CREATING DRAMA WITH POETRY

CREATING DRAMA WITH POETRY:
Teaching English As a Foreign Language ( TEFL )
Through Dramatization and Improvisation



Creating Drama with poetry is an exciting language learning experience. The technique uses multi approaches to language acquisition by involving second language learners physically, emotionally, and cognitively in the language learning process. The use of poetry as drama in the teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, enables the students to explore the linguistic and conceptual aspects of the written text without concentrating on the mechanics of language. Students are able to develop a sense of awareness of self in term of culture through the dramatic interpretations of the poems.
English as Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesia becomes internalized as a direct result of placing the learners in the real situations. The students can use the target language for the specific purpose of communication. They experiment with non-verbal communicative aspects of language (body language, gestures, and facial expressions), as well as verbal aspects (intonation, rhythm, stress, slang, and idiomatic expressions), while interpreting the poems. The students begin to feel the language and get the confidence in interaction outside of the classroom using the target language.
Some poems are mini-dramas (short dramas), often written in dialogue form, and are suitable for dramatization, because they are short and usually in a simple, but strong emotional theme. "Poems which express strong emotions, attitudes, feelings, opinions, or ideas are usually more 'productive' than those which are gentle, descriptive, or neutral". Students become engaged in free incidental conversations as they interact with one another prior to the dramatizations and during the improvisations. The students compare and contrast cultural behaviors and attitudes, analyze and explore the linguistic and conceptual differences between the written and spoken word, and interact cooperatively to the dramatizations and improvisations.
In this technique, students have more responsibility for their own learning. It enables them to be active and creative in expressing of their talent. However, this does not reduce the importance of the teacher in the instructional process. It can give students realize their hidden aptitude in term of reading poetry and act it out in front of the public. It is the responsibility of the teacher to guide the language learning process by : modeling pronunciation, intonation, stress, rhythm, and oral expression. It also facilitate the comprehension of vocabulary, idioms, cultural aspects, and plot; stimulating interest and conversation, interacting with the students; establishing an acting workshop atmosphere; creating a student participation in language learning experience.
By applying this technique, students are trained and taught not only to act out or performance what they are being learnt, but also to practice students’ skills (reading, speaking, listening, writing, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc). This is also very useful to reduce students’ bored in learning English. It is might be applied to solve the latest issues which claims that teaching English in Indonesia has been failed. It is proved by the lack of students’ proficiency in speaking, writing and any other skills. Hopefully, by means of drama with poetry, it could become a new invention in term of teaching English as foreign language (EFL) in Indonesia.
In teaching this, teacher should prepare an appropriate scenario. It is an important thing that must be applied in order to gain an optimal outcome. At first, the teacher provides students with the background to the poem and introduces difficult or unusual vocabulary. The teacher then reads the poem aloud to the students. After the poem is read aloud, the class discusses it together. Students then listen again as the teacher re-read the poem. In the next step, the students read the poem altogether and then take turns reading it aloud individually.
The students then prepare to dramatize / act out the poem by selecting character roles and discussing scenery, setting, lighting, and costumes. Students re-train the dramatization of the poem and then do an improvisation based on the poem. After experimenting with characters, interactions, and dialogues, the class discusses the improvisation.
The EFL teacher needs to create poetry by selecting and categorizing a substantial variety of poems carefully. In selecting poems, special consideration must be given to appropriateness, such as: students' language level skills, students' ages and students’ interests. Categorizing poems makes them easy to reference and integrate into other instructional disciplines (i.e., science, health, math, and citizenship) and themes (i.e., holidays and seasons).
To further facilitate the communicative approach to foreign language acquisition, the EFL teacher can record the dramatizations and improvisations. A great deal of conversation will be stimulated when the students remember their experiences through tape recordings, video recordings, and also photography.
The teacher should plan follow-up activities about the dramatizations and improvisations that allow for individual expression of the cooperative experience. The students can illustrate and write about the activity or poem. Future lessons can also include the dramatization and improvisation of short stories, fables, and plays. The same techniques and follow-up activities should be employed.
From the description above can be concluded that the use of poetry in the EFL classroom enables students to explore the linguistic and conceptual aspects of the written text without concentrating on the mechanics of language. The dramatization of poetry is a powerful tool in stimulating learning while acquiring a foreign language because the learners become intellectually, emotionally, and physically involved in the target language within the framework of the new culture.
Poetry rich in dialogue provides students with a dramatic script. Drama places the learners in the real situations. Learners use the target language for specific purposes, language is more easily internalized and, therefore, language is remembered.