Only the Best Intentions

2018 Runner-up for English-Language Award from the English-Speaking Union

Only the Best Intentions is an English language textbook that teaches spoken communication skills through the performance of an engaging and compelling one-act play.

Whether it's reader's theater, an in-class performance, or a full production, putting on a play is the ultimate group project.

And drama is a powerful tool for learning spoken communication skills! Students take on acting skills like using body language, gesture, intonation, and other non-verbal cues to communicate better. They are exposed to natural language in a realistic setting. And they are motivated and engaged!

A range of activities prepare students to perform as they practice language skills:

• Background readings on topics raised by the play: the history of competitive video games, the life of professional video game players, and managing modern life with screens.
• An original one-act play written for ELLs about a young woman who breaks off her engagement when she finds out her fiancé wants to be a professional video game player. But what's more important? Family, stability, keeping promises, or helping someone follow their dreams?
• Pragmatics lesson on raising problems and resolving conflicts
• Pronunciation activities, including sentence stress to show contrast and practice linking sounds.
• Scaffolding to prepare students to produce a play including
• Lessons on attentive listening
• Guided questions to analyze the play
• Ideas for auditioning, learning a part, and marking scripts for emotional content to improve line readings.
• Tips for staging a play
• Post-Performance Activities, including a talkback, a mini-debate, writing a new scene or even a sequel or mining the play for useful language
• An optional assignment to interview families about screen time
• Assessment rubrics and an answer key

Your students will look forward to class with this innovative resource that utilizes drama in language teaching! The play's the thing!