Gulped and Gasped

Teaching drama to students can be daunting. To me, teaching Gulp and Gasp to my form 4 kids have proven to be exciting and creatively draining (if there is such a term).

Here's the situation,

Students are not passive but can't seem to get their expressions even after direct examples from me. For example, when I tell them to show me an angry face, I always begin by demonstrating for instance, what would be my interpretation of angry. This is to ensure that students who might not be as talented as others have a clear example of how some actions should be done. I cannot assume all my students are good in their facial expressions. Students who I feel are stone-cold in their face muscles are quickly given clear examples through demonstrations and descriptions of those demonstrations. Of course, if you were still wondering

"Can this shmuck really teach dramatic expressions and acting skills?"

My reply here is...
 
"You feelin' lucky... punk?"

Having said that, still, some kids are finding it very difficult to control their emotions and expressions. They can't seem to show happy or sad when needed. The only constant emotion I get from them is giggling. Yeah... giggling is not an expression (it's an action) but from my perspective... you can just bite me.

How do I get my students to feel like it's a real drama class and that they have to take those facial expressions seriously? I tried to make the classroom like those reality talent shows where I allow students to give short feedback and I give feedback while and post acting. I tried letting them have their way and just be an observer (only giving feedback post acting). I even tried doing examples first before they discuss and practice among their groups so that they have an idea of what to practice. In other words, I've tried many ways to make sure that their practices and rehearsals are fruitful.

What does this all mean? Time extension. I'll be frank to say that I can't spend the whole year doing 1 drama. I have to teach the other components in the subject because students need to answer exam questions this coming May, 24th. How do I suddenly halt this practice process and rehearsals? I can't. When you start to teach drama, it'll be devastating to me (and them) if I were to suddenly go back to the other aspects of English i.e. letter writing for the other classes and then teach drama for 1 period per week only. I have to make haste to complete this drama month and revert back to the other things.

BUT THERE IS JUST SO MUCH PRACTICE OF THE LANGUAGE GOING ON AMONG THE STUDENTS!

JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING, I MEAN ENGLISH!

ENGLISH I TELL YOU! ENGLISH!

*fetal position, sucks thumb.

To all the teachers out there, a friendly reminder from yours truly:
Kids love to act and dramatise. Don't steal that away from them and just do plain note taking and discussions. Let them act it out. All my classes are damn excited about doing it that they've been talking about costumes, props, and I can see very weak students rehearsing their lines in their groups IN ENGLISH!

Of course they're going to take a long time to perfect the lines, expressions and actions.

What?

As though they were not taking a long time to do anything in English anyway.

*note to self: feels good saying shmuck one more time.