Or they can use infinitive structures to analyze a character’s motivations, e.g., “Maybe she wants to escape.”Ī useful model for guiding a drama-into-grammar activity is the experiential learning cycle developed by David Kolb (1984).Ī lesson starts with an experience of the script. “He might have hidden the body in the basement. For example, students can use modal perfect structures to speculate about a plot point. In addition to providing a means for embodying target structures, the characters and plot of a drama can be used as content for meaningful grammar practice. They become children arguing with their parents, a kitchen worker standing up to the head chef, or a police officer interrogating a suspect. Students can take parts and read or perform, and in doing so experience a conversation among culturally situated speakers who have emotions and objectives. To know a language is to know the rules not just for grammar patterns but also for social conventions.ĭialog in a play or sketch is useful for learners because it embodies these relationships. Interestingly, it is when these two are combined that a learner can feel they have achieved competence in the target language. These might involve ambition, power, love, or fear among others. It relies on grammar to get information across, but it also layers on the emotions, attitudes, intentions and implicit messages that exist in human social behavior. A play, sketch or improv activity tends to embrace the messiness of human connections (and misconnections). Theater, on the other hand, tends to feature the opposite.
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