I refer here to a teaching technique I experienced in a workshop with David Booth, a professor of drama teaching in Toronto, Canada. In his article 'Drama Talk: Our Own Words and the Words of Others' he describes the element of "going in role" in "as if" settings. Booth says, "In any kind of 'real' talk, the speakers must deal with understanding what has been said. Drama forces the participants to consider the content and context of the statements, and provides a forum that allows clarification, restating, and subsequent comprehension." This opens new perspectives on a play without the teacher's interference. "Being in role" forces the students not only to identify with a specific character, but also to include her or his personal experience. The teacher's interference takes also place 'in role', i.e. when he or she wants to make a comment or to clarify a situation, the role of a character is taken on a ad hoc basis. Students and teachers start communicating within the framework of the play and this activates new ground for 'natural' speech. I have the impression that my students always like 'exploring' new grounds with this technique, and they get generally better involved with whatever we read than in traditional class room discussions.
This play offers various opportunities to introduce students of the intermediate level to reading original literature.
I supplied my class with the following instructions to illustrated what happened to 'Invisible Friends' in terms of new perspectives and new insights.
1. The reader gets to know Mrs Bracewell and Mrs Hedges through Joy's description at beginning of act I. Get into the role of Mrs Bracewell and Mrs Hedges and discuss Joy and her family.
2. Get into the role of a neighbor who peeked through the window of the Baines' house and retell a friend the end of act I.
3. Get into the role of Gary's friends and discuss Lucy and her family.
4. Get into the role of one of Lucy's pen friends and give her advice as to how to deal with her problems.
I would like to round off quoting once again David Booth, "When a child improvises, he or she begins to pay attention to the implications in the statements being made and to the relationship among them. Through drama dialogue, the group attempts to make clear these implications, so that the speaker can see what was not communicated."