Teaching Tips & Ideas - Part 2

ENGLISH THROUGH ACTING - THEATER AS A TEACHING AID.


A Play provides a realistic model of the way we talk. Not the exact model but it is closer than the contents of most English text-books.

1 – Selecting a Play. Modern – contains useful language – presenting an aspect of a culture where English is the native language. Avoid Shakespeare. He is absolutely marvelous but his English is not what we use in daily conversation. He wrote for a different time. His vocabulary and phrases are not what the young people of today need.

2 – “The Talk and Listen System”. It can train the “actors” to listen, to learn dialogues in a conversational tone – not reciting. In most classrooms situations, dialogues are read aloud rather than spoken as conversation. The “cue” for the listener to begin speaking is the Silence.
The student should not read the line to the other person, because we read completely different from the way we talk. There would be no problem on how often the actor refers to the script. A broken sentence like – “I am going downtown to buy a magazine”, could appear. But it is not a terrible thing because this is only a first part time. Maybe on the second time he’ll be able to put four or five words together and so on. This is important because the student is making communication – he is looking at the other actor – (eye contact). Acting is 50% listening. You can’t be a good actor without listening to what the other person is saying and to the way he is talking to you. The same is true in conversation.

3 – How to do it – Cards “A” and “B”

A – Why do you always do that?

A -...........................................................

B -...........................................................

B - Do what?

A - You Know. What you’re doing now.

B -............................................................

B - ...........................................................

B - Why? Does it bother you?

A - Oh, no. Not at all.

A -...........................................................

B - ...........................................................

B - You’re kind of a crazy.


Since “A” speaks first, “A” reads his first line to himself. “B”does not look at his card yet, but waits for “A” to speak to him. “A” then makes Eye Contact with “B”and says his first line to “B”. When “A” has finished speaking, “B” reads the first line in his card to himself, then looks up and says it to “A”. The entire dialogue is done this way. The students may refer to their cards as often as necessary, but whenever someone is speaking the other one should not be reading his line, trying to learn them, or planning how to say them. He should be LISTENING to the speaker. He can give a proper response only if he has been listening. When using a dialogue from a text-book or a play, the student should be careful not to read the line that is being spoken to him. In most cases a student who reads the line that is being spoken to him will hear his own INNER VOICE with its interpretation louder than the real voice of the speaker. (Richard Via)

Here Is A List Of People Engaged On The Teaching Thru Acting Process:

MAURICE IMHOOF: Mr. Imhoof has joined the growing number of persons connected with teaching English utilizing drama as a part of the learning process. Several years ago Mr. Imhoof had an experience in directing a shortened version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at The University of Kabul, Afghanistan.

TEREZINHA PINTO: Miss Pinto is also engaged on the process of teaching thru drama. She was a teacher for children and had also worked in one adaptation of Romeo and Juliet some years ago at Instituto Cultural Brazil/Estados Unidos – Minas Gerais – Brazil.

SARAH SHARIM PAZ: Miss Sharim Paz combines two professional interests. Drama and Language Teaching. Prior to becoming an instructor Miss Paz taught English in several secondary schools, and as a professional actress she appeared in more than 15 plays. She has also written scripts for radio and TV and directed the production of an original script “Shakespeare and his Time”. She has been a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages at The University of Chile.

RICHARD VIA: Mr. Via was a Visiting Researcher at the East-West Culture Learning Institute of Honolulu, Hawaii. Creator of the “Talking and Listen System” (The via Method), Mr. Via assumes that no one can start the very first English lesson by presenting a play. “Students do need the basics. They need some vocabulary. They need to know something about English before we jump right in with a play”.

DISADVANTAGES: The amount of time spent on rehearsals. 25 hours for one act – 120 hours for three acts. The problem of shyness. The understudies.

OUR INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE: Some years ago we staged one of Mr. Via’s plays called “Never on Wednesdays” – a comedy. A Xmas celebration. The “actors” have been motivated and involved in the atmosphere of the performance and so have the audience. Also, some excerpts of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” have been produced (we did not avoid the Bard of Avon) and the whole experience was a real satisfaction. But that’s what it really was, an EXPERIENCE. The Via Method has not been used. HUGO CALDAS