The Magic of My Drama

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The Magic of Drama is a complete drama course in one book. The Magic of Drama is a reproducible
integrated oral skills textbook intended to be used by high school and college ESL students at the
high intermediate to advanced levels. As a main or supplementary text, it can be used in a variety
of classes, including: speaking and listening; oral communication skills for international teaching
assistants; public speaking, drama; lm or literature; any class in which drama, lm, or literature
is used as a medium for learning.
The Magic of Drama uses movies, plays, songs, news, short stories,
poetry, proverbs, props and pictures as resources for: activities,
discussions, debates, interviews, impromptu speaking, improvisa-
tions, original dramas, video-taped performances, skills, uency,
thinking on your feet, clear pronunciation, vocabulary develop-
ment, listening comprehension, grammatical accuracy and mak-
ing presentations.
After engaging in the activities in this text, students are more
condent and successful communicators who look forward to the
next opportunity to converse, present and perform.
For a complete list of units included in the Magic of Drama, view the Table of Contents on Page 3 of this document.
Intermediate to Advanced
Suitable for high school to adult levels
240 pages
The Magic of Drama:
An Oral Performance Activity Book
The Magic of Drama
an oral performance activity book
Alexis Gerard Finger
i
PREFACE: To the Instructor
To the Student
UNIT ONE: Getting Acquainted, Getting into
Character and Getting Started
Coming Attractions: Goals and Activities of the Unit
Chapter One: Getting Acquainted - SAMPLE CHAPTER
Preview: Goals of the Activities
Warm-up: Relaxation and Breathing Exercises
Impromptu Activity: Getting Acquainted and Celebrity Personas
Taking It Further: A Celebrity Discussion
Chapter Two: Using Idiomatic Lines of Dialogue
Warm-up: Using Non-Verbal Starters
Impromptu Activity: Using Lines of Dialogue Containing Idioms
to Stimulate Conversation
Taking It Further: Creating and Using Your Own List of Idioms for
Conversation
Chapter Three: Read My Lips
Warm-up: How Many Sounds?
Impromptu Activity: Read my Lips
Taking It Further: Creating Exercises for Problem Sounds
Chapter Four: Two Sides to Every Story
Warm-up: One-Word Monologues
Improvisation Activity: Two Sides to Every Story
Taking It Further: Pair Discussion with Observers
Major Performance: Lets Debate!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ii
UNIT TWO: Exploring the Elements of Drama and
a Variety of Stimuli
Chapter Five: Discovering the Recipe for Drama
Warm-up: Look at me
Improvisation Activity: The Apology
Taking It Further: Improvisations with Elements of Drama
Chapter Six: Creating Character Improvisations
Warm-up: Mirroring
Improvisation Activity: Creating Character Improvisations
Taking It Further: Exchanging Characters
Chapter Seven: Starting with the Setting
Warm-up: Sense Descriptions
Improvisation Activity: Starting with the Setting
Taking It Further: Three-Character Improvisations
Chapter Eight: Playing with Props
Warm-up: Chain Improvisation
Improvisation Activity: Playing with Props
Taking It Further: Exchanging Props and Creating Scenes
Chapter Nine: Expressing Emotions
Warm-up: Hand Squeeze
Improvisation Activity: Expressing Emotions
Taking It Further: Creating and Performing Written Scenes Using
the Elements of Drama
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Chapter Ten: Portraying Pictures
Warm-up: Tongue Twisters
Improvisation Activity: Portraying Pictures
the Pictures as a Springboard
Chapter Eleven: Song Improvisations
Warm-up: North American Singers Naming Contest
Improvisation Activity: Song Improvisations
the Songs for Inspiration
Chapter Twelve: Stories Based on Proverbs
Warm-up: Mouthing and Miming Proverbs
Improvisation Activity: Creating Stories Based on Proverbs
Taking It Further: Using Childrens Fairy Tales or Folk Stories
for a Live Performance or a Puppet Show
Chapter Thirteen: Finding Drama in the News
Warm-up: Mystery People in the News
Improvisation Activity: Finding Drama in the News
Taking It Further: Exchanging News Events and Creating
Different Stories
Major Performance: A Morning or Evening News and
Entertainment Show
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iv
UNIT THREE: Using Literature and the Mass Media
and Presenting Your Own Creations
Chapter Fourteen: Readers' Theatre
Warm-up: Similes and Metaphors
Improvisation Activity: Using Poetry and Monologues
Taking It Further: Creating and Presenting Original Audition/Contest
Monologues: Cats, Chorus Line, and Queen/King for
a Day
Chapter Fifteen: The Working World
Warm-up: Dictation of Monologue
Improvisation Activity: Introductions, Interviews and Scenes
Taking It Further: Professional Profiles or Career Fair
Chapter Sixteen: Starring in the Movies
Warm-up: Movie Charades
Improvisation Activity: Starring in the Movies
Taking it Further: Creating an Advertisement
Chapter Seventeen: Playing on Broadway
Warm-up: Famous Plays Contest
Improvisation Activity: Characters on Broadway
Beyond Improvisation
Activity: Playing on Broadway
Taking It Further: Creating Hypothetical Situations
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v
Chapter Eighteen: Bringing O. Henry to Broadway
Warm-up: Circle Story
Improvisation Activity: Bringing O. Henry to Broadway
Taking It Further: Performing for Another Audience
Chapter Nineteen: Our Own Version of The Bridge of
San Luis Rey
Warm-up: Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die?
Improvisation Activity: The Bridge of San Luis Rey Revised
Taking It Further: The Play on Video
Chapter Twenty: All the World's a Stage
Warm-up: "What Do We Know about Shakespeare?"
Improvisation Activity: Presentation of Shakespeares Monologue
and More!
Taking It Further: Interviewing Different Age Groups about
the Stages of Life
Final Major Original Presentation of All the Worlds
Performance: a Stage
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1
U N I T O N E
G e t t i n g A c q u a i n t e d , G e t t i n g I n t o C h a r a c t e r
a n d G e t t i n g S t a r t e d
The activities in Unit One should prepare you for just about everything that you
will encounter in this textbook, with the exception of a few surprises. In order to
fully enjoy and benefit from the exercises, you need to feel comfortable about
the place where you are and the people with whom you are working. Therefore,
you will have opportunities to get to know each other and find out what you
have in common.
You will have a chance to start thinking as someone else and pretending to be
that person. When you are pretending to be someone else, you are often likely
to try doing things that you might not do yourself.
So, enjoy getting to know each other and enjoy pretending. It is fun, creative
and a great way to further develop your language skills.
In this unit, you will also have a chance to focus on two problems that often
interfere with effective communication: nervousness and unclear speech. To
help you reduce the impact of these two common problems, you will learn two
relaxation exercises and review the basics of articulation.
In addition, you will have many chances to practice conversing, discussing and
debating topics in a variety of situations, usually with relatively little time for
thought or preparation. With this kind of experience you will develop the ability
and confidence to initiate conversation, to respond more quickly and intelligently,
and to "carry the ball."
articulation: sound production
carry the ball: take the most
important or difficult
part in something
2
C H A P T E R O N E
G E T T I N G A C Q U A I N T E D
The warm-up activity consists of two relaxation exercises that you can use to
help reduce the negative affects of any anxiety-producing situation, such as a
presentation, a job interview or an exam. By doing these exercises, you will
divert your attention from whatever is making you nervous. And as you begin to
focus on something that is neutral, like your body and your breathing, you begin
to reduce your excess energy and slow down the body processes that are
responsible for your racing heart, sweaty palms and dry mouth.
After you have completed the warm-ups and you are somewhat relaxed, you will
have a chance to get to know and enjoy your classmates by interviewing them
and participating in a guessing game.
Finally, you will pretend to be a famous person and get into the habit of putting
yourself in someone elses shoes and start thinking as that person does.
This is an acting technique which is a very useful way for a language learner to
experiment with verbal and non-verbal language. Also, it can help make you
more aware of how other people might think and feel in different situations.
in someone elses shoes: in someones place or situation
3
Warm-Up: Relaxation and Breathing Exercises
With your instructor, do the following:
A. Relaxation
1. Do this exercise standing or sitting.
2. Go through all the parts of your body and tell each part to relax.
Start with your toes and work through your body parts to finish with
your hair, or start with your hair and work through to your toes.
When you have finished, tense your entire body all at once. Hold it
for 10 seconds. Then relax your entire body all at once! Repeat.
B. Breathing
1. Stand up, put your hands on your diaphragm and take a deep
breath. You should feel your diaphragm expand. Make sure that
your shoulders do not rise significantly.
2. Take another deep breath (through your nose) and start counting
out loud. See how far you can count on the same breath.
3. Repeat the procedure and see if you can count even further than
you did before.
4. Relax a minute and then try again using the alphabet. Try to
increase your breath control each time you do this exercise.
If you are in a situation that prevents you from speaking aloud or making any
noise, do the following variation: instead of counting aloud, release the air very
slowly from between closed lips. Focus your attention on the stream of air that
you are releasing. You can count silently to see how long you can control one
breath of air.
You should practice one or both of these exercises on a regular basis. They are
both a great way to start a class.
diaphragm: muscles below your
rib cage
breath control: length of time you
can hold your breath
LUNGS
DIAPHRAGM
4
Impromptu Activity: Getting Acquainted and Celebrity Personas
A. Getting Acquainted
1. Write down your responses to the questions below in the MY
ANSWER box.
2. Walk around the room, interviewing as many people as you can
within the time limit. Ask your classmates their names and the same
questions that you answered. If their answers are the same or very
similar to yours, write down their names in the space provided.
B. Sharing
After the interviewing is completed, each of you briefly tells the class the names
of the people with whom you have the most and the least in common.
QUESTION
1. What country would you like to
visit during your next vacation?
MY ANSWER
Classmates with
Similar Answers
2. What is your favorite color?
3. What is your worst subject in
school?
4. What is your favorite movie?
5. What do you need most to
make you happy?
6. What is one critical problem that our
society should be addressing today?
5
C. Celebrity Personas
1. Make a list of famous people with whom you are familiar and whom
you think your classmates would know. Choose one celebrity that
you would enjoy pretending to be, and do not tell anybody whom
you chose. Consider what makes this person unique: his/her voice,
manner of speaking, walking, laughing, smiling, etc. You might
want to write down some of your thoughts.
2. Get into groups of three or four.
3. The members of your group ask one person at a time yes/no
questions to discover his/her celebrity identity. The interviewee tries
to answer the questions both verbally and non-verbally as the
celebrity would respond. If, after a few rounds of questions, nobody
can guess the identity, the interviewee should give helpful hints.
4. Individually, write answers under "My Celebritys Answer" in the box
on chart below. Answer them as you think your celebrity would
answer them.
QUESTION
1. What country would you like to
visit during your next vacation?
MY CELEBRITYS ANSWER
Celebrities with
Similar Answers
2. What is your favorite color?
3. What is your worst subject in
school?
4. What is your favorite movie?
5. What do you need most to
make you happy?
6. What is one critical problem that our
society should be addressing today?
helpful hints: clues
6
D. Interviewing "In Character"
1. Assume the persona of your celebrity and walk around the room
asking each other the same questions you asked before. Try to ask
and answer the questions in character, which means walk, talk,
gesture and smile or frown as you think your celebrity would.
2. In the space provided under "Celebrities with Similar Answers" in the
box on page 5, write down the names of the characters with whom
your character has something in common.
E. Sharing
1. Tell the class the name of your celebrity and the names of those
celebrities with whom yours has something in common.
2. Tell the class the problems you had in communicating. Did anybody
have difficulty understanding you? When? What was the problem?
Did it have to do with your volume, pronunciation, grammar, eye
contact or something else?
3. Talk about how you felt pretending to be this character.
Taking It Further: A "Celebrity" Discussion
In pairs or in groups, make a list of five topics in the news. Choose one topic to
discuss. Assume the personas of the celebrities you were before and discuss
the topic as you think your celebrities would do it.
Example: Your group consists of Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, Madonna
and Queen Elizabeth talking about a movie that just opened.
persona: personality
Copyright
2000 FULL BLAST Productions

IN CANADA IN THE UNITED STATES
FB Productions FB Productions
Box 408 Box 1297
Virgil, Ontario Lewiston, New York 14092-8297
L0S 1T0
Photocopying rights are granted to the individual teacher
or the single school purchasing the materials. A copy of
this book purchased by an individual teacher is that
teacher's property and can travel with her from school to
school. A single copy of this book may not be kept at a
resource center and used to service several schools. To be
entitled to copy this book, a teacher in the school or the
school itself must own an original copy.
Please respect copyright.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Finger, Alexis
The magic of drama: an oral performance activity book
ISBN 1-895451-34-5
1. English Language -- Textbooks for second language
learners.* 2. Drama in education. 3. English language --
Spoken English -- Problems, exercises, etc. I. Title.
PE1128.F563 1999 428.34 C00-930059-7
Printed in Canada.
ISBN 1-895451-34-5

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