Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 1; January 03

David Cranmer and Clement Laroy, secondary +adult
Pilgrims-Longman, 1992

Time 50 minutes or more
Level Intermediate +
Focus Oral expression; Non - verbal expression
Extras None
Requirement A classroom affording room to move about in the centre

A sceptical student's initial reaction:

'I am really puzzled by people's ability to see things in music. I can't. Take this music for example...if you ask me, I would visualize a train steaming through the prairie and Indians attacking it...while some people are desperately trying to defend it...'
The music was Honegger's Pacific 231, which purports to describe a train, the Pacific 231, driving full speed through America.

Note
If your group is not too large everyone can take an active role. Otherwise those who cannot take part actively, act as furniture and props, or are spectators.

Preparation
Choose a piece of music that creates a certain atmosphere. 'Dramatic' music will generate a dramatic story, serene music is likely to evoke a fairy tale. Some music is suggested below. In the procedure below we take as an example a piece from Honegger's Pacific 231.

Procedure
1 Explain that there is a kind of drama called a 'happening', where the actors invent the plot on the spur of the moment and then act it out together with the public. Tell your students they are going to have an opportunity to create a play like that. First they are going to hear some music that will be the starting point for their plot. They themselves are going to decide what takes place, and they will then play the drama in class.
2 Get your students to concentrate (Any of the variations of Focusing 1.1 would be suitable). Next, play the music. Your students jot down words about the ideas that the music generates.
3 At plot development stage, your role as a teacher is crucial, but should be as discrete as possible. Here are some ways in which you can enable the plot to develop in whole class session:
a) To leave as much room as possible to your students' imagination try to limit your interventions to monosyllabic questions such as: 'Who?', 'Where?', 'Why?', 'How?', 'When?'
b) If necessary, get your students started by asking a longer question. For example: 'Is it something that happened in a town, in the country, on a mountain ...'. Whatever the group accepts as valid by consensus is adopted.
c) As the plot takes shape, encourage the class to elaborate by asking more specific questions such as: 'What kind of train ?', 'What time of day ?', 'What season?', 'What carriage?', 'Describe the carriage?', 'Is there someone in the carriage ?', 'Describe the person.'...
d) When one episode has been created, encourage the class to go on by asking 'And then?', 'And after that?' or simply 'And?' or even 'Mmm?' or putting on a questioning look. Keep up a brisk pace. Once the flow of ideas has started, proposals should gush from everywhere.
4 The class gradually builds up the story: the setting becomes clear, the characters come to life, and the plot develops with the members of the class as authors. Provide any vocabulary they need. Correct inconsistencies by repeating the story line now and then, or by asking a student to do this. This is a useful listening comprehension exercise and provides needed help for weaker students.
5 Keep things moving briskly. If things begin to drag after a few episodes, provide a quick ending yourself.
6 Agree on roles for acting out. Since as many students as possible should take part in the performance, some participants can be objects, while others can provide sound effects. Allow your students to choose which part they play. Take on an embarrassing role yourself if necessary. Accept all gestures and mimicry that do not create problems for others or yourself.

Extension : Ask your students to write the end, or the sequel at home.

Rationale
Body language and verbal language are used in a way which can be deeply relevant to the learners. Even if the story is 'silly' as seen from the outside, something of the collective subconscious of the group will emerge. Language used and learned in this way will really stay in their minds.

Suggested music
Choose a piece of about three minutes.
1 Holst: The finale of Mars from The Planets. (Very unpredictable results, but invariably dramatic)
2 Honegger: Pacific 231 (Mouvement Symphonique no.1)
Take a three-minute section just before the end. This often yields a play in the style of Murder on the Orient Express, or a scene in the American prairie with Indians and cowboys attacking a train.
3 Copland: Billy the Kid (particularly suitable for younger learners)
4 Arne: Sonata no. 1 in F. major. for harpsichord - take the andante to generate a fairy-tale-like play.
5 Gershwin: Piano concerto in F - third movement
6 Beethoven: Excerpts from the Symphony No.3 ('Eroica') - first movement
7 Beethoven: Symphony No.5 - third and fourth movements