Unit Outline Drama – Improvisation

Thank God You’re Here Stage 3 Years 5 & 6

Rationale
The Drama programme for Stage 3 consists of approximately 10 weeks. The aim of this unit of work is to build in students the basic skills
associated with drama, more specifically improvisation skills. The foundation of these skills relies on the nurturing of the inherit abilities to be a
risk-taker, encouraging the development of resilience, the learning of giving and receiving, ways of communicating and how to use these to aid
students in the development of necessary social, emotional and mental capabilities which supports students’ well-being throughout life. The
building of these skills allows students to adapt this to new and familiar contexts and situations. This unit of work encourages cooperation,
builds discipline and commitment mentally and physically to the character/persona, teamwork, creativity and spontaneity, and of course
enjoyment and fun. This unit of work relies on a range of games that instill these skills in students, leading up to a differentiated product
depending on each year group. Years 5 and 6 will be working towards using stimuli such as the show Thank God You’re Here and Who’s Line
is it Anyway? by using a similar set, props and scripts to imitate and emulate their own versions of these shows. Students will be building basic
skills and drama terminology to support individual, pair, group and whole class work through structured and purposeful drama games that instill
these skills. In Stage 3, they are building an understanding of drama and its place in their lives, and also learning that in drama, they have the
ability to live in another world, entirely their own. They can create and take away things that are familiar to them or things that are completely
unheard of. Helping younger students understand that their drama classroom is a safe place where they can do this allows them to use their
natural curiosity and wonderful imaginations to change their real and imagined reality. Making and performing in drama plays a large role in
this unit of work, helping students become more confident in their words, opinions, stories and realities. Appreciating one’s own drama and the
drama of others plays a significant role in the development of students, particularly Stage 3 students whose activities encourage expansion and
elaboration of basic drama skills.
Outcomes and Indicators
Australian Curriculum
Explore dramatic action, empathy and space in improvisations, play building and scripted drama to develop characters and
situations (ACADRM035)
Develop skills and techniques of voice and movement to create character, mood and atmosphere and focus dramatic
action (ACADRM036)
Rehearse and perform devised and scripted drama that develops narrative, drives dramatic tension, and uses dramatic symbol,
performance styles and design elements to share community and cultural stories and engage an audience (ACADRM037)
Explain how the elements of drama and production elements communicate meaning by comparing drama from different social,
cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drama (ACADRR038)
Assessment and Evaluation
 Did the students enjoy the activities?
 Were all students given the opportunity to share their feelings?
 Did the students contribute in paired and group situations?
 Was the selection of student literature appropriate?
Unit Outline Drama – Improvisation
 Were the students able to share their class work with their families?
 Is there an improved atmosphere of trust and support in the classroom?
 Was sufficient time given for students to discuss the results of particular activities?
Differentiation Considerations

- This is intentionally left blank to allow you to adjust to your own students

Wee Learning Experiences/Scope and Sequence

k
2 Introductions
Transition: I say chocolate, you say lollies, chocolate, lollies, chocolate lollies.
1. Name game:
You need a word that starts with the same letter as your name and an action that represents that.
E.g. Hi I’m Miss McHarg and I am Marvelous. You respond with You are Miss McHarg and you are marvelous. (do actions)
Students go around the circle and we do their actions and respond

Sculptures game
Fish, Chips and Vinegar game

3 Experts
1. Talk about improvisation and features of it. Write these on the board and create a poster
2. In pairs, one is a TV interviewer, the other is an "expert" on any subject the interviewer names - e.g. abstract art, eating jelly,
catching caterpillars... Now an interview takes place and the expert must talk as though he or she really knows a lot about the subject.
3. As a fun variation in threes, the expert speaks gibberish (any made up sounds) and an “interpreter” explains what the expert is
really saying. In this case, you could try not giving a theme before you start, so that the interpreter can say whatever she likes! Of
course it is essential that both the expert and the interpreter go along with each other’s ideas.
4. You can also use the one word at a time technique and allow this game to get very silly! You could have two people playing the
interviewer and another pair as the expert. To give a bit more control, you could try one interviewer and a two-headed expert.
 Eating jelly
 Catching caterpillars
 Jumping into pools
 Drinking slime
 Surviving the end of the world
 Winning the lotto
Unit Outline Drama – Improvisation
 Secret Santa
 Playing the triangle
 How to be a snowman
 Guessing how many lollies are in a jar
 Catching butterflies
 Destroying the universe
 Minion language
 How you found Nemo
 Where aliens come from
 What lipstick men should wear
Questions to ask:
What do you know about…
Where did you find…
How did you…
Tell me more about how…
Why do you think…
* Aim is to increase vocabulary and improvisation
4 Improvisation
Discuss:
- Practicing basic skills
- Forming a character
- Maintaining that character
- Interacting with other characters
- Giving purpose to your character

Park Bench Scene Game

- Each person is given a character and has a moment to develop their character’s thoughts and actions (Individual)
- They enter a park as their character and sit on the bench (Pair/Whole Class)
- Another character enters and sits on the bench
- Both characters interact with each other without telling each other who they are
- The person who was originally on the bench gives their character a reason to leave e.g. one student is a famous person. Their reason
to leave is “Oh, my limousine has just arrived, I have to go”.
- Another character walks into the scene and sits down
- This process is repeated until all students have had a go
Unit Outline Drama – Improvisation
5 Features of Improvisation
1. Explain that we will work towards creating scenes such as Thank God You’re Here and Who’s Line is it Anyway? Watch a scene
from Thank God you’re here (choose an appropriate one!)
* By the end of the term, we want to be able to re-enact Thank God You’re Here using practiced scripts and set. The protagonists,
however won’t come from the same group.
2. Students watch a scene from Thank God You’re Here
3. Discuss as a class the different aspects that students noticed in the show i.e. script, theme, roles of each person, music, props.
4. Brainstorm these on the board. (Whole class)
5. Discuss the features of improvisation that the protagonist and supporting act/or/ress’s used i.e. Giving and receiving offers, asking
key questions, answering by expanding on the topic, ways of thinking, movement around the stage, no blocking, going with the flow.
Students do this in their books in groups. (Groups of 3)
Key questions: (have these written on the board)
* What did the protagonist do if they felt they were struggling?
* How did the supporting characters cater for the improvisation of the protagonist?
* What was the role of the supporting characters and how did they contribute?
NOTE: Explain how I want books to be treated and structured every single time. Always write neatly, with a title and date.
- Finish with a game of park bench if there’s time
6 Script Writing
1. Discuss a variety of scenarios/themes/topics given on the floor (see topic word doc file) (Whole class)
2. Brainstorm in pairs, some lines/script that have to do with each scenario (Pairs)
3. Basic improvisation warm ups trying to stick with the given scenario (Whole Class)
4. Students pair up with another pair to make a group of 4 and brainstorm some themes and scenarios that could be used for scenes in
Thank God You’re Here. (Performance Groups)
* These are the groups students will stay in for the Thank God You’re Here re-enactment
* Think about situations you have experienced, want to experience, or are highly unlikely to experience in real-life i.e. aliens landing

What is involved in a script?

1. Students choose a scenario they want to focus on. Make sure no one does the same one. (Performance Groups)
2. Being flexible with what the protagonist says i.e. going with what they say and still keeping on track with your script and scenario
- Students choose a protagonist and 3 supporting characters that could be a part of this scene and write these down.

Brainstorming the Script

1. Have a beginning, middle and end in your scenario. It doesn’t have to be very long.
2. Choose who is going to be what character and practice these lines. Remember, the protagonist doesn’t have any lines so you have
to hypothesise the different things they might say. *Remember that students are writing for someone else who has absolutely no idea
what the scenario is.
Unit Outline Drama – Improvisation
3. Continue to add to your script over the next few weeks and practise!
7 The Protagonist and Supporting Characters
1. Features of improvisation that the protagonist and supporting characters use
2. Brainstorm challenges of being a protagonist/supporting character i.e. Being under pressure, maintaining flexibility, (Whole Class)
3. Brainstorm some things to say/do when you don’t know what to say/do i.e. cues or actions, movement around the stage, changing
the subject (Pairs)
4. Conduct an interview with the protagonist – what questions will you ask? Decide on 3-4 questions you want to ask to find out more
about the protagonist and write these in your books. Each have a turn at being the protagonist and answering them (Performance
Groups)
5. What are some key questions to keep the scene flowing and the protagonist relatively on track.
6. What do your supporting characters do in your scene?
7. Students continued writing their scripts with their group.

Being the Judges – see judging word document

- Honourable mentions
- Dishonourable mentions
- Deciding who wins based on a set of criteria.
- Design a criteria as a class and all scenarios are judged on this criteria (Whole Class)
- Each group will have 3 or 4 judges from the other students in the class.
8. Keep adding to your script and Practice!
8 Props and Costumes
- Students wrote down the props and costumes needed for their performance.
- I sent books home so that students could practice the lines they have already written.
- Music that enhances the performance i.e. sound effects
*Remind students to bring in a costume for each character next week
Finish writing scripts and practise!
9 Discuss: Script
- Must tell students to not be silly with what they are writing as they are not sticking to the point of the scenario. I.e. not including
unnecessary lines that distract from the direction of the scene, and will confuse the protagonist.
- Students should be using drama vocabulary very well now, using words like protagonist, main character,
Discuss: Roles
- Must sort protagonists out and some things have changed around
- Really explain that pulling names out of a hat is the fairest way to do it. Give jobs to other people such as:
Judges (4) – work together to make a set criteria
Hosts (2)
Side stage people (4-6)
Unit Outline Drama – Improvisation
Technology directors (2-3) – use instant buttons on iPad for buzzer, videoing the performances, sound effects
Discuss: Stage set up
- Curtain
- Stairs and side stage
* Remind students to bring in a costume for each character next week

Practise!!
10 Welcome to Thank God You’re Here
- Record each group’s scene using an IPad
- Use lighting and stage set up
- Ask Year 3 and 4 to come and watch groups perform