Improvisational Actor/Actress

7-8 th Grade Core Career Connections
5. Students in 8 th grade Language Arts are required to demonstrate speaking competency.
Included in that demonstration must be the use of tone, pitch, pace, voice, body language,
and audience.
6. The use of improv games will help students to learn these speech conventions. The
desired aim of this activity is to transfer skills learned and gained in improv games to
students public speaking.
Pre-Activity:
1. As an introduction to speech skills use Houghton Mifflin Writer’s Inc., A Student
Handbook for Writing and Learning. Sections 514-543 explain the process of preparing
and presenting a speech.
2. Show clips of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”–be certain that these clips are age appropriate.
Not absolutely necessary to lesson plan, just some fun.
3. Play numbers 11 and 13 from the CD from Off Broadway Theatre “Quick Wits.” Again,
not absolutely necessary to lesson plan. Address to obtain CD is included with lesson
plan.
4. Improv group to perform and explain games and how these games would relate to public
speaking. Some specific games to play to teach tone, pitch, pace, voice, body language,
and audience would be Accents, Action Figures, Emotions, and Faces. Other games may
be selected by the improv group to demonstrate these skills.
5. If the improv group cannot visit school the Language Arts teacher, perhaps in conjunction
with the Drama teacher, could easily explain and demonstrate these games. The Drama
classes might want to learn these games and perform for the 8 th grade students if the
improv group could not visit the school. A copy of the games is included with lesson
plan.
Activity:
1. Break class into groups of 2-3 to practice the improv games modeled.
2. Each group performs for class one improv game, game chosen by class/ teacher. Again be
certain to chose games like Accents, Action Figure, Emotions, and Faces as these games
may be some of the best to teach tone, pitch, pace, voice, body language, and audience.
3. Ask each group after their performance to offer feedback on how they did. Discuss what
they would change or how they could do better. How do these games display the
conventions of tone, pitch, pace, voice, body language, and audience necessary in public
speaking? How are they going to use these techniques in their literary speech, or any
public speech? Also elicit feedback from peers and teacher for each group. Sample
rubric included in lesson plan.
Suggested Assessment:
Verbal critique after each group performance as well as rubric critique of each group.
Work-based Learning, Community Connection:
An improvisational actress/actor from a local theatre or comedy club, whose skills would be
used in demonstrating and teaching improv techniques. Community partner will visit
classrooms/schools to introduce and perform improv games. .
draft copy 2