Using Drama teach English

Ice Breakers
10 seconds to get into groups of people wearing trainer and people wearing shoes.
(long hair and short hair)
Line up from lightest colored clothes to darkest colored clothes
Line up from shortest to tallest
Line up fro youngest to oldest

Envelope Miming
Put students in groups of four or five then hand them an envelope each. Inside the envelope will be
be four or five slips of paper and on each paper there will be a command which they must mime.
Give them 20 seconds to think about how they will mime and them call out a command. At this
point, call on students one at a time to do their mime.
You are playing tennis, you are cooking, you are walking a dog, you are playing the piano, you are
typing, you are watching tv, you are listening to music, you are climbing a tree, you are washing a
car, you are washing your hands, you are running, you are doing yoga, you are reading, you are
driving, you are riding a bicycle, you are smoking a cigarette, you are flying a plane, you are
milking a cow,

Hot Seat
Get students to use circumlocution.
What is circumlocution?
The use of too many words to say something, especially in order to avoid saying something clearly.
Synonyms, adjectives, prepositions. etc

One student's back is to the wall while the others can see the board.
On the board, you can write a phrase. The goal is for the group to use other words to describe what
the phrase is and the person who can't see will have to guess.

Example sentences:
Chinghiz Aitmatov swims in Lake Issyk Kul.
Batman eats at Begemot.
Vladimir Putin wearing a Kalpak.
Michael Jackson drinks cummis.
Justin Beiber is cooking eggs.
A chicken eating fish.
Obama and Almazbek Atambaev fishing together.
Omurbek Babanov and Gulnar Satylganova at a bar drinking tequila.
Messi and Eminem playing basketball.
Drunken Zombie Apocalypse.

Strategies to help guess the correct word

-Use vocabulary that you already know.
-try to think of another way to convey the message.
-describe the concept. Explain who uses it, why it’s used, or where.
-use a synonym.
-use a more general category word (fruit, clothing, etc.)
-explain what and object is not.
-point and use gestures, actions,
Airport Greetings
Explain to students that they are going to do a simulation activity set in an airport terminal. On one
side, there are passengers arriving and on the other side there are hosts who are waiting for them.
The problem is that they don't know who they are so they will have to recognize each other from the
way they greet each other.
To run the simulation, divide the class evenly into passengers and hosts and separate them. Hand
out a piece of paper to the passengers with guidelines of how they should act.
Assign hosts their guests and give them a card explaining how to find their guests.
Announce the arrival of the airplane and it's passengers. Students search for each other repeating
their gesture until all passengers have found their hosts.
Afterwards, ask the students to describe how they felt during the experience and explain that they
are real ways that people greet each other in other cultures.
Discuss multiculturalism and how a custom that might seem strange is normal to someone else.

(Write these on separate papers)

You belong to the Eskimos. They great by hitting each other with a hand on the head or shoulder.

You belong the Eipo in the New Guinea. They greet each other with the silence.

You belong to the Dani in New Guinea. They greet each other with long hugs and tears.

You belong the Assiri. They greet each other giving pieces of their clothes.

You belong to the Europeans. They great each other shaking hands.

You belong to the Loango of Congo. They greet each other clapping their hands.

You belong to the Indians. They greet each other by joining palms, holding them close to their body

and bowing.

You belong to the South Americans. They greet each other by leaning their head on their partner's

right shoulder, giving hom/her three pats on the back. Then leaning their head on their partner's left

shoulder, then giving him/her three pats on the back.

You belong to the Mongols. They greet each other by sniffing each other's cheeks and touching with

their noses.

Expert

One student leaves the room. The others decide that this person is an “expert” on something- it can
be anything from cheese to Michael Jackson to the moon. The expert re-enters with thunderous
applause and sits in a chair facing the audience.
Students in the audience and ask expert questions that will help him/her guess the area of expertise.
For example if a student is an expert on cheese: How long does it take to make? Why does it smell?
What is your favorite type?
Obviously the expert won't know what it is at first but must give answers anyway.
The audience must go along with it even of the answer are ridiculous. Continue until the person
guesses correctly.
Hero/Superstar
The class is told that they are newspaper reporters at a press conference to interview a
hero/character/superstar after their victory/adventure. One student volunteers to be the main the
hero that will be interviewed. For example, the student could be President Obama. The rest of the
students are put into groups who will represent a newspaper. Each group can have a special name.
Give five minutes for groups to come up with a variety of questions. (five minutes)
Set up the room like a read press conference and allow students to ask questions for a maximum of
10 minutes. The reporters not only ask question but also take notes. After the interview is over, each
group must write a newspaper article.

Why are you late?

This improv activity requires four characters: the boss, the late worker and two other workers.
The late worker leaves the room, and the group decides together why that person was late for work,
eg: she was later because there was an earthquake at her apartment. She got to work on her horse.
The scene will be set up with two workers to one side, the boss in the middle and the late worker
entering the other side.
When the late person enters, the boss must ask, “Why are you late?”
The late person must watch the two workers who are behind the boss while they mime why they are
late.
If the boss sees the workers not working, they are fired and then someone from the audience can
take their place. The workers can pretend that they are typing, reading a file, making photo copies
or cleaning etc.
The late worker must keep making up excuses why they are late. The boss can help by saying, Ï
don't think you have a car but you use a natural form of transportation.”

Party Quirks
Divide you class into groups, the audience and the performers. Assign each performer a party quirk
card and ask that they read and practice their role. One student acts as a party host and must invite
his guests, one by one, into the dining room. The rest of the group must assume the role on their
card while the host and audience guess their identities.
After several minutes of performers, ask that the performers freeze and call upon the audience and
party host to guess the identities of the party guests.
Award points for accurate descriptions. Reverse roles, distributing a new set of cards to the new
performers, and repeat the activity.

Character roles: see page below