Smart Planet 2
1 What are you doing?
This is a very common improvisation game that uses
mime to get students moving and disassociation to
get students thinking creatively. More importantly,
it teaches one of the basic rules of improvisation: to
accept whatever the other players propose.
1 Students stand in a circle. A volunteer stands in
the middle of the circle and begins to mime a
physical activity, e.g. washing the dishes.
2 A second student leaves the circle and
approaches the student in the middle and asks,
What are you doing? The first student continues
with the mime and responds by saying anything
except the activity that they are actually doing.
For example, if they were washing dishes they
might say, I’m driving a car.
3 The second student takes on the activity that has
just been suggested and begins to mime driving
a car, while the first student rejoins the circle.
4 A third student comes into the circle and asks
What are you doing? and so on.
Tips
• Tell the students to be as realistic as possible with
their mimes.
• Encourage the students to answer with whatever
pops into their head.
• Try to get the students to ask and answer as
quickly as possible.
2 Where are you going?
In this game, one student mimes the act of
preparing to do something and then leaves the
space in order to do it. The other students have
to guess what he or she is doing and where he or
she is therefore going. The scene finishes when the
student opens the door to leave. For example, a
student mimes putting on football boots and shin
guards and then stretches. He is preparing to play
football and he is going onto the pitch for the start
of the match.
Tip
Ask the other students watching questions about
the mime while it is happening. What is the student
doing? How is he or she doing it? What objects is he
or she using/holding?
3 The Telephone
This is a challenging theatre improvisation game
that requires students to carry on two conversations
simultaneously. It can be used to review and practise
the speaking Functions language from any of the units.
1 Choose three students. Put two of them (A and
B) on one side of the room and the other student
(C) on the other side of the room.
Theatre Games Units 7–9
2 Students A and B begin to act out a scene that
practises the Functions language and context
from one of the speaking pages, e.g. they are
two friends in a clothes shop where Student B
is trying on clothes and Student A is giving their
opinion (Asking for and giving opinions, p16).
3 Student C phones Student A to ask for
instructions on how to do something (Asking for
and giving instructions, p68), e.g. how to cook a
Spanish omelette.
4 Student A must now simultaneously carry on
both conversations, switching between giving
their opinion of the clothes being tried on by
Student B and giving instructions for making a
Spanish omelette to Student C.
5 The improvisation ends when both conversations
would naturally end: Student B decides on
which item of clothing to buy and Student C
has received all of the instructions to make the
omelette.
6 Swap roles and repeat.
Tips
• Review or pre-teach the Functions language and
any other vocabulary that students will need for
the improvisation.
• Students can use real objects as props. For
example, Student B could be trying on different
jackets or coats from the other students in the
class while Students A and C are holding real
phones.
• The improvisation works best when Students B
and C alternate their input. For example, Student
B asks, What do you think of this one? (showing
Student A the coat they’ve just tried on) to which
Student A responds, It’s not bad, which is then
followed by Student C asking, How many eggs
do I need? to which Student A responds, Three.
• Student A could also make comments to the
rest of the class in the form of ‘theatrical asides’,
e.g. Ugh … that was an ugly coat! or, I definitely
wouldn’t want to try that omelette! These asides
are a lot more fun when Student A is sharing an
opinion with the audience that they wouldn’t
dare share directly with Student B or C.
• Any of the speaking contexts from the Student’s
Book can be adapted for this exercise as long as
the situation is set up with Students A and B in
the same place and Student C phoning Student
A from another place. For example, Students A
and B can be talking about what they want to do
this evening (Suggesting and responding, p100)
when Student C phones Student A to tell them
that his or her cat had an accident and is in the
pet hospital (Showing sympathy, p90).
Theatre Games Units 7–9