Sunday, November 3, 2013

Improv Games for the ESL Classroom

This past Saturday, I attended the CFTESOL mini-conference at my homebase, the Center for Multilingual Multicultural Studies. It was short, sweet, and satisfying. Not only was I able to see familiar faces from my graduate program who are also CFTESOL members, but I was also able to learn from some fantastic presenters, including one who I had never met in person but only before on Skype while she was living in China as an English Language Fellow!

As per request, I am including a brief overview of my presentation "Improv Games for the ESL Classroom" which demonstrated techniques I integrate in my classroom utilizing the philosophy and affective barrier-lowering benefits of improv comedy warm-ups.

Inspired by the 2009 article by Berk and Treiber "Whose
Classroom is it Anyway" I decided to create a presentation with the following:
  • Pass the Clap
    • An easy way to establish attentive listening, trust, and spontaneity
      • Rules:
      • Gather in a circle and pass the clap from person to person.
      • Each person must face the other person and clap simultaneously.
      • You must establish eye contact!
    • Notes:
      • The clap can be reversed.
      • It can also be sped up.
  • Name Game
    • A way to learn names and establish trust and acceptance
    • Everyone says their name and a gesture, and you pass it from person to person.
    • Rules:
      • Every student must come up with a gesture to go along with their name.
      • As you go around the circle, a student says their name and gesture and all students repeat it chorally. 
      • Finally, you pass the names from person to person.
  • Zip Zap Zop
    • An improv staple that establishes attentive listening and can incorporate classification vocabulary into a game
    • Rules:
      • One person says “zip”, next person says “zap”, last person says “zop”.
      • You must establish eye contact!
    • Notes:
      • A variation can be creating a group of three different things which belong in a category.
      • Ex: If the category were animals, one person may say cow, another says chicken, the last says pig.
  • Patterns
    • Another classification game that requires each student to choose and memorize vocabulary from a given category
    • Rules:
      • Students stand in a circle.
      • The teacher picks a category under which students must choose a component of that category, e.g. “movies” and a student says Empire Strikes Back.
      • To choose the order of the pattern, have each student raise their hand, then point to another student who will go next in the circle.
      • Works similar to the Name Game in that you pass the movie to the next person
    • Notes: 
      • Can have multiple patterns moving through a circle at one time
      • Can adapt to use any vocabulary you are currently studying
  • "Yes, and..." Stories
    • The most classic demonstration of the “Golden Rule” of acceptance combined with storytelling for the ESL classroom.
    • Rules:
      • Students stand in a circle and the story moves around it.
      • The teacher provides a topic and begins the story.
      • The next person must say “Yes, and…” and add another sentence to the story.
      • Example: 
      • The teacher says, “My fifth birthday was my most memorable childhood moment.”
      • The student says, “Yes, and I had the most delicious birthday cake ever.”
      • You must say “Yes, and…” No buts!
    • Notes:
      • Can be completed as a whole class, as a group, or in partners
      • Can also use one word 
      • Can also be used in writing
I have moved into improv scene work with some of my classes and hope to continue the presentations at SSTESOL this May.