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"Best Writing" Award Winners
The "Best Actor" was also in the group. One of my favorite lessons to teach is about plays. It's a two-week lesson, with the first week focusing on explaining what a play is, how it's different from a novel, what some typical plots are, and what we need to know when we're reading or writing a play. Then I break the students into groups and number them. Each group is assigned one of five plots:
Someone Dies
Fall in Love
A Secret
A Fight
Enemies Become Friends
I tell them the play they're going to write must have at least the plot they've been assigned, but they are allowed to use more if they like. I point out that one reason
Romeo and Juliet is so popular is that is has all five plots. I then throw in a twist: the play isn't for your group, it's for the group sitting next to yours. Suddenly they're given the choice of which friends to kill off, who they want to fall in love, etc. It tends to bring out the best and the worst and the utmost creativity from my students. The rest of the first class is spent writing. The second week they finish up, practice, and
Best Actor
He talked like an old woman. then we perform them for the class.
Here are some of the story lines they created for our entertainment:
A student jumped in front of a "bullet" for his girlfriend, got shot, fell down and laid on the floor, and then they performed CPR. Panic ensued. He died.
To set the scene for a nightclub, a slightly chubby male student danced like a ballerina around the room and then later put both hands on the wall and 'shook it' for the class.
One student was absent, but a student who'd been absent the week before was there to fill in. Unfortunately for this body-builder, the role included turning into a butterfly and flying around the room.
One group decided the play they'd been given was a bit dull. So one male and one female student switched roles. The male student managed to stay with the high pitched female voice the entire time, including a bit of singing.
One love story had a domino effect killing spree, as the last man standing was jealous and in love with the first person to die.
There were several love triangle, usually involving one person suddenly admitting
they were gay. (Since homosexuality is still fairly taboo in most of the country, I consider this openness with the topic to be a good thing.)
There was a play opened with speed dating. The speed daters made their matches and left. then one month later they went on dates--ironically in the same restaurant--and decided they'd made poor matches. The women excused themselves to the bathroom, and then returned to the other tables to ask the other man out. A fight breaks out, ending with one of the guys despairing how his date didn't know he didn't like fish!
And of course, my personal favorite, were all the students in all the plays who kept forgetting they were "dead" and kept talking and moving around the middle of the stage. Some of them I had to remind twice!
After all was said and done, we nominated our favorite actors, actresses, and writers. After the voting and revoting (some students kept voting two or three times) I handed out awards. Students gave speeches and thanked the usual influences: their parents, their families their fans, CCTV, and Kris. All in all, an entertaining two weeks!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
I've just stumbled onto your blogging.
Love hearing how you teach them to write a play. Excellent. I am going to nominate you for blogger of the week!