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Improv 101! Submitted by Claudia Carroll So much emphasis is placed on preparation, that teachers sometimes want to do some hair tearing out!
Lesson planning, seating charts, having
enough pencils, watching the clock. Why not give improvisation a try?
In the world of the theater, improv classes are often offered to beginning or wanna-be actors, directors, writers, to loosen them up, and help them think creatively on their feet. But at the other end of the profession, seasoned actors often spend their time "between gigs" in improv. sessions to hone skills and release their inner muse.
If you've never experienced this, perhaps you've seen, live or on television, a group of comedy actors taking cues from the audience then acting them act.
It's a little like charades.
But all of the "acting out" that happens doesn't really happen on the spot. It comes, when the environment, permission of the coach or the occasion, or desire of the "actors," allow and sometimes nudge the "actors" to draw on everything they know (a kind of mental-emotional-experiential "Jeopardy," to, on the spot, create something new.
Frankly, if you've already taught, you'll know what I mean. No two days, two classes, two schools, two countries, two subjects are the same. But you can easily burn out if you continually try forcing your own "script" onto the classroom "cast and crew."
This is not to suggest you should EVER go into a classroom or learning situation unprepared. But try taking a few seconds to assess the mood - kids get tired just before lunch and just after, and antsy just before time to go home. (And so do adult learners). |
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This is a time to dig into your Jeopardy Pandora's box and pull out some physical activity. Move your students around the room or even, if your environment permits, outside.
Assess your own mood too. If you feel tired, quiet, pensive, then encourage the students to get loud. If you are a lively loud-mouth, then try varying your voice to get their attention: whisper softly from the front of the room; walk up and down between the desks mouthing words but not saying them, stand in the back of the room and yell like you were at a ballgame.
Have the kids (and adults) do this from time to time too. Remember, extreme emotions like laughter, say the memory experts, helps lock in an idea, just as crying or sadness does. Better your classroom be filled with laughter than tears!
Keep a variety of props at hand. I've made a light, not damaging ball of paper mache (a balloon works sometimes too), for "tossing" a conversation back and forth; used a hula hoop for the students to "hoop"
one another as they ask a question; fashioned an ice cream cone (or paper towel roll) into an Olympic torch, for "relay" conversations; had kids placed around the room, running up to one another with high-fives, asking, answering a question.
Applause for these actors should always follow and be full of enthusiasm. It ain't easy working the crowd!
Sit on the floor if its clean enough, warm enough or convenient. Take a walk outside and ask "what's this, of everything you see. Make folded fans, for kids to write alphabet letters on, or key words or phrases.
Make clocks (for time telling), out of paper plates and little plastic cocktail forks (with the hole in the handle), attaching them to the paper plate with a notebook type of brad.
Can't find your CD, but words are in the text?
Wing it and make up the music yourself. Most of these "songs" are little more than nursery rhyme type jingles anyway.
Adults not paying attention for reading aloud? Have each student read one word in the sentence or paragraph. They have to pay attention to find their place. Bring construction paper to class, and some yarn, and have students (any age) make a pictionary.
(Fold the construction paper, add inner pages and tie all together with a piece of string or yarn down the middle, or hole punch and string; have plenty of magazines, scissors and paste available.
"Seeing" a word as picture, locks it into memory.
Adults could do this with a three ring notebook. But make them get creative with it, and check it out each time they come to class.
I find personally too, that I have a hidden agenda in teaching English. I want the kids, and adults (as I have mini-sessions with the teachers and principal too), to quickly make the connection between the first word or phrase they learn and a way to communicate that.
In other words, to "get it" that learning English is not just storing words, phrases and principles for an exam or a grade. For me, this works best by making every learning level a question and answer session, and having students practice this two by two, or two plus two plus two!(as in a relay).
It's just magical when people realize they can actually communicate!
My second "agenda" is that I personally want to understand what my students are saying, and I want them to speak English as free from the accent of their own language as possible. In my classes, that can't get pretty silly. Singing a "La, la, la, la," ditty helps students see (and feel) where the tongue goes for an "l."
Sticking my tongue out to try to touch my nose (of course I can't neither having a long tongue nor a long nose)or pushing my finger away from my mouth with my tongue (clean hands, please), helps students see what happens when they say "th" (the, their, thirsty,
Thursday) correctly.
If a student is stuck for an answer when I call on them, I don't put them on the spot, but say, rather:
"Let's all say it together," then go back to that student and say the word or phrase with him or her. |
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I really try hard too, not to teach to a "class" or "group" but to the individual. Every live performer knows not, these days to say, "hello all you people in radio-land (or in the television audience),or to talk to a "whole" conference audience.
We don't listen, nor are we engaged with a teacher, speaker, performer, as a "group," but as individuals.
My final "secret agenda" has to do with reading, because I've both loved to read since a child, and found my study of two other languages escalated when I tried to read: newspapers, children's books, even poetry in those languages.
So, I spend a lot of time in my classes just dealing with the beauty and amazing sounds of words. "Look at me," was introduced by writing "look" on the board, and turning the oo's into silly eyes!
What I mean here, is stay on your tippy toes, and like great performers, read your audience. And gesture, gesture, gesture! We can learn a lot from cultures which use their hands a lot, and animated facial expressions.
Your students are the reason you there. If you've checked out your own "hidden agenda," and know what two or three things are really important to you for the student to learn, you'll improvise dozens a ways to accomplish that. Relax too, and enjoy the show. If you improvise, your students will too. |
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