Role play

What is role-play?
Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody
else's shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary

Time to Teach
Goal: Students practice public speaking by instructing or explaining a chosen topic
in detail to the class.
Words/Phrases: 
 Vocabulary needed for topic of choice
 Can everyone hear/see me?
 Today we are going to learn how to ____.
 Any questions?
Description: “Time to Teach” gives you and the students a lot of flexibility.
Students prepare a short lesson on a topic of their choosing and get to be the
teacher for a few minutes. You can narrow the parameters by giving specific time
limits or giving them a set list of topics.

This role play topic allows students to practice instruction and transition words.
For example, if a student decides to teach his classmates how to do origami, he
might start with “First, fold your piece of paper in half,” followed by “then…” and
“finally…”

Not only does this give the teacher a bit of a break, it also results in lots of
interesting new information for everyone involved.

Watch the Weather

Goal: Students practice weather-related terms and phrases, as well as different
verb tenses.
Words/Phrases: 
 Weather terms
 Temporal words (today, yesterday, last night, etc.)
 Today we expect sunny/cloudy skies.
 Tomorrow there will be rain/snow/wind.
Description: Talking about weather is a necessity for accurately describing the
current conditions, as well as mastering the art of small talk (It sure is hot outside,
right?).

This role play topic is great for helping students master these terms and using a
variety of verb tenses in context.
Students work in small groups to give a weather report, explaining the past, future
or present conditions. Depending on the level of your class, you may also let them
talk about traffic or current events. For added interest, you might include a
“citizen” in the role play for the anchor or reporter to engage with.
Information Gap
An information gap activity is where language learners each have some, but
not all of the information needed to complete a task. In order to get all the
information, students have to talk to each other. For example, Learner A may
have information about the weather and industry of a country, but Learner B
has details about hobbies and geography.

Complete the Text

Practice: Parts of speech.
Procedure: Create two versions of a story. Remove different information from
each story.

For example, one version of the story might be missing character names and
locations (proper nouns) while the other version omits adjectives and adverbs.

Divide the students into pairs and distribute a different version to each student.

Students must work together to complete the story they’ve been given based on the
different information each student provides. To do this, students must ask
questions to discover the missing information that their teammate has. Ask the
students to write in the missing information.

This activity can be adapted for different levels and ages, depending on the story
you use and what missing information you choose to focus on.

Example: 
Student A: What is the name of the first character?
Student B: Her name is Lisa. What adjective is used to describe the “tree” in the
second sentence? 

Let’s Use the Map

Practice: Location names and directional words.
Procedure: This is a fun and relevant activity. Anyone who plans to travel or visit
someplace new will need to know how to ask for directions. It’s also useful to
know how to give directions in English. You’ll need to pre-teach some key
vocabulary terms, such as “turn right” and “turn left.”
Assign students into groups of two. Provide one student with a map of a city or
town, either from a real location or one of your own design. Make sure the map is
clearly labeled with some of the more common locations.

One student asks for directions to a location: library, theater, hospital, police
station, grocery store, etc. Using the map, the other student gives explicit
directions. Students should ask clarifying questions and either write down or
outline the directions they hear.

Students should take turns in this activity.

Example: 
Student A: Can I help you?
Student B: Yes. Where is the library? 
Student A: It’s on 5th Street.
Student B: What’s the best way to get there? 
Student A: Take Apple Avenue and turn right.
Student B: Apple Avenue and turn right? 
Student A: Yes. Then walk two blocks and turn left at the hospital. 
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a problem solving technique that is not always easy for
students. Many students feel they must come up with the correct answer,
whereas brainstorming is a way of generating ideas to be examined later.

One of the best

parts about Talking Time Bomb is that you need practically no preparation time at all.
Also, you can practice anything from rhyming to vocabulary to types of things.
First, the teacher comes up with a topic or idea. In the worksheet below, there are some
ideas but it can be anything. Next, the teacher starts the music and students have to think
of as many words as they can for that topic.

Someone starts with a ball. When they come up with a word, they pass the ball to another
student. This process continues but they can’t repeat something that has already been
said.

When the music stops, whoever is holding the ball loses. And the punishment can be
anything. For example, they must speak for one minute about a topic the teacher gives
them.

English Shiritori
Shiritori is a popular Japanese game in which players have to think of a word
beginning with the final letter of the previous word. In groups of two, players can
improve their vocabulary and spelling by creating a long word chain.

If you can’t think of any more connecting words, then you lose the game.
Storytelling
Storytelling activities are a great way to allow students to express themselves
freely and creatively in an authentic and real way.

My favourite characters today

Imagine that Jane Austen's Emma is a friend of yours, or Dorian Gray is
someone that you heard about at a party. Retell their stories as if they were
living today, adding contemporary touches to the setting.

Mountain Rescue