Specialist in Drama in English Language L anguage Teaching
Acting Skills for Language Teachers to Develop Classroom Presence Why are perform performanc ance e skills skills releva relevant nt to us? Proba Probably bly more than than any any time, time, our teaching is constantly being assessed either formally or informally (tutorials, course evalua evaluatio tion n feedba feedback, ck, observ observati ations ons etc). etc). Far Far more more import important antly ly though though,, certa certain in ‘performance skills’ are relevant because most of us genuinely want our learners to share our passion passion for language and communication. communication. We genuinely want want to see our learners learners make progress progress and be successful. successful. So, certain certain ‘performanc ‘performance e skills’ are relevant because they help:
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make our lessons enjoyable – give our students a positive attitude towards the subject subject and will will hopefully hopefully make the learnin learning g experien experience ce more memorable memorable because anxiety is low we want to be viewed positively by our learners ie. we want them to like us – a natural, human instinct which also usually increases motivation and again will promote a more positive attitude towards English us develop strong relationships with our learners
What skills do actors have that teachers can learn from in order to make a lesson a memorable and enjoyable enjoyable experience? experience? Just as actors have stage stage or screen presence, presence, we as teachers can develop classroom presence by transforming certain skills for the classroom:
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Classroom presence. Take a ‘confidence’ ‘confidence ’ playing card. Ace is high. Walk up to the chair, sit down and introduce yourself to the group according to your number. number. Can every everyone one guess guess which which number number you had? had? What behaviou behavioural ral aspects determined determined your choice? In your opinion, which of these these demonstrate high confidence and which demonstrate low? • •
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a broad smile relatively slow speech a long ‘er’ (compared to a short one!) keeping your head still when you speak eye contact any others?
Eye Contact How important is making genuine eye contact contact with your students? How long should should you make eye contact with with someone without making making them feel uncomfortable? uncomfortable? How do you share eye contact? On stage, it is essential essential you make genuine genuine eye contact with your co-actors in order to provoke a spontaneous, natural reaction as well as to convin convince ce your audienc audience e that that the actor actor is “in “in the moment moment”. ”. Occasi Occasiona onally lly,, it is necessary for an actor to speak directly to the audience, as with Shakespeare’s soliloquies. With a small audience, audience, making making genuine eye contact contact does not pose too much of a problem but with large audiences it is more difficult, but nevertheless still possible to make people feel seen. seen. Some actors divide up the auditorium and and move from one section to another another giving the impression impression of making making eye contact. Think of
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something you could quite easily talk about continuously for a minute and play The Eye Contact Game! Other acting skills that can be transferred to the classroom …
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spontaneity and readiness readiness to improvise e.g when a lesson lags or a student become becomes s dis disrup ruptiv tive e (acto (actors rs sense sense from from audie audience nce react reaction ion and and adjus adjust). t). Sometimes in this situation, we need to go up a gear or sometimes just leave an activity and move onto onto something else. What is certainly certainly true is that we need to stay stay awake! awake! We need to be tuned tuned into our student students s and have our sensors turned on all the time. time. We need to be experts in ‘reading ‘reading a situation’ and responding appropriately appropriately setting setting up anticipa anticipation/ tion/intr intrigue/ igue/arou arouse se curiosity curiosity e.g putting putting a visual visual aid or piece of realia (a paper bag of something) at the front of the class at the beginning beginning of the lesson lesson which you’re you’re going going to use later later on. Sometimes Sometimes if appropriate, let each classroom activity be revealed one at a time to create suspense and surprise. conveyin conveying g enthusia enthusiasm sm and energy energy (being (being “fresh”) “fresh”) – David David Raven’s Raven’s 4,575 performances performances in The Mousetrap. Mousetrap. Teaching the present present perfect as as though it’s for the first rather rather than millionth millionth time. Smile, Smile, be wide-eye wide-eyed d and pretend you’re enjoying yourself! yourself! It’s amazing how easily easily a lacklustre lacklustre teacher devoid of energy can send a class class to sleep. Stay sharp and on the ball ball – even after a heavy night – you have to sometimes dig deep to find the energy creative and spontaneous use of gesture and facial expression. Just before I go into class, especially first thing in the morning, I briefly (and secretly) go through the following routine: •
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Give yourself a vigorous face massage concentrating on your forehead, cheeks and jaw Open your face as widely as possible stretching eyes, cheeks, mouth and chin. Now scrunch scrunch up your face as tightly as possible. Repeat Move your eyebrows eyebrows up and down. down. Try to move one at a time Break into a big grin with wide eyes Now tighten your eyes
Work in small groups. groups. Perform Perform a couple of the following following facial facial expression expressions s for your partner to guess. guess. Can you feel the different different muscles in your face face being used to create these expressions?
frown gawp gaze glare grimace leer pout scowl smirk sneer wince mouth shrug
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creative use of movement and space. If it’s difficult to reconfigure the layout of your classroom, what can the teacher do to vary his/her movement and position? In theatre, determining determining where an actor actor moves or stands on stage stage is called blocking. blocking. Blocki Blocking ng is vital vital in esta establi blishi shing ng relatio relations nship hips s betwe between en characters, maintaining audience interest and controlling audience attention. In the same way, teachers should vary the way space is used in the classroom and and how differ different ent positi positioni oning ng can can help help maint maintai ain n intere interest st and and motiva motivatio tion n during the lesson.
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Lots of us do this already but sometimes, we need to consciously decide to adjust our position to vary classroom dynamics
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teaching from the back of the classroom making the back-row students the front-row students and vice versa kneeling or crouching down between desks crouching down at the front of the room sitting behind a vacant desk amongst the students sitting on the teacher’s desk sitting on a student’s desk sitting on the floor leaning on a student’s desk entering his/her personal space weaving slowly between the students’ desks standing in the doorway standing on a chair or table
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creative use of voice
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“Teachers continue to take their most precious asset, their voice, for granted” “There is virtually no systematic training training for teachers in the effective use of the voice” Alan Maley, The Language Teacher’s Voice (2000) •
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Do you agree agree with with the above? above? Is it true true for you? you? Does it it reflect reflect your your own training? Do you use your voice to its full potential in your teaching ie. your full vocal range? How?
Practising correct correct diaphragmatic breathing breathing is a good place to start. Try the following: Stand with your feet shoulder-width shoulder-width apart apart and stand tall. Place your hands hands on your lower lower ribs (the diaphragm diaphragm is located located underneat underneath). h). Breathe Breathe in deeply through through your nose for four seconds, hold for four, then breathe out through your mouth for four (if you are relaxed, your abdomen should expand)! As above, but say the days of the week, the months of the year, then the alphabet – all in one breath. Now in small groups, groups, choose one of the quotes below. Try modifying your voice while while saying them. You can modify your your voice by … • • • • • • •
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clenching your teeth putting your tongue behind your top teeth curling your tongue back using a falsetto voice to sound like a stereotypical old person contracting the back of your throat to give yourself a husky voice putting your tongue behind your bottom teeth speak ‘through your nose’ as though you have a bad cold (aim to make your nose vibrate as you speak). put your chin down (no strain in the throat) and speak in a deep, booming, authoritative voice Mark Almond, email:
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slightly tightening the back of your throat and speaking in a breathy stage whisper (think Marilyn Monroe)
… and add an emotion (tone ( tone): ):
irritable
suspicious
outraged
vicious bemused
… and vary the pace, pace, pitch and volume. volume. dramatic effect!
lustful
weary
shy
loving
You can use pauses too for even more
So what effect did you achieve achieve with each? each? How might these ideas ideas be used in class? class? This is just to demonstrate that we don’t realise how versatile our voices can be and how this versatility can be put to effective use in our teaching •
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Curs Curse e the the blas blaste ted, d, jell jellyy-bo bone ned d swin swines es,, the the slim slimy, y, the the bell bellyy-wr wrig iggl glin ing g invertebrates, the miserable sodding rutters, the flaming sods, the snivelling, dribbling, dithering, palsied, pulse-less pulse-less lot that make up England today Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal You do not have to say anything. anything. But it may harm your defence defence if you do not ment mentio ion n when when ques questi tion oned ed some someth thin ing g whic which h you you late laterr rely rely on in cour court. t. Anything you do say may be given in evidence You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner. manner. You are a modest modest little person with with much to be modest about I am glad thou canst speak no better English, for if thou couldst, thou wouldst find me such a plain king that thou wouldst think I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say 'I love you’. Henry V appropriate appropriate use of humour
When or why might you use these theatrics?
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pretending to faint pretending to have laryngitis feigning a heart attack blame the board pen an over-the-top wipe of your brow snoring quacking and popping pretending to get something out of your eye or wiping something off your clothes
Recommended Reading Almond, M (2006), Teachers Acting Up – From Stage Presence to Classroom Presence,, English Teaching Professional, Issue 45 Presence
Mark Almond, email:
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Almond, M (2005), Teaching English with Drama, Drama , Modern English Publishing, ISBN 1904549-12-8 Berry, C (1994), Your Voice And How To Use It (Virgin) It (Virgin) Maley, A (2000), The Language Teacher’s Voice, Voice , Macmillan Heinemann Tauber, R & Mester, C (1994), Acting Lessons For Teachers , Praeger
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