It was great to hear this webinar with Danielle Capretti. “Hey, Kids! Let’s Put on a Show!” Theater in the English Language Classroom. She’s an expert on using drama and dance in EFL classes in countries around the world.
Moderator Katie took over during some technical difficulty on Danielle’s end and actually started the presentation. After a few minutes we were able to get started again. Danielle went through a lot of resources for young, secondary and adult classrooms. I’ve shared them below.
She covered the topics of
- choosing a text or script–student-written, teacher-written, free online, purchased. Others?
- casting for the parts–teacher chooses, volunteers, auditions. How else?
- preparation–table work (understanding the words and content) and blocking (moving through the play so the audience gets the most out of it.
- performance–do you have them memorize or do readers’ theater? Have them do warm-ups like breathing, exercise and tongue twisters. She had a lovely dramatic voice herself, and inspired me to practice enunciating, “The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue.” Finally, you can have them do a last minute speed run through–no blocking. Just the spoken lines, fast. If they can do this they should be ready.
Thanks to Danielle, Moderator Katie and Moderator Amy!
So, I’ll be checking out the resources and finding what drama I can do in my classroom very soon.
Resources
- American English website
- American Rhythms – music, lyrics and classroom activities
- The Best Resources on Using Drama in the Classroom by Larry Ferlazzo
- Royalty-Free One-Act Plays
- ESL Ideas: Using Abstract Drama Scripts in the drama, language and ESL Classroom
- Dr. Chase Young: Readers’ Theater Scripts
- Free Stage Play Scripts by D.M. Larson
- Aaron Shepard’s webpage
- Aaron’s Reader’s Theater Edition
- All Eugene O’Neill one-act plays are public domain.
