Enlivening Instruction with Drama and Improv: A Guide for Second Language and World Language Teachers

by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Kathleen R McGovern

This engaging and complete resource has everything you need to bring drama and theatre techniques into the ESL, EFL, or World Language Classroom. Are your students reluctant to speak out in class? Do they lack confidence in their language skills? The dynamic drama games in this book are the perfect catalyst to transform your students into engaged learners, and help them build confidence and language skills. The interactive theatre games and techniques are specifically designed for use in Second, Foreign, and World Language classrooms to empower students through meaningful, agentive language learning. With over 80 activities and games, and hundreds of extensions that can be catered to every level, this book provides teachers with clear, step-by-step instructions to teaching dramatic activities with L2 learners of all levels and backgrounds. The games and strategies in this book will enliven classrooms with communication that is creative, memorable, inspiring, and fun. Grounded in cutting-edge research, this book explains why teaching language through drama is effective and inspiring for teachers and students alike, directing readers to a wide array of resources and approaches to teaching language through theatre. You’ll also find guidance on leading drama games with language learners in a variety of online platforms, lesson planning models, and an example lesson plan for easy implementation in physical or virtual classroom spaces.

242 pages, Hardcover

Published March 31, 2021

About the author

MELISA "Misha" CAHNMANN-TAYLOR is the author of Imperfect Tense and and co-author of four books, Enlivening Instruction with drama and Improv Teachers Act Up: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities Through Theatre and two editions of Arts-Based Research in Education). Misha’s poems, essays, research articles, and reviews have appeared in hundreds of journals in print and online including TESOL Quarterly, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Anthropology & Humanism, Poet Lore, Mom Egg, The Southern Poetry Anthology, Calyx Magazine, American Poetry Review, and in many other scholarly and literary homes.

Some of Misha’s awards include the Beckman award for “Professors Who Inspire Social Change,” Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg and Anna Davidson poetry prizes, Jenny Penny Oliver Diversity Award, First Year Odyssey Teaching Award, and the Foreign Language Association of Georgia [FLAG] Leadership Award.

In 2020 Misha was appointed as U.S. Fulbright Ambassador scholar to speak to faculty audiences around the U.S. about Fulbright. A Fulbright Scholarship recipient (Oaxaca Mexico, 2013-2014) and visiting scholar-artist in Guanajuato Mexico at the Resplandor Center (2017), she enjoys speaking internationally in Mexico, Israel, Canada, Chile, Poland, Germany, Hong Kong, Aruba, Spain, and elsewhere around the world. Cahnmann-Taylor has directed a U.S. Department of Education Transition to Teaching grant and numerous National Endowment for the Arts Big Read and Georgia Humanities grants.

A graduate of the New England College low-residency MFA program and the University of Pennsylvania’s Educational Linguistics doctoral program, she lives in Athens, Georgia with her husband, two children and their rescue dog, Bagel.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met the author yesterday. I've already implemented some of her ideas in my classroom. Five things was a great way to rest the fingers of my ukulele players while connecting our class. Even my students who sit in the back row with their parents on a Saturday morning were suddenly not too shy to participate. Everyone learned our room is a safe place to take risks. Eventually we got back to playing ukulele, but more than once a student raised a hand and wanted to call out another category. Thanks for the fun. I already feel guilty letting the book rest on the shelf. I need to lend it out.