Improvisation: Party Quirks

Improvisation: Party Quirks

by Naree, Howie, & Alby

Usually Chinese students like acting. If you first act a bit silly, they will soon follow.

1. Play the “YES!” game: Warm up by getting everyone standing in a circle around class with space between each other. Now shout out random things to do. Everyone has to say “YES!” and then do it.
   
   "everyone jump up and down!"
   "YES!"
   *30 students begin jumping*
   
   "everyone act like a chicken!"
   "YES!"
   *arms are flapping and feet are scratching*
   
   "everyone hug your neighbor!"
   "YES!"
   *all students get a hug except the one boy who happened to get stuck with girls on both sides... whoops*
   
   "everyone say NO!"
   "YES!"
   "NO!"
   
   

   Be patient with silence in the beginning. At the end of few rounds (5-10min), calm them down and return them to their seats.

2. Follow up with what did they just do. Did they pre-think things to say? What do you call that? Then introduce the word “improvisation.” (Whose line is it anyways and drama classes). This is why we played the YES game.
   

   (Go over the following after one example perhaps. Do examples when you break the “rules” so they understand why it's important to say YES etc)

   There are only a few rules or tricks of the trade in improvisation. a) always say YES. Go with the flow. “Have a seat please.” “Ok! Oh my gosh! It's broken.” “Oh no! You must be hurt! Are you a doctor?” “YES! I'll fix myself” Saying NO hinders this creativity and funniness. b) help each other. When a fellow actor/actress is stuck, help them out by asking questions that give them a chance to also develop their character. “Hey, weren't you in California last week?” “Uh, yeah! I was making my new film.”c) Ask open ended questions (especially the host) since he/she needs to figure out each guests' quirk. Yes or No will block things too quickly. Give the other person chances to speak and explain him/herself.

3. Begin to introduce the game “Party Quirks.” There is one host (who needs to set up an imaginary house/party space – popcorn, movies, music, etc), a moderator (who says “DING!” when the host subtly guesses correctly... do you like playing basketball? NOT are you shaq? Though this will happen towards the end), and 2-3 guests who have a quirk. Define quirk as someone with an oddity (a bit strange if you will with different characteristics). The host does not know that the guests' quirks. This is his task throughout the game.

4. Provide an example: I had 2 friends assist in this but you could try with more confident/dramatic students (or prep a little bit before with them?). I stepped out of the room since I was host. The two guests asked the class for suggestions on what their quirk should be. Examples include: someone who thinks he's superman, 5 years old, 100 years old, about to die in 10 minutes, a famous person (Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Shaq, Yao Ming, etc), jumps every time someone says “and” (similar variations with sing or dance when someone says or does something), etc.

5. Since I had helpers, we split into smaller groups of 10 so the students felt more comfortable trying this in front of each other (they told me afterwards). Each co-teacher moderated their smaller groups. I haven't tried it with 30 students by myself (and for the whole time) yet.

6. End with the importance of improvisation: Definitely encourage/praise them since they did a difficult task in another language. Also explain that theatre is often used to build confidence and public speaking skills. This confidence can carry over to speaking a new language. The fear of being silly when you say something is simply ... silly. And being silly is often quite fun and funny for everyone.
   

American Idioms

Teaching American Idioms

by Vicki Lung (OYY 05-06, Hunan)

Time: 45 minute or more (I made it go for 1 hr 45 min)

Level: Senior 2 (Grade 11 in Middle School), Works with university students and adults (USTB)

1. Explain what an idiom is: speech form or expression that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.

2. Give an example: “All systems go!” It's not grammatically correct, and you only understand it once you imagine people in the control room at NASA getting ready to launch a rocket. Or “His back is to the wall” and stand against the board unable to move.

   Be sure to DRAW or ACT things to illustrate the image you are trying convey. This makes it fun and helps them understand.

3. Ask if they know any American idioms (most known “It's raining cats and dogs”)

4. Explain the importance of understanding idioms. You can't look it up in a normal dictionary (though my college kids found some on their electronic ones) and they are commonly used in writing and in speech.

5. Explain the key to understanding idioms: There is a story behind every idiom. Think of the IMAGE that goes with the idiom and this is the key to its meaning. For example, for “They flew the coop,” think of chickens flying out of the coop and escaping. The only way that the chickens can be flying is if they are outside of the coop (and now they're gone!)

6. Pre-teach necessary vocab (coop especially :P)

7. Split students into groups of 3 to 5 and have them discuss what they think the idioms on the list mean. These teams can also compete with teach other to guess correctly the meanings. They need to discuss in English as much as possible. If you hear Chinese, their group will lose a point. If they get an idiom, they get one point. Give them 10 minutes. (I did not do this, instead I had them race outside like Thai TESL training so they had to memorize what I thought were the most common 6. I made the whole thing last 1 hr 45 min or so with a 5 min break in between)

8. After time is up, go through the list of idioms. Read the first one out loud. Students raise their hands quickly if their group has an answer. If they guess the correct meaning, the get one point. If not, let others guess. Try to hear from as many students as possible (within groups and between students).

9. If no one has the correct answer, explain the meaning. Use drawings and act. Make the image of the idiom clear. Ask them for examples or provide other situations when you could use the idioms.

10. I include the handout and answers below:

* Catch My Drift? *

American Idioms

The following sentences use common American idioms. Guess what they mean:

For example:

“All systems go” means “Everything is ready.”

“His back is to the wall” means “He is trapped by the circumstances.”

1. I'll take a baker's dozen.

2. Stop beating around the bush.

3. Have you met my better half?

4. The bank robber finally bit the dust.

5. It makes your blood run cold.

6. The show brought down the house.

7. Tara gave him the cold shoulder.

8. The prisoner came clean.

9. They flew the coop.

10. Betty got the axe.

11. We just got wind of it.

12. Mom's got a green thumb.

13. The girls are having a ball.

14. Keep your head above water.

15. I have to hit the books tonight.

16. I have a little hole-in-the-wall.

17. It's still up in the air.

18. Just jump through the hoops.

19. Keep the ball rolling.

20. He lost his shirt on that bet.

21. It happens once in a blue moon.

22. He's still on the fence.

23. Did he pop the question?

24. It's raining cats and dogs.

25. Harry put his foot in his mouth.

Answers to Catch My Drift

1. I'll take a baker's dozen. I'll take thirteen.

2. Stop beating around the bush. Stop avoiding the issue.

3. Have you met my better half? Have you met my spouse?

4. The bank robber finally bit the dust. The bank robber finally died.

5. It makes your blood run cold. It's horrifying.

6. The show brought down the house. The show was a great success

7. Ted gave her the cold shoulder. Ted ignored her.

8. The prisoner came clean. The prisoner confessed.

9. They flew the coop. They disappeared.

10. Betty got the axe. Betty was fired from her job.

11. We just got wind of it. We just heard about it.

12. Mom's got a green thumb. Mom's a successful gardener.

13. The girls are having a ball. The girls are enjoying themselves.

14. Keep your head above water. Stay out of trouble.

15. I have to hit the books tonight. I have to study tonight.

16. I have a little hole-in-the-wall. I have a small, inexpensive apartment.

17. It's still up in the air. It's still undecided.

18. Just jump through the hoops. Just do what you are told to do.

19. Keep the ball rolling. Continue the activity.

20. He lost his shirt on that bet. He lost a lot of money on that bet.

21. It happens once in a blue moon. It happens very seldom.

22. He's still on the fence. He's still undecided.

23. Did he pop the question? Did he ask you to marry him?

24. It's raining cats and dogs. It's raining very hard.

25. Harry put his foot in his mouth. Harry said something that made him appear foolish.

Thinking Outside the Box

Thinking Outside the Box by Naree
(inspired by Matt)
Too many times these Chinese kiddos don't get a chance to practice the creativity they do have. Here's your chance to prove other foreigners wrong – your students can be creative!

1. Draw the classic 3 x 3 row of dots (9 total) and ask them how they can connect all the lines with 1 continuous line in only 4 strokes. They cannot lift their pencils/chalk off the paper/board. Give them all 5 minutes or so to try and solve this on their own

Answer: Try this yourself --- you've gotta draw one of the lines outside of the box so you can hit up the other dots. ALSO you can do this with one line! Re-draw the 9 dots on a teeny weeny scale and then take a fat marker or long side of a chalk and cross through the dots.

2. Set up a table for arm-wrestling. Divide class in two and name them Group A and Group 1 (so they are the first of something!). Then have each team select one classmate to arm wrestle. Make sure you repeat the following rule:

The number of times your hand touches the desk is the number of times I will give you candy.

They will assume the classic Win-Lose situation – only one winner (give them candy). After a few chances, show them the Win-Win scenario – both are winners (everyone gets candy). This is also an example of how you can work together and two people can help each other (synergy).

3. Divide the class into groups of 4 or so. Give them the following “lateral thinking” puzzles that encourage creative thinking. Be sure to pre-teach necessary vocab. Remind them to think outside the box and give them hints/clues as you circle around the room

The Coin

John is on a raft, adrift in the ocean with several other survivors of a shipwreck. The others are too weak, so he or Mike will swim to a nearby island to look for help. It is almost certainly suicidal, due to the circling sharks, but they have little else to hope for. Mike takes the lose change from his pocket and puts two pennies in a hat. He tells John that one is a 2005 penny, and the other 1975. If John picks the newer penny he can stay on the rat, and Mike will risk his life. If John picks the older penny, he must go. John has seen that both pennies were actually dated 1975, but he doesn't want to say anything, because Mike is a big guy. How does he win, and get Mike to go, without exposing him as a fraud in front of the others?

The Convent

A man came to visit at a convent while the superior mother was out of town. He left before she returned, and was careful to leave nothing behind. The nuns said nothing about his visit, so how did the superior mother figure out that a man had been there?

The Speech

A politician wrote a long speech. How did it help his career even before he gave the speech?

Light Switches

There are three switches outside a closed room. There are three lamps inside the room. You can flip the switches as much as you want while the door is closed, but then you must enter just once and determine which switch is connected to which lamp. How can you do it?

Hospital

Agatha spent several days in the hospital. She wasn't injured, and she wasn't sick, but she did have to be carried out when she left though. Why was she in the hospital?

Solutions To The Lateral Thinking Puzzles

The Coin: John reaches into the hat and takes out either penny. He lets it slip out of his hand and fall into the ocean. Apologizing, he suggests that if the remaining penny in the hat is the 1975 one, he must have drawn the 2005 penny. Mike cannot argue with the logic unless he wants to admit to lying. Since the others won't tolerate a liar anyhow, he makes the swim.

The Convent: Because a toilet seat was up.

The Speech: True Story solution: In 1912, President Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest. The folded-up manuscript of his speech was in his pocket, and slowed the bullet, saving his life, and so helping his career.

Switch the first one on for a minute, then turn it off and turn the second on. Enter the room and feel the two bulbs that are off. The warm one was turned on by the first switch, the light that is on is connected to the second, and the last one will be cold to the touch (and connected to the light switch you didn't touch).

Hospital: Agatha is a newborn baby

Solution to 9 Dots Puzzle

Service Project

Service Project by Matt and Molly

Beijing, USTB Spring 2007

Appropriate Student Level: University, possible Senior students if they have time

Service Project

This term we are requiring our sophomore Management Students to participate in a service project for part of their grade.

It’s not really an English lesson, but we justify making them do it by… well, there really is no good justification. It just seems like something they should do. It’s also a good transition from when they operated an imaginary business last term to putting into real life practice some of the ideas they’ve discussed. Given that many of our students have never had a job, internship or have volunteered, this also seems like a good way to make them demonstrate some leadership skills and initiative. It can also help their resumes and give them something to talk about at a job interview. This rationale seemed to work with them and, as a whole, many of our students are excited about this project.

We are trying to tie in some English into all this as well.

For example:

Week 1: Divide the class into two groups- one male, one female. Each group must select one person to be a project leader. After several minutes, have them finalize their decision and bring the project leaders to the front of the class. They must then choose one person at a time, alternating boy/girl, to be a member of their project group.

Have the groups discuss project ideas and how they can do them. They must select an idea by Week 3. Try to make sure that they will actually be responsible for organizing some event or activity. That way they are not just finding an already established activity and participating. The idea is to make them responsible for making something happen.

Also, try to do this in the 2^nd semester so that they can do their project sometime in May or June when it’s warm.

Week 2: Hand out sheets asking the following:

Project Leader Name
Description of Project
Member Name		Next Task	Date to be Completed	Supervisor’s Name
1
2
3 (etc…)

Discuss basic ideas and vocab regarding hierarchical management structure. Have the group make sure everyone is assigned a task and that supervisors are selected to help ensure specific tasks are completed.

Also notify them that next week, one person from each group will have to present their idea.

Week 3: Have one person from each group present at the beginning of class (but it cannot be the Project Leader). Presentation is very basic, just a few minutes so they can express their plan.

We’ll be monitoring students and grading them individually over the course of the term. We’ll have occasional classed dedicated to further speaking exercises involving their project. Just not sure what… we’re kind of winging it at the moment. We also intend on visiting the students when they do their projects to make sure they are actually volunteering. We have one group already doing one of many events they plan tomorrow.

This is also nice because we may be able to learn of new volunteer opportunities for VIA through our students as they seek out their own volunteer projects.

Of course, we’ve had to plan other lessons on top of these lessons for the service project b/c most of the in-class work does not take much time.

Sentence Auction

Sentence Auction by Anjali

I wrote down 10 sentences on a piece of paper, some of which had grammar mistakes and some of which did not. I photocopied it and gave it to each team. I then gave them some time to find and correct the mistakes. They were given 100 points for each mistake they changed correctly (don’t let them know which ones they changed correctly) and that ended up being the team’s number of points.

I then auctioned off each of the ten sentences one by one. The object was for the teams to use their points to buy the most correct sentences, while avoiding buying the ones with mistakes. After the highest bidder was found, I’d reveal if the sentence is correct or not. If it’s not, I’ll ask the class how to correct it (this is where the oral English comes in—getting them to use words like “comma” “insert” and “take out”). This is a really loud and exciting activity, so make sure your vocal chords (not to mention energy level) are in good shape before attempting it!

Dear Abby

Advice by Anjali

Make sure the entire class knows the meaning of the word “advice” (and “advise”). Go over some phrases that can be used when giving advice (if I were in your shoes, etc.). Show a couple of short dear abby type letters written by teenagers, then give the class a few minutes to work in groups and come up with some advice for each teenager. Have some of the groups share them with the class.

Then hand out a small slip of paper to each student in the class (there should be four different colors). Don’t tell the students what you want them to do yet. Once you’ve handed them out, tell them what each color means—for example, if they were given a blue piece of paper it means a problem with school, red might mean love, yellow might mean family, etc.

Then ask each student to write down a problem (real or made up) on the paper (the subject depending on the color of paper they received). Make sure that they know that it doesn’t have to be real and that they shouldn’t write their names on the paper. Collect all of the papers and have students come up, pick a piece of paper (problem) randomly out of the box, and give advice on the problem. Then have other students say if they agree with that advice or not.

Create a Band

Create a Band by Anjali

Credit to last year’s FC for the inspiration! I went over some different types of music (and played a few) and the names for different members of a band (lead singer, drummer, etc.) then had each group form their own band. They had to introduce themselves (I’m the lead singer, etc.) and tell the class about their band (name of band, their hit song, the type of music they play, who listens to their music, etc.). Then, they perform an English song! At the end, we did an American Idol thing and the class voted for their favorite band.