Lesson - An Instructional Approach / Une approche pédagogique

Definition:

1. the theatrical technique of suggesting action, character, or emotion without words, using only gesture, expression, and movement.

   2. (in ancient Greece and Rome) a simple farcical drama including mimicry.

verb

1. use gesture and movement without words in the acting of (a play or role).

https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/

start with physical and facial warm-ups to build body awareness, then teach basic mime elements like invisible objects (walls, ropes, balls) and actions, emphasizing exaggerated, slow movements and clear detail

https://www.code.on.ca/resource/mime-games 

https://www.code.on.ca/section/not-ceci-nest-pas-une

https://www.code.on.ca/section/magic-pencil-and-variations-le-crayon-magique-et-variations

What are you doing?

clay

charades (objects)

Whoosh storytelling

silent ball

https://dramaresource.com/category/drama-games/mime-and-movement/ 

https://cole3601log.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/6/4/13643589/unit_melissa.pdf

https://guides.library.ualberta.ca/teaching-drama/mime-improvisation

https://dramakids.com/blog/the-magic-of-mime/

https://center-for-nonverbal-studies.org/htdocs/mimecue.htm 

Tracing

invisible obstacle course

Pairs > Miming a familiar activity

• Divide students into pairs.
• Tell them that they will be miming an activity that they are very familiar with and their partner is going to have to copy every move that they make.
• Brainstorm a list of potential activities. (E.g., brushing teeth, tying their shoes, getting dressed, packing their lunch or their backpack, doing the dishes).

Explain what the term mime means. Model two examples of how to mime brushing your teeth

First, mime a poor example - no precise movements or indication of an object’s size, shape or weight, events out of sequence. Next, mime a more precise example - establish setting, be consistent about where objects come from/how far apart they are from each other, alter hand shape and grip to indicate the shape, width and weight of the different objects you use etc.

Teacher Prompt: Which one was more clear? Why?

Record the characteristics that they give you on chart paper or a shared digital text to act as success criteria see Mime Success Criteria for a sample list of criteria.

• Have pairs decide who will be A and who will be B.
• Tell students to pick what action they will mime.
• Standing back to back, give them a chance to do a run through of their mime to work out the elements/sequence.
• Next, have them turn around to face each other.
• Partner A will start and partner B will follow. When the mime is complete, partner B will try to guess what the action was.
• Then, partner B will mime and partner A will follow

Teacher Prompt: What did your partner do to make their actions easy to understand/hard to understand? Add any new observations to the list of success criteria.

 

Break down everyday movements into beats

• Some examples might be: hockey slapshot, grocery shopping, cooking, basketball lay-up, gymnastics move, getting dressed, etc.
• i.e. getting out of bed in the morning, the teacher will demonstrate adding the first move.  The move might be from neutral to lie on the floor and sit up.
• Move on to the person on the right.  From the teacher’s seated position, they will add the next move.  He may draw in his knees and stretch his arms up to the ceiling. The group will again echo the movement to get it right.
• The next person on the right will now add a move from where the second student left off.  She might jump up on her feet and shake her head.  The group echoes the movements.  Teacher again brings the students to neutral position, counts them in “5, 6, 7, 8” and then commences putting all three moves together in sequence.

 

• they perform in mime a simple task (e.g., getting dressed to go to a party, packing for a vacation, waiting to meet a blind date, putting on sports equipment in preparation for a game) with an emotion that can later be reversed.
• Students begin the scene with one very strong emotion (anger, sadness, love, joy, hate, happiness) and then show the audience that something happens to change and reverse the strong emotion.

 

• répéter une scène sans paroles d'une minute dans laquelle iels miment une tâche simple (par exemple, s'habiller pour aller à une fête, faire ses valises pour les vacances, attendre un rendez-vous galant, mettre son équipement de sport pour se préparer à un match) avec une émotion qui peut être inversée par la suite.
• Les élèves commencent la scène avec une émotion très forte (colère, tristesse, amour, joie, haine, bonheur) et montrent ensuite au public que quelque chose se produit pour changer et inverser l'émotion forte.

 

Illusions

• “The Wall": Demonstrate and practice the classic mime illusion of pushing against an invisible wall, focusing on fixed points, resistance, and weight transfer. Students practice individually and then briefly in pairs.
• "Object Transformation": Guide students to mime holding an imaginary object and transforming it into various others, emphasizing distinct weights, textures, and sizes (e.g., from a feather to a heavy brick, a hot potato to a delicate flower). Focus on precision in handling. Have students watch each other in pairs. Encourage them to comment on magical moments (when the mime is able to make space and weight change ie. a balloon or a feather to appear heavy, an imaginary door to open with consistency in size, location, weight etc…)

Teacher Prompt: 

• For the wall, is your fixed point truly unmoving?
• How does your body react to the pressure?
• When transforming objects, show the weight, the texture, the temperature.
• Is the audience seeing the object, or just your hands moving?
• What physical details make this illusion believable?

Whole Class > Mime Clarity Check

Students perform a very short, simple mime (e.g., drinking a cup of coffee, tying a shoelace, etc.) for a partner.

Whole Class > Discussion

Partners provide brief, specific feedback on what made the mime clear and believable. 

• What was one key physical detail that made the illusion convincing?
• What's challenging about communicating only through movement?