LitPick Review
This book is a non-fiction educational book that serves as a teacher resource. Are you a teacher who wanted to do a drama unit with your students, but didn't have the budget for the props, sets, and costumes? Then look no further as this author has created a guide for drama style performances without the high budget or prep that accompanies theater plays. Instead, this guide focuses on the creation of a radio theater activity where imagination is key and all you need are some sound effects.
Opinion:
We're Live! Radio Theater #101 by Deborah Baldwin is a well-written, educational resource that I found to be overflowing with useful and inspiring ideas. I am a virtual ESL teacher and since my students are online, I have struggled with a way to include skits in our lessons as I don’t have access to things like props and costumes. The idea of doing a radio theater performance had never occurred to me before, but it was such a fun experience. At first, I found the idea a little intimidating, but the author provided a step-by-step guide that made the activity a breeze. My students had a lot of fun with the different warm-up exercises, especially the tongue twister ones. The author did a great job making this book into not only a guide, but also a history lesson as she took me through the history of radio theater, in a way that was interesting and interactive. I especially liked the section on how to use ChatGPT to create scripts as I liked the idea of using AI instead of having to write the scripts myself. I did find myself skipping the essay style questions, but I thought that they were a nice touch for anyone who wanted to be more interactive with the book. Overall, I would recommend this book to all teachers as it is a great way to get your students involved in drama without needing expensive materials.
