1.2 Develop level of concentration  (Page 3/3)

A variety of strategies for verbal communication.

Accompanying body language / body movement.

• Activity 1 Concentration
• Activity 2 The Story in the Forest

Assessment grid

ACTIVITY 1

When the actor lets his concentration become diffusive, he loses all hold upon the audience.

Children have a very short attention span – MTV, music videos and computer games do not help!

The following exercise is devised to make the learner aware of focussing on objects and relaying what they have observed.

Take note of any learner who has difficulty focussing and repeat the exercise until you are satisfied with the outcome.

Keep your eye on the problem learners throughout the term and work on developing their abilities.

Exercise :

Have the learners note in a few seconds as many details as possible of someone’s clothes, hair, shoes, colours etc.

Remove the subject from their view.

Have them write the particulars down after the observation.

EXERCISE 2

TO ADOPT AND MAINTAIN A ROLE: THE STORY IN THE FOREST

[LO 3.4]

Helpful Hints:

Stage One

Use the school hall or the stage.

Have the learners imagine a forest in this space.

Have the learners put down chairs (the trees) in the space.

If they want a river flowing through the forest have them mark on the floor where the river is going to be.

Have all the learners walk through the forest to experience and be aware of the space and environment they are going to be working in.

Make sure they visualise the setting, colours, textures, sounds, smells, etc. of the forest.

Give verbal instructions to what they should experience and have them react accordingly.

Stage Two

Remove the learners from the ‘forest’.

Have them think about a character they would like to be in the forest – they can even be animals.

Encourage creativity.

Have them explore the elements of characterisation:

Action: What am I doing?

Volition: Why am I doing it?

Adjustment: How am I doing it?

Have them explore the external attributes to characterisation:

The body (is the character young, old, fat, cripple?)

The voice (shrill, deep, sexy, old, childlike,?)

The face (narrow eyes, nervous twitch, evil, good?)

The attitude (self confident, nervous, insecure, in charge?)

The props (glasses, tiara, walking stick, gun?)

The costume (evening gown, tuxedo, rags, track suit?)

The make-up (beard, fantasy, aging?)

Have them return to the forest and move through it in the character they have created.

Stage Three

Divide the class up into groups.

Each learner has to keep his originally created character and devise a story using this and the characters of the other learners in the group.

Have the learners work on appropriate dialogue.

Have the learners plan and rehearse their stories.

Have the learners perform their stories to the rest of the class.

Take note of the following:

It is essential to establish a class structure and control, especially where classes are large.

Try to establish a balance between giving and taking, concentrating and relaxing, being free and being restricted.

Set clear expectations and ground rules.

Be enthusiastic, caring, encouraging.

Do not talk too much.

Lead the learner to discovery and wait for it to happen.

Respond to the ideas and feeling of the class.

Encourage originality.

Make instructions clear and brief.

Be well prepared and adaptable.

Move amongst the learners all the time and watch to see if they understand the instructions or need encouragement.

Always finish the class on an encouraging and positive note.

Reinforce the good and try to ignore mistakes – feedback should be constructive, not destructive.

Drama should be about creating, originality, expression and fun.