UNIT 19: DRAMA TECHNIQUES AS MEANS FOR THE LEARNING OF

FOREIGN LANGUAGES. THE DRAMATIZATION OF DAILY LIFE

SITUATIONS AND THE REPRESENTATION OF TALES, JOKES. ETC.
WORK GROUP FOR CREATIVE ACTIVITIES. THE ROLE OF THE
TEACHER.

1. INTRODUCTION

The characteristics of the language used in an act of communication in real life are
different from the language produced in the English class.
The limited field of real experiences in the use of the language that is offered by the small
context of the classroom obstructs to imprint on the language there produced the
characteristics related to the natural and spontaneous use in real life.
All those activities developed by the teacher in order to reproduce aspects that
characterise the real use of the language should be always positively valued. As regards this,
one of the activities that helps best the student in the practice of these characteristics
peculiar to the communicative language is dramatisation.
In the foreign language class, dramatisation has got the objective of getting the student to
develop a creative production of the language.
We want that the language in the class would reproduce as accurately as is possible, the
naturally and spontaneity that characterise any normal act of communication.

2. DRAMA TECHNIQUES AS MEANS FOR THE LEARNING OF

FOREIGN LANGUAGES.

2.1 Techniques of awakening and expression.

The dramatisation as a technique of awakening and expression can be carry out through any
activity in that artificial or imaginary situations are created to encourage the student to act
representing his/her own role or the one representing another person. The interaction
established among the participants provokes a number of reactions not only of linguistic
nature, but also emotional, close to the ones typical in an act of communication in real life.
Dramatisation in the sense dealt here is not far from the certain games of imitation so
characteristic in childhood. In both cases we deal with activities that consist on assuming or
simulating certain roles in imaginary situations. On the other hand, also the players, as they
pursue the enjoyment and the individual entertainment unconsciously. Also propose to
experiment the communicative efficacy of the language.
Besides, these two activities are not radically different from the drama as genre or literary
art. In the three cases we deal with the expression of an inherent desire, to imitate
behaviours that attract our attention by means of artificial reproduction or events in human
life that have developed in those.
2.2 From the game to dramatisation.

What is the difference between games and dramatisation?

Firstly, the practice of language games is usually characterised by the desire of competition
and overcoming the other players in the achievement of the objectives proposed for each
game. This desire to compete nevertheless, is not an essential characteristic of dramatisation,
where what it really matters is to participate. Secondly, the language used in this kind of
games is normally very organised and controlled by the teacher. In dramatisation, on the
contrary, the freedom of the student to choose the language to be used in each moment is
nearly complete. Finally, we should say that the role performed by the students in the games
is not always the living image of the behaviour of any individual in the different real life
situations. In the dramatic activity, however, the players, although they have to deal with
imaginary or artificial situations, represent roles that correspond to the ones from the real
life. What is pursuing demonstrated is, precisely, the interpretative ability of the individual.
It is easy to turn a game of language into dramatisation. The only thing needed for this is to
give the student a grater linguistic independence during the developing of the game itself,
inviting him/her to exchange points of view with his/her classmates freely, so that he/she can
gather the specific information to achieve the objectives of the game. This makes possible to
stabilise an interaction between two or more students, in which each one as well as using the
language he/she thinks most appropriated he/she also takes similar roles to those in human
and social relationship. In this way, the students perform with the language many different
functions such as identifying, asking, enquiring, agreeing, disagreeing etc., by means of that
the game becomes an authentic communication act.

2.3 Drama techniques used in teaching a foreign language.

The communicative practice of a language will only be complete if we succeed in dealing with
all the aspects, linguistic and non-linguistic, that defines the real use of the target language.
It is drama itself that set up as one of the most effective activities to introduce the student
to the communicative practice of a language.

2.3.1 Warming up activities

At the beginning of a foreign language lesson not all the students are motivated to the same
extent, neither are they in the same mood. That is why it is necessary to create an
atmosphere of Cupertino previously and estimulate in each the desire of working together.
There is a series of exercises whose main objective is to prepare the students
psychologically, creating in them a favourable disposition to participate in the following
language activities.
The imaginary ball: In pairs. The students are asked to pretend to be throwing an
imaginary ball at each other. It would be interesting that the teacher first tell the
students what kind of ball they are going to throw: a tennis ball, a balloon, a football...
 Physical representation of words: Groups of five or six students. The task of each group
consists on finding a word whose number of letters corresponds with the number of
members forming the group. Once the word has been chosen, each of the members from
the different groups make, either with the hands or with the fingers, one of the letters
from the established word, the rest of the groups will try to guess the word.
The talking blackboard: In pairs. A student is back to back with the other, and this draws
with his/her finger the letters of any word. The student who represents the blackboard
has to guess the word.
Introducing oneself and being introduced to others: Circles of six or seven pupils. A
student starts saying his/her name and an imaginary occupation. The student who is on
his/her right repeats this information and, then, says his/her own name and the imaginary
occupation, and so on until all the members of the group have taken part in the game. This
practice is very useful when exercising the capacity of remembering.

3. THE DRAMATIZATION OF DAILY LIFE SITUATIONS AND THE

REPRESENTATION OF TALES, JOKES. ETC.

3.1 Watching exercises.

With this we pretend to exploit the observation capacity of the student as a means to
achieve the communicative use of the language.

3.1.1 Exploring the classroom

The teacher invites the students to pay attention, during a couple of minutes, to the things
in the classroom. Once the time is up, the teacher asks the pupils to close the eyes and listen,
without answering, to a series of questions about the wall, the door, the blackboard... Made
the questions, the teacher asks the students to open the eyes and comment with the rest of
the pupils the things that are able to remember. The most important thing about this exercise
is the interest the student has to discover his/her nearest environment and this is
transformed into a real production of language that is not always easy to reach in the
classroom and it is also important to get the students used to observe the details.

3.1.2 Discovering objects hidden on the hand

Standing up and with the hands behind their backs, the students make circles of four or
five. The teacher, covertly, places a small object on the hands of one pupil from each group,
trying not to disclose it, not even to the student who receives it. This, using the sense of
touch, can easily know the name of the object.
The activity of the rest of the members from the team involves guessing, by questioning
him/her, which the object is. The only clues given are the questions made by the different
members of the group.
This activity requires a great effort of concentration, in which intelligence and memory play
an important role.
3.1.3 The invisible fruit

Groups of four or five students. Each group thinks about a fruit and decides which gestures
are suitable to imitate the action of eating the fruit.
At a signal given by the teacher, the groups disperse and each pupil goes to a classmate from
another group and interchanges the gestures agreed in their respective groups and makes
some comments about their performances.
What it is sought with this activity is the opportunity to exercise certain functions of
language such as praising or criticism others people performance.

3.2 Exercises of creation and interpretation.

These exercises are created to bring in operation the fantasy of the student as a means to
carry him/her from the situation or immediate reality of the classroom to imaginary situations
in the non-academic world.
Besides stimulating the creative and interpretative capacity of the students, we intend the
pupils to achieve a suitable production in accordance with new situations created by their
imagination.

3.2.1 Unexpected use of the objects from the classroom.

In pairs. Each pair must find for certain object from the classroom a different use from
the one it usually has. (A chair may be used as an umbrella). After this, each pair must reach
an agreement about the way of imitating the action that may be performed with that object.
After a brief break, each pair shows the stabilised action before the other pairs or the
whole class.
From this activity is easy to achieve a creative and spontaneous use of the language: I think
it is an umbrella.

3.2.2 Commentaries about a photograph.

In order to carry out this activity, it is essential to have a set of photographs of different
characters. The pupils are distributed into groups of three or four. Each group is given a
photograph of a different character, along with a sheet containing the following questions:
How old is this person? What does s/he do?, Do you like this person?, What is s/he doing now?
...
With the photograph in front of them, the members of each group answer the different
questions and try to agree in the most interesting interpretations. It is advisable that
somebody from the group takes notes of the conclusions. Once the task is finished, the
groups interchange the photographs and make comments about the new character.
What is expected with this activity is exploiting linguistically the first impression that
instinctively has any human being when pays attention to somebody.
3.2.3 Representation of a joke.

In pairs. Each pair decides to represent a joke in front of the rest of the English class. In
this way we foster the creative use of the language by all the students because they use it in
a personal manner so as to represent a comical situation in front of the other pupils.
By turns, all the pairs represent the jokes or funny situations previously chosen. The
teacher undertakes the responsibility for the jokes not being repeated. This activity may be
carried out with the characters of a tale known by all the students, although this kind of
representation may require a previous rehearsal.

3.2.4 My favourite object.

The teacher asks the students to bring into the classroom any object from their house that
feel particularly keen on. At the same time, s/he will also indicate the necessity of wrapping
the object so the rest of the pupils cannot see it until the activity starts.
The teacher asks the students to distribute themselves into groups of four. Then, they are
informed they have a few minutes to, before opening their respective parcels in front of the
classmates, guess the content.
Once the objects are exposed, each student explains to his/her group some details about
the object (who gave it to him/her, when, etc.). Meantime, the rest of the pupils can ask
about any detail about the object.
They are very interested in the objects they bring into the classroom, so all the activities
about them will be accomplished with equal interest.

4. WORK GROUP FOR CREATIVE ACTIVITIES. THE ROLE OF THE

TEACHER.

Advantages of working in groups:

The students who work in-groups apparently experience less fear in class. As a result,
they would rarely confine into themselves and maintain a more receptive attitude towards
study. Besides, the co-operation in-group activities produces a sense of success that the
student does not normally experience when working alone.

The students get used to learning applying the knowledge instead of memorising it. The
skills acquired in this way become easily part of the permanent linguistic competence.

The students learn sharing and joining their efforts, checking their work reciprocally and
helping one another in natural, dynamic and communicative situations.

The fact of joining their efforts, perceptions and knowledge helps the student to make up
for the individual deficiencies.

Working in-groups multiplies the opportunities for oral communication in the classroom.
4.1 Advantages for the teacher.

When the teacher has succeed in having each group of students working as a team, s/he
also achieves they pay more attention to the task undertaken.
It is necessary to emphasise that the responsibility of the teacher for dividing the class
into groups changes, and, at the same time the traditional relation teacher/student is
transformed into a responsibility shared with the students and developed in different
modalities.
Keeping a lively rate in the activities usually helps to diminish the discipline problems, as it is
unlikely that students get bored.
Besides, the mischievous student cannot disrupt the class so often if everybody is busy.
The traditional opposition teacher/student is reduced when the students, instead of
establishing an exclusive relation with the teacher, relate to their classmates.
4.2 Criteria for the classification of activities.

Several criteria are useful when classifying group activities:

The degree of the students`s familiarity with the task. The tasks accomplished in
previous lessons are carried out without difficulties due to the knowledge of their
structure.
The complexity of the task. Generally the more steps it has, the more capacity to follow
the instructions and co-ordinating the interaction is requested from the students.
The degree of creativity required. The tasks based mainly in the manipulation of linguistic
elements are apparently easier than the ones that require the use of the language in a
creative way.

Analysing an activity taking in consideration these three criteria helps to foresee the
reaction of the group. Provided that each activity normally requires more than a skill, the
classification by skills (oral, written, comprehension,etc.) indicates its main approach.
The activities must be selected depending on the objectives of the class, the level of
knowledge in the target language, the students and their interest. It is obvious the flexibility
offered by working in-groups and the utility within the language class.

4.3 The role of the teacher.

Perhaps, the role of the teacher is deciding when work group can improve the learning of a
language by means of creative activities.
While the work group takes place, the teacher performs several roles:

Organiser: decides the size of the group and the way to select its members. Defines the
activity and its result.

Manager: observes the dynamic of the group and suggests improvements. Co-ordinates the
different groups to avoid unnecessary repetitions. Checks that the tasks are carried out
according to the given specifications.
 Resource: gives information or materials when asked. Proposes several and variable
alternatives.

Assessor: gives explanations depending on the necessities of each group. Clarifies

grammatical difficulties, organises sessions to practice pronunciation. Provides positive
feedback about the development of the activity.

Evaluator: evaluates the work or performance of the group; propose criteria so the groups
can evaluate themselves.

Problem detector: observes the difficulties appeared in the performance of the group,
clarifies the problems and suggests solutions. While the group is working, the teacher
can perceive a wide variety of problems.

During any session of group work, the teacher will have to move from a role to other,
applying the techniques required in each situation, and will adopt the role of pronunciation
connector in a group, source of resources or manager in others. In each case the teacher
individualises his/her help depending on the group, offering his/her presence in a diplomatic
manner, and not imposing it to the group. Thanks to these roles, the teacher is able to monitor
the progression of the students, to follow closely the difficulties they encounter, the
personal relations and the dynamic of the group which help him to select successfully the
activities in the future.