DRAMA ACTIVITIES AND CLASSROOM RESOURCES

This BLOG is the product of the "LET'S LEARN BY PLAYING" (LLP) project which is developing as a Grundtvig European Project since September 2008 by the patners of six institutions belonging to six different countries. The project started at a first contact seminar held in Riga (Latvia).

The main objective of the partnership is create a HANDBOOK or TEACHER MANUAL with drama activities and interactive games.

Here you have the results of our work, the activities, games, and new approaches into Foreign languages teaching-learning.

We hope these materials are useful for you and we encourage you to put some of the activities into practice with your students and feel free to send us your feed-back and suggestions.

Project coordinator.

PARTNERSHIP

FRANCE: Lycee du Cleusmeur
GREECE: Environmental Education Centre of Filippi
ITALY: Istituto Tecnico "Alessandro Volta"
LITHUANIA: Alytaus Dailuju Amatu Mokykla
SPAIN: Combining Learning Acting and Playing
TURKEY: Urla Halk Egitimi Merkezi

Monday 26 April 2010

LANDSCAPE


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • A learner looks at the photo of the scenery and tries to depict it orally as precisely as possible to his/her friends who are not able to see it;
  • Their task is to paint the imaginary landscape while listening to the description produced by their friend.

YES/NO


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • Divide in groups of 3-4 players. Every group chooses four cards.
  • Every member of a group goes into the centre and answers to the questions of the groups.
  • Wins the group which guesses the word first.

WORD WAVE


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • Learners stand in a line.
  • One takes a card, reads it. The rest ones one after another say the word and do the action.
  • The first one goes to the end of the line. The second learner starts the procedure with a different word.

WONDERLAND


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • Learners are divided into some teams. Each team gets a thing that symbolises a different well known story, legend, tale, etc and a card with instructions/task.
  • Time for preparations and presentations and other requirements are set
  • Learners work in groups and put the content of the task into the frame of characters and the plot of the assigned fairy-tale/story.
  • Every team presents its “cover” and gets applause or other symbolic assessment/feedback from the audience

OK!


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

The teacher says the question and throws the ball to any learner seated in his place at the desk. The learner catches the ball and must answer in 3 seconds. If the answer is right, the rest of the class shout enthusiastically in chorus “O.K!” If the answer is wrong, the class reacts “Oh, no!” with disappointment. If the learner with the ball can not answer instantly, the rest of the learners start counting “one, two, and three”. If the answer does not come, they react disappointedly with “Oh, no!” The learner can throw the ball back to the teacher only AFTER the class reacts. The procedure goes on around until the teacher gets enough feedback information.

GUESS HANDICRAFT PRODUCT


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • Learners are divided in 4 teams. Each team chooses a box.
  • Each member of a team describes a thing using simple sentences like ‘It has got….’ Without mentioning the name.
  • A team keeps on describing while other teams get a guess.

GOLD POT HUNT


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • Learners are informed that they will hunt the “gold pot”
  • Time frame for each step of the procedure is set.
  • Each learner or groups complete an activity/task set beforehand.
  • Each learner or groups of learners draw “a pot of gold” on an individual sheet of paper or a sheet of conference block and fill it in with what they think are the added value of their recent learning.
  • After, each learner gets 30 seconds to present the most important issues from his/her pot
  • The drawings with pots and “gold” are exhibited or stay with the owners as certificates of learning quality

FUN FAIR


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • Learners are divided in some teams. Each team chooses a card with instructions
  • Time and other details are set
  • Each team work together to create a pantomime completing the task in the card
  • Each team gives its presentation silently, the rest guess the meaning and describe it orally
  • The best presenters and the best decipherers get symbolic awards (applause, chant, etc)

CRAFTSMEN'S STORY


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • A reader reads a story.
  • Learners know what profession they are.
  • They sit in a circle and listen to a story. When they hear their profession, they run a round a circle and sit in their place.

COLOUR AND EMOTION


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

To take/draw out/choose one colour pencil and describe the emotions it calls or describe the event the colour associates with.

A TALE ABOUT THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE LITTER


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • A tale is composed in native language.
  • Then it is translated into English. Learners work in groups.
  • The spectacle is filmed as one of the learners is reading the whole tale shile the others are acting it out with puppets on the stage.
  • The roles are shared, everyone learns a personal part. However, while rehersing, the parts of colleagues are learnt too due to multiple repetitions for the sake of better artistic exaspression.
  • The sound track is created while watching the video material.

A STORY ABOUT TRADITIONAL CELEBRATION. SHROVETIDE


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
  • A text on a chosen topic(Shrovetide tradition in Lithuania) is created in native language;
  • The text translated into English. Learners work in groups of three, having devided the text into paragraphs.
  • The story is learnt to read aloud expressively, after, it is retold.
  • The text is related with the sight – the viedeoed traditional ritual dance which has been described in the story.

A MOUSE IN THE KITCHEN


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

Learners/players = “cats” (a group not less than 6 people) stand in a circle rather close to each other. The one who starts the game has a small ball in his hands. He/she tries to find out the faulty cat = a mouse. The leader throws the ball to the player in front and says the question. The player in front catches the ball and says the answer. The one who gives the right answer is “a cat”; the one who doesn’t know the answer or gives a wrong answer is “a mouse” and has to escape. “The mouse” runs outside the circle with the ball in hands, and “the cat” tries to catch it. The players in the circle keep their hands behind them waiting for the ball. “The mouse” aims to get back to “its” place and, meanwhile, puts the ball into the hands of any player in the circle. “The mouse” and “the cat” get back to the circle; the player with the ball in hands starts the game anew.

SIMON SAYS


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

- One student is the leader and says some imperatives

- The other students listen and do these actions

- The leader says ‘’Simon says STAND UP’’and the other students do it

- When the leader says only ‘’STAND UP’’ without saying ‘’ SIMON SAYS ‘’ the others should stand still otherwise they will be out of the game

- This game is also used to teach dance figures trough the target language

Example : Belly dance or gypsy dance

FIND YOUR GROUP


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

- Attach a piece of paper to each student’s back

- Student are staying in a circle

- On each paper a word is written which belongs to a category

- The students have to find the group they belong to but without speaking to each other,

- The group that finishes earliest is the winner.

STRANGE STORY


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

- Students sit in a circle,

- Each student is given a vocabulary card but they don’t look until their turn comes,

- The first student looks at his/her word on the card and starts the story including that word ,

- When the first student stops talking the next one opens the card and links the new word to the story and talks about it,

- This activity keeps on until each card is opened

COMPLETE THE STORY


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

- Group the students of 3 or 5,

- Give a sentence of the beginning of a story to each group,

- The groups will write the first part of the story and pass the paper to the next group in order to write second part and then pass it again to write the final part,

- Lastly , all the stories are read to the whole class.

YOUR SCENARIO


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

- Group the students of 3 or 5,

- Each group writes 4 words to the board,

- Then mix the words and give each group 4 words,

- Each group will write a short story including the words that they are given and put on the stage

WHILE I AM TALKING


STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

- Divide the class in two or three.

- Each student has a hat written ‘’ while I am talking … ‘’ on it , but they don’t look at their own hats.

- They start to talk about a topic,

- While one student is talking the others are doing what is written on his/her hat.

- While I am talking LAUGH,CRY,JUMP etc.