Reflection on Interactive Drama

After trying my hand at ID, I knew I’ve found another teaching alternative for my students to have fun with. In class, when we were busy being somebody else, we forgot the language forms and spoke faster to get our message across to the other interlocutors. ID took full advantage of the features of unscripted play and the curiosity of human beings. We were all too eager to solve the mystery in class so we created our own line and speech. According to Livingstone (1938), unlike the traditional play-acting, students can determine what they want to say and simulation is fully developed.
In my own language classroom, I would use problem-solving format to highlight the playfulness of ID and I would design different functions of the language, including greeting, persuading, complaining, agreeing, disagreeing, expressing an opinion, etc. What’s more important, due to the lack of sufficient vocabulary and background knowledge, I would try to supply my students with necessary vocabulary and phrases prior to the ID, so that they may feel more empowered and a sense of achievement during the activity.
I think ID is really workable as long as necessary modification is made to fit into the actual language level of the students. If we have to teach a language efficiently, why not do it interestingly and interactively? I guess ID is one of the shortcuts we can take to bring our students both effect and fun.