Monthly Archives: March 2009

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Pass on the Mime Message

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Pass on the Mime Message

 

You will need: Several simple sentences written on cards.

Example:

–          It’s cold outside

–          I have a sandwich for lunch

–          I like to ride my bike

 

Have the group stand in a line facing the opposite direction to you. You tap the first child on the shoulder who turns around and you give him/her the message using only gestures. This player then taps the second child on the shoulder, who turns around , and passes on the message as he/she understands it. Stop the game at a certain point and ask the player whose turn it is if he/she can explain the message vocally without enacting it. Has the message been passed on correctly?

 

This Esl drama game is great fun for older children who are already able to form simple sentences. It encourages creativity and stimulates the imagination. To make the game easier for younger children, instead of sentences use illustrated flash cards to show the first child e.g a bicycle, horse, sandwich, rain.

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Song and Role-play for “The Wheels on the Bus”

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Song and Role-play for

“The Wheels on the Bus”

 

My 4-5 year old class loves doing the following song and role-play activity . It’s physical, lively and engaging. Try it!

 

I got the following song and activity from super simple songs

 

Language focus: Round and round, open and shut, beep beep, up and down, wheels, bus, door, wipers, horn, people, babies, mommies.

Classroom benefits: The Wheels on the Bus introduces a lot of very useful vocabulary for young learners while allowing them to get up, move around the classroom, and engage their imaginations.

Preparation: Before singing the song, introduce a toy bus or a picture of a bus or a bus-themed picture book. Point out the wheels, the door, the wipers, etc. Now, seated in a circle, you are ready to introduce the song.

Lyrics and actions:

(Everybody stands in big circle. You may want to give all of the students some props to act as steering wheels. Tambourines work great! Honk the horn!)

(Everyone stops and faces into the circle.)

The wheels on the bus go round and round. (Move your hands and arms round and round in a circle.)

Round and round. Round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and round. Round and round. (Go! Between each verse, everyone pretends to drive a bus and honk the horn.)

The door on the bus goes open and shut. (Clap your hands together on “shut” and open them on “open”.)

Open and shut. Open and shut.

The door on the bus goes open and shut. Open and shut.

 

The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish. (Mimic the motion of windshield wipers with your hands and arms.)

Swish, swish, swish. Swish, swish, swish.

The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish. Swish, swish, swish.

 

The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep. (Pretend to be honking the horn on the steering wheel of a bus.)

Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.

The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.

 

The people on the bus go up and down. (Stretch up and then squat down.) Up and down. Up and down.

The people on the bus go up and down. Up and down.

 

The babies on the bus go wah wah wah. (Place your hands next to your eyes and pretend to cry.)

Wah, wah, wah. Wah, wah, wah.

The babies on the bus go wah wah wah. Wah, wah, wah.

 

The mommies on the bus go shhh shhh shhh. (Place your finger in front of your mouth as you make the shhh sounds. You can also pretend to cradle a baby in one arm).

Shhh shhh shhh. Shhh shhh shhh.

The mommies on the bus go shhh shhh shhh. Shhh shhh shhh.

 

ROLE- PLAY

After the song is great time to “play bus”. Set up rows of chairs like the inside of a bus. Make a bus stop by putting some tape or rope down on the ground. Give each of the children several “coins” (colored chips work great, marbles will do… or use real coins). Make a small box into the fare collection box.

The teacher or parent can put on a bus driver’s cap and use a tambourine as a steering wheel. “Open” the bus door and invite the children on. Ask, “Where are you going?” Elicit responses like “To the park/to the pool/to the zoo/to the library/etc. Say, “Two coins, please.” and help the children pay. After all the kids have boarded, start “driving.” Sing The Wheels on the Bus together. Turn left and turn right, having the kids lean with you as you turn. Call out the stops. “Next stop…the park!” “Next stop…the zoo!”

Kids LOVE this role-play. Let them take turns being the driver too!

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Using Esl Drama with “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”

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Using Esl Drama with

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar“

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Young children love this story , it’s ideal for revising food and numbers and introducing days of the week. Why not add a simple creative improvisation to make it even more fun and memorable for children.

 

Here are a few suggestions on how to introduce the story:

 

1.     Tell the simple story using the book, get the children actively involved – show them the pictures bring to class some “real” fruit, elicit and count the fruit and food together. Ask them what they understand from the story in their native language.

 

2.     You could use this beautiful and very well made video that I came across on the web  to introduce the story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qoYPLtqqVk

 

3.      For those more adventurous and creative you could make and use a simple sock puppet to tell the story  (I’ve used the following user-friendly site in the past to make great sock puppets http://www.daniellesplace.com/HTML/puppets.html ).

4.  For simple paper puppets the following blog has some interesting ideas http://babybilingual.blogspot.com/2007/04/very-hungry-caterpillar-very-hungry.html

 

 

Improvisation

 

1.      Tell the children that they are now going to re-tell the story of the “Hungry Caterpillar” themselves – and that they are going to “act” being the caterpillar.

 

2.      Make some space in the room free of tables and chairs.

 

3.       Put on some soft/slow instrumental music

 

4.      Ask the children to lay down on the floor and pretend to be a little egg laying on a leaf under the moon. Use the book to show the children the illustrations so they know where you are at in the story.

 

5.      Coax  the children to act and push themselves out of the egg and become a little tiny caterpillar. Ask the children how they think a caterpillar moves and get them to show you physically .  Ask how many legs and feet they think a caterpillar has. What does his face look like? Remember- he’s very hungry! Start to really wriggle and crawl like hungry caterpillar looking for something to eat.

 

6.     Get the children to imagine and mime how the caterpillar eats and crawls into an apple…munching away until he pops out the other side. Still hungry! Try not to let the children talk.. they should remain concentrated and really imagine that they are the hungry caterpillar.

 

7.      You don’t have to do go through all the fruits as it can get a bit long..but you could get the children to mime eating different foods like a “piece of cake” or “an ice- cream”. See how sticky and mucky their faces get!

 

8.      Get the children to mime “feeling ill” after the caterpillar eats too much.

 

9.     “The following day the caterpillar becomes big and fat”.. get the children to mime being very heavy and moving slowly.

 

10. For the caterpillar’s  “cocoon” use a large blanket and get all the children to crawl under and hide together. (kids find this part great fun)

 

11. Tell them to slowly come out from the blanket transformed into a beautiful butterfly. Get the children to flitter and fly around the room as beautiful brightly colored butterflies.

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Tips on Classroom Management

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Tips on classroom management

When I first started out teaching children I never bothered explaining any ground rules naively thinking that my bubbly personality and incredibly interactive ESL drama games could win over even the most undisciplined child …little did I know!!

 

After one very boisterous 7 year old created havoc in one of my lessons, ruining the enjoyment of others and almost giving me a nervous breakdown, I soon started thinking of better ways I could manage myself and my class.

                                                                                               

Classroom ground rules are extremely useful when using ESL Drama especially when many children are up and moving around together. They really can make a huge difference to the whole atmosphere of the lesson, prevent any child getting over excited and losing focus or maybe even unintentionally harming another child , they encourage group collaboration and above all give you more control of each exercise without struggling to be heard.

 

I learned the hard way….I recommend you avoid it!!

 

It is important for the children to understand that drama is of enormous fun for everyone but it is structured fun.

Just as football is more fun if everyone follows the rules, ESL Drama is more fun if everyone follows the rules.

  

Here are a few initial suggestions for classroom rules:

 

1.      Try to go to the bathroom before the lesson. (obvious one but , when you’re in the middle of a group or pair activity it can become an extra disruption with children trotting off to the bathroom – although it often can’t be avoidedJ)

 

2.      Always listen carefully and follow the rules of any game or activity.

 

3.      When you hear the drum beat “freeze”  (this one I’ve found very useful in getting the whole class focused and listening in an instant. I personally use a drum but you can also use another loud instrument or even a whistle. When you beat the drum once the children  stop whatever they’re doing and “freeze” like ice statues which children love! 2 drum beats indicates the children to quickly and silently form a circle. )

 

4.      Always raise your hand, and wait to be invited before speaking (avoids unnecessary noise and keeps children focused and encourages listening and respecting others children’s’ opinions)  

 

 

The following rules are can be added on for older children  7-10 year olds:

 

5.      NEVER, EVER intentionally hurt someone else. This means no hitting or pushing but it also means no name-calling or teasing. A Drama lesson can only work if everyone feels safe.

6.      Everyone is responsible for his own actions. Just because someone else does something wrong does not give you permission to make things worse by doing the same thing. “He did it, too,” is never an excuse.

 

7.      If you don’t want to play …then sit and watch. (With ESL Drama occasionally some children will react differently to a particular game or activity. Try never to force anyone to participate especially if you see they are uncomfortable about joining in as this could block their spontaneity and fun with other games. With my private groups I suggest that children may sit at the side and watch quietly (without disrupting the rest of the class) if they really do not want join in a game. Saying this I very rarely see anyone taking up the offer.)

 

In one of my next tip posts I will be talking about some great ways of motivating your children using “rewards” …with no chocolate treats anywhere to be seenJ

 

Happy teaching

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Why use ESL Drama Games?

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Why use ESL Drama Games?Welcome ESL teachers

Well…..

ESL Drama and Movement Games are of enormous fun and motivation for children of all ages and are great for enhancing listening skills and fostering group cooperation.

As you well know, children are perfect language learners, they are imaginative, curious , keen to learn, and above all very receptive. ESL Drama games  free up and involve children and give them the possibility to really put into practice their language skills , albeit limited skills , by being ACT-ive.

Children are encouraged to jump up on their feet express themselves and communicate with others in English – through mime, body language, eye contact and facial expressions.

 

ESL Drama games also spur children on to tell and act out stories/experiences

Drama Games also help children focus and concentrate their energies and improve their self-confidence – by taking on a role for example even the shyest of children are able to hide behind another character and feel less inhibited.

 

ESL Drama games when used at the beginning of a language lesson or play rehearsal, strengthen work with a script by helping the children warm up, focus their energy, develop their characters, work as a team and even memorize their lines!

The teaching tips and creative ideas included in this blog address both inexperienced and experienced language teachers interested and perhaps intrigued in learning how to incorporate drama as an extra joyful dimension in their teaching.

The games and teaching suggestions are targeted at young children aged 4-10 years and have all been personally tried and tested!

Happy reading

 

and explore the world around them. Through, role-playing, puppetry and mime, improvisation and characterization a child’s memory and vocabulary is constantly stimulated .