International Watermelon Pirates: AN IMPROV CLASS SPENT DEVELOPING CHARACTER...AND HAVING FUN!

BUILDING A HAPPINESS MACHINE!

Learning to say what you want in English as a Second Language can be fun as we know at the Language Institute at Georgia Tech! On Monday, April 16, 2012, our IMPROV CLASS had a full 50-minute class period with Lesly Fredman, who I am collaborating with to build this first-time IMPROV ESL class at the Language Institute for our advanced classes. Take a look at the photos below and see some of the work we did together!

THE WOMEN BEGIN THE HAPPINESS MACHINE.

MAKING HAPPINESS!

HERE RAKAN BEGAN BUILDING THE ADVICE MACHINE.

GIVING LESLY ADVICE.

THIS ADVICE MACHINE SPOKE SYNCHRONISTICALLY--GREAT TEAM WORK!

We have several over-arching goals in this class:

IMPROV GOAL: To practice the rules of improv (some of which include "making your partner look good--team building skills; having fun--positive emotions when influence learning positively; using the good idea and not the perfect one--building confidence!)

LANGUAGE GOAL: To practice the six skills of fluency focusing on rhythm and intonation: pausing, linking, stress, reduction, focus, and intonation.

THE CONCEPT OF POPCORN. In this activity, students pretend they are kernels of popconr and "pop" when they are ready. This exercise provides a lesson in focus too. The goal is that by paying attention to the group and not everyone "pops" at the same time.

EXERCISE IN FOCUS. Rakan (left) and Hamdan (right) competed for Alejandra's attention. The goal was to talk to her simultaneously and to discover who she listened to more. That is, who she gave her "focus" to and the reasons why.

HAMDAN IS WINNING AT THIS POINT. What was he doing and saying that "grabbed" Alejandro's attention? Look how insistent Rakan is.

GIVING FOCUS--THIS TIME WITH PAULA (center), HANA (left), and SEPHORA (right). For the time being Hana has won Paula's attention.

LESLY PROCESSING THE IMPROV EXERCISE.

The specific focus for the class with Lesly Fredman was for the students to continue learning how to develop a character. Knowing who you are and what your objective is are two essential factors for building a scene--and on a larger scale for developing effective communication strategies!

BEING AN OLD PERSON. Class members got the opportunity to "be" an old person. The goal was to "enter" the stage and walk to the "imaginary" park bench and show how it felt to be old. They also had to choose an activity to do once they sat down on the park bench. Then as they "exited" the stage, they had to continue being old!

GOOD JOB CIRO AND SEPHORA!

CHOOSING A CHARACTER AND DEVELOPING IT. Here four students in the front row had to walk across the classroom with a headache. They had to decide who they "who" they were when they got to the classmate facing them. They "showed" who they were by the statement they made. For example, Ciro (in the yellow and black jacket) decided he was an angry manager with a headache. Hamdan (in the orange striped shirt) responded to him as a worried employee.