Description
The Improv 101 course is an introduction to short- and long-form improvisation. We’ll cover basic theoretical concepts of improvisation, like ‘yes and’ and ‘game of the scene’, and you’ll practise a wide variety of improvisation games. Each week, for homework you’ll have to meet up with two or three other students and do at least 15 minutes of these games while recording audio, then transcribe 30 seconds of that audio. In the next class, we’ll do a grammatical analysis and correction of each group’s transcriptions (or fewer, depending on the number of mistakes in each transcript!). You’ll also have more standard homework to complete on the Portail, in the form of listening, grammar, and vocabulary exercises, which will count towards your overall grade. Finally, you’ll do two improvisation performances during the semester. In each performance, you’ll be in a group of six, and you’ll play two or three improv games in front of the rest of your classmates. Although I’ll give you guidelines of what games I’d like to see you play, part of improvisation is also taking agency – with your group, you’ll be able to decide how you want your performance to go.
If you’ve never done improvisation (or any kind of stage performance before), don’t worry – we really start from the absolute basics. I’ve included links to a few videos of improv games that we’ll learn to play in class, and if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Freeze game: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aUtfvHq1_VI
Change game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ZhOj6hMfA
Long form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV2pQoDWxX4
Objectives
- Improve spoken English fluency and casual spoken register
- Expand vocabulary
- Increase confidence in spontaneous spoken English communication
- Learn basic improvisation games and be able to perform them as a team
