Drama in the Business English Language Classroom

Karenne Sylvester www.kalinago-english.com - http://kalinago.blogspot.com - http://how2learnenglish.blogspot.com

Drama

in the Business English Language Classroom

VHS Leinfelden 12-06-09

Picture: RAWA drama by premasagar


Agenda

10.00 11.30 Role Play and Real Play

11.45 13.00 Where to find/ how to make

13.00 14.00 Lunch

14.00 15.15 Language awareness/feedback

15.30 17.00 Creating our own

Where are we?

What are we waiting for?

What are we talking about?

Icebreaker

Ask questions like: why are we wating? Who is it? How long have we been waiting? How do you feel? etc

Then ask trainees in smaller groups to come up with a story that fits picture -without discussing what they came up with in group.

Ask them to get up and get into similar formation as picture, ask them to talk to each other about 'celebrity' or whatever else they came up with.

Picture: drama, yesterday when I was you by Rene Schmalschlaeger

What are

ROLE PLAYS

REAL PLAYS

DRAMATIC ACTIVITIES

?

Elicit from trainees

Notes

Role Play: classroom activity in which learners take on a role. They play the part of someone else. Roleplays are spoken, (can be written emails).Roleplays usually involve role cards, but cards aren't necessaryRoleplays usualy mean learners pretending to be someone elseRoleplays usually involve preparation, but many classroom activites can made instantly into roleplay with little preparation.

Real plays or simulations mean learners play themselves. *Often more comfortable for BE learners.

Drama it's all drama but usually longer, can involve a script and /or famous characters. Can reactment of plays / movie scenes.

Sources: www.macmillanenglish.com/Straightforward - Lindsay clandfield/Jim Scrivener.

why?

when?

when

how?

Where2?

Elicit from the trainees

why?

Quieter students get to wear a mask

Learners experience unpredictable nature of language

Puts new language in context.

Forces students to think on their feet.

Source: Lindsay Clandfiled www.macmillan.com/straightforward

why?

Helps learners to work together

Provides a rehearsal for events students may encounter

Encourages learner-learner interaction

Gives learners more responsibility

Fun!


Beginning of a lesson not optimal.

Middle of class best, when attention levels /energy failing.

Students have tangible need, i.e. about to attend event / perform a task where English needed use for 'real' practice.

when?

when

Source: Ken Wilson, Drama and Improvisation www.oup.com/elt

In class

In meeting rooms

In the company cafeteria

At a restaurant

Outside

where?

Role play, case study activity books in ELT*

BE text books = decision dilemmas/case studies*

Books with dramatic activities*

Use scripts from movies /tv dramas

Create your own role plays, simulations or scripts*

Get your students to create their own

where to find activities?

Using props and/or realiaMobile phones and microphones

Memos, reports, data projectors, misc office items

Overhead projectors

Newspapers, books

Hats, sunglasses

Background photos and/ or music or sound files

how?


What can go
wrong?

Elicit from the trainees

Image d-d-drama by assbach

Students don't want to participate / think silly / have no input

Students don't have enough time to prepare or

Students don't feel prepared

Students over improvise loss of objective

Image d-d-drama by assbach


Even a fool knows you can't touch the stars, but it won't keep the wise from trying.

Harry Anderson

Break

What works best with
Business English Students?

11.45 - 13.00Published roleplays + case studiesvs.Activity books and ideasvs.Your own ideasvs.Your students ideas

Books

International Business Role Plays

Business Roles 1 and 2

Business English Pair Work

Keep Talking

Discussions that work

Business Rewards

InCompany Case Studies

Market Leader case studies

Intelligent Business decision dilemmas

Be Someone Else

What nationality are you?

Where do you work?

What are some of your responsibilities?

What is your name?

Adapted from Be Someone else - Ken Wilson, Drama and Improvisation www.oup.com/elt

Insta-roleplays!

Teacher led, tells:Students where they are can be based on textbook unit

Who they are

What they should talk about

(also can remind them of language to practice / review)


Discuss how

Insta-realplays!

Student ledStudents decide where they are

Who they are

What business situations they're 'in'

What they would like to practice talking about

What language they would like to review

Discussion

And! Action! Scripts!

Publisher preparedDrama & Improvisation, OUP by Ken Wilson

Improvisations:http://improvencyclopedia.org

Teacher prepared

Student prepared / group work

Download scriptshttp://www.imsdb.com/ (movies)

http://www.simplyscripts.com/(movies, tv, radio, anime)

Discuss

Published supp. materials/

Book 'case studies' vs

Homemade Role and Real Plays, Scripts (teacher vs student led)

SWOT

Group work discuss differences


Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Albert Einstein

Lunch break

Managing Task / Giving Feedback

14.00-15.15

During Performance- sticking to the story- feedback on the drama

Looking at the emergent language

Superhero, an item of office equipment
& a building in the city

What happened?

Adapted from Superhero, household object & location - Ken Wilson, Drama and Improvisation

Play game:

Get 5 trainees up to front of room. 4 have to tell the story and 1 is the detective.

Rest of group elicit from them a superhero, office equipment and an office in the city.

Director needs to get a story out of the participants, he indicates who should start the story and decide when to continue on the story by pointing at members of the team and at any time he wishes, changes the speaker until the story is wrapped up.

Managing the Drama

Concept and AddWhat someone says during an improvised scene should be accepted as reality.

Whatever people say to you, accept it, don't change it.

MayhemLaughter beneficial, don't control everything!

Source: Ken Wilson, Drama and Improvisation www.oup.com/elt

Ken's example:

Concept and Add is a central tenet of improvisation theatre. If someone says something important you have to accept what they say as the reality of the situation and add to it.

Say Student A starts an interview by saying what is your latest novel about? If B answers, I'm not a novelist, I'm a taxi driver, it can be funny but wrecks activity if the activity is depending on B being an author.

Feedback

?

Elicit notes on performance, talk about praising how to be specific

Language Feedback:
Conversation ControlTM

VocabularyNew words

Wrong words

New expressions

and

GrammarImproving structures

...and

PronunciationTone

Rhythm

...and

Hand out the Conversation Control Sheets teacher and student versions.


Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.

unknown

Break

Make Your Own

15.30 - 17.00

Adding drama to your textbooks

Show and tell

The Chair

Get teachers to review the textbooks asked them to bring in.

Work in groups to create role or real plays

Explain

If time, act out.

What do you make?

Taylor Maylil

youtube video

And for fun.

End.

The Chair

Adapted from Experts - Ken Wilson, Drama and Improvisation, OUP

CC by Karenne Sylvester Kalinago English June 19, 2009

You have permission to download and use for your own training
or to train other EFL teachers. If you do so, please give attribution
and do not remove source references. Thanks.

Photographs: www.flickr.com

1,5-11 RAWA Drama by premasagar

3+4 Drama by Rene Scmalschlaeger

12-13 d-d-drama by assbach

15-16 portrait by trois tetes

17-20 headshift business card discussion by Lars2

22-24 it's not easy to be a superhero by Esparta

25-26 Streeter Seidell comedian by Zach Klein

28 Yesterday when I was you by Rene Schmalschlaeger

30 .45 r.p.m art chair by Gary Bridgman

Recommended resources:

Task based Language Learning and Teaching Rod Ellis OUP

The Practice of Language Teaching Jeremy Harmer Pearson Longman

Drama and ImprovisationKen Wilson Oxford University Press

Straightforward Beginner + Elementary Lindsay Clandfield Macmillan

Education

Drama in the Business English Language Classroom