In this workshop, we will discuss how drama, including play scripts and theatre games, can help students improve their spoken communication skills. Too often our classrooms focus on grammatical accuracy and literal definitions of words, while neglecting pragmatics-the social and cultural rules that govern how we speak in different contexts and situations. Plays are a powerful tool for teaching conversation because they are written texts that can be analysed, but are meant to reflect natural spoken speech.

We’ll look at a short skit and analyze how to use it in the classroom to raise awareness of how context, relationships, and goals can change the way we speak.

Next, we’ll look at a series of activities that can help students think about how non-verbal cues like intonation and word stress impact the meaning of our words. Even our grammar choices can reveal different attitudes toward what we are saying.

Finally, we’ll talk about how we choose rhetorical strategies and useful language to perform everyday functions. Get dramatic in the classroom, in a good way!

Presented by Walton Burns – Award-winning Materials Writer & Senior Editor @Alphabet Publishing.

Our Masterclass workshops are typically delivered in 90 mins.

At Gallery Teachers, we endorse the philosophy of building on your previous knowledge and experience as opposed to just imparting knowledge on you. 

Therefore, in order to prepare you for the webinar and help you activate what you already know about the topic, we will suggest two to four reflective questions for you to consider before you join the event.

You will also be given the opportunity to post your reflections, along with any questions you may already have at the pre-watching stage, to the discussion forum. 

The reflective questions, as well as ideas and shared experiences posted to the forum by attendees, will be used in the real-time Q&A session in order to generate an engaging and meaningful discussion, involving the presenter and teachers from around the world. 

After the event, the forum discussion will take on a life of its own and teachers will be encouraged to continue posting their experiences, reflections and questions related to the topic of the webinar. So, if you feel strongly about the topic, we will make it possible for you to take the discussion beyond the scheduled workshop and continue sharing your ideas with like-minded teachers and teacher trainers from other countries