About the plays on 12/24

Finally, the students put on the play "The Phantom of the Opera" on Dec. 24.

Students' performaces were up to my expectation. Their hardwork led to a wonderful time enjoyed by everyone taking part. I think the strategies I used worked. Different from what I used to do when I got students to work on a play, this time, we had a clear timeline. During the four weeks, the scripts were reviewed and revised; some even up to three times, so that the language part was taken care of. Then, students were given enough practice time in class so that the progress could be monitored. The in-class rehearsals had brought one unexpected benefit: the groups which didn't work well felt the pressure from those that worked collaboratively. They were motivated to become better consequently. AS a whole, the quality of the perfomances was much better than that from my previous students.

I'm satisfied with the result and I think it is worthwhile to spend time on the project in class. Rainbow said she didn't want to give so much class time to students just for a five-minute play (per group). When she complained that two of her classes didn't do very well in terms of language, I still thought time spared for groupwork was a good investment. But my thinking is not as important as the students'. I might ask them tomorrow.