Published in TESOL Greece Journal No168, October-December 2025
by Evi Karydi, Dramactivate Creator- Teacher Trainer- Drama Educator- Storytelling Specialist
Drama in the EFL classroom? You thought it meant getting an entire play together or working with attention-hungry students? Think again. Drama is not performance; it is all about presence, participation, and purposeful play. Whether you
teach teens, adults, or young learners, employing drama techniques can give your students much-needed confidence, fluency, and motivation. The great thing is you do not even have to be trained as an actor or have a theatre in your school to start with drama!
Here are five drama techniques-theories that are easy to apply and any EFL teacher can implement- no scripts, no costumes, just students and their imagination.
1. Role on the Wall – Build Language Through Character
This age-old drama technique reinforces descriptive language while assisting students in exploring the motivations, thoughts, and feelings of a character.
How to use it:
On a large piece of paper or the board, sketch the outline of a character. Draw the Gruffalo, for instance, if you’re reading The Gruffalo. Students should be asked:
a. What does this character look like? (outside the body)
b. What does this character feel or think? (inside the body)
Students come up with short sentences, adjectives, or feelings. You can give A2-level students sentence stems such as:
a. He is…
b. He feels… because…
c. He likes/doesn’t like
This visual aid creates space for speaking and writing exercises while scaffolding vocabulary.
2. Hot Seating – Speaking Through Imagination
Hot seating allows a teacher or student to assume the role of a character and respond to class questions. It improves listening, questioning, and impromptu speaking.
How to use it:
One student offers to sit in the “hot seat” as a character after reading a story or watching a video, or the teacher does so.
Simple questions are posed by the class:
a. Why did you run away?
b. Were you scared?
c. What will you do next?
If you give them a list of questions or sentence starters, even novice students can participate. Before posing questions out loud, you can also assign students to prepare them in pairs.
3. Conscience Alley – Practice Persuasive Language
This technique involves students forming two lines facing each other to create an “alley” the main character must walk through. As the character walks, each student whispers advice from their perspective.
How to use it:
Let’s say you’re working on a story where a character faces a decision, like Should Jack climb the beanstalk again?
Students on one side say “Yes, because…” and on the other “No, because…”. Then the character (played by a student) walks down the alley, listening to the arguments.
This activity allows for repetition, conditional structures, and speaking with a clear purpose. It works especially well with narrative texts and decision-making moments.
4. Still Images / Tableaux – Make Vocabulary Visual
To depict a scene, vocabulary word, or concept, students use their bodies to create frozen images, or tableaux. For kinaesthetic and visual learners, it is ideal.
How to use it:
Ask small groups to freeze in poses that convey the following emotions if the theme is feelings: fear, happiness, and anger. The remaining students make the following guesses:
a. Are they happy or surprised?
b.Why do you think that?
This can be used to rewrite story scenes, make predictions before reading, or even delve into abstract concepts like “freedom” or “teamwork.”
5. Teacher in Role – Add Magic to the Lesson
Using this method, you engage with your class in character by adopting a straightforward role, such as a zoo keeper, a lost traveller, or a worried king. It makes functional language come to life and generates immediate engagement.
How to use it:
Put on a basic prop, such as a badge, scarf, or hat, and say:
“I’m in big trouble! My animals have escaped the zoo. Can you help me describe them so I can find them again?”
This gives students the opportunity to practise using descriptive language, posing and responding to queries, and solving problems in a context that has meaning.
Final Thoughts
Drama in the classroom doesn’t require stage directions, spotlights, or scripts. These low-prep methods encourage creativity, teamwork, speaking, and listening. Students will become more courageous and expressive even if you start small, such as with just one still image per week or five minutes of hot seating.
Drama enables students to connect instead of translate. So take a deep breath, step into role, and invite your students to play with the language.
References
1. Heathcote, D., & Bolton, G. (1995). Drama for learning: Dorothy Heathcote’s mantle of the expert approach to education. Heinemann.
2. Maley, A., & Duff, A. (2005). Drama techniques: A resource book of communication activities for language teachers (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
3. Neelands, J., & Goode, T. (2015). Structuring drama work (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
4. Winston, J. (2013). Second language learning through drama: Practical techniques and applications. Routledge.
📖Read the full issue here: Issue-168-October-December-202511-12-2025.pdf