iProduce

The two texts tell of some precious memories between kids and parents. Do you have a special experience with your parents? 

Suppose your college is holding the Annual English Drama Festival. The theme of this year is “Family love.” You are going to participate in this festival and work in groups to perform a play about your unforgettable experience with your parents.

Developing your ideas:

Task1 Work in groups and share with each other your own unforgettable experience with your parents. Use the questions in the following table to help develop it.

The Five Ws and one H in telling a story

Who were involved in the story?

What happened between you and your parents?

When did the story take place?

Where did the story take place?

Why did it happen?

How was the problem solved?

Task2 Decide on the story that you would like to act out as a group and refine it by intensifying the conflict.

Think about the following questions:

What is the conflict in your play?

How does it develop into a climax?

Task3 Decide the role each of you will take and discuss what you will say to make the play interesting and lively. 

Think about the following aspects:

How do you develop the plot through the dialogues?

How do you express your feelings through the dialogues?

Task4  Design the narration.

Sometimes a narration is needed in a play. The narration is usually used to give the audience information they can hardly get from the dialogues and actions. It generally appears: at the beginning of a play to give background information about characters, events, or settings in the middle of a play when the set changes

Useful expressions：

1. I took it for granted that mothers were the sandwich-makers and the homework monitors. (It indicates the mother-child relationship in the child’s eyes.)

2. ... suggested I was the only important thing she had on her mind. (It indicates how the mother viewed her child.)

3. For this, I am forever grateful. (It uses special word order for emphasis and cohesion.)

4. Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled reassuringly. (It describes how the mother comforted her  child.)

5. I often look back on our lunchtimes together, tasting the happy moments bathed in the soft midday light. (It emphasizes the child’s happy memory of the past.)

6. Housework is boring. But you were never boring. (It tells how the mother viewed her child.)

7. Although his world had not stopped spinning when his wife left it, the past was more alive in his heart than his present aloneness. (It indicates the old man’s cherished memory of the past.)

Rhetorical devices: 

• ... as if a painter had touched our landscape with a little gold.

   (simile)

• But a career is like an open balloon. (simile)

• A child is a seed. (metaphor)

• Silent as a mouse, he patiently opened the long buried

   treasures and soon was lost in a sea of memories. (simile, 

   metaphor)

• Entry after entry stirred an emotional hunger in his heart like

   the longing a gardener feels in the winter for the fragrance

   of spring flowers. (simile)

Organizing your ideas:

Now that you’ve got all the ideas, draft your play based on the following outline and features.

Structure	Feature
Opening	Be interesting; start with an event or raising conflict
Body	Be logically developed; the conflict gradually builds up into the climax
Ending	the conflict is resolved; deliver a clear message

Now think about the characters’ feelings and actions and add stage directions to your script.

Stage directions remind you of the emotional states and give you directions on how to act and how to say your lines. 

For example:

1. Emotional states: [Anxiously], [Nervously], [as though disgusted by …]

2. Actions: [The son stands up and paces], [The daughter chews her nails],  

    [Picks up the dirty shirt]

3. Conversation cues: [long, awkward silence]

When you add stage directions, you can:

use italics (斜体字) or brackets to set your stage directions apart from  the lines;

refer to the text and Understanding the text in iExplore 2 for help for the description of emotions and actions.

Presenting your ideas:

Practice your script in your group until you feel comfortable with your  

lines. 

Then perform your play to the class. 

After the performance, invite the audience to give suggestions.

Criteria for self-evaluation and peer-evaluation

OK	Needs improvement
		The opening scene of our play is interesting.
		The body of our play is logically developed.
		The dialogues of our play are vivid.
		Our play ends with a clear message.
		Our facial expressions are natural.