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10 Ways to Teach English with a PlayPlays are a natural resource for the English language classroom. They offer opportunities to visit and revisit language in a naturalistic setting. As such, they reveal insights into the way people use fixed expressions, intonation, and gesture to convey feelings, wants, and understandings. The following are ten ideas for extending the content or language of a script into a lesson. 10. GET STRESSED. Do a lesson on word or sentence stress. Then have students mark the stress in their scripts, take roles and practice reading. The language feels real and can be practiced several times.9. FIND HIDDEN MEANINGS. Have students talk about characters’ feelings. Sometimes people cannot say what they want directly, so they find other ways to achieve goals. This is very common in plays. Investigate these hidden feelings by discussing characters’ motivations. What do they really want, and how do they express meaning implicitly. Follow up with a role play in which students try to convey meaning implicitly in a new situation.8. WHAT SHE SAID. Have students read a scene from a play, and have another group create a summary using reported speech. They can speak or write, depending on the goals for the lesson. 7. OTHER PEOPLE’S SHOES. Characters in a play generally face challenges in achieving objectives. After reading a short play, discuss these struggles. In what ways are certain characters weak? In what ways are they brave? Then set a writing prompt. Compare yourself to a character. How are you like or not like that character?6. PLAY WITH INTONATION. Write a list of emotions such as enthusiastic, defensive, cautious, frustrated and reluctant on the board. Make sure the words reflect distinct emotions and that students understand the meanings. Then select a few lines from a script. Choose lines that reflect commonly used phrases and expressions and that can reflect different attitudes. For example, “I just want to say one last thing,” “I can’t help it,” or, “That’s hard to believe.” Write the lines on the board or give students a written copy. Model the activity by reading a line with one of the emotions and having students guess the emotion from the list. Improvise additional lines if you like. Model as many times as necessary for students to grasp the pattern. Then put them in groups and have them take turns delivering one of line with an emotion while the others guess. 5. TAKE A CHARACTER ON A DATE. Have students improvise a scene between characters that is not in the script. Give them a place to go and a task to solve. For example, have a brother and sister go shopping for a gift for her fiancée. Or have two friends at a bus stop try to decide whether to go to a Saturday math class or sneak away and go to the beach. (It’s most interesting if they disagree.)4. FIND THE MESSAGE. After reading a play, have students identify the author’s purpose. Provide language that can support critical thinking. Here are some examples: The author wants to explore the possible effects of . . . The author wants people to think about . . . The author wants to compare . . . Have students work in groups to find support for the message in the script. Direct them to look at choices that characters make or the results of actions. 3. EXPLORE THE ISSUES. Have students research the issues raised by the play. Have them go online to find articles or videos about the topic or public discussions related to the topic. For example, if the play is about a video gamer, have them find information about a particular game, or research the effects of gaming on the brain or society. If the play is about a person working in a restaurant kitchen, have them find a clip from a food show or report on a celebrity chef with a mission or even investigate dangerous changes in the way the world eats. 2. DEBATE THE THEME. Identify key issues in the play and create a statement that can be argued. For example, Society should provide more funding for arts education in public schools. Or Multi-player, online computer gaming is a sport just like soccer. As a class discuss the points that the statement raises and make a T chart with pros and cons. Then put students in one of three groups, the pro group, the con group, and moderators. Have the pro group members each take a point from the T chart to argue for their team. The con group does the same. The moderators come up with questions to ask that reflect the points in the T chart. (The T chart helps make sure the moderators ask questions the teams are prepared to answer.) Then have a mini debate in which moderators ask questions and teams take turns answering. After each question, the moderators can give one to three points to each speaker for the strength of their argument. When everyone has spoken, the moderators add up the points and declare a winner. 1. HAVE A TALKBACK. Practice and perform the play. After the play, the actors sit facing the audience. The director or a moderator also has a few prepared questions to help get the conversation get started. The audience is then invited to ask questions about the play, its development, and the message of this particular production. The actors respond with their interpretations. The audience may also be invited to comment on their experiences watching the play. ................
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