Comedy improvisation for Comic Relief · improvisation include the Comedy Store Players and the TV...
Transcript of Comedy improvisation for Comic Relief · improvisation include the Comedy Store Players and the TV...
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Contents:
Introduction…………………………………………………………. p1
What is improv?....................................................... p2
The ‘rules’ of Improvisation………………………………….. p3
How to use improv in the classroom…………………….. p4
- Accepting mistakes activities…………………….. p5
- Listening activities…………………………………….. p7
- Yes and activities………………………………………. p8
- Performance!................................................ p11
More ideas and information………………………………….. p12
Comedy improvisation for
Comic Relief
2
Introduction:
Comedy improvisation is an excellent way to improve children’s speaking and listening skills,
build their confidence, develop their creativity and proactivity, and get them working
together as a team.
It also serves as a great hook to engage harder to reach children and as a safe space to
encourage quieter children to come out of their shell.
This free resource provides you with some fun improvisation activities that will get your KS2
children working together to make up comedy scenes on the spot. Your pupils’ vocabulary
will affect the success of some of these activities, so we suggest running this predominantly
with Year 5 and 6 pupils.
Comedy improvisation and literacy:
At the National Literacy Trust we define literacy as the ‘ability to read, write, speak and
listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world’.
Improvisation improves speaking and listening skills and is often used as a way to both
inspire and develop writing.
Our 2016 BBC Comedy Classroom survey, of almost 25,000 children aged 8-16, showed that
a third of children and young people read comedy outside the classroom at least once a
month - more than poems, non-fiction or newspapers.
Comedy is also particularly popular with boys. The same survey showed that boys, despite
reading significantly less than girls overall, read more comedy outside the classroom every
month (38% versus 29%) and were much more likely to write comedy outside the classroom
(17% versus 10%).
“Speaking and listening is a key part of how we define literacy at the National Literacy Trust,
and being able to speak and listen well is vital in ensuring that a child goes on to live a happy
and successful life. These improvisation resources are a fun and effective way to help
develop these skills in the classroom.”
Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust
“Improvisation is a fantastic skill for children to learn. It emphasises the importance of
listening, as well as utilizing creative skills of imagination and language. It also encourages
children to work together and will often improve communication skills, as they learn to have
fun and create scenes together.”
Freddie Sandilands, Teacher
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What is improv?
Improvisation (sometimes called improv or impro) is a form of unscripted theatre where
characters, dialogue and story are made up on the spot. Often a suggestion from the
audience is used as a starting point to inspire the performance.
There are two main types of improvisation:
- Short form: In short form improvisation, the actors perform individual scenes each
inspired by a suggestion (usually from the audience). Each scene will often involve a game
that the actors must play whilst performing the scene. Examples of notable short form
improvisation include the Comedy Store Players and the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
- Long Form: In long form improvisation, actors tend to get inspiration at the beginning and
then perform a series of scenes. Sometimes this means there is a narrative or recurring
characters. Examples of notable long form improvisation groups in the UK include
Austentatious and Showstoppers.
This resource will mainly focus on short form improvisation, but develop the skills needed to
do long form improvisation in the future.
The ‘rules’ of improvisation
The activities in this resource will look to embed the following principles in your young
improvisers. These are also great principles to use more widely in your class’s group work.
Yes and: This means to agree and build on your scene partner’s ideas. e.g.
- Person A: What an amazing treehouse.
- Person B: Thanks! Me and my dad built it last year.
The opposite of ‘Yes and’ would be a denial where we disagree with the reality of
what our scene partner has told us. e.g.
- Person A: What an amazing treehouse.
- Person B: It’s not a treehouse, it’s a space rocket!
This would likely get a quick laugh, but make it difficult to continue the scene.
Listen to and support your scene partners: Improvisation is a collaborative art
form so listening and supporting fellow performers is crucial. When we talk about
listening in improvisation, we don’t just mean what people say, but how they say it
and how they act. Performers should also focus on making their scene partner look
good, and avoid undermining them or putting them in a situation that they find
uncomfortable.
Enjoy your mistakes: Improv is unscripted so mistakes will happen – people will
mishear or misunderstand things, forget a detail, react oddly or say something
unusual in the moment. These should be celebrated as they allow your scene to go
in an unexpected, attention-grabbing and often comedic direction.
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How to use improv in the classroom
This collection of exercises will introduce your class to improvisation and in the process help
develop their speaking, listening, performing, creating and collaboration skills. They can be
either:
Pieced together to create full comedy improvisation lesson plans
Used as stand-alone activities to introduce improvisation slowly throughout the
term, or to break up a day and add energy to a lesson
Beginner, intermediate and advanced: You will find activities marked as beginner,
intermediate or advanced to help you decide what to try with your class. We would
recommend getting your pupils comfortable with beginner and intermediate activities first,
before moving onto the advanced ones. The advanced activities, in particular, are best
suited to Year 5 and 6 pupils only.
Curriculum adaptations: Some activities have suggestions of ways to adapt it to
complement and reinforce things the class is learning in other subject areas. You’ll find
these coloured purple and in brackets at the end of the instructions for the activity.
Pupils with EAL: Many of the activities can be adapted for EAL pupils by simply emphasising
that it is fine to make mistakes: you could even say to EAL pupils that if they can’t think of a
word in English then they can say it in their first language instead. Some activities work
particularly well for EAL pupils, like ‘sound ball’ and ‘mirroring’.
Delivery: Remember to celebrate and draw attention to examples of ‘yes and-ing’, good
listening and support, and of pupils embracing and enjoying their own mistakes. You should
create a positive atmosphere where the very act of participating in these games is an
awesome, impressive, amazing achievement.
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How to use improv in the classroom: Accepting mistakes activities
Purpose: The purpose of these initial activities is to get your pupils comfortable making
mistakes, as well as to warm up and energise your group. Encourage them to enjoy, laugh
at, and celebrate getting things wrong.
One, two, three: [beginners]
Tell the students to get into pairs. Their task is to continuously count to three, one
number at a time. i.e.:
- Person A: one
- Person B: two
- Person A: three
- Person B: one
- Person A: two
- Person B: three
- Person A: one
etc.
Stop them after a minute or so. Explain that they are going to repeat the activity but
that instead of saying ‘two’ they can now choose to clap.
After another minute or so, stop them and explain that instead of ‘three’ they can
now make an animal sound.
Finally, stop them and explain that instead of ‘one’, they can now say a TV presenter.
i.e.
- Person A: one
- Person B: *clap*
- Person A: growl
- Person B: Gary Lineker
- Person A: two
- Person B: three
Etc.
[Adaptation: Instead of the suggestions above, why not get them replacing one, two and
three with words or phrases that you are learning about in class? For instance, rock types,
historical figures or square numbers.]
Moo cow [beginners]
Form a circle with one person in the middle.
The person in the middle will make eye contact with one person round the circle and
say one of six the following six initial words. The person around the outside of the
circle must respond as shown in the response column. (i.e. if the person in the
middle says ‘cat’ then they must immediate respond with ‘miaow’).
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Initial word Response
Cat Miaow
Cow Moo
Owl Hoo
Miaow Cat
Moo Cow
Hoo Owl
If the person on the outside gets it wrong, they then go in the middle, and everyone
else must celebrate someone making a mistake by giving them a big round of
applause. If not, the person in the middle continues until someone gets it wrong. As
it goes on, you could allow them to add in different animals and sounds too to make
it more and more complex.
[Adaptation: Animals and their sounds could be replaced with anything you’re currently
learning. For instance, if you’re studying Henry VIII’s wives, when someone says ‘Catherine
of Aragon’ you’d have to respond with ‘divorced’, when someone says ‘Anne Boleyn’ you’d
have to respond with ‘died’ and so on.]
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How to use improv in the classroom: Listening activities
Purpose: The purpose of these activities is to encourage your pupils to listen to each other.
In improvisation we want our performers to fully absorb what their scene partners say, do
and feel.
Sound ball [beginners]
Pass a sound and action around a circle by asking each person to attempt to carefully
copy the person before them (they must try to directly copy the person before them
and NOT just reproduce the original sound and action).
What you should find is that the sound and action slowly changes as you go round
the circle.
This game is also a great example of opportunities emerging from mistakes and of
‘yes and’.
Mirroring [beginners]
Divide into pairs, labelling one person in the pair as Person A and one as Person B.
Person A and B should face each other. In silence, A should slowly move, and B
should mirror exactly what A is doing. The aim should be for the pairs to work
together to mirror each other (rather than Person A trying to catch Person B out).
Switch round so that Person A mirrors Person B.
Finally, let them do the activity one more time, but now no-one is going to be the
leader. They’ll find that sometimes it feels like Person A is mirroring Person B,
sometimes Person B is mirroring Person A, and sometimes it’s not clear who is
mirroring who.
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How to use improv in the classroom: Yes and activities
Purpose: The purpose of these activities is to encourage your pupils to ‘yes and’. That
means to agree and build on what their scene partner says.
Gift-giving [intermediate]
Divide the group into pairs. One person in the pair is Person A and one is Person B.
Person A should imagine that they have a large ‘Mary Poppins-style’ bag in front of
them that can contain anything in the world.
Person A should mime giving Person B a gift, using the phrase “I’ve got you a…[and
what the gift is]”.
Person B should respond as enthusiastically as possible with the phrase “Thank you,
that’s amazing”.
Person A should give Person B as many gifts as possible as quickly as possible. e.g.:
- Person A: I’ve got you a handbag
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing.
- Person A: I’ve got you an orange.
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing.
- Person A: I’ve got you an elephant.
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing.
- Person A: I’ve got you a toilet brush.
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing.
etc.
After a minute or two, swap round so that Person B has a go at gift giving.
Then, repeat again. This time whoever is receiving the gift can also add a little
information. e.g.:
- Person A: I’ve got you a picture.
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing, I’ll hang it on my wall.
- Person A: I’ve got you a sports car.
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing, I love driving fast.
- Person A: I’ve got you a lamp.
- Person B: Thank you that’s amazing, it’ll help me see my picture better.
Finally, repeat again, but this time Person A and B will take it in turns to give gifts.
- Person A: I’ve got you a laptop
- Person B: Thank you, that’s amazing, I love working on the move. I’ve got you a
pair of trousers.
- Person A: Thank you, that’s amazing, they’re just my colour. I’ve got you a tennis
racket…
Discuss with the group afterwards how it felt to have someone being positive about
your ideas, and whether it would have been difficult to think of more gifts if the
receiver had acted like they didn’t like them.
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One word story [intermediate]
In a circle or small group, pupils must take it in turns to tell a story using one word at
a time.
Begin by asking for suggestions of a name and a job (e.g. Carrie, photographer). That
will form the title of the story (The Story of Carrie the Photographer).
Tell your pupils to start the story with ‘Once upon a time’. You should encourage
them to listen to what the person said before them and then respond quickly, and to
not take a long time to think about it or try to force the story in the direction they
have in their head. E.g.:
- Person A: Once
- Person B: Upon
- Person C: A
- Person D: Time
- Person E: There
- Person F: Was
- Person A: A
- Person B: Photographer
- Person C: Called…
[Adaptation: Tell a one word story about what happens next in the book you’re reading
together as a class. When you then read the book you can then discuss which version you
preferred.]
How we met [advanced]
Divide the group into pairs.
Tell each pair to imagine they are old friends meeting over lunch discussing how they
first met. Give the pairs a location where they met to help them (e.g. a swimming
pool, zoo, football match).
They must now discuss in character how they met, but must repeat the last line the
person before them said.
The first person should start with “Do you remember how we met? We were at
the…”. E.g.:
- Person A: Do you remember how we met? We were at the zoo.
- Person B: We were at the zoo, and you were looking at the tigers.
- Person A: I was looking at the tigers. I used to love tigers!
- Person B: You used to love tigers. Your favourite tiger was a baby called Bob.
- Person A: My favourite tiger was a baby called Bob. And you were feeding him.
- Person B: And I was feeding him. And then Bob got angry…
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How to use improv in the classroom: Performance!
Purpose: Finally, play these fun games to re-emphasise enjoying mistakes, listening to your
scene partners and ‘yes and-ing’. If you have a confident class then you can get them
performing these in front of each other. Equally, they could perform these in small groups
without an audience.
Expert panel [advanced]
Ask the audience for four unusual areas of expertise. Give one area of expertise to
each person, then host a mock TV panel show in which you and the audience ask the
experts questions. Be clear with your group at the beginning that it doesn’t matter if
they know nothing about their expert area, as whatever they say will be treated as
fact. E.g.:
- Teacher: Hello and welcome to ‘Ask the Expert’. We have four experts in the studio
today and we’re going to ask them some questions. Professor, you are an expert in
flying monkeys.
- Person A: Yes.
- Teacher: How does a monkey fly?
- Person A: They have little aeroplanes on their feet.
- Teacher: Of course, a monkey’s foot is part-paw and part-concorde… how could I
forget. Also with us on the expert panel today is…
[Adaptation: Give the performers a subject area that you’re learning in class about and tell
them that they’re free to both make things up and include facts that they know. Afterwards,
ask the class what was true and what was made-up].
One word expert [intermediate]
Ask four or more people to stand in a line with their arms around each other. These
people will all play one person (the expert), taking it in turns to each say a word a
little like in One Word Story. You (the teacher) will be an interviewer.
Get an expertise from the audience (you could combine a few suggestions to get
something unusual), and then start asking your expert some questions. e.g.:
- Teacher: Hello everyone, we’re very lucky today to have an expert in cutlery with
us. Please introduce yourself.
- Person A: Hello
- Person B: My
- Person C: Name
- Person D: Is
- Person A: Mr
- Person B: Fork
After this, ask the audience for some questions, before thanking the expert.
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Story die [advanced]
A group of five or more must tell a story, each only speaking when pointed to by a
conductor. They should take over the story mid-sentence from the person before
them without hesitating, deviating or saying something that does not make sense.
If you feel that they made a mistake, then everyone shouts ‘die’ they do a dramatic
death, are given a round of applause and then they’re out of the game. You can
make things more fun after each death by introducing new chapter titles, telling
them to deliver the story in a specific accent, or saying that it must be in rhyming
couplets.
e.g.
- (Conductor points to Person B)
- Person B: Once upon a time there was-
- (Conductor points to Person D)
- Person D: a monster called-
- (Conductor points to Person C)
- Person C: and the monster…
- Audience: Die!!
- (Person C does a dramatic death, is applauded, and then is out of the game. The
conductor points to Person B to begin a new chapter).
New choice [advanced]
Performers will perform a two-person scene. Give them a situation to get them
started. At certain points in the scene, you can shout ‘new choice’ and they have to
say or do something completely different. e.g.:
- Person A: Thanks for the ice cream, mum.
- Teacher: New choice.
- Person A: Thanks for the sports car, mum.
- Person B: You deserve it, darling. You did very well in your exams.
- Teacher: New choice.
- Person B: You deserve it, darling. You did very badly in your exams.
- Teacher: New choice.
- Person B: You deserve it, darling. You did extremely averagely in your exams.
- Teacher: New choice.
- Person B: Forget about exams. I want you to grow up to be a racing driver.
- Person A: Thanks mum.
[Adaptation: Tell your performers that at some point in the scene they must use one of the
words that they have learnt in class this week].
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More ideas and information
Going further
1. Improv show
Divide your class into improv troupes. Ask them come up with a troupe name and to agree
on walk-on music. Then have each troupe introduce and perform one improv game to the
rest of the group.
2. Improv jam
Put the names of all pupils in a hat. Pull a few out at a time to play games or perform scenes
in front of the rest of the group.
3. Writing
Challenge your class to write a story, letter, or monologue inspired by something that
happened in one of the improv games that they played. They could use a character,
something unusual that took place, or just one line of dialogue as initial inspiration for their
piece.
Find out more
National Literacy Trust: Our website (literacytrust.org.uk) has a range of literacy resources
to use in class. Some of these are free, and some of them require you to become a member
of the National Literacy Trust in order to access.
BBC Comedy Classroom: You may also be interested in the Comedy Classroom resources
that we developed with the BBC. You can access these resources here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/47JkrFPKlvGk7SGs1Vh0WfL/teachers-
resources
Hoopla: Hoopla is one of the leading improvisation schools in the UK. Their website has a
range of exercises and games that you could try with your class:
https://www.hooplaimpro.com/improv-resources-community.html
The author: Contact Nick Oram at [email protected] if you have any questions
about these resources or want further guidance and advice about how to introduce
improvisation into the classroom. We’d love to hear how you got on running these
activities, so please do get in touch with your thoughts and feedback.
13
If your class likes comedy, then they may be interested in these resources and
competition from the Beano:
Join Beano’s nationwide competition and prove your class has the ultimate funny bone!
Use Beano jokes to make SPaG lessons funny for children. Download the six curriculum-
linked KS1 and KS2 lesson plans, presentations and worksheets. Each one is focused on
different joke writing techniques including homophones, Knock-Knock jokes and compound
words.
Then simply submit your class’s new and original three jokes to be in with a chance of being
crowned Britain’s Funniest Class!
You could win:
A Beano VIP school visit and comedy workshop
A bundle of Beano annuals
Beano comic subscriptions
Submission dates are April Fool’s Day (April 1st) to May 1st 2019. More details to follow soon
on schools.beano.com.