Improvising with Adult English Language Learners

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511997105.009

8 - Improvising with Adult English Language Learners

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Anthony Perone

Edited by

R. Keith Sawyer

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Anthony Perone: Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago
R. Keith Sawyer: Affiliation:
Washington University, St Louis

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Summary

My interests in improvisational theater (improv) and language learning and teaching go almost hand in hand and first surfaced during my undergraduate teaching experiences (Perone, 1994). Since then, I have been learning about and performing improv and integrating my improv experiences with my experiences as an adult educator. As a result, I have considered the rules and activities of improv to be a mechanism and an instructional tool for fruitful and developmental learning environments.

In this chapter, I describe my experiences using improv activities in formal learning environments with adult English language learners. For my purposes, improv is “a form of unscripted performance that uses audience suggestions to initiate and/or shape games, scenes, or plays created spontaneously and cooperatively according to agreed-upon rules or structures” (Seham, 2001, p. xvii). In what follows, I first describe several rules of improv that are shared by the professional improv acting community.

Type: Chapter
Information: Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching , pp. 162 - 183

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511997105.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

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