Lesson Plan For Using A Play As A Classroom Activity

Play: On The Bus (Easy Plays in English)
Adapted to suit local students environment.(Refer Appendix)
Level: Form 1 students - Rural (LEP)

Preview activities:
A) Students answer some discussion questions after looking at some pictures of people boarding a bus.(Whole class activity)
- Where can you catch/board a bus? - At  the bus station/At a bus stop.
- Where can you buy a ticket? - At the bbus station/From the bus conductor.
- How do you stop a bus at a bus stop/whhen you are on board? The driver stops the bus when he sees passengers at a bus stop/by waving your hand/ ring the bell.
- Can you bring your pet on a bus? No, ppets are not allowed on a bus.

B) Students sit in groups. Each group is given a copy of the play. They read and fill in the blanks about places & occupation. (refer to attached play-underlined words are to be blanked)

C) Role play. A few students in each group are given ticket cards to board a bus. On one side is the destination such as park, hospital, clinic, stadium, bank etc. On the reverse side is a short dialogue to be spoken with the bus conductor. The destination is left blank for the student to fill in.
e.g.    Conductor : Good morning, En. Rahim. May I see your ticket? 
         Passenger   : Good morning, En. Veloo. Here is my ticket. I'm going to the stadium to 
                               to watch a football match.
The role play can be incorporated into the dramatisation of the play.


Follow up activities:
A) Fill in a table with information derived from the play. Where an item is not mentioned in the play students may fill in their own rational details.(subject/verb agreement - KBSM Form 1)
e.g.  

B) In pairs write a short dialogue between a bus driver and a passenger / passenger and conductor. (Ask and answer questions about destinations and places of interest - KBSM Form 1) Enact the dialogue - Role Play.

Dramatisation of the play.
Dramatisation of the play needs a large empty space like the school hall or the school field. After going through the preview activities, students are brought to the school hall. Here they are lined up in two rows of two each simulating the seating arrangement in a stage bus. The driver stands at the head of the two rows. The conductor can move in between the rows talking to the passengers. He takes the passengers tickets and punches a hole with a puncher. 
At the beginning the bus is stationary, at the bus station. The dialogue is spoken between the main characters. Other students act as passengers while a few more wait at designated points around the hall which serve as bus stops. These can be marked by placing chairs with labels marking the place(e.g. hospital, park, stadium etc.)
At each bus stop passengers board or alight the bus by filling in gaps in the line left by passengers alighting/leaving the line. The dialogue between the main characters goes on as the bus/line of students wind around the hall. 
At the scene where Mr. Ranjit misses the bus, the line moves faster as the student playing Mr. Ranjit runs behind it. But they have to be careful not to run out of line!
While the main dialogue as in the play is enacted other students who board the bus with a ticket converse with the conductor as in preview activity C -Role Play.
In this way a class of thirty students would all have a chance to participate in the play.

                    

Appendix
ON THE BUS(Adapted Version)
Characters:
Bus Driver, Bus Conductor, Passenger 1 - 8, Mother, 3 Children	

Old Woman, Boy 1, Boy 2, Girl, Mr. Ranjit

Scene: At the bus station and on the bus.
Boy	:	(He speaks to the girl) Are you going to get on this bus?
Girl	:	Yes, I am. (They get on the bus)
Bus Driver	:	Please be seated. The bus will leave now.
Conductor	:	Please get your tickets ready. I will check them now.
Girl	:	Here's my ticket.(Conductor takes the ticket and punches a hole in it.)
Boy	: 	Here's my ticket.
Old Woman	:	Good Morning! Good Morning!(She speaks to the bus driver)
Bus Driver	:	Good Morning, Pn. Kalsom. Where are you going today?
Old Woman	:	What? What? Oh, yes. I am of to the market today. I am going to buy some 
		vegetables
Bus Driver	:	(He speaks to the mother and children as they get on the bus) Good morning, Mother	:	. Good Morning Children. Where can I take you this morning.
Children	:	Good morning En. Murad. We are going to the park. I have a picnic basket!
		I have sandwiches in my basket. And a cake. A chocolate cake! M-m-m!
Mother	:	Please, children, sit down. Ah Kit! Please sit down. That's a good boy. Foong, 
		give me your basket. Thank you. Now, Leong, sit here. That's fine. (The 
		children sit down.)
The bus honks the horn. Toot! Toot! Toot! Toot! The bus is leaving now. Next it stops at a bus stop. Some passengers alight and some get aboard.
Passenger 1	:	(He speaks to the bus driver) Good morning En. Murad.
Bus Driver	:	Good morning Dr. Muthu.
Passenger 2	:	Oh, good morning Dr. Muthu . Are you going to the clinic this morning?
Passenger 1	:	Oh, good morning En. Arshad! No, I'm going to the hospital this morning. I 
		am visiting a friend who is sick.
Conductor	:	Good morning En. Arshad and Dr. Muthu. May I have your tickets.
Passenger 1	:	Here is my ticket. (the conductor takes the ticket)Thank you.
Passenger 2	:	Here is mine.(the conductor takes the ticket)Thank you.
Old woman	:	Excuse me. What time is it, please?
Passenger 3	:	It's eight o'clock.
Old woman	:	I can't hear! Please, what time is it?
Passenger 3	:	(He speaks loudly.) It's eight o'clock - eight o'clock!
Old woman 	:	Oh! eight o'clock. Thank you. Thank you.
Boy 1	:	Oh! Look! (He points at the street) Look!
Girl	:	What is it? What is it? What is it?
Children	:	Mother what is he pointing at? What is it, mother?
Boy 1	:	That man in the green shirt! He can't catch the bus!
A man in green shirt runs after the bus.
Children	:	Run, run! Run! Run!
		Catch the bus! Run, run.
		Run and catch the bus!
		Run and catch the bus!
Mr. Ranjit	:	Stop! Stop the bus!(Mr. Ranjit runs after the bus)
Old Woman	:	What? What?(She looks at the street) Oh! Oh! That's Mr. Ranjit.
		Stop the bus. Stop the bus.
Passenger 4	:	(He speaks to the bus driver) Please, can you stop the bus?
Bus Driver	:	No, I am sorry. I can't stop the bus now.
Passenger 4	:	(He speaks to the old woman) He can't stop the bus.
Old Woman	:	What? What? Can't he stop the bus?
Passenger 5	:	No, he can't. Mr. Ranjit is too late.
Old Woman	:	Too late? Too late?
Passenger 5	: Yes, too late.(The bus is going down the street)
The bus stops at a bus stop.
Bus Driver	:	Good morning, Pn. Aisyah. Are you going to the court today.
Passenger 6	:	Good morning En. Murad. Yes, That's where I am going. I have a big case 
		today.
The bus stops at a bus stop. A group of boys board the bus.
Bus Driver	:	Good morning boys. Where are you going?
Boys	:	Good morning. We are going to the stadium. There is
		a football match today.
Boy 2	:	Where are you going to?
Girl	:	I am going to the book shop.
Boy 2	:	What are you going to buy?
Girl	:	A notebook. A big notebook for my typing lessons.
Boy 2	:	Oh, can you type?
Girl	:	Yes, I can, but not very well. I am learning to type.
Bus stops at the market.
Conductor	:	The market is here Pn. Kalsom.
Old Woman	:	What? The market? Thank you, I am getting off here.
Bus stops at the stadium.
Bus Driver	:	Stop for the stadium.
Boys/Boy 2	:	We are going to get off here. Good bye.
Girl	:	Good bye! Good bye!
Passengers	:	We are getting off here too. Thank you.
Bus stops at the traffic lights.
Mother	:	Look at the street now children. What can you see?
Children	:	I see a police man and his patrol car. I see a fireman.
Mother	:	A fireman?
Children	:	Yes a fireman in his uniform.
Mother	:	A fireman? Where? Where is the fireman?
Children	:	Near that restaurant. See? And I see a nurse in a white dress.
Bus Driver	:	Stop for the hospital. Hospital stop!
Passenger 1	:	Here's the hospital. I'm getting off here. Goodbye!
Passenger 2	:	Goodbye.
Other	:	Getting off, please. I'm getting off too.
Passengers		Getting off, please. Thank you. Excuse me, I'm getting off.
Passenger 7	:	(she looks at the children's basket) What's that? What's that?
		Is that a cat? A cat on the bus?
Bus Driver	:	A cat? A cat on my bus?
Mother	:	Children! Is that your cat?(Meeow-meeow-meeow)Where is that cat?
Children	:	Oh, mother! The little cat. It's in our basket!
Passenger 8	:	What? What? A cat in the basket? That cat's in the basket. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Bus Driver	:	Stop for the park. Park stop! (He speaks to the children) Are you getting off 
		here?
Mother 	:	Yes, we are. Thank you.
Children	:	Thank you. Goodbye! Bye-bye.
Bus goes on taking on dropping off passengers.

References
Collie, Joan & Stephen Slater,  Literature in the Language Classroom
	Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.  1987

Kennedy, X.J and Dana Gioia,  Literature - An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama
	New York:  Harper Collins College Publishers Inc.  1995

Maley, Alan & Alan Duff,  Drama Techniques Language Learning 
         Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.  1982

Malkoc, Anna Maria,  Easy Plays In English
         New Jersey:  Prentice Hall Regents.  1993

McRae, John, and Malachi Edwin Vethamani,  Now Read On - A Course In Multicultural Reading.  London:  Routledge.  1999