Drawing from my Girl Scout years, I used an activity known in that old handbook as “Grab Bag Dramatics.”  It’s always a hit, whether in a Scout meeting, a birthday party, or an oral English class.  I put a few items in my purple cloth market bag.  Since I haven’t been here very long, I don’t have many items to use.  I gathered a change purse, a small packet of instant coffee, a plastic folder for holding class work, an old lid from a sauce pan, a small tube of hand cream, a glasses case, and a  white plastic decorative end of a curtain rod.  Since some of the rods in the apartment are up against the wall there isn’t room for the decoration, and thus, some of those are in the cupboard as “extra.”  This item is round at the end that would attach to the rod, then flares out in a cup shape and is capped with another piece with a ball at the end.

I divided the class into groups of 5 or 6, and asked each group to “grab” something from the bag and make up a skit using that item.  First I had to define the word “skit” which means a short play or drama, usually silly or funny, but sometimes serious.

In each class, someone drew the pan lid.  It served in the stories as a beggar’s plate, a dish for water, and an engagement ring, as the top was a circle through which you could put your finger.  In one story, it was a valuable heirloom made of silver.    In each class, someone drew the hand cream.  It served as the clue to a husband’s affair, a new item on the market, and medicine.

And in each class, someone drew that curtain rod decoration, and no one knew what it was.  So, as they asked, I said, “It doesn’t matter, it can be anything you want it to be.”  In every story, it was magic.  In one, it was a cup from which you could drink and drink and drink, but never become intoxicated.  In another, It was a cup which would fulfill your wishes, and in another, it was an heirloom that had been stolen, but because of its magical properties, the culprit was easily found. That item is “magic” indeed, because it made at least 30 shy Chinese students speak boldly in English.