English in Motion presented by Barbara Mitchell Pollock Barbara Mitchell bmitchell@sd61.bc.ca Victoria School District #61 English in Motion This is an active presentation for delegates to experience Dramatic Arts techniques with games, tongue twisters and movement exercises to facilitate the learning of English while having fun. “It's misleading to suppose there's any basic difference between education and entertainment; however, it's always been true that whatever pleases teaches more effectively.” Marshall McLuhan Barbara got her start in theatre with her marionette “Izzy Gold” on the “Howdy Doody Show”. With her pockets full of experience as a student, workshop director, and teacher; from classes with Augusto Boal to teaching “English in Motion” to International Students in Japan, Israel, New Zealand and Confederation & Camosun College, she credits Drama as an exceptional teacher. Barbara’s List of Exercises Games, and developing character, place and situation, and setting the atmosphere of trust. Warm-ups, Games and Exercises Games in drama are not only engaging; they are the important tools that teach important communication skills, build self-esteem and help to develop creativity and imagination. Games are fun and stimulating. Games connect, link, and facilitate learning by employing multiple learning styles: kinesthetic, visual, auditory, and emotional. Drama Games & Exercises for skills develops focus and concentration, co-operation, listening & speaking and importantly creativity. Drama classes provide verbal interaction, reciprocal teaching, and anxiety reduction to enable ESL students to learn not only a second language, but the skills to enable them to be productive people in our society. LARGE CIRCLE Getting to Know You- Large Circle is THE best way Name Games I am Barbara, you are? To the right… Peter I am Peter. You are Barbara. To the right. … I am Peter. You are? … George I am George…..you are??? Each person will say their name and come up with an action to go with their name. Slap Slap, clap, clap, snap, snap- Concentration let’s begin- using numbers/names Dance to the music-everyone takes a turn with a dance/motion that the whole group mirrors Stretching, swinging, bouncing, sticking, shaking

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Yes /forward, No/backwards, Maybe/ sideways Fred points to Susan saying one of the above and saying the person’s name….if the name is not quite there, then the person pointed to says their name – both move to each others places. Susan then points and choses person and action Atom 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Ride That Pony An energetic dance-game conceived by a group of thespians in a summer acting camp at UC Berkeley. Involves an outer circle of more people than the inner circle. The dance begins with the inner circle, moving in a circle and everyone singing: HERE WE GO! Ride that pony, ride around that big fat pony HERE WE GO! Ride that pony. This is how we do it! Then, the people in the inner circle move to a person on the outer circle and dance with their chosen partner the following lyrics: Front to front to front, my baby. Back to back to back, my baby. Side to side to side, my baby. THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!" Repeat!!

YOU/Zoom Communication skills by passing "you" from one person to another. Participants stand in a circle. One person starts by gesturing towards someone else in the circle and saying "You." That participant then gestures and says "you" passing it to another person in the circle. Yes Let’s Great introduction to accepting offers and cooperating with the whole group. Pick a group activity, like throwing a party or organizing a picnic. One player starts, saying "Let`s ..." filling in what she wants to do. Then she starts actually doing what she said she wanted to do. A second player jumps in, saying "Let`s ..." do something else, to advance the group activity. Both players say "Yes, let`s do that" and start doing whatever is suggested. Walking- saying hello and good-bye. BANG/Bang Squirt/Squirt Pie/Pie Teacher (someone) calls out a person’s name, and that person has to drop quickly, and their two neighbours have to point and call “bang, bang” or “squirt, squirt” The West Wind Blows Horse, Knight , Caviler "Knight" means that one partner gets down on one knee and the other partner sits on his/her exposed knee. "Horse" means that one partner gets down on all fours and the other partner sits on his/her back. "Cavalier" means that one partner picks the other partner up in the style of a groom carrying the bride over the threshold. Entrances and Exits Check in Fox and Hound

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Knot- hand holding In a circle reach an arm in and hold another’s hand, then reach the other arm in and hold another’s hand. Then unravel the knot without letting go of everyone’s hands Trust: -Blind cars -Russian doll -Trust falls -Trust lifts Sound and action- Jan is in the middle of the circle doing a repetitive sound and action facing Fred. Fred repeats the sound and action, and when Jan is satisfied she changes places with Fred. Fred then transforms Jan’s action/sound into her own and faces Mary….. Do this with a large transformation: volume, speed, size intensity, body parts Have the students in activities in slow, medium, fast motion- playing ball, Frisbee, making, building Concentration and Focus Columbia hypnosis- one person controls their partner with their hand and the partner must follow the hand with her/his whole body - this is also a wonderful exercise with two separate groups facing each other and two conductors of each group on chairs on either end numbers/names clap/clap snap/snap Barbara/Peter clap/clap snap/snap Peter/George Bing: 1, 2, 3, 4, bing, 6,7,8,9, bing….. Baby I love, please won’t you smile? Baby, I love you, but I just can’t smile. Broken telephone-various languages/ gibberish/ nonsense phrases= listening skills Freeze Voice- students walk around the room, freeze is called and eyes are then closed. Teacher touches one person who speaks in anyway they want to disguise their voice, and the other students guess who is speaking. Keeper of the keys Night at the Museum: Begins with one/two students (night watchpersons) turning their back and the rest of the class taking a museum statue position, Students then take risks in changing their stance, and the night watch persons try to see them move. If they are caught then they remove themselves and re-entre the museum. The Peruvian Ball Game- each student imagines they are in possession of their own unique ball that has a rhythm and a sound and each one has time to play with their ball. Then they find a partner, show them their ball and later exchange ball, only to find a new partner, and repeat the process. After several exchanges they go looking for their original ball.

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Smaller Circles & IN TWOS The Mirror Game Divide your class into pairs. One person is “A” and the other is “B”. “A” begins and after a set amount of time switch. Then switch partners. Advanced Mirror Two players face each other and mirror the movements of the other. Then they pass control back and forth with no verbal signals What are you doing? Balancing bodies Person to person- teacher calls out the names body parts that the partners must touch together. Master/Servant Picking a Fight Arms Expert “No you didn’t” “Yes I did!” Irish Duel- feet=sword heart=hand Offers in Pairs – Physical offer – old socks, a boat, cell phone, a kitten, a baby, bracelet, a shoe, a butterfly, etc. Caring & sharing- in silence- one-person cries- comfort. Drop a pen- the other person picks it up. Emotional offers – hate, fear, etc. Speech- Breathing exercises: Stanislavski relaxation exercises Vowels- in various emotions, pace, volume, intensity Breathing- partners balancing walking- on hot sand, through mud, through autumn leaves, through water, on ice, water lapping at your ankles, waves continuing to get bigger Walking with intention- Throwing your voice: Axe- throwing voice In two lines passing an imaginary object with sounds Hole in the wall Broken telephone- using various languages, gibberish, nonsense Tongue Twisters This is my ear Fortunately/unfortunately Switch Double Switch One Word at a Time/ several sentences Switch/ Double Switch Die Opening/Closing Lines Short Dialogues AEIOU- with emotion and feeling Paper Chase- little pieces of paper that are scattered all around the stage with sentences written on the papers that are unknown to the players. They must immediately incorporate the sentence into the scene as it is written on the page Pass It On – Students on sounds, movement, and objects as a concentration activity.

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Machines In this exercise the players must create the parts of an imaginary machine. Each player will enter one at a time, and offer a repetitive motion and noise to the machine. Tableaux A tableau is a still image, a frozen moment or "a photograph." A single tableau communicates a living representation of an event, an idea or a feeling. It offers students an effective technique to clearly express ideas that they might not be otherwise skilled enough to communicate dramatically. -In tableaux students one at time say what their character is thinking Chairs- chair continuously in another object in a scene/tableaux. Chairs set the scene A tableau moving into stories-After the pose is completed, the first person sits down but the second person remains. Then, a third person comes in to complete the new photograph. Slide show Improv Names that Are NOT Yes, And Bus Stop Freeze: Two actors will start a scene. At any time during the scene an actor off stage can yell freeze! The actors must immediately freeze in position. The player that yelled freeze must assume the exact position of one of the actors and initiate a whole new scene starting in that position. Reverse Freeze- actors come in and continue to change the scenes, and then actors leave after playing their original scene Sit, Stand, Kneel, Lie Down This scene will have four players. At no time can the players occupy the same position on the stage simultaneously. One player must be lying down; another player must be standing, and so on. If two players are occupying the same position, let them know about it. Bus Ride-A bus driver takes his passengers to one location. Each character enters the bus one at a time with a specific emotion or characteristic. It could be laughter, depression, a gangster, or a flirt. When it becomes evident what that character represents, all passengers on the bus must follow that lead. There are many resources available Three of my favourites are: Augusto Boal Games for Actors and Non-Actors Viola Spolin's Theatre Games Book Canadian Improv Games http://improv.ca/training/warm-ups/

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Poetry, Chants, Raps, and Choral One of My Favourites: Anna Banana by Dennis Lee – Divide the class into three groups 1) Anna Banana, jump into the stew. Gravy and carrots are good for you. Good for your teeth,

And your fingernails too. So Anna Banana, jump into the stew! Repeat 2) Dive in! Watch for all the carrots! Repeat 3) Jump in the stew. Why don’t you jump in the stew? Repeat Two Powerful Chants Divide the class into two groups, work on the chant, and then switch roles. Let’s go. Why? Because. I protest! You must. I refuse! Get out of here! & Give us space. Stand back! We are poor. Keep off! We are hungry! This is ours! We are dying! There are too many of you! Can’t you understand? We are human beings! Bad Rap is a verbal warm up. Players stand in a circle. Everyone chants together: Bad rap (beat), bad rap (beat), bad rap, bad rap, bad rap (beat).One person now creates a line of “rap” and the person next to her/him must finish that line, but to make sure it doesn’t rhyme. For example: Person 1: I have a pet, he sleeps like a log, but I have to say I love my Person 2: Hippo! Everyone: Bad rap | Bad rap | Bad rap, bad rap, bad rap. Continue this for as long as you like and if you chose to rhyme, then do so!

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JABBERWOCKY by Lewis Carrol (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

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