English Through Drama: A Visual/Physical Approach

Date:

December 1998

Issue:

The Language Teacher - Issue 22.12; December 1998

Writer(s):

Stephen Whitear, Obirin University

Creative Course Design

edited by Daniel J. McIntyre

This installment explores use of drama and mime to promote creative language practice, reduce affective barriers, motivate the learners, and stimulate their imaginations. Various activities, procedures, and course materials are discussed.

Several years ago, I was asked to submit a proposal for an optional practical drama course at my university for elementary to advanced students in their second year of a theme-based English language program.

I decided to combine my own interest in visual/physical drama with the idea of using drama activities to generate discussion as suggested by Maley & Duff (1982). Visual/physical drama relies most heavily on non-verbal acting and embraces mime, dance, drama, expressive movement, and body language. The expressive act may be naturalistic, representational, or symbolic. In general, it focuses on the nonverbal expressiveness of the body and is supported by narration, dialogue, sound effects, and music. The above proposal was accepted, and the class, which takes place in a music studio for a three-hour block each week for one semester has attracted 8-30 intermediate students each time.

This article describes the course and some of its positive results. After a statement of its aims, I will outline the course, its methodology, student evaluation, and course contents. I will then report on some of the outcomes: creative performances, consistent use of English (including an issue of students not using English and how it was resolved), efficient decision making, and a high degree of involvement. Two activities in detail follow, and finally, I will sketch out other possible applications of a visual/physical drama approach to language learning.

Course Aims

The course is designed to:

increase student motivation and participation;
increase confidence and fluency in spoken English;
increase the range of communication through body language;
extend the emotional range of expression;
develop creativity and spontaneity;
provide opportunities for group and self expression.

Course Overview

Students use English while gaining the practical skills and confidence to create and perform their own ideas. Spoken English is used at every stage of the process of creating the performances, which are improvised and unscripted.

Especially at the start of the course, students do physical activities and games to promote confidence, trust, cooperation, and group cohesion. These also serve to establish a routine of active, physical participation, and an attitude of playfulness.

There are drama activities to develop performance skills, with a focus on the visual/physical aspects of expression and communication. Concurrently, students practice creating performances (usually one to five minutes long) from a given starting point. Students also explore the use of music and sound in drama. They start to use narration and their own dialogue after the visual/physical style of drama has been well established.

Language is provided for students to execute physical games, to facilitate group discussions, and to help them direct their performances. The amount of student speaking time in English varies between 30-70% of class time; watching performances takes approximately 10-15% of the time. The remainder is taken up by teacher talk or physical activities that do not require language.

Methodology and Approach

Communication

Practical drama activities usually involve the use of language in drama games, for the discussion and preparation of small group performances, and in the performances themselves. Problem solving tasks, and information and opinion gaps that stimulate the need to speak are provided by the drama activities (Maley & Duff, 1982, pp. 13-14). To create a performance, the speakers need to exchange ideas, make decisions, and negotiate the shape of the final product.

Language input and awareness

Language that can be used in group discussion is often introduced through written dialogues (an example of this, Creating a Tableau, is described below). The language is presented in the same context in which it is going to be used, and is practiced by using the "Look Up and Say" technique in which "students look at the page and then look up and say their lines while maintaining eye contact with their partners" (Richards, 1994, p. 12).

Motivation

The emphasis on visual/physical drama is highly motivating. Students enjoy the physical movement involved, and reasonably good quality performances are achievable in a relatively short period of time. Students also enjoy watching other groups. In addition, the visual/physical aspect allows students to achieve interesting results with limited spoken language. Furthermore, a technique used in dramatic improvisation (see Involvement and Making Decisions for an example) helps participants process ideas quickly, and this accelerates the procedure and heightens their satisfaction.

The group cohesion and trust activities also have a major role in helping to create an environment where students can be playful, and where the idea of being active is initiated and concretely reinforced.

Student Evaluation

Students are assessed on individual class participation, language fluency both in class and during the two-hour preparation periods for two sustained group performances, and the quality of the ten-minute long performances (a group grade). I also grade homework that requires them to reflect on the class activities by writing their reactions to some of the activities.

Course Content

There are four key components to the course: its warmers, performance skills, the process of creating performances, and the language to facilitate these activities. The warmers consist of physical tag games or some other physical challenge.

Activities to help the participants explore visual/physical performance skills include: mime and expressive movement, mirroring, creating tableaux and machines, configuration (forming objects with the body), slow motion, a slave-master game, creating a character, spontaneity training, concentration exercises, and naming objects. The latter activity develops quick recognition of a mimed object (e.g., someone mimes putting something on a table and says, "This bomb is ready to explode!").

Activities concerned with creating a performance from a given starting point or stimulus include: chain stories and incorporation (e.g., eight given words must be incorporated into a story). Additional starters include recorded music, sound effects, and script fragments.

Language for the activities includes functional language such as starting and finishing a discussion, making, accepting and rejecting suggestions, asking for ideas, choosing an idea, praising ideas, deciding on the allocation of roles, volunteering to do something, asking for and giving feedback, describing feelings and sounds, and making deductions about the past and present.

Language for some of the physical games includes: "Whose go is it?"; "Who hasn't been?"; "Gotcha!"; "I've had it"; and, "I give up." There is vocabulary related to movement, spatial relationships, and character.

Outcomes of the Course

Creativity

A wide range of images, stories, and styles including science fiction, satire, folk tales, soap opera, and melodrama has been used. One session focused on students' responses to some music (Shikibu, 1991). After listening, they talked in pairs about the images and feelings it inspired, and any story that came to mind. They then related their responses to another pair. The groups of four then used the exchanges as a starting point to create a moving image reflecting the mood of the music. Results included:

A pastoral scene of farmers at work. The sense of a traditional rhythm and the hardship of the labor were very strong.
A Middle Eastern composite of snake charmer, belly dancer, and opium smoker. It was a perfect moving tableau, exuding sensuality, male and female.
A lonely traveler, on a train, sought eye contact with those around her. The effect of isolation was exceptionally strong as the passengers remained silently absorbed in their own thoughts or stared vacantly out the window.

Fluency

In three of the seven times this course has been taught, students used English for an estimated 95% of actual speaking time. Three other classes used English about 80% of the time, and one reverted to Japanese about midway through the course.

The class that lapsed into Japanese said that they had poor vocabularies; felt uncomfortable about working with learners of lower ability than themselves; were afraid of making mistakes; could not express themselves in sufficient detail to prepare a good performance; could not work fast enough in English; and that there was peer pressure against using English in any class.

I concluded that the performances had probably become too important, and the involvement in them was far too intense for the participants to be comfortable using English only. Consequently, in subsequent classes I put less emphasis on performance feedback, and provided more dialogues for language support.

When the problem arose again, I asked the students to resolve it themselves through group discussion. I told them to focus on finding solutions that ultimately had to be acceptable to me, and that to "try harder" was too vague. I also informed them that if they could not find a solution, then I would impose one that they might not like.

Some of the solutions they came up with were to fine people if they used Japanese; to respond in English even if a partner used Japanese; to remind each other to use English; and to point at someone using Japanese. These ideas were not formalized in the end, since I felt that what was important was not the suggestions themselves, but the possibly deeper and more significant decision that they would in fact use English. The class used English thereafter.

Involvement and decision-making

The learners usually worked efficiently and quickly. They came up with ideas, then decided and planned things rapidly. In the responding to music activity, 40 minutes was about average for group discussion and preparation. My introduction, and listening to the music and performances brought it up to a total of 70 minutes.

If there was a problem in generating ideas, there were two fallback positions. One was for the students to stop the discussion and experiment with the ideas they already had. This was energizing and would usually trigger off other ideas.

Another was the concept of accepting any idea and running with it, wherever it might lead and however surreal it may seem, as opposed to blocking (rejecting), or avoiding the consequences of an idea. The result was a sequence of ideas, each of which was accepted, and thus moved the narrative forward. At its simplest, it was to say "Yes" rather than "No." For example:

Student 1: "There is a bomb on the table."

Student 2: "No, there isn't."

Student 2 blocks the idea of a bomb, and the result can be a "Yes, there is/No, there isn't" situation. Alternatively, someone must think of another idea. If the response is to leave the room hurriedly (i.e., Student 2: "Yes, so we must escape"), this avoids the problem of what to do with the bomb. However, if Student 2 says yes, and accepts the idea, they are ready to focus on the bomb. An even better response is, "Yes, and it's ticking." This may lead to a few tense moments dismantling the bomb and deciding which wire to cut. There are many examples of this strategy in Johnstone (1981).

All students did all the tasks set with the exception of written homework. There was never a serious case of wasting time in class; non-participation was not an issue. Although students said many of the activities were difficult, they were quite willing to attempt new things and showed positive anticipation. After a couple of sessions, they naturally formed a circle on the floor, attentive, focused, and ready to begin each new activity without any delay.

Two Activities

Creating a Tableau

This activity reinforces the basic language pattern needed to set up a performance. The language and topics can be altered to meet students' language needs.

First, explain that a tableau is similar to a picture or statue and produces a strong impression, then demonstrate the creation of one with a small group by suggesting an easy topic and then elicit a few ideas for "actions," which will be frozen. Then direct the students into position and ask them to hold their poses for a few seconds. Next, have them work on the dialogue below, reading through together, and using the "Look Up and Say" technique. After that, give each group a different topic. Because of the range of speaking levels, I pitch the language towards the lower end of the spectrum, but include something to appeal to the more advanced learners. The following dialogue contains a humorous word game to express praise.

During the performance, each group shows its tableau while the audience guesses the topic. If they can't guess, the tableau moves for a few seconds to provide more clues. Topics include hate, anger, worry, jealousy, love, and envy.

A: Our topic is fear.

B: So, what are people afraid of?

C: They're afraid of gangsters, snakes....

A: And spiders and cockroaches...also sarin gas.

B: Any other ideas?

D: Guns, getting AIDS.

E: I think that's enough ideas, don't you?

C: Yes. Which idea shall we do?

D: How about sarin gas?

E: Sarin gas, that's a good idea.

A: A good idea? It's great!

B: A great idea? It's wonderful!

C: A wonderful idea? It's fabulous!

D: Anyway, shall we do it?

A/B/C/E: YES!

E: What's the situation?

C: What about this? We're in a train and... someone has just

released the gas.

E: OK?....(yes) Now, who do we need?

D: We need a person with the gas.

C: Right, and we need train passengers.

B: What can we do?

A: The guy with the gas can open his bag.

E: Right, and someone can point to it.

D: Someone else is putting a handkerchief over her face.

C: Excellent, we've got enough ideas.

B: Shall we rehearse?

A: Wait, who's going to be (gonna be) the guy with the gas?

E: I'll be him.

A: I'll be the passenger putting a handkerchief over her face.

B: I'll point to the bag.

D: Wonderful, let's practice.

A: Only wonderful?

Describing Sounds

The aims of this lesson are to describe sounds, and then through discussion create two brief performances based on percussion and environmental sounds.

Students first listen to recorded sounds, and then in pairs use the model language (Table 1) to help talk about them. Next, they use percussion instruments to make sounds which promote a wider variety of responses. Pairs express their ideas to the class after brief discussion. The pairs then choose two or three percussion sounds, plan, and then perform a one or two-minute performance incorporating the sounds.

After the performances, the following verbs are demonstrated/elicited: tap, strike, shake, flap, scrape, pluck, slide, and drag. These are used in the next stage. In groups of three, students create new sounds. Two or three sounds are chosen to be integrated into another short performance.

One striking performance started with someone practicing a musical instrument (mimed) to the sound effect of a metronome (tapping a pencil). He put his instrument down in disgust , stormed out of the room, and went to a park. After a few frustrated goes on a swing (an irritating squeaking noise), he sat down on a park seat. Then the flapping of a piano cover indicated a flock of pigeons descending on him. The performance finished with him charging out of the acting area.

Table 1: Language for Sounds

What does it sound like to you?

It sounds like a bell.

I can imagine:	a knock at the door.
	running water.
	(someone) running.

It makes me think of:	(someone) hammering.
	dripping water.
	_________________.

I'm afraid I can't imagine anything.

I don't know what it sounds like.

What do you think of it?

It sounds interesting.

It's an interesting sound.

strange.

a strange

weird.

weird

pleasant.

a pleasant

unpleasant.

an unpleasant

irritating.

an irritating

________.

__________

What could you use it for?

You could use it for a fight.

It would be good for a nightmare.

a dream.

a scene in a train.

______________.

You could use it to start/finish a dream.

_______________.

Other Applications

An elementary level course is being piloted at Nihon University as part of its English Conversation programme. Although visual/physical drama is still a key feature of the course, there is a higher proportion of the more familiar communicative speaking activities. The possibilities for other kinds of courses involving visual/physical drama are excellent. Reading, writing, and listening can be incorporated into this form of drama.

Reading, especially, presents the opportunity for an intensive, highly interactive approach. Materials adaptable to visual dramatization are folk stories, legends, and urban myths, as these are often short and action based. There are also short published mime plays and sketches suitable for intermediate to upper-intermediate students (Feder, 1992; Vestal, 1983). Solo mimes can be made verbally interactive with several people directing one actor. Continual reference is made to the text during rehearsal, with the language being repeated as directions to the mime. Students can create their own written folk stories or legends. Listening can be incorporated with taped stories, which are then dramatized.

One of the exciting things about this kind of work is that it liberates the human spirit in a very social and playful way. It is a refreshing and energizing approach to language learning for both students and teachers.

References

Feder, H. J., (1992). Mime time. Colorado: Meriwether Publishing, Ltd.

Johnstone, K. (1981). IMPRO Improvisation and the theatre. London: Methuen Drama.

Maley, A., & Duff, A. (1982). Drama techniques in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J. C., Hull, J., & Proctor, S. (1994). Changes: Teacher's book 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shikibu. (1991). Missing kingdom. The British Museum vol. 2. Polystar.

Vestal, P.C. (1983). Once upon a mime. Colorado: Meriwether Publishing, Ltd.