IMPROV ESL: DEVELOPING CHARACTER INTO A MONOLOGUE OR POEM AND BUILDING A SCENE FROM IT

IMPROV ESL is a class that moves second language learners ahead in their production in using English and in feeling confident as they communicate their intentions!

During the seventh week of an eight-week course of IMPROV ESL, Lesly Fredman (improv teacher) and I (Ruth Schowalter, English language instructor) had international students at the Georgia Tech Language Institute do the following homework assignment! Please read the following:

Improv Homework #3: DEVELOPING A CHARACTER

(PART 2)

PART #2: WATCH SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW FROM A DISTANCE and CREATE an INTENTION

STEP #A: Choose a person who you don’t know that interests you, one that you can watch and take notes on. Observes this person for a little while and see what you notice about his/her behaviors. Listen.

STEP #B: As you take notes, decide on an “intention” something you want to get from this person:

·         Time

·         Directions to some place

·         Curiosity question about GT

·         Etc.

Using the skills of improv, approach the person and ask them your question. Thank them for the information and leave. Use their response in the monologue or poem that you are making in STEP #C.

STEP #C: Imagine a fictional life about him/her, including how they talk. Write a poem/monologue (Taylor Mali style) from this person’s perspective. Send me an email copy of your writing. Be prepared to present the poem or monologue to our class.

RATIONALE: In order to build a scene with interesting characters, improv students need to "be" characters other than themselves. One way for students to develop different characters is through observation. This assignment asks them to watch a "stranger" and to take notes on that person's behavior and create a poem or monologue from that "stranger's" perspective. By having students do this assignment outside the classroom, we hoped that the students would be more "alive" and "awake" in their environments beyond the walls of the classroom. They would then "engage" in a polite but brief exchange with this "stranger." Their observations and exchange would then result in the invention of a character from this real-life situation. And a poem that they would perform for the class.

REAL-LIFE RESULTS: Wow! The students brought their poems/monologues to class and succeeded in RECREATING the MOOD of their interactions. In fact they were so evocative that I thought the authors of the poems/monologues would enjoy observing two classmates build a scene from their work.

IMPROV RESULTS FROM POEMS/MONOLOGUES: Since the students have been working together using the RULES OF IMRPOV for six weeks, they were able to begin a scene after we had given the author feedback on the mood and intention and made sure of who the characters were. The goal was to start with one of the lines from the poem/monologue and to create something new. In other words, the scene had to be MORE than the written work. The written work served as the launching pad for going deeper.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN AND MANY SURPRISES!
You will see some of the IMPROV ESL students' work here on this blog! Just imagine what scenes we built with them!

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

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.



WOW! I feel the pain!

DEVELOPING A CHARACTER. These students had to choose a character who was happy!

CLASS PHOTO WITH LESLY FREDMAN (take 1).

CLASS PHOTO WITH LESLY FREDMAN (take 2).

CLASS PHOTO WITH LESLY FREDMAN (take 3).

CLASS PHOTO WITH LESLY FREDMAN (take 4).

CLASS PHOTO with LESLY FREDMAN and RUTH SCHOWALTER

GREAT TEAM WORK IMPROV CLASS!

Remember! Always make your partner look good!