This document provides a teaching unit plan for analyzing Samuel Beckett's play "Act Without Words" with 5th grade students. The unit aims to encourage students to think about the importance of non-verbal communication through examining a play that focuses on the degradation of language. The plan includes warm-up activities on Beckett's life and the play, working through analyzing a performance of the play, follow-up creative writing, and assessing students formatively and summatively.

1. Samuel Beckett
(1906-1989)
Act Without Words
(1957)
Non-verbal communication
in literature
and
in everyday life

2. Abstract
During this Teaching Unit students will be
encouraged to think about the importance of
non-verbal communication in our lives starting
from the analysis of a play written by one of the
most influential representatives of The Theatre
of the Absurd, a literary trend of the second half
of the 20th century focusing on degradation and
destruction of language deprived of its
communicative function.

3. Target and Timing
• Target: 5th grade students of an upper
secondary school specialising in foreign
languages (Liceo linguistico)
• Cefr Level: B2 and above
• Expected Timing: 3 or 4 class periods

4. Specific Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
• use strategies before, during, and after reading
to aid in the construction and enhancement of
meaning
• respond in discussions and writing about works
of fiction and/or non fiction using personal and
interpretative stances
• identify the key concepts in extended speech
and interpret written texts on a wide range of
topics
• illustrate topics related to different areas of
interest explaining their point of view backing up
their argument describing pros and cons

5. Cross-curricular Objectives
• enhance personal communicative skills
also by means of computers and all
available technologies
• improve cultural awareness and
expression
• increase self-awareness and the ability to
be actively involved in the learning
process (learning to learn)

6. Instructional Objectives
• identify the writing conventions of drama
as a genre, with particular reference to the
Theatre of the Absurd
• evaluate the relevance of the title to the
situation in the play
• explain how the play represents the
absurdity of human existence and the lack
of communication between individuals in
Modern society
• describe how non-verbal communication
can affect our everyday life

7. Procedure
Steps in developing the lessons
WARM UP ACTIVITIES:
1. Internet Scavenger Hunt:
- Ss are asked to research on the net to find
out more information about the author
(Group-work). By the end of the inquiry
Ss are supposed to create a Power Point
presentation or a Digital Mind
Map/Organization Chart to illustrate their
findings to the whole class.
- After the research stage T may propose to
Ss gathered in 2 or 3 teams to play a quiz
like Trivial Pursuit dividing the questions
by topics/categories assigning a reward for
each right answer.

8. Samuel
Beckett
(1906-1989)
Interesting
facts about his
life
Most
remarkable
works
Best known
for
Organization Chart Template

9. Warm up / Pre-reading activities
2. Anticipating the play:
Ss are asked to make predictions about the play
starting from its title:
T write on the board discussion points and divide
students into small groups to discuss these
points for a few minutes
e.g. What do you think is the focus of this play? Do
you think the title is connected with the content
of the play? Can you guess who is the
protagonist? What is the setting?
Ss are asked to discuss these points at first in
groups and then with the whole class with a
spokesman for each group

10. Main Focus
Working on Drama:
• Ss are asked to watch a YouTube video reproducing a performance of Act Without Words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWGZMFAHu-Q
• Whole Class Discussion:
• After having watched the video and having read some passages taken from the play Ss are asked to talk about
their personal response to the play and to discuss how the author represents time, place and characters.
Suggested questions: Where does the action take place? Describle the main and only character of the play / Make
a list of the objects lowered on the stage / What does whistles signal?
• T might ask Ss to fill in the blanks of a short cloze text about the main features of the play
This play is about ______________________ (a person) who tries to ________________ and/but after
___________________ ends up ________________ because_______________ _______________
_________________.
Suggested solution: This play is about a lonely man who tries to find some comfort but after failing repeatedly
ends up completely alone because life is cruel.

11. Follow-up Activity
• Creative Writing:
• Since Act Without Words is a mime Ss
divided into small groups are asked to
write a script for this play including
dialogue and adding characters to the
cast. In order to accomplish this task Ss
should also produce a storyboard of some
scenes including cartoon bubbles and
headings. By the completion of the project
each group is supposed to illustrate it to
the whole class.

12. Further Activities
• Ss are asked to consider the importance
of non-verbal communication relating it to
their everyday behaviour, evaluating how
cultural differences in appropriate body
language can cause discomfort or
misunderstandings and linking it to the
learning of a foreign language.
• To accomplish this task Ss working with a
partner are asked to read an article about
this topic and answer to a reading
comprehension questionnaire including
also multiple choice questions.

13. Reading Comprehension
Excerpt from the article Ss are supposed to read:
BODY LANGUAGE
When we communicate with others, we express our thoughts and
feelings not only through the words we choose, but also through our
tone of voice, facial expression and body language. In fact, many
communications experts believe that far more information is
communicated non-verbally (without words) than verbally (with
words). "Body language" is an important part of non-verbal
communication.
...To learn another language is more than just learning words and
grammar, it involves learning about another culture, too. We learn
much of our own culture's body language before we learn to speak,
from the time we are children, usually without even being aware of
it. And that body language varies from culture to culture, so it's
something to which second language learners should pay attention.
...Sometimes, cultural differences in appropriate body language can
cause discomfort or misunderstandings too...

14. Questionnaire
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. How do we express our feelings and thoughts when we communicate with others?
2. Why should we pay attention to body language?
3. What aspects of our everyday physical behaviour does body language include?
4. Most people will understand cultural mistakes with body language, so:
a. We don't need to pay much attention to a new culture's body language.
b. We should be extremely careful about our use of body language in a new culture.
c. We should learn about a new culture's body language but not worry too much about making mistakes.
5. How can television or video help us understand more about body language?
6. Explain why cultural differences in appropriate body language can cause discomfort giving examples.
7. Do speakers of the same language use the same body language?
8. Is it worth learning cultural or regional attitudes?
9. All native English speakers use the same body language :
a. Yes
b. Doesn't say
c. No
10. Which one of the following is not an example of body language?
a. The way we stand
b. The words we use
c. The way we use our hands

15. Homework
• Students are asked to write a short report, based
on a layout, about what emerged from the class
discussion and their personal opinions about the
themes proposed.
• Guidelines:
- clarify the terms of reference
- plan the work
- collect information
- organise and structure information
- write the first draft
- check and write the final copy

16. Expansions
• Writing a play review:
Ss working in small groups are asked to take the
role of critics and review Beckett's play, if
possible using a multimedia file.
• Interdisciplinary project:
Since the play was originally written in French
being translated into English by Beckett himself,
collaborating with the French teacher, I might
propose Ss a comparative literature project
working on Beckett's works but also on plays of
the French Absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco
aimed at producing a digital file containing
hyperlinks.

17. Methods
• Inductive and Deductive methods (meaningful and mechanical
practice)
• Communicative approach (exposing learners to the target language
as much as possible through the use of 'realia')
• Student-centered approach (active and cooperative learning
activities):
- learning together
- student team learning
- group investigation
- project work
- active reading and writing
- whole class discussion
- educational games

18. ADAPTATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS FOR STUDENTS
WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS (SEN)
Teaching strategies used with students with Specific Learning Disabilities
(SLD) or students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD):
- Combine communicative and learner-centered approaches
- Make activities concise and short and modify assignments if necessary
(considering the student learning style)
- Plan to repeat instructions or add information in both written and verbal
formats
- Adjust work time (taking into account that frequent breaks are required)
- Provide disabled students with frequent progress checks
- Encourage cooperative learning activities getting the student involved in
activities with other students
- Limit the amount of homework
- Provide opportunities for the student to self-select some activities to be
pursued independently

19. Materials and Resources
Printed resources:
Textbooks
Literary anthologies
Commentaries and articles
Worksheets
Concept/mind maps (either printed or in digital format)
Realia
Multimedia-laboratory resources:
Educational software (cd-roms, Virtual Learning Environments,etc)
Interactive Multimedia Whiteboard (IWB)
Computer with Internet Access
Language lab
Audio/visual resources
Lessons in Power Point

20. Assessment
• Formative assessment (assessing the mastery
of skills through oral and written language
production tests)
• Summative assessment evaluating the
development of learners (proficiency using
specified procedures and/or conducting
investigation, mastery of content knowledge,
reasoning proficiency, ability to create adequate
products)
• Self-assessment activities (content-based and
language-based feedback on classroom
activities)