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DRAMA SKILLS FOR THE ESL CL ASSROOM

D E V E L O P I N G P R E S E N C E

A N D T H E A R T O F I M P R O V I S AT I O N

WHO AM I?

• My name is Kristina Butke.

• バッキ クリスティーナ

• I am a first-year ALT.

• I live in Kikuchi City.

• I work at:

– Kikuchi High School

– Nankan High School

– Kamoto Shoko

– Kamoto Nogyo

– Kikuchi Shien Gakkou.

WHO AM I?

• I’ve been involved

in drama for over

twenty years!

…and as an actress.As a writer and director…

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Melancholia

WHO AM I?

• I’ve been a speaker and

panelist for the last four years

at the largest fan conventions

in the state of Ohio.

• …and you can see I am a big otaku. (´ω｀*)

WHO AM I?

• I hope to pass on what I’ve learned over the years to you.

• I hope that you will find this workshop helpful to you.

•どうぞよろしくおねがいします.

WHY DRAMA?

• “Drama is a unique tool to explore and express human

feeling” (Brown, et. al).

• Drama “captures the essence of a culture or a group

within that culture” (Casey, et al).

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WHY DRAMA?

• Drama increases self-confidence, motivation, and

interaction (Martin).

Drama helps develop empathy and promotes

understanding (Jarrett).

Drama builds presence.

WHAT IS PRESENCE?• Presence is the ability to hold the attention of the

audience. It is charisma!

• A strong presence makes it easy for people to watch and listen to you closely!

• In order to have good presence you must be able to

–Speak clearly and loudly.

–Express yourself with your face, hands, and body.

–Have good posture.

–Have good energy.

LET’S WORK ON BUILDING PRESENCE

• Posture and vocal expression are two key parts of presence.

• These activities are warm-ups that you do before performing.

• You can use these exercises to build your own presence before you

lead a classroom.

• You can use these exercises with your students before they

perform in recitation and speech contests.

• You can use these exercises in class before students practice

conversation.

PHYSICAL WARM-UPS

• Physical warm-ups are important. If the body is

under stress, it affects breathing, posture, and

vocalization.

• The more relaxed the body is, the better sound

you can make when you speak.

• It is also easier to express yourself through your

face, hands, or body.

PHYSICAL WARM-UPS

• Head and neck rolls

• Shoulder rolls

• Floppy arms and windmills

• Back stretches

• Relevé and demi plié

• Ankle roll

• Point foot/flat foot

• Posture stretch – rope at the top of the head

Please stand up and do these activities with me!

BREATHING EXERCISES

• Actors and singers practice

diaphragmatic breathing.

• This is also called “belly breathing.”

• It allows performers to sing or

speak for a long time (to sustain).

• This helps with vocal projection. It

allows you to speak loudly enough

so every person can hear you.

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BREATHING EXERCISES

•Chest and Belly Breathing

•Six Count Breathing

•Candle on stomach

exercise

FACIAL WARM-UPS

• Because English uses a variety of sounds, we have to use more of our face when we speak.

• Facial warm-ups help with pronunciation – the ability to produce the sounds needed to form words.

• Facial warm-ups also help with enunciation – the ability to speak in a way that listeners can understand what you are saying.

FACIAL WARM-UPS

•Jaw Exercises (chewing, yawning)

•Tongue rolls and flaps

•Buzzing

VOCAL WARM-UPS

• Vocal warm-ups not only help with

pronunciation and enunciation, but

with inflection, too.

• Inflection refers to the tones we

use in English. When we speak in

sentences, our voice can go up or

down. This expresses how we feel

as well as the meaning of the

sentence.

HOW INFLECTION CHANGES MEANING

•Let’s go to the store now.

•Let’s go to the store now!

•Let’s go to the store now?

•Let’s go to the store. Now.

HOW INFLECTION CHANGES MEANING

• Let’s go to the store now =

Let’s go to the store now.

• Let’s go to the store now! =

I am excited to go shopping.

• Let’s go to the store now?

Is it ok if we go at this moment?

• Let’s go to the store. Now.

If we don’t leave right now I may have to kill you.

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VOCAL WARM-UPS

• Booh ↓ Booh ↑

• Word Endings

– ING

– INK

– AT

– AW

– AH

– ER

– OULD

– ULL

VOCAL WARM-UPS

•Consonants:

–R, W, L, TH (soft), TH (hard), F, B, V, K, D, G

• Long Vowels:

–AH, EH, OH, OOH, OW, UH, IH, EEH, AY

VOCAL WARM-UPS

• Apples and Bananas Song:

• I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas!

–EE

–EH

–OH

– IH

–AH

TONGUE TWISTERS

•Betty bought butter

but the butter was

bitter, so Betty bought

better butter to make

the bitter butter

better.

TONGUE TWISTERS

•I thought a thought.

But the thought I

thought wasn’t the

thought I thought I

thought.

TONGUE TWISTERS

• I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won’t wish the wish you wish to wish.

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TONGUE TWISTERS

•The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.

IMPROVISATION• Improvisation is coming up with

ideas, making decisions, and

performing with no preparation

beforehand.

• This is helpful in the English

language classroom because

students get practice interacting

with others.

• After all, natural conversations are

made up on the spot!

GREETINGS GAME

• Two actors arrive at a party and

greet each other. One actor is the

host and the other is the guest.

• The actors have prompts that guide

how they should interact with each

other.

• For this activity we will use a script.

However, more advanced students

should make the dialogue up off the

top of their heads.

GREETINGS GAME – PROMPT #1

•Long-lost friends

who haven’t seen

each other in

years

GREETINGS GAME – PROMPT #2

•Ex-boyfriend and

girlfriend whose

relationship ended

badly

GREETINGS GAME – PROMPT #3

•Friend who

mistakes the

other person

for someone

else

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GREETINGS GAME – PROMPT #4

•The host greets

a stranger with

a strong odor.

ONE WORD AT A TIME•This is a storytelling

game that requires very

quick thinking.

•Two or three actors sit

next to each other.

• Each actor says only

one word to tell a

story.

STORY STARTERS

• ONCE UPON A TIME… (fairytale)

• YESTERDAY THERE WAS A ROBBERY. THE SUSPECT … (news story)

• NOW, FOR ONLY $2,000, YOU CAN BUY … (commercial advertisement)

• I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU … (wife yelling at her husband)

WRAP-UP• Drama can make your classes more exciting.

• Drama can make your students better speakers and listeners.

• Drama can help students communicate with each other.

• Drama can boost creativity and confidence.

• If you would like more information, I have made a booklet with

more exercises you can try.

• You can also ask me questions after the panel.

• Please feel free to email me!

– kristinaelysebutke@gmail.com

WORKS CITED• Brown, John, Leonie Moran, and Martha Vaezi. "What Is Drama?" What Is Drama? Flinders

University School of Education, n.d.Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

• Buchanan, Matt. "Some Improvisations and Drama Warm-ups." ChildDrama.com. Matt Buchanan, n.d.Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

• Casey, Maryrose, Gillian Kehoul, Delyse Ryan, and Paul Makeham. "Dramatic Teaching: Focusing on Drama, Theater, and Performance in Higher Education." Journeys to the Interior: 2005 Conference of the Australasian Association for Theater, Drama, and Performance Studies (2005): 1-6. QUT Digital Repository. ADSA, 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

• Clandfield, Lindsay. "At the Improv: Six Drama Speaking Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom." Onestopenglish.com. Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2003. Web. 07 Nov. 2016

• Garreffa, Kim. “How’s Your Stage Presence?” MAGA Canada Bermuda Music and Gospel Arts. The Salvation Army, 29 May 2008. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

• Genard, Gary. “5 Acting Techniques for Greater Stage Presence in Public Speaking.” The Genard Method. GenardMethod.com, 05 Oct. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

• "Improvisations." ESL Lesson Plans. TEFL.net, 2015. Web. 07 Nov. 2016

• Kidd, Simon. "How to Activate Your Diaphragm to Improve Breathing and Performance." Breaking Muscle. Breaking Muscle.com, n.d.Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

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