RULES OF IMPROVISATION: TRANSFORMATIONAL IN THE ESL CLASSROOM WITH MBA STUDENTS

THE PROFESSIONAL LOOK! As a result of using improvisation with these international students enrolled in an intensive English course before beginning their 2-year MBA course at Emory's Goizueta Business School, they willingly respond to a variety of prompts when posing for a class photo! The prompt for this photo was, "Look Professional"!

HALLELUJAH PILGRIMS for playing with our IMAGINATIONS. And IMPROVISATION is absolutely one of the most FUN and IMAGINATIVE ways to playfully teach English in an international classroom of students who want to increase their fluency in this global business language!


How does IMPROVISATION facilitate language learning? GREAT QUESTION! Let me start my explanation at the beginning of this summer's (2012) Advanced Oral Communication's class at the Goizueta Business School on Emory University's campus! I have the students read out loud to one another and sign the following IMPROVISATION contract (c) by Ruth Schowalter and Lesly Fredman:

STUDENT CONTRACT

FOR SPEAKING ENGLISH EFFECTIVELY 

 I,  ______________________________________________ , 

(your  full complete name)

agree to take communication risks in this class. These risks may challenge me, and the way I am used to speaking and expressing myself. I understand at times I may be uncomfortable in performing some class activities but that “moving” outside of my “comfort zone” helps me grow and gain new exciting ways to communicate.

I also agree to think of ways to use the skills and activities that we are doing in class in my daily life beyond the doors of Emory’s Goizueta Business School.  I acknowledge that in class, we use exaggerated pronunciation, intonation, and gestures in order to practice and acquire a skill, knowing that my “social acuity” adjusts these behaviors once I leave the classroom. I promise I will be aware of the subtle shifts in my behavior and how I change my speech and body language to be appropriate for the situation.

Very importantly, I agree to observe the 7 Rules of Improv as stated below:

1. I will always say “yes” to my partner, finding multiple words and phrases to express “yes”. 
2. I will be myself.  I will use the good idea I have and not wait or search for the great idea. 
3. I will be present to the scene. I will really listen to what my partner says. I will then say and do what I think in response.  
4. I will accept what my partner gives me. I won’t reject anything. If my partner says something I don’t like, I will find a way to say what I want without refusing what he/she has offered. 
5. I will take risks when communicating in this class.  I agree to try things and to fail. I understand that making mistakes are okay. In this way, I learn something new. 
6. I will strive to make my partner look good. It is my goal to appreciate my classmate and make him/her look smart and fluent. 
7. I will have fun in this class. I know that when I experience positive emotions, I learn and retain what I have learned.

Finally, I promise myself to learn something from this class that will improve the way I speak English and communicate with people in all arenas of the English speaking world whether it be academic, professional, or social.

______________________          ____________________

signature                                                 date

Immediately following the reading and signing of the contract, I engage the students in implementing one of the most delightful IMPROVISATION rules, that one of saying, "YES!" Saying "YES" is one of the most significant IMPROVISATION tools any IMPROV English language student can use. In addition to the positive atmosphere  that a good resounding "YES" produces, it also keeps the conversation going and going and going--a result close to a MIRACLE for a person who longs to have an opportunity to speak in the target language with native speakers!

HIGH STATUS--LOW STATUS.  Examine the body language here! Can you tell who is high status and who is low status? The students choose roles to play from the handout or create one of their own. The character pairing ranged from ones like manager + employee to sun + moon. During the exercise they had to gradually reverse status, so at the end, they would be using opposite body language from the beginning (see another blog entry of mine that mentions status).  

WHO IS HIGH STATUS HERE? Whenever I can, I have the students stand up and speak. I believe that repeated standing up and using the entire body increases confidence and builds skills using the entire body. Notice the students in the background holding onto their papers. I also encourage students to put down their handouts in order to gesture more freely and to make better eye contact. Often students hold onto papers for security.

HAVING FUN! Improvisation enables to students to have fun, a positive emotion that enhances learning. Here the students are playing "status" between a cat and dog! Notice the use of body language! 

As an aside, I might disclose that when the students begin the course with this IMPROVISATION "YES" exercise, they immediately develop the inclination to say "YES" as frequently and as loudly as they can during the rest of our classroom time together! Because they know how affirming it is for everyone! "YES" indeedy!


Then, once having established the RULES of IMPROVISATION with the student contract and the first "YES" exercise, students willingly "jump in" to improvisation exercises each day. They have been given a powerful recipe for language learning from the RULES of IMPROVISATION--the permission to do the following:


Take risks
Make mistakes
Have fun


In addition to these RULES of IMPROVISATION creating an environment where students can experiment with expressing themselves and try out "new" ways of speaking the English language, they practice a way of "connecting" positively with others. They get to experience communicating successfully--even when speaking English imperfectly and having breakdowns in understanding! IMPROVISATION exercises create opportunities for language learners to express opinions, play experts, answer questions, experiment with status and to negotiate misunderstandings! Best of all? Students find these engagements with one another stimulating and meaningful!


Let me conclude this blog with the way improvisation exercises in the Advanced Oral Communications class impacted the other class I taught them--giving presentations! 

HAVING FUN GIVING THE TEAM PROJECT PRESENTATION. The intensive language program for this international portion of Emory's MBA class of  2014 concluded with presentations of case analyses that they did in teams. As you can see here, this is TEAM GOOGLE. They decided to wear jackets for two reasons: 1) To remind them to use "professional" English as opposed to "informal" spoken English. 2) To let the jacket serve as an imaginary device allowing them to speak using their "American" persona! Isn't their display of intellectual prowess grand and fun? This kind of easeful fun is the culmination of practicing IMPROVISATION daily.

EXUDING CONFIDENCE AND STYLE. Improvisation activities teaches students how to step into another way of being so that they can succeed in whatever they endeavor--or at least have fun negotiating meaning. This Starbucks Team rocks! Notice they chose to dress in Starbucks colors.

Every language teacher knows that when language is used meaningfully, students have incentive to learn and use it. Three additional  RULES of IMPROVISATION from the student contract above are about creating a positive exchange with another person:


Listen and respond to what another person is saying
Receive what another person gives you conversationally
Make that other person successful


These rules are useful tools for working together in a team! Don't you think! A resounding YES! That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Let me know what you think about using the RULES OF IMPROVISATION in your classroom and life!


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 

• First of all, I acknowledge the students in the 2014 MBA Goizueta class who made teaching IMPROVISATION ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE a pleasurable, meaningful, and worthwhile experience this summer! And the first IMPROV ESL class that I taught at Georgia Tech's Language Institute and blogged about here: International Watermelon Pirates.

HURRAY! THE LAST CLASS. After the last presentation, I asked the students in Section B (we had two groups) to pose for a series of photos. This photo shows evidence of improvisation work. For the warm-up before presentations, I had had the class do some physical exercises, one of which  you can witness here--the laughing lion exercise from laughter yoga. For this exercise, you open your mouth wide and laugh and you put your hands out like a fierce lion! See the right student in back row. Wow!

• Then I must certainly acknowledge the 2005 professional conference of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in San Antonio, Texas, where I was first introduced to the idea of using IMPROVISATION in an ESL classroom, and more specifically learned the "YES" exercise. 
• And many thanks go to my IMPROVISATION teacher Lesly Fredman, who I began taking IMPROVISATION classes from in 2008 and then who I developed an intensive ESL IMPROV course with in the spring of 2012 at the Language Institute of Georgia Tech. 
• It is from Patricia Ryan Madson's book, Improv Wisdom, that I got sound understanding of the rules of improvisation. 
• The idea of making a contract came from Julia Cameron's The Artist Way. At the beginning of her book, we all sign a contract to ourself to write every morning (the morning pages) and to give ourselves "an artist's date" once a week. The three different times I did the The Artist's Way, signing the contract deepened my commitment to the process I was endeavoring to be a part of!
• My acknowledgements wouldn't be complete without mentioning my fellow improver, Alice Teeter, and her poem, "Say Yes," from her book, When It Happens to You. Read it if you are looking for inspiration to say YES. Saying YES really makes a difference! It is FUN, and it takes you deeper into your LIFE (See my blog entry on saying yes!).

VERY GOOD, VERY GOOD, YEAH. A refrain I use in class with students is "Very good. Very good. Yeah." It is something I use to bring activities to an end and get everybody together as we clap our hands together twice and then raise them up in the signing you see above. Thanks to Jean Woodall, the woman who certified me as a Laughing Yoga Leader.

YEAH!

I NEVER THOUGHT THE BURKA WOULD SEDUCE ME: UNDERSTANDING AND CREATING METAPHOR

Hallelujah for abstract thought and ways to make those thoughts concrete through the use of imagery. Hallelujah for my international students speaking my language, English, and for bringing me, their teacher, new ways of thinking about this glorious world! Especially when it comes to writing metaphors in a creative writing class! Hallelujah!

 

As a way to jump in writing metaphors (a comparison between two seemingly unlike things), I asked my students to “pull” an abstract word like faith, hope, anger, or courage out of an envelope and to compose a 3-lined poem based on the following guidelines (taken from Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, by Janet Burroway).

• The first line is an abstract word, plus a verb, plus a place.
• The second line clothes the abstraction.
• The third line summarizes the action in the poem.

At first, the oxygen left the room. No one knew what to do, where to go, what to write. After all, this kind of writing is a challenge even in one’s own native language! After a pause and some composing in pursuit of “active” verbs and leaving behind the verb “to be” (Language teachers will understand this quest!), there were some jubilant moments. My students were nailing down their abstract words with meaningful and active images! See some examples in the following blogs: Pitch Your Guts writes about sorrow; The Green Mountain about courage; and Blueberry Cellophane about faith.

In my earnestness to get students excited about metaphor, we watched excerpts from a 1991 Star Trek episode about their encounter with an “enigmatic” race called Tamarians (See the beginning of the episode.). As the episode progresses, the Star Trek crew figures out that the Tamarians are speaking in metaphors, ones that can be understood only if one knows the cultural and geographical references being made (See the excerpt where they figure this out.)!

Success! My brilliant class of diligent students “got it.” For homework, I asked them to bring in metaphors from their language and cultures. These were the results:

I’m sincerely saying it to you with my heart in my hand. (Spanish)

A leaking drop can penetrate a stone. (Chinese)

A pearl in the mud. (Korean)

I never knew that the burka would seduce me. (Arabic)

 

Yes! Hallelujah! We discussed what each one meant to us. If you are stymied at all by the last metaphor, you are not alone! First, we had to clarify for the entire class what exactly a “burka” is—much to the amusement of the Arabic speaking students in the class. Luckily, a female student from Spain was wearing a large scarf secured around her neck! Thus using her as a model, we were able to show the distinctions between a “hijab” –a scarf covering the hair, ears, and neck— and a “burka” –a scarf concealing everything but the eyes.

 

After class ended, because I wanted a better understanding of this burka metaphor than our class discussion had offered, I pursued the Arabic speaking student, who had translated this metaphor from a contemporary song (Listen to the mesmerizing music from the Middle East and its Arabic lyrics). Here is my student’s translation of the song into English:

I never thought the burkas would ever seduce me
Until I saw Al Nofood Mountains wearing them.
All mighty God when these eyes looked at me
Charming, sleepy, magical....
In their magic, Saad how they put me to my knees!
My time was wasted in loving those eyes.
If they hurt me and also heal me
I'm sure I'll die soon.
Saad tell those charming mountains
If they want me to live longer,

If they see me,

I am just thinking about their magic
Even when I am asleep

I am still thinking about the burkas…

Translated by Meshari Alabdulkrim (See his blog, Smoking Hookah.)

 

I am smiling right now because I am remembering the Star Trek episode with the Tamarians and their geographical and cultural references. To better understand this burka metaphor, we have to understand the Saudis’ feeling for Al Nofood Mountains and much, much more.

To be honest, I am far from completely understanding this metaphor, but I like struggling with the image, its meaning, and the complex culture it comes from! I believe this comparison of a burka to a mountain will “haunt” me for some time.

Already, I have spent time in the last week drawing and painting women in headscarves. One woman is wearing a flowered hijab and the other a green burka. I’m intrigued by this cultural difference of  “the headscarf” that my Muslim students bring to my classroom. One might say, “I never thought the burkas would ever seduce me,” but they have!

In my search to SEE and UNDERSTAND and to CREATE, I looked on the Web to find images of women in burkas and found an amazing “girl band” from Afghanistan, the Burka Blues! If you want to increase your experiences of seeing women wear burkas, watch this video! The rhythm of the drums, guitar and kitschy lyrics has been with me all day!

Hallelujah for LIFE and LEARNING and CREATING! SOUL BLOG with me! Let me know your feelings and understanding of the burka metaphor! Share a metaphor with me!