Improv-Infomercial: Sell Me This...

Introduction
A grade 6 class is currently working on a unit about infomercials and advertisement. This lesson
incorporates drama and voice to encourage students to explore topics related to our unit by
following the theory of “Learning-by-Doing Principle” (Improv.ca, 2018). Students will
participate in two warm-up activities, which involve expressing emotions using voice and
gestures. In addition, students will practice how to think quickly by creating a dramatic scene
about a particular situation. These warm-up activities will prepare students for the lesson, where
they will be asked to improvise by creating an infomercial in groups. Students will perform in
front of their classmates, which will allow them to watch other group’s performances.

Unit: Advertisements and the media

Grade Level: 6

Educational Values

Subject Area: English Language Arts

- Competency 3: To represent her/his media literacy in different media
- Competency 4: To use language to communicate and learn

Subject Area: Drama

- Competency 1: To invent short scenes
- Competency 3: To appreciate dramatic works, personal productions and those of
classmates.

Warm Up

Warm Up 1: Say it Loud! (Approximate duration: 5-7 minutes)

Objectives: To explore how to express a particular emotion using their voice and any
necessary gestures.
Instructions: The teacher will present a scenario to the students, and invite them to say their
name using the emotion that they would feel in that scenario. The students will all say their
name aloud at the same time using the selected emotion.

The students will participate in 3 rounds of this activity, using a different emotion each time.

Round 1
Scenario: Best day ever!
Teacher says: “I want you to imagine it’s the best day ever: you just won a lifetime supply of ice
cream. All together now, let’s say our names aloud in an excited voice.”
Round 2
Scenario: Recess is cancelled.
Teacher says: “I want you to imagine that recess has been cancelled for a month, and we’re all
really disappointed about this. All together now, let’s say our names aloud in a sad voice.”

Round 3
Scenario: Broken project
Teacher says: “I want you to imagine you worked very hard on your project, and suddenly on
your way to school it you dropped it and it broke! All together now, let’s say our names aloud in
an angry voice.”

Round 4
Objectives: This is a build up from the previous rounds; the students continue to explore their
voice and gestures to convey emotions, but this time they will say a complete sentence.
Instructions: In this round, the class will be divided into 2 large groups. The teacher selects a
sentence and then each group will have to say that sentence aloud using the emotion that their
group has been given. The emotions will be predetermined and stated the teacher.

Emotions ideas:
1) Scared
2) Disgust
3) Surprised
4) Sleepy

Sample sentence: “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.”

Warm Up 2: Yes, Let’s! (Approximate duration: 4-5 minutes)

Objectives: To practice how to think quickly about how to portray a given situation. To combine
sound effects and gestures to create a dramatic scene.
Instructions: The class will remain divided into two groups. The teacher will call out the phrase
“Let’s ___”, followed by an action. The group will harmoniously respond by shouting back “Yes,
let’s!”. One group will be doing the gestures of the action called out, and the other group will do
the sound effects. The groups will take turns doing each role. Alternatively, students could come
up with their our action to complete the “Let’s ___” call out.

Example
“Let’s slurp our really hot soup.” / “Yes, let’s!”

Round 1
“Let’s eat some crunchy cereal.” / “Yes, let’s!”

Round 2
“Let’s type furiously on our laptops.” / “Yes, let’s!”
Source: (Improv.ca, 2018)

Improv-Infomercial: Sell Me This...

Lesson Procedure

Objective: To invent a short narrative using quick thinking, gestures and their voices to convey
an emotion. To develop their creativity and collaborate with others. To take on the role of a
respectful audience member and appreciate the work of their peers.

Instructions: Given the warm ups based on conveying emotion and using gestures, the
students will be participating in an improv activity called “Sell Me This…”. In groups of 4, the
students will be creating 1 minute infomercials based on an object they choose from the
“mystery bag” of props. Additionally, they will roll 2 dice with different emotions on each face of
the die. They will choose which emotion their group would like to use, and present their
infomercial using this emotion.

The groups will select their prop and will immediately begin when the movie clapper is shut, and
the teacher will call out “Sell Me This ____, Action!”

For example, if a group pulls out a telephone as a prop, and roll the die on the “excited” emotion
face, they must sell the product in an excited manner.

Materials:
- Buzzer (timer)
- Movie clapper
- 2 large dice (emotions may vary)
- Excited
- Angry
- Sad
- Shy
- Disgust
- Silly
- Scared
- Surprised
- Sleepy
- Serious
- Bored
- Nervous
- “Mystery Bag” products (props may vary)
- Reusable water bottle
- Pen
- Apron
- Sunglasses
 - Pool noodle
- Joe Jonas pillow
- Fuzzy red blanket
- Balloons
- Creepy doll
- Feather boa
- Lemon
- Potato

Differentiation
The following is a list of differentiations that can be applied to this lesson.
These can be used to meet the diverse needs present in the classroom.

- Students could pick their object (rather than luck of the draw)
- Students could pick their emotion (rather than luck of the draw)
- Students could have time to prepare their skit rather than improvise
- The duration of the infomercial can be shortened or lengthened
- Teacher can make predetermined groups, made up of students with varying abilities.

Student Reflection
Teacher can gather info about how the students feel about drama activities/improv using a self-
reflection scale. The students will have 10 statements related to their engagement with drama
integrated in their English Language Arts class; they will rate the statement from 1 to 5, 1
meaning strongly disagree and 5 meaning strongly agree.
Sample statements:
- I enjoy acting in front of my classmates.
- I can think quickly when presented with a topic.
- I enjoy working in groups.

References

Reese, H. (2011). The learning-by-doing principle. Behavioral Development Bulletin,

11(1), pp.1-19.

Quebec Education Program - QEP. (2001). Preschool and Elementary. Retrieved from
http://www1.mels.gouv.qc.ca/sections/programmeFormation/primaire/index_en.asp

Improv.ca. (2018). Yes, Let’s – Canadian Improv Games. [online] Available at:
http://improv.ca/yes-lets/ [Accessed 19 Jan. 2018].