The Language Teacher
September 2000
Using Drama Techniques to Facilitate Speech
Paul A. Cunningham
Rikkyo University
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words: Drama, Conversation, Improvisation, Pronunciation
Learner English Level: All levels
Learner Maturity Level: Junior High to Adult
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Activity Time: 40-50 minutes
Much has been recounted about how passive Japanese learners are, and how reticent they can be to participate actively in class activities. Here is a tried-and-true winner, one that is sure to get your students hopping.
Drama techniques have long been successfully incorporated into English language classes. Some apparent obstacles might be: 1) the size of the class, 2) the time involved in such an activity, and 3) whether the teacher feels comfortable performing drama. Well, rest assured that the following treatment can be done with up to 30 students, one lesson can be completed in less than an hour, and even I (with stage fright and no theater training) have grown comfortable with these exercises.
To make things simple, I am going to use my favorite text on the subject, Pinch & Ouch, as a guide. This book is widely available and can be used as a springboard to other related activities. For the sake of simplicity and clarity, I have decided to draw from the content and some of the techniques presented in Lesson One of this text.
The dialogues are succinct and easy to memorize. The first two lines of a seven-line dialogue read, "Hi. How are you doing?" / "I'm doing all right." Dialogue variations are also concise and useful (i.e., "Hi. How are you?" / "I'm doing fine"). These types of dialogues can easily be created from scratch. The real variety comes from the Situations section, which provides different contexts for the dialogues to take place. These contexts serve as a gateway to improvisation.
I often start the lesson by telling students that we are going to do something wild and crazy -- just to forewarn them. We then move all of the desks against the walls. I give each of the students a handout, including the dialogue and variations. I ask the students to sit down and read over the dialogue, marking it to help them say the lines as naturally as possible. (I try not to put any ideas in their heads at this stage, so I do not model the dialogue.) I then ask for a few volunteers to read the dialogue line by line. Students listen and make some suggestions about how each line might be read. While I try to have the students lead this discussion, I sometimes raise questions about rhythm, stress, and intonation, to encourage ideas. I now ask the students to re-mark the dialogue so these features have been indicated in some way. (I see this part of the lesson as an informal pronunciation workshop.)
Game time! I now divide the class into two equal groups and give them 30 seconds to memorize their lines. Along with the mounting tension, this really gets their blood moving. I then line them up, one group facing the other, and all together we go over the lines one by one. At this point, I may model a sentence or part of a sentence if need be. But usually, the students have done a good job discovering viable renditions of each line. At this point, if the group (or I) seem to be nervous, I will extend the choral practice session by suggesting variations to the way each line is read. For example, I might ask one group to read their lines in a very loud voice, and the other group in a very soft voice. Some other variations I suggest are fast/slow, high/low, hearing/hard of hearing (requiring repetition), old/young (gets them thinking about the improvisation to come), even English/Japanese. All along, the students are getting more time to learn their lines and to feel more comfortable saying them.
There are many techniques which can now be introduced to help illustrate an aspect of pronunciation or discourse style. One common one is to toss a ball (or substitute) back and forth as they say their lines, reinforcing the catch-ball quality of a conversation. A technique which I have developed and find helpful in focusing on word stress is to have the two lines of students approach each other, and have each pair interlock arms at the elbow and move back and forth as they punctuate word stress in each line by stepping (stamping!) forward and backward. If this is difficult to visualize, imagine two lines of 15 students facing each other with their arms locked. (The idea is to get them to move together and to respond to their partners' movements.) Line A -- "Hi. How are you doing?" -- starts by moving forward three steps, emphasizing the stress that falls on "hi," "how," and "doing." Of course stress markers can and do move depending on context, so determining stress is left up to the teacher. Line A stamps forward in three clear steps, with their partners in tow. Then Line B -- "I'm doing all right." -- responds in kind, moving forward two steps, emphasizing "doing" and "right." This is not as chaotic as it may sound, mostly because the students are attached and focused on task. It encourages them to pay attention to word stress and to the give-and-take quality of conversation. It also allows them the chance to focus on rhythm and intonation and leads nicely into the third and final stage: improvisation.
In the final stage, students are presented with a few simple situations -- i.e., girlfriend and boyfriend, father and son, rival fashion models, etc. -- and are asked to sit down with their partners, with whom by now they are usually quite close, select a situation, and work out a simple sketch. Pairs of students are then asked to perform in the center of the circle, sometimes accompanied by a few simple props such as a table and chair. Students can use the dialogue they have learned or are free to improvise. Believe it or not, if you have come this far, the students are usually quite enthusiastic and do a surprisingly good job saying their lines and acting. Class usually ends with a great feeling of warmth (literal and otherwise) and a sense of camaraderie. Try this once or twice a semester and you will be sure to keep your students genki!
References
Nomura, Y. (1982). Pinch & Ouch: English through drama. Tucson, AZ: Lingual House.
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