Dramatic Exercises in the Norwegian Language Class

Performance skits are fairly common sights in a language classroom. Skits are popular because they give the student an opportunity not only to come up with a dialogue script, but also to play with pronunciation and language performance anxiety. One of the drawbacks in using these kinds of skits, however, is the fact that many students use one of two strategies that aren't particularly helpful. The first is a sort of cut-and-paste textbook phrase regurgitation, where situationally related lines are randomly selected from the textbook and inserted into awkward dialogue. The second counter-productive strategy is one where the student, in an attempt to create a stunningly brilliant or humorous script, looks words up in the dictionary and strings them together into what ends up being a nonsensical series of utterances. How do you, as a Norwegian teacher, avoid this?

One way is to use a technique employed by acting instructors that gets participants to take ownership of their lines. Students get a sense of the emotional-behavioral range of the words they are using, and acquire a good sense of meaning and application in the process.

Here's what to do:
1. Take a list of phrases and cut them into slips that can be folded, then selected at random by each student. You can use the list below or come up with one of your own to suit the unit or level you are teaching.

Skal vi danse?

Jeg tror det ikke før'n jeg for se det.

Ikke si sånt.

Ta det med ro.

Det var et kjempe fint stykke.

Har du hørt fra Henrik?

Jeg vil spise egg.

Kom med meg.

Vi skulle ta en tur.

Vent et øyeblikk.

2. Have each student pick one slip of paper. If you have a class of thirty, it might be better to divide the class into three groups to prevent total cacophany. Each student should then memorize their particular phrase, understand what it means and how to pronounce it.

3. Now have your students walk around in a clear area. Encourage them to be creative and loose in the way in the way they are walking, to explore different types of movement and personalities. As they walk, have them say their lines aloud in as many different ways as possible, imagining different contexts for their use and employing various vocal and emotional levels. This should produce an incomprehensible babble.

4. Instruct them to continue walking around and repeating their lines, but tell them that when you call out a student's name, the remaining students should freeze (stop talking and walking) and allow that individual to continue on his or her own. Stop on one individual for a few moments only, then allow the group to continue until you call out the next student's name.

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