Although many cultures don't typically teach drama in school, it is still a useful tool in the classroom.
A fun way to teach inflection and tone is through script work. You start with a skeleton script:

a: Hey
b: hi
a: How are you?
b: fine
a: Are you hungry?
b: Why do you ask?
a: Just wondering...

Then you brainstorm a variety of emotions in which to play it. You can also have them make complete sentences out of lines before they begin in order to make sense from it. However, the meaning of each line is in how it is said.

Not only is this fun, but it hits comprehension, oral understanding and pronunciation.

If you want to also address writing you simply extend the exercise into a 'write-in-role' where the students write a sentence or two about the character they just played. It can be biographical or something in the form of a monologue.

I understand that culturally many students may not be comfortable with getting up and acting it out, so you can just have them sit and say the lines. I suppose it really depends on your class.

Lara Watkins
Teacher Candidate
www.ChelseaLanguageAcademy.com