Mary feels that the drama component is an important part of preparing for the presentation. In the class we attended, students worked in pairs to come up with a story of a past event (eg. a holiday), which incorporated a range of learning points including the present perfect continuous tense and linking words. They then presented each other's stories to the group. In the drama exercise, their stories are used to inspire a theme for the activity.

Tim agrees that Mary's lesson "prepares the ground" for students to think about what life experiences they have had and how they might want to express them. It also gives students time to think about the idea before the exercise takes place.

Tim's exercise: Ilustrating a subject with your body: adapted from one of Augusto Boal's 'Image Theatre' techniques

In this exercise, Tim explains that the goal is to think about how we create verbal imagery using physical imagery. Secondly, Tim wants to be able to provide an opportunity for discussion, using opinion, viewpoint and interruption.

Tim asks half of the students in the class to leave the room and think about a physical pose, or static image to convey a theme - in this case happiness - inspired by the storytelling exercise with Mary. In the first instance, we see the images separately, emphasizing individual interpretations.

Each student returns to the class and, in turn, strikes their pose as the other students write a sentence with their interpretation of what the person is trying to express.

ESOL student, Anna Bombik

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