Body language, coordination & improvisation

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my blog😊

This entry is going to have a lot of information since we divided the content in two weeks of classes.

To be honest, I was a bit confused at first and started wondering what does all the improvisation and body language have to do with teaching but after thinking about it I realized that teachers become actors when in the classroom. As teacher Orlando told us, you have to improvise and teach with almost any random object that you may have in the classroom and incorporate it to the class, so that is what this entry is all about!

We did so many exercises to improve our concentration and body language like a staring contest with the person we had infront of us and then we had to walk around the classroom and make eye contact with everyone, this was so uncomfortable for me because I get shy when making eye contact and not to mention that apart from that we had to give them a compliment or make a sexy face, and then we had to imagine that we were models on a runway and have different facial expressions, it was so funny!

Here is Josh in a staring contest with Joaquín👀

Here you can see Nathaly and everyone else on full model mode💅

Continuing with the exercises, we had to remain focused while the person in front of us had to make us laugh, this was related to expressing emotions with our face and body, Nathaly tried to make me laugh but she didn't succeed, but I made Nathaly laugh as soon as I moved.

Here is Nathaly trying to make me laugh😁

Here I am trying to make Nathaly laugh (I didn't know I was being recorded😂)

These exercises were so fun to do and I honestly didn't even notice that I was learning how to express emotion with my body or working on my coordination, I just felt like I was releasing stress and having fun. As a teacher, it is so important to know how to express not only emotions but information with gestures and using body language, and not to mention that you don't have to be afraid of looking silly in front of a whole class for the sake of your students entertainment.

Moving on to the improvisation, which was my favorite part, we had to recreate a scene of a movie but we didn't have that much time to prepare, it was so funny because our group had chosen a the Shrek scene where they are fighting while having dinner and the group that we had to exchange the scene with chose the same one as us! Fortunately, they had a plan B. We all had so much fun watching everyone else's scenes.

 Damaris' groups recreated a Scary Movie scene and it was so much fun, Damaris got so mucho into the characters and she nailed it, she was just like her.😆 The 'Axe' they used to kill Damaris' character was a pen, great improvisation😜

Andres' group recreated a Toy Story scene and them using jackets to simulate that they were inside the dog carrier from the movie pretty much proves that you have to use any random object to improvise!😄

Jaime's group did the scene from Shrek my group chose. They used paper to simulate their crowns😂

And last but not least, here is a short video from the scene that we had to recreate with my group. Shrek's Gingerbread Man and Lord Farquad😂

And Lord Farquad with the guards and the Magic Mirror💂

Continuing with the improvisation dynamic, we had to create another scene and improvise with a song that the other group would choose. It was kind of like a pantomime, and again, I had so much fun watching everyone else and it is so amazing how without without saying any word you can express emotions and other people are able to understand you, that is what this activity was all about, expressing yourself through body language and facial expressions, everyone did a great job!

 

Here are Maru and Rodrigo who were clearly simulating a couple fighting, the background song was a love song.

Here are Andrés and Giselle simulating what I think was a job interview😂 The background song was calm and contributed to an emotional moment.

Here Diana apparently died and everyone else around her was trying to check if she was okay. The background song was a bit sad and upbeat at the same time.

And here is my group, who simulated a group of friends having drinks and trying to get drunk one of the guys and him ending up unconscious on the floor. Our background song was Tequila😆

As an introverted person, I have to say that all of these activities were pretty challenging but in a way they also help introverted people to open up a bit more and them putting their shyness away so they can be their true selves in front of a class. What I learned from these two weeks is that body language and facial expressions are key when teaching any topic, you want to keep your students focused and entertained at the same time. I also learned that that staying focused is important even though your students might do all kinds of things that could distract you and improvisation plays a huge part in teaching as well. This topic was so much fun and I feel less afraid of doing funny things in front of a class.

Thank you so much for reading this entry and I hope you enjoy the videos I added. Stay tuned for the next entry, bye-bye!👋