Third Week 5

Little by little, students are getting used to playing the puppets. They feel more and more confident about speaking about good and bad things in their lives. They like it because they know they can say what they want and not feel ashamed.

The game for the session has been Runabout. Students run forward and backwards in the free space in class. When the Teacher says Freeze, they stop. When the Teacher says Action they go on, but changing the direction.

But today we have something new. In their English classes they have finished Unit one, so it's time to interview Famous People. By making the interviews they start getting ready for the
Radio Programme Activities they'll do some time later.

 They receive a list of questions and choose seven to do the interview

 The teacher checks everybody has updated the Diary.   

...and then proposes that they do their first group picture session for the new blog. They feel excited and happy about the idea.

 

And after the session they get recorded on video. There are four volunteers to be recorded with the Puppets and four volunteers to record their first interviews.

(Videos)

The Diary and the Materials (2)

27th September, 2012                   DRAMA WORKSHOP DIARY

Today is my 4th drama class. Last …………. we played the Puppets. My classmate …………..  was very good with the puppets.  Then we ………….. the game“The Minister’s cat”.

 In The Minister’s cat  we clap ……… times rhythmically and say the sentence “The minister’s cat is ………..             . Every ….        has to say the sentence with a ……………….  adjective and everybody …………….the sentence. These are the adjectives we said: ……………. /                            /                          /                                  /                         /                              /                             /                              /                               .                              

Finally we saw a video about The Elements of a Drama:

1 The…………………………….. is the place where the actors perform.

2. The …………………………… is the writer who writes a play.

3. The ………………………….. is the text in  a play.

Today, as usual, we have played the………………………  In my opinion, …………………… and ……………….. are the best with ………………… I like……………..

Later,  we have played the game ……………and ……………………. At the beginning you get tight as a ball and then you ………………….

Today the …………… has shown us the ……………. of the English Department. This is the link:

                            www.ourenglishprojects.blogspot.com

I like this blog because …………………………………………………………………………………  and  I …………………………………………………………. 

SONG: HELLO, MY NAME IS….

1- Hello, hello, my name is Kevin.

     Hello, hello, my name is Kevin.

2- Hello, hello, my name is Laura.

    My name is Laura.  This is my friend.

1 & 2:  Nice to meet you.

             Nice to meet you.

             Nice to meet you, 

             to meet you too. (bis)

Second Week 4

The teacher greets the students outside of the classroom and reminds them to go in silently and ready to have a different experience. They go in and sit down to watch the slideshow of pictures that were taken in class the week before. Most of them were taken by the teacher but some students have started taking pictures too.

They are given a few minutes to prepare what to perform with the puppets. Now they introduce themselves but  they have to construct bigger sentences, not only very simple sentences with like, love and hate.

 After that, we watch a video about the elements of the stage from  

www.videojug.com/inteerview/theatre-lingo-2

 but not all of them, only three  elements a session.

The game for the day is called "Curl & stretch". They explore open and closed positions of their own body ocuppying the room in low medium and high positions.

 While the teacher works with some drama aspects he doesn't forget what lessons the other teachers are teaching at this level. That's why the first song to learn and sing will be... "Hello, my name is..."

Finally, they are handed out a paper to write their diary entries.

The Diary and the Materials 1

As homework the students have  to do two things: to write a dairy and fill up some  
complementary material.
As writing a diary is a bit difficult, during the first two months we'll provide them with some models.
The first term they write it in a notebook. During the second term they will make a digital diary.

 This is a model for the first week:

DRAMA WORKSHOP

DIARY

20th September, 2012

Today is my ………. class of Drama.

There are ……………. students in my class. There are …. girls and ….. boys.

Mr. ……………………… is my teacher.

First, the teacher has presented two puppets. One is Mr………….., the other is Miss……………………..

I like the puppets, especially ………………

Then, we have played Up & Down Freeze. In the game you …………...

  When the teacher says up you…………………………   

When the teacher says down you …………………

Later, we watched ………………. King  and …..……….Mia. 

I like ………………….. more than …………………  

The music is………………. The actors……………………………

I think Drama is an …………………………. subject.

To make them aware of the different parts of the stage and play, they receive some materials

                            Casting by Louis Morris & Others.  
(Burlington Books)

First Week 3

Introduction: The aim of this first class is to affirm the Drama Workshop as a language

experience, as a life experience, as a GAME and as an enjoyable hard work.

 We'll present the new important class elements in the class: The green carpet,  where they can sit down to watch the performances, and The holy spot, the red carpet to perform on.

After that, the teacher will explain the only two rules in class:

                             - Respect the teacher and their classmates

                             - Freeze any action when the teacher says: STOP!

This is the moment to practice the rules with the 
Up & Down Freeze Game 
 ("A 100 Ideas for Drama, by Anna Scher & Others)

Then we play the game,  Pass the ball, to introduce ourselves 
and get to know each other. One student passes the ball 
to another one and they introduce themselves.

Later, Miss Sympathy and Mr. Complaints are presented: Miss Sympathy is a puppet.

He/She likes saying good positive things about life, friends, school..., 

while Mr. Complaints is always complaining about life, school, parents...

The first day, in small groups, they prepair the dialogues for the puppets.

By playing puppets, students don't mind saying the things they like and the things they hate.
They feel confident about speaking as "it's the puppet" who talks.

 Finally, its very exciting to watch a video on You Tube for three-five minutes, for instance
 "The Lion King", "Mamma mia"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYgrT0gsh6Q

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pgZtzDj_7o

In the second class of the week we repeat some activities, such as the puppets and games.
For the second occassion we review adjectives by playing "The Minister's cat is ..."
Every student says the sentence with a different adjective rhythmically and everybody claps
and repeats the sentence..

Presenting Drama Workshop 2

You may have a lot of ideas in your mind. None of them will come true until you see your students. Only then can you decide which path to take, which way to follow.

 Surprising them during the first class is a good idea. By making them feel both surprised and comfortable, you walk a long way. Theatre, cinema, video recording, taking pictures... is part of a whole:  

creativity

Official presentation is a must, but don't use too many words; just show your students some pictures, a you tube video about a successful play, a game or two...

The first day is an ideal day to introduce Mrs. Sympathy and Mr. Complaints. But who are they?
 Here they are.

 

Drama Workshop 1

IES Julio Caro Baroja is a highly experienced High School
in terms of modern languages. 

Besides Student Exhanges with the USA, Comenius Projects with European countries, trips to London, etc., last school year The Trilingualism Project started. In order to promote modern languages, the English Department considered that a Drama Workshop would help a lot.

But, what's Drama Workshop? How do we focus on Drama in English as a second language?

Drama Workshop is an experience about living Drama in a classroom of English as a second language at a Secondary School.
In the blog every week's post will appear in order to show the way of teaching and learning. Students from IES Julio Caro Baroja will take part in this experience.

On the other hand, the blog expects to give some hints to teachers who are starting Teaching Drama as a second language classes and need some help and resourses.