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Input session · Activities and materials

Drama in the ELT classroom

Warm-ups, getting started, cooling down, and a party to finish. Activities to try on each other first, with the Activity Evaluation Sheet open beside them.

To begin

Drama in the ELT classroom is…

As we go: keep the Activity Evaluation Sheet open beside this and fill it in after each set of activities.
Warm-up

Non-verbal icebreakers and warm-up activities

Greet as if…

  • You are meeting a possible landlord for the first time
  • You suspect the other person owes you money
  • You want to look as important as you can
  • You are old friends who have not met for years
  • You are both very rich guests at an expensive gala
  • You think the other person has just been rude about you
  • You are late for a train and must leave at once
  • You are meeting your new head teacher and want to impress
  • You think the other person is the funniest person you have ever met
  • You are meeting your partner's grandparents for the first time
  • You are meeting a famous footballer

Variations

  • Make the instructions calmer: “Greet as if you are about to hear some important news,” “Greet as if you are about to start a driving test.”
  • Make it spoken and turn it into a name-learning activity for a new class: “My name is …….”

Mirror Pairs

  • Stand in pairs, facing each other.
  • Both raise their hands to shoulder height, palms towards the partner.
  • Keep the palms close, without touching.
  • One partner starts to move their hands slowly.
  • The other copies the movements as exactly as possible, like a reflection.
  • Swap roles so that both take a turn at leading.

Trust Rocking

  • Work in threes.
  • Two stand one behind the other. The one in front closes their eyes and leans back, and the one behind catches them and eases them upright.
  • After a few turns, swap places.
  • When everyone feels safe, the two outer people stand either side and gently rock the middle person between them.

Fish in the Cave

  • Explain briefly what a cave is, if needed.
  • Make groups of eight or ten.
  • One group builds a cave with their bodies: a shape with gaps in it.
  • The others are fish and wriggle through the gaps.

Guide and Follow

Type Non-verbal or verbal
  • Spread obstacles around the room: chairs, tables, books, bags and so on.
  • Pair up your students.
  • One partner closes their eyes, or wears a blindfold.
  • The other partner guides them round the room by the arm. No talking is allowed if you are doing this as a non-verbal activity.
  • Partners swap roles and repeat.

As a verbal activity

  • Useful for practising instructions, adverbs and there is / there are: “There are lots of bags here, so walk carefully, lift your feet, turn right” and so on.
Getting started

A couple of simple activities to build up your confidence

my monster

Build a Creature

Aims parts of the body, teamwork, physical coordination Age most ages Level beginner or elementary
  • Go over parts of the body if you need to.
  • Invite two volunteers to the front.
  • Tell them they will become a creature as you describe it.
  • Describe the creature slowly. The volunteers shape it with their bodies.
  • Try again with the whole class.
  • Let students work in pairs.

Possible follow-up

  • Students draw their creatures and put up a display.
  • In groups, students build a creature: one reads out the description and the others act it.
  • The teacher describes a creature and the class guesses which one it is.

Hear It, Act It

Aims listening to a story for particular words, following directions Age 6–12 Level beginner upwards

Preparation

  • Choose a short story that suits the class.
  • Practise telling it aloud to someone.
  • Pick the key words and an action for each.
  • Try the actions out with a colleague, to be sure they are short and easy, and neither dull nor risky.

Procedure

  • Tell the students they will hear a story, but first they will learn some actions.
  • Stand in a circle, or behind desks if space is tight, and join in yourself.
  • Teach a few words and actions at a time, and revise them before the story.
  • Tell the story while the students perform the actions.
  • Tell it again in a later lesson if it helps.

Possible follow-up

  • Make a comic strip or a small book of the story.
  • Give a written version of the story with gaps.
  • Hand out pictures for the students to put in order.
  • Ask for a different ending.
  • Turn the story into a short play, with props: masks, hats, old clothes, puppets.
Nico the snail

Nico the Snail

Pictures snail (brown), bird, rabbit, wizard, hill

Tell the story using pictures. The basic version is like this:

This is the story of Nico the snail.

Nico the snail is a lovely brown snail, but he is very sad.

‘Slow is horrible.'

‘Hello, Nico. Why are you sad?' asks the bird.

‘Slow is horrible. I want to be quick like you,' says Nico the snail.

‘Go and see the wizard at the top of the hill. He can change the way you move.'

‘That's a good idea. Goodbye.'

‘Goodbye.'

‘Hello, Nico. Why are you sad?' asks the rabbit.

‘Slow is horrible. I want to be quick like you,' says Nico the snail.

‘Go and see the wizard at the top of the hill. He can change the way you move.'

‘That's a good idea. Goodbye.'

‘Goodbye.'

Nico the snail climbs to the top of the hill.

‘Hello, Nico. Why are you sad?' asks the wizard.

‘Slow is horrible. I want to be quick like the bird or the rabbit,' says Nico the snail.

‘Ha, ha, ha! No problem. I can make you quick. Are you ready?'

‘One, two, three. Presto!' Whoosh, bang!

‘Now I'm like the bird… Oh, no … I'm too high! It's horrible!'

‘Let's try again. One, two, three. Presto!' Whoosh, bang!

‘Now I'm like the rabbit… Oh, no … I can't stop! It's horrible! Oh, please, I want to be a snail! I want to be brown! I want to be ME!'

‘OK, Nico. But this is the last time. One, two, three. Presto!' Whoosh, bang!

‘Are you happy now?' asks the wizard.

‘Oh, yes. I'm happy now. I'm a lovely brown snail! Thank you. Goodbye.'

Wave and Turn

You raise your left hand up,
You lower it back down;
Up, down, up, down, you wave it all around
You do the Wave and Turn,
And you spin around.
That's what it's all about!
Chorus
Hey, the Wave and Turn!
Hey, the Wave and Turn!
Hey, the Wave and Turn!
Knees bent, arms wide
Ha, ha, ha!
Then repeat with
right arm  ·  left leg  ·  right foot
Cooling down

Non-verbal cooling-down exercises

Taking Up Space

  • Students lie down if they can, or sit, with their eyes closed.
  • In a calm, steady voice, tell them to feel the space their body takes up.
  • Ask them to stretch out as far as their arms and legs allow, to fill the space.
  • Finally, ask them to make themselves as small as they can.

Seed to Tree

  • Ask students to stand and find a space of their own.
  • Tell them to curl up as small as they can.
  • Now ask them to uncurl, very, very slowly, into a tree reaching up towards the light.
  • You can add slow instrumental music.

Carry the Giant Bowl

  • Students stand in circles of about ten.
  • Ask them to imagine a huge, fragile bowl in the middle of the circle.
  • Ask them to lift it together and carry it very carefully to another part of the room.
To finish

The Birthday Party

  • Students wait outside the room.
  • They come in one by one and greet the host (the teacher), pretending to be guests at a birthday party.
  • Some pretend to bring presents.
  • Some pretend to be old friends, and others are new and need to be introduced.
  • Encourage everyone to mingle and chat about the party, about each other, and so on.
  • For extra fun, ask everyone to imagine the party is taking place in another country: Brazil, Japan, Kenya and so on.

Greetings from Other Worlds

  • Pair up students; each pair represents a world of its own.
  • Each pair decides on:
    • a name for their world
    • a way of greeting each other there
  • Each pair shows its greeting to the others.
  • The teacher then sets up a party, and students swap partners and greet each other in the manner of their worlds.

Sources. The statements, activity descriptions, story and action song on this page are written for this session. For further reading on drama in language teaching: Alan Maley and Alan Duff, Drama Techniques in Language Learning (Cambridge University Press); Sarah Phillips, Drama with Children (Oxford University Press).