through careful reading of the script, thoughtful analysis and discussion, and, finally, the full execution of the character of the play in the play itself. Through doing, through performing in this ritual of becoming, the student not only understands more fully a language and culture, but also – himself.”

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr082004/edu2.asp

„Do we as English teachers allow for drama in the English classes, and I am not speaking of Shakespeare and that hallowed crowd but of ordinary folk who must communicate in English. Drama seems to be associated with having a good time but not with learning and this is a sad state of affairs. Drama has a lot of potential for helping learners with spoken English and this is what this article is about: Drama for improving our Spoken English.”

http://www.ericdigests.org/1994/drama.htm

“Creating Drama with poetry is an exciting language learning experience. The technique employs a multi-sensory approach to language acquisition by involving second language learners physically, emotionally, and cognitively in the language learning process. The use of poetry as drama in the English as a second language (ESL) classroom enables the students to explore the linguistic and conceptual aspects of the written text without concentrating on the mechanics of language. Students are able to develop a sense of awareness of self in the mainstream culture through the dramatic interpretations of the poems.”

http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/drama.htm

„This unit is geared for later elementary and middle grades. It fuses language arts and music to explore one of Verdi's first masterpieces. It explores the opera from the standpoint of plot and character…”