Drama Techniques for
the EFL Class
Workshop by:
Dr Maria Papapetrou Miller
Nicosia 20/11/2013
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Drama Techniques for the English Classroom is the
title of the In Service training activity which I
had the pleasure to attend in the summer 2011,
from the 18th to the 29th of July.
It was an activity proposed in the ComeniusGrundtvig Training Database and financed by
the European Union.
Classified as a type of “Training activity aimed at
participants receiving”, it took place in Exeter,
capital of Devon, at the International Projects
Centre.
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Photo of the Centre
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Why did I choose this precise activity?
By choosing “Drama techniques for the English
classroom” I aimed at contenting my desire to
search for new ways of motivating my students
and rendering my lessons more creative.
I really didn’t know what to expect, but I admit
that I left Exeter absolutely fascinated.
Our instructor, Richard Clark, an actor and a
teacher was a very skilled, pleasant person with
a great sense of humour.
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Why did I choose this precise activity?
For over ten days he introduced us from one
activity to another in a way that inspired passion
and made time pass in the most interesting,
creative and educational way possible, leaving
us all, I believe, totally content.
My wish is to share with you this delightful
experience, as you are certainly here because
we have similar targets.
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The workshop will be divided in three parts:
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First, a very short theoretical part,
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Secondly, a longer practical part in which all of
us will be invited to participate in order to
animate the techniques I shall introduce to you.
Thirdly, whenever appropriate, I intend to show
you videos of the works in Exeter, which will
illustrate the practice.
Only this way can you or anyone who did not
participate in the eleven workshops imagine how
far dramatization can lead us.
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The major aims of today’s workshop are:
Exploring the uses of drama as a classroom tool;
demonstrating the various skills learned through
drama;
motivating and building confidence in students;
exploring social problems through drama;
increasing
the
participant’s
fluency
and
confidence in spoken English;
Methodologically speaking it is a practical,
experiential workshop with emphasis on active
participation.
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Nowadays we all have rather large groups of
students. We are expected to keep them all
preoccupied and ensure that each one of them
gets actively involved in each of the activities
carried out.
These would be:
 drama
activities aiming at opening the
imagination and developing spontaneity,
 or practical techniques such as storytelling, role
play,
simulation,
pantomime,
creative
movement and improvisation,
 or even techniques leading to the creation of a
piece of theatre or a silent movie.
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Why use drama techniques or theatre games in
our teaching? (18 reasons)
1. Theatre games are a simple, cost-effective way
of accomplishing a wide variety of educational
goals, not just in theatre class…
2. The games are easy to integrate with content
from other school subjects or content area.
3. The drama game or theatre game is a versatile
teaching tool that reaches multiple learning
styles, content areas, age groups, and levels of
language and experience….
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
Why use drama techniques or theatre games in
our teaching? (18 reasons)
4. Drama education is a powerful teaching and
learning tool with profound positive effects on a
student’s cognitive, social, emotional, and
physical development.
5. The benefits of regular theatre arts instruction
spill over into all school subjects and everyday
life.
6. Creative drama is sound pedagogy that reaches
students of multiple intelligences and different
learning styles.
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
Why use drama techniques or theatre games in
our teaching? (18 reasons)
7. It is a multi-sensory mode of learning that
engages mind, body, senses, and emotions to
create personal connections to the material that
improve comprehension and retention.
8. Drama games and theatre games are an ideal
strategy for differentiated instruction.
9. Students with language difficulties, learning
disabilities, or physical or mental disabilities can
shine in drama, whereas they often struggle in
traditional schooling.
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
Why use drama techniques or theatre games in
our teaching? (18 reasons)
10. Gifted, talented, and highly motivated
students who need to be challenged can
demonstrate their abilities and synthesize
learning in drama. From the shy to the
confident, from the weak to the linguistically
gifted, and from the inexperienced to the
advance student, drama games include all levels
of differentiated abilities in a positive successful
creative experience.
11. Drama games and theatre games transform
the traditional teacher-student relationship from
one of authority-recipient to one of shared
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experience of discovery and creative exploration.

Why use drama techniques or theatre games in
our teaching? (18 reasons)
12. It is easy to use drama as a teaching tool in
any school subject.
13. It provides a practical, effective, and
empowering
approach
to
teaching
that
transforms the learning environment.
14. Each sense that is engaged provides an
opportunity to remember the information and
the experience.
15. Memory can be triggered from what the
students saw, smelled, heard, touched, or tasted
during the game – even if it was pretend or
simulated.
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
Why use drama techniques or theatre games in
our teaching? (18 reasons)
16. Each sensory input provides another
opportunity to learn and retain the information.
17. The emotional involvement in drama activities
promotes a deepening of understanding and
improved retention of the information.
18. The emotional and energetic nature of drama
provides a personal connection to the material –
one that embeds it more firmly in the mind.
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Our program in Exeter comprised, among others,
drama techniques which could be classified as
follows:
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Energising,
Concentration,
Improvisation/Storytelling,
Group Awareness and Sensitivity,
Building Theatre/Drama/Directing,
Songs/Action Games.
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I’ve made choices from each pack of drama
techniques and I am going to propose to you to
ACT OUT as many as the time allotted to us will
allow. The majority of them will be short.
However, I would like to introduce to you a few
longer activities, ones that require more time
(from a lesson to a term).
You will find these in the Supplementary Materials
pack, together with a Bibliography.
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DRAMA PHILOSOPHY
THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND EACH
ACTIVITY IS:
NOT TO PRETEND, but
TO BELIEVE IN YOUR
ACTING
VIDEO 5428
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ENERGISING ACTIVITIES
Budge: Five in a group - four stand on the
points of a square and one in the middle –
object of game is the middle person to get onto
one of the points.
Point players can change places – but they must send
a visual or aural message to one of the others before
they move – otherwise everyone just runs to the
same place making it easy for the guy in the middle!
Try to do it fast! It’s quite exhausting so don’t let it go
on too long!
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ENERGISING ACTIVITIES
Point Anyone who has….: Sit on chairs in a
circle, one standing in the middle.
The person in the centre calls out “or Anyone who
likes… or Anyone who has…” (e.g. likes chocolate,
has black underwear on, has two brothers/sisters,
speaks three languages etc.). Those people then
change seats… but you cannot return to a chair you
have just vacated.
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ENERGISING ACTIVITIES
You know Mrs Jones: An action game –like “I
sent my love to market and she bought…”, with
each student adding to the list and telling the
rest the contents of the basket.
Here though it is all action:
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Do you know Mrs Jones?
Yes
She’s dead
How did she die?
Like this – then show an action plus you add all the
actions that have gone before…
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ENERGISING ACTIVITIES
Point Anyone who has….: Sit on chairs in a
circle, one standing in the middle.
The person in the centre calls out “or Anyone who
likes… or Anyone who has…” (e.g. likes chocolate,
has black underwear on, has two brothers/sisters,
speaks three languages etc.).
Those people then change seats… but you cannot
return to a chair you have just vacated.
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ENERGISING ACTIVITIES
The Wizz Hey!: An “Energising” activity for the
younger classes is “Wizz Hey!”. It is meant to be
a fast game to get a class up and in action. It
has to be taught in sections and goes as follows:
Demonstrate a round of wizz and practise before going on to:
 Demonstrate a Hey and practise wizz and hey before going on
to:
 Demonstrate a ping and practise a round of pinging before
going on to:
 Play a round of wizz, Hey, Ping, and then explain the rules:
1. You cannot ping anyone on either side of you – that is a wizz
2. You cannot ping a ping – that is a hey
3. You are out if you go wrong, or hesitate but you cannot leave
or sit down
 Play it as fast as you dare!
VIDEO 243
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CONCENTRATION ACTIVITIES
Hello, Goodbye: You pass the word Hello round
the circle one way and Goodbye the other – but
get Hello going well before you introduce
Goodbye.
Don’t forget to get the students to turn to the
person they are speaking to – it helps to alert
their neighbour to the word coming round. If
you think that all sounds too easy try adding
extra Hellos in and then extra Goodbyes!
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CONCENTRATION ACTIVITIES
Japanese swords: A real drama activity that sets
up tension, concentration and, best of all,
anticipation. You need to sell the idea of your
town recruiting some expert Samurai warriors –
or adapt this if the idea of being warrior like is
offensive.
First teach the “style” i.e. the peripheral vision, the need for a
good sense of hearing, and then the “action” i.e. how to attack
the barbarians. Then let everyone practise a bit. Explain that
the people who are last back into the attack position will be out
and they will have the opportunity to assess the rest and
decide who is next to be out!
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CONCENTRATION ACTIVITIES
Peter Brook’s Game for Actors: You need four
players. Only one is “on”.
One person asks him simple Maths questions.
One person asks him simple personal questions
One person does simple movement for him to
copy…
The player who is “on” MUST answer all the questions, and
keep the movement going all at the same time! Don’t stop, be
insistent, don’t be polite, keep your questions out in front, and
don’t wait for anybody else. The object of the game is for the
“actor” to handle all the questions and the movement at the
same time. The object is to be able to multi-task!!!
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
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The Sand and Castle Game: Four players –each
player in the game is to play an “Attitude”
towards the other three players – (a different
attitude for each) and not tell of the decisions
they have made.
They then carry out an improvisation, e.g.
building a sand castle – and play out their
attitudes. We initially played with the three
attitudes, like Creative, Useless i.e. slow and
irritating. i.e. Gets everything wrong – another
attitude might be Bossy!
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Practice with Document « Attitudes »
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
Presents: It is carried out in pairs.
A. mimes giving a present to B. It can be as
large or as small as they like. B MUST tell A
what the present is - this seems the wrong way
round but it's not!
The game is the more interesting if the present
isn't straightforward. Maybe B. doesn't want it,
or accuses A. of having stolen it, or maybe
thinks A. has a personal grudge against them or
whatever. What the game usually proves is that
you don't have to think about what to say - the
dialogue writes itself.
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
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The Good News and the Bad News:
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Each person in the circle contributes one line of
a story – but alternately each starts person
should start with either.
The good News is…. or The Bad news is… – The
idea is NOT to cancel out what the person before
you has just said – but rather to continue the
story a little – not always as easy as it sounds.
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
True or false: Each member of the group tells
the rest about something that has happened to
them – but is it true or false? Let the group
decide!
Picture Stories: Get your students to make a still
picture with no dialogue – adding one person at
a time – This could be done in small or large
groups. Get one student to imagine what is
happening in the picture and “tell the story”.
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
A variation might be: In small groups. Each
group makes up a still picture of an “incident”.
They then show this picture to another group
who must act out the circumstances that led up
to the still picture, their improvisation stops
when they reach the picture moment. This time
they should use dialogue.
Scenes at school to develop: Students caught
cheating; using a mobile; bullying; old lady on a
bus – student doesn’t give up his/her seat;
students set on a fire alarm; smoking; breaching
the safety rules; stealing; internet porno, etc.
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
Making up a scenario from a Photo: (photos
taken from a source such as Fotosearch website) is stimulating due to the power of the
photos. The success of the activity obviously
depends on the choice of the photo.
This is how it goes: The class are all given the same photo.
Students decide Where/When/Who/Why/How….
They identify (individually or in groups).
They speak up and state the Place, the Time, the Reason.
They take up time to amplify/develop their scene
They present it/act it out.
We are interested in each person’s or group’s previous story
(before the action freezes, BUT also we need a Follow up. They
must provide an ending too.
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
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Making up a scenario from a Photo:
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In our workshop in Exeter our photo was of a group of children
on a bus – they imagine they are one of the children in the
picture and to decide - as a group - what the children are
watching.
Then ask them to take on that person’s emotions and feelings
reflecting what they can see from the window – we arranged
the chairs into the shape of seats on the bus and placed the
‘actors’.
Ask the students for vocabulary words to describe what they
are watching - e.g. disgusting – amazing – horrible etc. Then
ask them to each say a short speech to us as that person
explaining their thoughts.
See File: « Fotosearch »
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
Compound Stimulus – or "Sherlock Holmes" how
to "read" a Character from objects:
You are given a list of objects found in a bag
belonging to BEN. From the list you have to
work out Ben's "back-story" - other lists are
lists made for Doug and Paul.
Groups of students can set up « Committees »…
(see Supplementary Materials)
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IMPROVISATION /STORYTELLING
Illustration: The BOAT
VIDEO 266
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GROUP AWARENESS – SENSITIVITY ACTIVITIES
Building Structures: In TEAMS make Letters,
Numbers, Objects or Buildings (e.g.: Church,
Fountain, Cuckoo Clock, Motor-bike, Helicopter)–
you MUST USE everyone in the group don’t be
afraid to use different levels, lift people, stand
on chairs, lie on the floor etc.
We made a ????
VIDEOs 252-253-254
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GROUP AWARENESS – SENSITIVITY ACTIVITIES
Equi-distant triangles: Keep the space between
the three of you equal at all times keep
moving/adjusting until completed.
Special Place: In pairs – tell your partner about
your "special place" – they then have to tell us
as if the place was theirs – taking on that special
quality you have given it.
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GROUP AWARENESS – SENSITIVITY ACTIVITIES
Passing the bird/Reading a letter: Begin by
passing a crumpled up piece of paper around the
circle telling the class that it is bird that has
fallen out of its nest and cannot fly. Keep talking
about the bird – look its beak is opening perhaps
it's hungry, Its colour, size, the brightness of its
eye, - try to build up belief by building up visual
facts to hang on to. What you are testing is the
students’ belief in the piece of paper becoming,
for the moment, a bird. (i.e. suspending
disbelief).
VIDEO 5427
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GROUP AWARENESS – SENSITIVITY ACTIVITIES
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Passing the bird/Reading a letter:
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A variation on this exercise is to get two students to approach a
bag in the centre of the room –they are bomb disposal experts
and it has been suggested that the bag contains a device.
In the letter exercise the important thing is to "inform" the
audience what information is in the letter e.g. your exam
results, through your body and facial expressions – but don't
OVER inform.
VIDEO 5428
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GROUP AWARENESS – SENSITIVITY ACTIVITIES
Mirror exercises:
1. In a circle everyone copies you. Use simple
actions and do them slowly. Send one person
out –he/she has three guesses to see who the
leader is.
2. Work in pairs swapping leadership between
you without discussion - no one should be able
to tell who is leading at any one time.
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GROUP AWARENESS – SENSITIVITY ACTIVITIES
Park Bench: The first player sits silently on a "bench"
displaying as much about their character as they can
without verbalizing it.
The next player joins him and makes a strong
complimenting character choice. (A complimenting
character may be contrasting or supporting.) The player
coming on should make strong character choices as soon
as they are off their seat.
This means the character should be embodied in their
walk, voice and intent. The two characters interact for
about thirty seconds and the player that was on the
bench first finds a reason to leave. This leaves the second
player on the bench alone for a while. The next player
creates a character and joins the player that is on the
bench. This continues until all in the workshop have done
one or more characters.
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BUILDING THEATRE/DRAMA DIRECTING
1.
Little Red Riding Hood
2.
Synonyms or Alternative Vocabulary
3.
A Christmas Carol
4.
The supermarket shooting
(see Supplementary Materials)
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SONGS/ACTION GAMES
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Lula, lula, lula, lula lay…..
VIDEOs 248-249
(see Supplementary Materials for more songs)
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HOW TO MAKE A SILENT MOVIE
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Choose a play
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Create characters (i.e stereotypes)
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Divide it into scenes and
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In groups (of 5) ACT it OUT
Illustration:
see VIDEOS 270-271,
VIDEOS 5615, 5618
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THANK YOU FOR
COMING!
THAT ’S ALL
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