The Magic of My Drama

8/11/2019 The Magic of My Drama

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The Magic of Dramais a complete drama course in one book. The Magic of Dramais a reproducible

integrated oral skills textbook intended to be used by high school and college ESL students at the

high intermediate to advanced levels. As a main or supplementary text, it can be used in a variety

of classes, including: speaking and listening; oral communication skills for international teaching

assistants; public speaking, drama; film or literature; any class in which drama, film, or literature

is used as a medium for learning.

The Magic of Dramauses movies, plays, songs, news, short stories,

poetry, proverbs, props and pictures as resources for: activities,

discussions, debates, interviews, impromptu speaking, improvisa-

tions, original dramas, video-taped performances, skills, fluency,thinking on your feet, clear pronunciation, vocabulary develop-

ment, listening comprehension, grammatical accuracy and mak-

ing presentations.

After engaging in the activities in this text, students are more

confident and successful communicators who look forward to the

next opportunity to converse, present and perform.

For a complete list of units included in the Magic of Drama, view the Table of Contents on Page 3 of this documen

Intermediate to AdvancedSuitable for high school to adult levels

240 pages

The Magic of Drama:An Oral Performance Activity Book


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The Magic of Dramaan oral performance activity book

Alexis Gerard Finger


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PREFACE: To the Instructor

To the Student

UNIT ONE: Getting Acquainted, Getting into

Character and Getting Started

Coming Attractions: Goals and Activities of the Unit

Chapter One: Getting Acquainted- SAMPLE CHAPTER

Preview: Goals of the Activities

Warm-up: Relaxation and Breathing Exercises

Impromptu Activity: Getting Acquainted and Celebrity Personas

Taking It Further: A Celebrity Discussion

Chapter Two: Using Idiomatic Lines of Dialogue


Warm-up: Using Non-Verbal Starters

Impromptu Activity: Using Lines of Dialogue Containing Idioms

to Stimulate Conversation

Taking It Further: Creating and Using Your Own List of Idioms for

Conversation

Chapter Three: Read My Lips


Warm-up: How Many Sounds?

Impromptu Activity: Read my Lips

Taking It Further: Creating Exercises for Problem Sounds

Chapter Four: Two Sides to Every Story


Warm-up: One-Word Monologues

Improvisation Activity: Two Sides to Every Story

Taking It Further: Pair Discussion with Observers

Major Performance: Lets Debate!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS


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UNIT TWO: Exploring the Elements of Drama and

a Variety of Stimuli


Chapter Five: Discovering the Recipe for Drama


Warm-up: Look at me

Improvisation Activity: The Apology

Taking It Further: Improvisations with Elements of Drama

Chapter Six: Creating Character Improvisations


Warm-up: Mirroring

Improvisation Activity: Creating Character Improvisations

Taking It Further: Exchanging Characters

Chapter Seven: Starting with the Setting


Warm-up: Sense Descriptions

Improvisation Activity: Starting with the Setting

Taking It Further: Three-Character Improvisations

Chapter Eight: Playing with Props


Warm-up: Chain Improvisation

Improvisation Activity: Playing with Props

Taking It Further: Exchanging Props and Creating Scenes

Chapter Nine: Expressing Emotions


Warm-up: Hand Squeeze

Improvisation Activity: Expressing Emotions

Taking It Further: Creating and Performing Written Scenes Using

the Elements of Drama

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Chapter Ten: Portraying Pictures


Warm-up: Tongue Twisters

Improvisation Activity: Portraying Pictures


the Pictures as a Springboard

Chapter Eleven: Song Improvisations


Warm-up: North American Singers Naming Contest

Improvisation Activity: Song Improvisations


the Songs for Inspiration

Chapter Twelve: Stories Based on Proverbs


Warm-up: Mouthing and Miming Proverbs

Improvisation Activity: Creating Stories Based on Proverbs

Taking It Further: Using Childrens Fairy Tales or Folk Stories

for a Live Performance or a Puppet Show

Chapter Thirteen: Finding Drama in the News


Warm-up: Mystery People in the News

Improvisation Activity: Finding Drama in the News

Taking It Further: Exchanging News Events and Creating

Different Stories

Major Performance: A Morning or Evening News and

Entertainment Show

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UNIT THREE: Using Literature and the Mass Media

and Presenting Your Own Creations


Chapter Fourteen: Readers' Theatre


Warm-up: Similes and Metaphors

Improvisation Activity: Using Poetry and Monologues

Taking It Further: Creating and Presenting Original Audition/Contest

Monologues: Cats, Chorus Line, and Queen/King for

a Day

Chapter Fifteen: The Working World


Warm-up: Dictation of Monologue

Improvisation Activity: Introductions, Interviews and Scenes

Taking It Further: Professional Profiles or Career Fair

Chapter Sixteen: Starring in the Movies


Warm-up: Movie Charades

Improvisation Activity: Starring in the MoviesTaking it Further: Creating an Advertisement

Chapter Seventeen: Playing on Broadway


Warm-up: Famous Plays Contest

Improvisation Activity: Characters on Broadway

Beyond Improvisation

Activity: Playing on BroadwayTaking It Further: Creating Hypothetical Situations

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Chapter Eighteen: Bringing O. Henry to Broadway


Warm-up: Circle Story

Improvisation Activity: Bringing O. Henry to Broadway

Taking It Further: Performing for Another Audience

Chapter Nineteen: Our Own Version of The Bridge of

San Luis Rey


Warm-up: Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die?

Improvisation Activity: The Bridge of San Luis Rey Revised

Taking It Further: The Play on Video

Chapter Twenty: All the World's a Stage


Warm-up: "What Do We Know about Shakespeare?"

Improvisation Activity: Presentation of Shakespeares Monologue

and More!

Taking It Further: Interviewing Different Age Groups about

the Stages of Life

Final Major Original Presentation of All the Worlds

Performance: a Stage

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U N I T O N E

G e t t i n g A c q u a i n t e d , G e t t i n g I n t o C h a r a c t e r

a n d G e t t i n g S t a r t e d


The activities in Unit One should prepare you for just about everything that you

will encounter in this textbook, with the exception of a few surprises. In order to

fully enjoy and benefit from the exercises, you need to feel comfortable about

the place where you are and the people with whom you are working. Therefore,

you will have opportunities to get to know each other and find out what you

have in common.

You will have a chance to start thinking as someone else and pretending to be

that person. When you are pretending to be someone else, you are often likely

to try doing things that you might not do yourself.

So, enjoy getting to know each other and enjoy pretending. It is fun, creative

and a great way to further develop your language skills.

In this unit, you will also have a chance to focus on two problems that often

interfere with effective communication: nervousness and unclear speech. Tohelp you reduce the impact of these two common problems, you will learn two

relaxation exercises and review the basics of articulation.

In addition, you will have many chances to practice conversing, discussing and

debating topics in a variety of situations, usually with relatively little time for

thought or preparation. With this kind of experience you will develop the ability

and confidence to initiate conversation, to respond more quickly and intelligently,

and to "carry the ball."

articulation: sound production

carry the ball: take the most

important or difficult

part in something


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C H A P T E R O N E

G E T T I N G A C Q U A I N T E D


The warm-up activity consists of two relaxation exercises that you can use to

help reduce the negative affects of any anxiety-producing situation, such as a

presentation, a job interview or an exam. By doing these exercises, you will

divert your attention from whatever is making you nervous. And as you begin to

focus on something that is neutral, like your body and your breathing, you begin

to reduce your excess energy and slow down the body processes that are

responsible for your racing heart, sweaty palms and dry mouth.

After you have completed the warm-ups and you are somewhat relaxed, you willhave a chance to get to know and enjoy your classmates by interviewing them

and participating in a guessing game.

Finally, you will pretend to be a famous person and get into the habit of putting

yourself in someone elses shoes and start thinking as that person does.

This is an acting technique which is a very useful way for a language learner to

experiment with verbal and non-verbal language. Also, it can help make you

more aware of how other people might think and feel in different situations.

in someone elses shoes: in someones place or situation


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Warm-Up: Relaxation and Breathing Exercises

With your instructor, do the following:

A. Relaxation

1. Do this exercise standing or sitting.

2. Go through all the parts of your body and tell each part to relax.

Start with your toes and work through your body parts to finish with

your hair, or start with your hair and work through to your toes.

When you have finished, tense your entire body all at once. Hold it

for 10 seconds. Then relax your entire body all at once! Repeat.

B. Breathing

1. Stand up, put your hands on your diaphragm and take a deep

breath. You should feel your diaphragm expand. Make sure that

your shoulders do not rise significantly.

2. Take another deep breath (through your nose) and start counting

out loud. See how far you can count on the same breath.

3. Repeat the procedure and see if you can count even further than

you did before.

4. Relax a minute and then try again using the alphabet. Try to

increase your breath control each time you do this exercise.

If you are in a situation that prevents you from speaking aloud or making any

noise, do the following variation: instead of counting aloud, release the air very

slowly from between closed lips. Focus your attention on the stream of air that

you are releasing. You can count silently to see how long you can control one

breath of air.

You should practice one or both of these exercises on a regular basis. They are

both a great way to start a class.

diaphragm: muscles below your

rib cage

breath control: length of time you

can hold your breath

LUNGS

DIAPHRAGM


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Impromptu Activity: Getting Acquainted and Celebrity Personas

A. Getting Acquainted

1. Write down your responses to the questions below in the MY

ANSWER box.

2. Walk around the room, interviewing as many people as you can

within the time limit. Ask your classmates their names and the same

questions that you answered. If their answers are the same or very

similar to yours, write down their names in the space provided.

B. Sharing

After the interviewing is completed, each of you briefly tells the class the names

of the people with whom you have the most and the least in common.

QUESTION

1. What country would you like tovisit during your next vacation?

MY ANSWERClassmates with

Similar Answers

2. What is your favorite color?

3. What is your worst subject inschool?

4. What is your favorite movie?

5. What do you need most tomake you happy?

6. What is one critical problem that oursociety should be addressing today?


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C. Celebrity Personas

1. Make a list of famous people with whom you are familiar and whom

you think your classmates would know. Choose one celebrity that

you would enjoy pretending to be, and do not tell anybody whom

you chose. Consider what makes this person unique: his/her voice,

manner of speaking, walking, laughing, smiling, etc. You might

want to write down some of your thoughts.

2. Get into groups of three or four.

3. The members of your group ask one person at a time yes/no

questions to discover his/her celebrity identity. The interviewee tries

to answer the questions both verbally and non-verbally as the

celebrity would respond. If, after a few rounds of questions, nobody

can guess the identity, the interviewee should give helpful hints.

4. Individually, write answers under "My Celebritys Answer" in the box

on chart below. Answer them as you think your celebrity would

answer them.

QUESTION

1. What country would you like tovisit during your next vacation?

MY CELEBRITYS ANSWERCelebrities with

Similar Answers

2. What is your favorite color?

3. What is your worst subject inschool?

4. What is your favorite movie?

5. What do you need most tomake you happy?

6. What is one critical problem that oursociety should be addressing today?

helpful hints: clues


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D. Interviewing "In Character"

1. Assume the persona of your celebrity and walk around the room

asking each other the same questions you asked before. Try to ask

and answer the questions in character, which means walk, talk,

gesture and smile or frown as you think your celebrity would.

2. In the space provided under "Celebrities with Similar Answers" in the

box on page 5, write down the names of the characters with whom

your character has something in common.

E. Sharing

1. Tell the class the name of your celebrity and the names of those

celebrities with whom yours has something in common.

2. Tell the class the problems you had in communicating. Did anybody

have difficulty understanding you? When? What was the problem?

Did it have to do with your volume, pronunciation, grammar, eye

contact or something else?

3. Talk about how you felt pretending to be this character.

Taking It Further: A "Celebrity" Discussion

In pairs or in groups, make a list of five topics in the news. Choose one topic todiscuss. Assume the personas of the celebrities you were before and discuss

the topic as you think your celebrities would do it.

Example: Your group consists of Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, Madonna

and Queen Elizabeth talking about a movie that just opened.

persona: personality


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Copyright 2000 FULL BLAST Productions

IN CANADA IN THE UNITED STATES

FB Productions FB Productions

Box 408 Box 1297

Virgil, Ontario Lewiston, New York 14092-8297

L0S 1T0

Photocopying rights are granted to the individual teacher

or the single school purchasing the materials. A copy of

this book purchased by an individual teacher is that

teacher's property and can travel with her from school to

school. A single copy of this book may not be kept at a

resource center and used to service several schools. To be

entitled to copy this book, a teacher in the school or theschool itself must own an original copy.

Please respect copyright.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Finger, Alexis

The magic of drama: an oral performance activity book

ISBN 1-895451-34-5

1. English Language -- Textbooks for second language

learners.* 2. Drama in education. 3. English language --

Spoken English -- Problems, exercises, etc. I. Title.

PE1128.F563 1999 428.34 C00-930059-7

Printed in Canada.

ISBN 1-895451-34-5


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