Watching a Silent Movie to Write a Drama Script

DRS. NASIR, M.Pd, a Bahasa Indonesia teacher at SMPN 20 Makassar, South Sulawesi, collected some still pictures and transformed them into a motion picture, using the program MovieMaker. " I call it a silent movie, because there is no sound track to explain the sequence of events. I used Kenny G's music to accompany the movie, so that it could help my students to imagine things, " explained Pak Nasir. The seven-minute silent movie was used as a learning resource to encourage his students make up a story, create the characters, and write a script for one-act drama.

During the 80-minute lesson, Pak Nasir encouraged his students to undertake high level thinking, solve problems and use teamwork in order to develop their work. " I gave my students a worksheet which encouraged them to think critically. The worksheet also helped my students to work systematically in developing the ideas and plot, create characters and write a single-act drama script, " said Pak Nasir.

In this activity, the students were divided in eight groups. Each group was equipped with a computer. They typed the drama scripts into the computer and the members of the group made corrections as they went along . To ensure his students' understanding of the ideas, plot and characters, Pak Nasir asked one group to criticize the script of another group.

After they had finished writing the scripts, they acted them out in front of the classroom. While each group performed, the other watched. With a silent movie a source of learning, Pak Nasir succeeded in enabling his students to produce drama scripts. The scripts created had some very good ideas, which could be developed even further, for example, the work of one group was called ' The Beauty of Friendship in School '

There were some positive points from this lesson. First, students reached agreement on the ideas, plot, background of their stories and the characters. Second, the students were able to criticize and make corrections to other groups' work. Third, the students were able to act out their scripts. In appreciation of his students' work, Pak Nasir made some comments and gave feedback to each group at the end of the lesson.