Drama Queen English - Teaching Emotions and How to Express Them through English

I would like to offer an activity to teachers of English which I created and which has worked quite well for me. I call it: Drama Queen English. In fact, it might even work in an American classroom for children who are native English speakers.

Basically, you can help students learn the names of various emotions, help them with their pronunciation and students really seem to enjoy playing this educational game. 

One of the lessons is that spoken English is rarely emotion-free and that non-verbal communication is often employed when speaking English.

Of course we all know what a drama queen is:

image from forums.phoenixrising.me

This is a person who over-reacts emotionally and often makes a big deal out of nothing. In the game Drama Queen English the student should be encouraged to go totally overboard, and express over-the-top emotions while making simple statements.

So here's how you do it.

You start by creating a number of slips of paper with basic statements and slips of paper with emotions. You might do a PowerPoint on emotions before playing the game, and you can remind students of what the emotions are as you play.

Basic statements:

Emotions:

Of course, now, students will take one statement and one emotion randomly and have to present it as a drama queen in front of the class. 

They should be encouraged to be as expressive and dramatic as possible - that's the point of the exercise/game. Also, emotions that don't seem to fit the statements actually can be made to fit the statements - therein lies the fun!!!!

The student joyfully says, "I need help!"

The student says "The tea is not ready." as if he/she is in love.

Sometimes I will have a pair of students in the front of the room and after one emotes a statement, the other responds with an equally goofy/silly emoted statement.

e.g. First student, “Lovestruck” “I hurt my elbow.” 

Second student, “Happy” “I had a strange dream.”

You wind up creating strange and funny little absurdist dramas/dialogues in which students display emotions using rhythm, tone of voice and body language.

So there you have a simple exercise/game which will allow your students to express themselves, feel more confident about being in front of the class or other groups, teach them different emotions and help them realize that when speaking English we do not speak in a monotone and we use our bodies and faces in the expression of various statements.

I really hope you can try this and that it helps you. Feel free to experiment...

Daniel Gauss

MA, Teachers College Columbia University

(currently teaching in Shenzhen, China)

danielgauss31@gmail.com

Read the essays of Daniel Gauss here: https://goodmenproject.com/author/daniel-gauss/