Teachers' Resource Pack

for

Mime

Mime is, for the most part, a medium of performing that uses no props or scenery. The performer creates by his or her actions and postures the allusion of any location, object, weather condition and mood. The freedom is there to climb Mount Everest or take a stroll down a country lane, to run from a mouse or take a ride on a camel. Think of mime as not the restriction of not being able to speak but the freedom to be able to go anywhere your imagination takes you.

Outdoor Exercises and games:

Done outside in the shade these exercises are as much a Physical Education Class as an exercise in Mime. 

1. Mime with a rope. It is a good idea to start students doing an activity using real objects to remind them of how they perform the task, then take the object away and perform a mime. If you are lucky enough to have enough skipping ropes for the entire class this is a good exercise to get everyone started. Simply give out the ropes and get the class skipping, telling them to take notice of exactly what it is they do as they skip. After a minute or two collect the ropes and get the class miming skipping. Point out to them that their hands should not be closed tightly, there should be space were the handle of the skipping rope is in their hands. We jump when the rope is at the ground, so we jump when hands our down. If you have longer ropes, divide the class into groups of three. One student each end turning the rope and the other in the middle skipping. Once again do the excise with the rope, and then without, mime the activity. Remind the students turning the rope that their turning hands must be like a mirror image of each other, and the student in the middle skipping should jump when the rope turners have their hands down. 

2.  While you have the longer ropes, divide the class into four groups and set up two tug of wars, first with the rope and then without. This is not an easy mime as it is essential that the distance between the two teams remains the same, so each team needs to have an overall idea of how the tug of war will go before they start. First one team is wining then the other team regains the ground, but then the first team recovers and pull their opponents over the line. Remember the space in the closed hands for the rope and that mime is silent no noises, but of course lots of mimed excitement for the winners and are the losers, sore loser, pulling faces and blaming each other for their defeat or do they congratulate their opponents.

3.  Mime a ball. Give each student a ball. It can be any type of ball and get them working alone, bouncing basket balls, throwing tennis balls against a brick wall and catching them or simply throwing them from hand to hand. Then put the ball down and mime the activity. 

4.  Divide the class into pairs and have them throwing a ball back and forwards to each other. And then mime it. Make sure they are allowing enough time for the ball to go from person to person; that their hands are positioned as if they are holding the ball; is it a big heavy imaginary ball or a small light ball; make sure they watch the ball as it flies through the air into the other person's hand and then back to them; does their hand move back a little as it catches the ball. 

5.  Another very lively and simple out door game is "groups". The teacher or a chosen student will call out a number, the class then has to form themselves into groups of that number. Anyone not in a group of the right number is out of the game. Keep playing until only two students remain.

Activities to do inside. 

6.  Charades is always popular and can be altered slightly to allow for the age of the students. The younger class might simply mime being animals and the rest of the class raise their hands if they think they know. If the teacher chooses who will guess, the person miming can continue with the mime until someone guesses correctly. Older students might mime people at work, a carpenter, a fireman, a sandwich maker, a teacher; or people at play, tennis, cricket, surfing, swimming. The older students might enjoy the game as it is usually played and mime the title of a movie, book, television show, or a song. This can be quite difficult, as when we play in our group there is a friend who insists on doing titles of obscure Japanese action movies. We always get them, like he says, you don't have to know the title just be able to guess each word as it is mimed, but if you are not familiar with the game, it can really slow the game down. 

7.  Start an assembly line. Perhaps it is best if you do the first one to get the idea going. Get up to ten students up in front of the class in a line. Give each student an action to perform that is triggered by the person's action before them. So the idea is the first person lifts up their hand and swings it around and touches the next person's stomach, that person raises their leg in front of them and turns and their raised leg touches the leg of the next person, who puts their arm up in the air and brings their hand down gently on the head of the person next to them, who falls down into a ball and rolls over. etc. After each person has done their action they can either:- go back to their original position and every few seconds the first person in the line repeats their action sending another wave of reactions down the line. (or for the more adventurous) each person stays as they are at the end of their move and when the last person in the line completes their move they reverse the process so that all the actions are repeated in reverse down the line to the beginning and back again and so on.